9th Annual Congressional Forum

Wednesday July 9, 2008
Chairing the 9th Annual Congressional Forum was an unbelievable experience. It was preceded by a pretty frantic day:



Wednesday July 9th, 2008 looked like this:

9:00am Arrive at work and juggle some speech writing and letter mailing

1:00pm Calm nerves enough to stomach eat lunch

2:30pm Meet Hillary Clinton

5:00pm Finalise Speech in true WIP fashion

5:15pm Introduce Congressman Kennedy

5:45pm Chair the 9th Annual Congressional Forum

Not bad for a 19-year-old from Belfast, eh?

The Clinton:

Meeting Sen. Clinton was bizarre. It is one of the many events this summer which I still am a bit shocked happened. It was a quick Hi and a photo but it was a brilliant experience to see her in real life. She looked very different from photographs- she seemed down-to-earth, a lot prettier and feminine and well, real (state the obvious, Lauren!) in real life too.

I will be honest- while meeting her I was definitely way too worried about the events of the night to soak it all in. I had the task of hosting the Congressional Forum hanging over my head. Adding to my tense state was a very twitchy character jumping around behind me in the photo. Peter Mannion, who had a meeting with Sen. Obama around the same time as meeting Hillary Clinton, was in a blind panic in case he was late and nearly took Sen. Clinton out while running down the stairs to get to Sen. Obama. Oh, the irony.

The Forum:
I knew it was coming. Ever since I heard the mention of the Congressional Forum I had a weird feeling that I would be speaking. Little did I know that as I opened up the email from Kieran that I would be hosting the event. Cue the "Dun dun duuuuuuu...." music.
I wasn't too scared- I thought all I would do is read out a speech and introduce people. Then we met with the MT. Apparently the Congressmen would come and go as they pleased during the event and I would have to introduce them when the arrived. I didn't think this would be too horrendous an ordeal, maybe two would show up, I had heard of years when none came. Little did I know that this would not be the case this year.

Fifteen minutes to go and Lauren is applying her make up in the bathroom mirror- trying her best to make sure her blusher doesn't touch the white jacket. Breathe in... breathe out. With each minute I started to calm down as I had resigned my self to the fact that fifteen minutes was ample makeup and speech practise time. Aileen enters to tell me Congressman Patrick Kennedy has arrived and would like to speak now. I try to reason that we still have fifteen minutes to start but apparently there was a series of votes about to start and he would like to be introduced and speak now.


In a bit of a daydream I walk into the room, people tried talking to me but I made my way over to the lecturn and firmly clasped both sides. I began with a baby whisper into the mic asking people if they could give me their attention. Not so effective. I tried again and somehow I managed to introduce the Congressman and end up sitting down with a sigh of relief. Congressman Kennedy spoke about the importance of the program and ties with the US and Ireland and then talked about bringing peace to the Middle East. I was becoming a little more relaxed when all of a sudden I notice Congressman Kennedy place his speech on top of mine. Then he moved his speech and my speech on top of my introduction page. I am surprised no one realised that my eyes had grown to the size of saucers as I started to realise that Mr Kennedy had mixed up my pages with his.

Then he lifted ALL the pages, folded them and put them in his pocket.
Yes, my speech was now in the pocket of Congressman Kennedy.

Seized by panic, I thought about pick-pocketing him but I envisioned the headlines the next morning and thought better of it.
Next plan, tell him quietly that he had my speech. A Norn Iron accent did not help this situation and Mr Kennedy replied, "Okay, Thank you..." with a confused face.

Plan C- Say to Kieran and get him to ask him for it.
So I pushed past everyone and reached Kieran and said,
"The Congressman stole my speech"
I think Kieran didn't understand I meant literally as he replied,
"It wasn't that similar was it?"
"No, I mean he lifted it- it's in his pocket!"

We walked out after the Congressman only to watch him run, yes, RUN down the corridor.
I considered passing out or running after him but neither seemed appropriate.
Kieran ended up running after the Congressman's staffer who in turn ran after the Congressman and got back the speech.
Needless to say, I was physically attached to the speech the rest of the night.


When we officially started the program there were no Congressmen present. We got through two speeches- the lovely Catherine and Luke spoke to their captive audiences and then we decided to have a refreshment break. This was a clever move by the MT who realised that the voting on the House floor was about to end so a few Congressmen would be coming over.


I knew that Congressman Walsh would be there as we were honoring him for the last 14 years of support he has given to WIP. I knew a few other Congressmen had said they would try and make an appearance but I did not expect to introduce not only Congressmen Kennedy and Walsh but also Congressmen Murphy, Payne, King, McCarthy, Crowley, Carnahan and Neale.



Yes, nine Congressmen.


It was during one of these speeches that I realised how important WIP really is. It is a highly respected program and the amount of Congressional support clearly was testament to this.


It was a humbling experience, as a 19-year-old from Belfast, to be hosting such a prestigious event and to introduce these nine influential figures.

After the Congressmen spoke Fiona and Laura gave really touching speeches and then I closed. Kudos to the MT for the organisation that went into this event. It was a bit of a whirlwind and a nerve shattering experience but one I will never forget (please note: my memory of the specifics of this night is not exactly the best. I used a lot of energy trying to stay standing and not fall over every time a Congressman walked in.)

I realise that, although describing the events of the night, I have not discussed the actually content of the event and the general theme. Later this week I intend to post my speech later but due to my last-minute speech writing skills the final draft still needs to typed up.