Continuing Professional Development

Niamh wasn’t sure whose idea it was to have a summer conference and hold it somewhere without working air-conditioning, but she’d quite happily shake them by the throat. She rolled her arm, trying to ease off a knot which was building from taking notes.

It also allowed a glance right at the tall chap with the neat beard and smart blazer over a white button-down collar shirt. His focus was on the speaker, it had been each time she’d glanced.

‘Are you okay?’

The whisper from her left was a warm breath across her cheek. She turned, smiled, and said, ‘Sure. Shoulder’s stiff. This ones a bit dull, huh?’

‘Twenty minutes and it’s lunch. We can last until lunch.’

She looked at Ian and smiled. ‘Hopefully,’ she said. Ian turned to his left and began a whispered conversation with his faculty buddy.

Niamh looked at her notes and tried to batten down the unfavourable comparison between Ian’s poorly shaved face and rumpled shirt with the crisp appearance of the stranger. The lecture had moved on and she couldn’t bring the thread of her notes and what the speaker was saying back together. She decided to rely on the printed handouts. Her colleagues, friends, and Ian, all laughed at her for taking notes from conference lectures. It was either information she already knew to a lesser or greater extent, or was included in handouts with more detail and relevant references. But she found the act of taking notes helped her synthesise...