WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION OPEN DAY

I was very sceptical about a WTO Open Day. Who on earth would want to spend their spare time coming to visit a dusty old bureaucratic organization?

ANNETTE WALLS-LYNCH, WTO

If it rained, they would stay home... sunny, and they would want to be anywhere else. How wrong could I be. As it was, the day dawned cloudless and warm. I was one of the 150 volunteers from the staff, plus family members, delegates and their families and I was there to take photos as the day unfolded. At the appointed hour the invited dignitaries from Geneva arrived to meet our Director-General, Pascal Lamy, and together their informal and cheerful manner seemed to set the tone for the day. The welcome meeting for the general public in the Council Room was so well attended, it was standing room only. A film about the WTO was followed by a comprehensive question and answer session, after which people were invited to explore the building and parkland. Guided tours of the building were offered – people were able to discover facts about the artwork, sculptures and statues, the architecture and the history. Following a few of these tours in the course of taking photos, I was struck by the enthusiasm of the guides, mostly volunteers from the staff, and the rapt attention of the public. And I also learned a lot I didn’t know about the building in which I have worked for twenty-four years!

The day was perfect – the sun shone and the lake sparkled. The food tent, stretching the length of the building lakeside, was a hive of activity from early morning, a melting pot of foods from around the globe courtesy of a number of delegations, the UN Women’s Guild and our very own WTO food stand. The food, and free wine, was a great success. Tables filled up early, and before long the park was scattered with families eating al fresco on the grass, the scent of spices filling the air. When not eating, the young could enjoy face-painting, a drawing competition, creating «pop-art» pictures of themselves or just having fun on a bouncy castle. People continued to pour into the building throughout the day, so keen for information that the 2000 welcome packs «sold out». Every nook seemed to have a tour group engrossed in their topic, or a family studying a painting, or a gaggle peering into the DG’s office to get a glimpse of where important meetings take place. The DG himself spent the whole day in and around the building, talking to visitors, delighted with the interest and appreciation of the building and the Organization.

At the end of the day, 5,000 people had passed through the imposing wooden doors, food and wine stands had sold out, 2,400 people had taken guided tours of the building – including our beautiful neo-classical library, and the newer conference building, hosting a historical photo exhibition of the Centre William Rappard and surroundings, and models of how the renovation of the existing building, and the new extension, would look. Representatives from Member countries had chatted to visitors about the benefits of WTO membership, visitors had the chance to be «an interpreter for the day», and the WTO Health Service had set up shop to discuss preventative health. The WTO Open Day had raised a generous sum for the Geneva children’s charity Païdos (http://www.paidos.org/).

It was a fabulous day, the atmosphere warm and friendly. Everyone seemed to have had a really good time, volunteers and the public alike. So good that the Director-General would like to do it all again next year! See you then.

Annette Walls-Lynch, Intranet Editor and photographer, Information and External Relations Department, World Trade Organization

* For details of the event, plus a photo slideshow, go to: http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/open_day_e/open_day09_e/open_day09_e.htm