From abandoned baby to CEO

The last day of the conference.

The atmosphere at the National Convention Center reached a climax, with the most anticipated forum of the day, "Green Revolution of Large Sports Buildings", attracting more than a thousand participants.

Sun Xue and Wang Ke arrived at the venue half an hour early, but still could only find seats in the middle and back.

For today's forum, she specially bought a dark green suit in advance, which matched today's topic very well. Her outfit looked particularly dazzling at the scene.

After a few days of meetings, Sun Xue noticed that there was a short question time after each speaker, which was an excellent opportunity to showcase the company and itself.

In the meetings a few days ago, they had no chance to ask questions at all because there were so many outstanding designers from all over the world present.

But this time, she had to show up no matter what.

Moreover, the theme of this forum is closely related to the National Games project recently completed by her company.

She thought that since she was attending such a high-end conference, she had to show up on site to let the media pay attention to her company, which would also be an opportunity to promote the company.

After Sun Xue expressed her thoughts, Wang Ke disagreed.

In his opinion, Sun Xue's company was too small and had no chance at all in such a meeting.

However, Sun Xue doesn't think so.

Although my company is not well-known, if the opportunity really comes and I don’t make any preparations, wouldn’t it be a waste of the opportunity?

For today's forum, she forced Wang Ke to make thorough preparations a day in advance.

They designed a lot of questions around the theme of the meeting.

There are technical issues as well as deeper ones.

To this end, she worked as an assistant for Wang Ke, consulted a large amount of information on the Internet, and designed a series of questions in a targeted manner.

The forum was moderated by architect Terence Foster.

The first speaker was Sarah Hardy, who designed the Olympic stadiums. She demonstrated the cooling technology she used in the World Cup stadiums.

This technology can lower the temperature inside the venue while reducing energy consumption by 40%.

Next, architect Yamamoto presented his design for the "green" stadium in Munich.

The entire building is covered with vegetation, and the collected rainwater can meet 80% of the venue's water needs.

When the last speaker, Kramer, walked onto the podium, Sun Xue was so excited that she almost screamed out loud.

She knew this master!

When she was studying at Cambridge University, he was an honorary professor of the School of Architecture at Cambridge University. She had attended his classes many times and had communicated with the professor in class.

"Mr. Wang, I know this master. When I was studying at Cambridge University, I attended his courses and even had face-to-face exchanges with him."

Sun Xue excitedly whispered to Wang Ke beside her.

"Oh, will he remember you?" Wang Ke suddenly became excited when he heard it.

Sun Xue shook her head. "After so many years, he probably has forgotten everything. Besides, he has so many students, how could he possibly remember me? We must seize this opportunity to ask him questions and try to get his attention."

Wang Ke nodded and said, "Please raise your hand earlier when you ask questions later."

In Sun Xue's opinion, Kramer's speech was the most amazing.

The Olympic Aquatics Center he demonstrated uses an intelligent light-control membrane structure that can automatically adjust the transmittance according to the intensity of sunlight. The roof is fully covered with solar panels, which not only meets its own needs but also provides electricity to surrounding communities.

After the first two speakers finished, Sun Xue raised her hand several times, but probably because she was sitting at the back, she never got a chance to ask questions.

She could only pin her chances on Kramer's speech.

During the question-and-answer session, the first few questions were relatively routine, concerning technical parameters and construction costs.

Sun Xue was always the first to raise her hand, but the host seemed to pay no attention to her at all, and the opportunity was always given to the participants in the front row.

Sun Xue stamped her feet in anxiety. She regretted that she entered the venue too late and failed to grab a seat in the front row.

However, she noticed that Kramer seemed a little tired when answering the first few questions, as if he was expecting more in-depth questions.

When the host announced that there was one last question, Sun Xue's heart was about to jump out of her chest with nervousness. She took a deep breath and raised her hand high.

She hoped the host would notice her; if she missed the question, the five-day conference would be over, which would also mean that she would not have any opportunity to appear in the media to promote her company.

Maybe this is a normal thing for others. After all, only a few companies can show up, and 90% of the participants come with a learning mentality.

But, in her opinion, it would be a waste of such a learning opportunity if there was not even a chance to speak.

Several successful experiences in the past taught her that opportunities are gained through active pursuit.

Seeing that the host's eyes were not looking at her, she waved her hands and shouted in a hurry:

"Host, here, look here, I have a question!"

Because her voice was so loud, everyone, including the host and many participants, looked at her.

The host was amused by Sun Xue's voice and said with a smile, "Okay, you can ask the last question."

The moment the microphone was passed to Sun Xue, she breathed a sigh of relief, only to find that her palms were slightly sweating because she was too nervous.

She adjusted her state and spoke in a loud voice:

"Hello, Master Kramer. I'm Sun Xue from Quancheng City, China, and I'm also your student. Many years ago, I attended your lectures at the School of Architecture at Cambridge University many times..."

She first introduced herself in Chinese and then switched to fluent English.

"I have a question for all the guests. When designing green sports venues, we often focus on energy conservation and environmental protection during competitions. However, large sports facilities often face the problems of low utilization and high maintenance costs during non-competition periods.

How do you consider the lifecycle of a building during the design phase, especially for venues that might only host a few major events per year but still need to remain operational year-round?

The venue suddenly became quiet, and then a whisper broke out.

The experts on the stage looked at each other and seemed to show great interest in this question.

Wang Ke looked at Sun Xue in amazement, "Oh my god, I didn't expect you to have such a unique skill!"

He didn't expect that Sun Xue spoke English so fluently. If he didn't see her and only listened to her voice, he would have thought she was a foreigner.

The accent when speaking English is exactly the same as that of foreigners!

Kramer was the first to take the microphone. “I’m lucky to meet my students here. Your questions are excellent! These are the real challenges facing the industry.”

He adjusted his sitting posture and leaned forward slightly:

“In our Munich project, the stadium was designed as a multifunctional community centre, with restaurants, fitness facilities and even a small market space, ensuring activities take place every day, not just on match days.”

“I would also emphasize adaptable design,” Hadi added. “Parts of the Qatar venue are demountable and can be converted into community sports facilities or school gymnasiums after the Games. The key is to plan for the building’s lifecycle from day one, rather than considering transformation after the Games.”

Yamamoto shared a more forward-looking perspective: "We believe that future sports buildings should be energy-positive. Our aquatics center is not only self-sufficient but also supplies electricity to the surrounding area. During non-sports season, it becomes a regional energy hub, which changes the entire economic model."

Surprisingly, after answering, Kramer asked Sun Xue, "Do you have any relevant practices in China? Sports facilities in small and medium-sized cities may face more challenges."

Everyone's attention was focused on Sun Xue again...