°”☆°”•[ΞsŧħéR]•”°★”°: Broadcast Asia 19

It had been an enriching experience for me these 4 days at Singapore Expo for Broadcast Asia 2007. As it was the second time I took part in this event, I felt more relaxed and experienced in a way. I thoroughly enjoyed this event (it beats sitting in the office doing data crunching from morning to evening every boring day) as I get the chance to meet and speak to many international delegates - His Excellency Paulo Alberto, Ambassador of Brazil, the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s office of Brunei, CEOs and professionals from Sweden, Germany, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and all over the world. I also get the chance to catch up with people I have known since last year, like Mediacorp Group CEO Lucas Chow, Assan, Giulio, William, the people from MDA and many others. It was a great time for networking and the only time I can get to use my name cards printed by the BBA office (else they would be sitting in my drawer collecting dust). I’ve been with GoMobile since BCA 2006, helping my boss with all the marketing and PR events and press conferences. I had done my fair share of reading up and learning on the job, not discounting the fact that I’m paid really well too!

Though broadcasting and digital multimedia technology may not be my forte, the event has no doubt provided me with an extremely good experience, with the chance to observe and study how different people from different countries and backgrounds come together to negotiate business, how professionals carry themselves and how unprofessional some people can be. I learned alot on the technicalities of this booming industry as well – DAB, DVB, DVB-H, DVB-T, DVB-S, T-DMB, DMB bla bla bla. I remembered how terrorized I was by all these terms when I first started learning them a year ago. How glad I am for myself that I’m able to let my concepts flow freely when I conduct presentations to clients.

This year, I’m really impressed with my friend Giulio as he was the highlight of the Singapore Media Fusion. I believe he has worked really hard for the past year to achieve such remarkable success. He told me that it had been tough trying to build alliances and getting companies to invest and collaborate. Giulio is a very nice person and I'm happy for him. His picture was on The Straits Times Friday June 22 with a page write-up on “Tune in to uninterrupted live TV anywhere”.

Giulio is the CEO of PGK Media and in alliance with Zentek, NCS, CNBC Asia, ESPN STAR Sports, Nokia and Sumsung, he has launched TV2GO, a Digital Mobile TV Broadcasting trial in Singapore. I recalled at BCA 2006, Giulio had only a small area and he had to showcase his TV-bag at our booth. And I had to be his model for that. But this year, he is different! His booth is centralized and he showcased 100 Nokia/Samsung phones receiving different broadcast programs at any time. It was the central of attraction for the press and the VIPs. In contrast, our booth seemed less in the limelight. We only had 2 paragraphs of media coverage in The Straits Times.

Well, I think it’s my boss. He really should be more aggressive. It’s useless having great technologies without anyone’s recognition. It’s equivalent to having nothing. In fact, our company is the only one in Singapore with two broadcast trial licenses, PGK has only one and Innoxius has one too. But my boss is so stubborn. He told me he refused to do what Giulio has done, simply just to capture all media attention but no true technology. And I can tell he refused to walk over and be friendly. Maybe he’s right but I don’t know that much to judge his position. But anyway, there’s alot to learn on my side as I see how hard work can transform businesses, how people can rise to power and status, how friends can become enemies, how people can fall, and the secrets behind success. Both PGK and ourselves are start-ups, aggressively supported by MDA, but both are almost one-man-show kind. With limitations in resources and finance, it’s not easy, but if Giulio can change his destiny, I don’t see the reason why my boss can’t. He is just too stubborn. Clouded! Like how George slapped me with this word too. lol..

Giulio (He's a white boy and a sweetheart too) showing his mobile TV to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts interviewed by Channel 5 News.

This is opposite my booth and a very interesting one. Don't know why it's here in the first place. It's the launch of Brazilian Football & Leisure Channel & Web Portal in Singapore. Quite a hot issue, been hearing the publicity on Class 95 every morning for the past week.