Why I shy away from the National Achievers Congress 2013

By Laura Lee
For the 21st National Achievers Congress (NAC) 2013 to have been conducted annually since 1993, I found the level of organisational skill and professionalism displayed by its event organiser Success Resources to be sadly lacking from the outset.

I was elated when I received an invitation from one of the publishers that I had worked with before that I would be given two complimentary tickets to attend NAC 2013.

All I had to do was to submit my details such as name, email and mobile number (no.).

When I encountered some technical difficulties in my online registration and alerted the organiser via email, SR sales and marketing executive David Tan called me and took down the details of the complimentary ticket for the second person over the phone.

If I thought the whole registration exercise was resolved, it was not so as they got the email address of my friend wrong. Thus, he did not receive any email notification of his registration being confirmed.

I received my ticket no. via email and alerted David about the non-receipt of the ticket no. for my friend. He assured me it would be sent in due time.

The email also provided a layout plan of the seating arrangement. Since our tickets are complimentary, we were given the general seats, which are the furthermost seats from the stage.

On 29 April, I received an SMS of my ticket no. which I am supposed to show the organiser in case I do not print my e-ticket. The ticket no. was different from the one that was emailed to me while for my friend, both his ticket numbers tally. The tickets are non-transferable.

I called David the next day over the confusion of my ticket numbers. He informed me they are facing challenges and assured me that since I am registered, I should have no problems gaining admittance despite the different ticket numbers that has been issue to me.

Although the dates of NAC 2013 were changed to 1-3 May from 3-5 May because of the 13th general election (GE) which has now been fixed on 5 May, it was not an issue with me.

When I told David that I could not check the NAC’s programme on its website, he told me they would be announced during the event. I think it is very poor show when you do not know the itinerary before you go for an event.

When I asked about one of the speakers whom I know, Groupon Malaysia’s founder and chief executive officer Joel Neoh, David informed me he would be speaking the next day (1 May) at 9.30am and reminded me that registration starts at 7.30 am and to be there early if I want to collect my goody bag as it is one a first come first served basis. The door gifts were the least of my concerns.

On 30 April, I received another SMS which reads, “Gender Reminder: NAC 2013 … Hall C Level 1. CEO” The word “gender” caught my attention. I thought it was one of the SMSes on the GE.

If this SMS is coming from SR CEO as indicated by the last word of its SMS message, I am now having more doubts as to the standard of this annual congress. I was, however, thankful that the SMS told me where to go when you are at the venue.

Making my way to The MINES Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan, Selangor was a breeze that morning as it was a public holiday.

I was told to go the registration room where I could hear the speaker in the next hall. I was given a form to fill in my details. I asked the event crew, “Why am I given a form to fill in my details all over again when I had done my online registration earlier?” The reply was, “It is a waiver clause that I have to sign.”

To cut down the jargon used in its form on the legal notices, as a participant of the NAC 2013, you are asked to sign away your rights to take any photos and do any audio visual recording of the sessions, which is the exclusive right of its organiser only.

You grant SR to use you for their advertising, trade, promotion, exhibition and other lawful purpose.

The organiser does not guarantee the “completeness, reliability and current accuracy of the materials” and clears itself of making any “promises or representation of income”.

SR also has to right to make changes, including the speakers’ line up.

The form states that “If you are unwilling to agree to these terms, you do have to participate in this event” and reiterates that SR assumes “NO RESPONSIBILITY or liability whatsoever on behalf of any participant with the information and materials provided through this event.” (The caps aren’t mine.)

The form ends by saying the participant’s “only representation, guarantee, and recourse is a refund of your purchase price”.

Except for the signature, date and ticket number and mailing address, you are required to provide in the form details you had earlier given when you register online. I did that just to get the process over with and was given a wrist band to wear which would allow me entrance to the NAC 2013 for the three days’ duration.

The wrist band was glued loosely so that I could slip it off when I’m taking my bath at home. How thoughtful of the organiser but what came to mind was something else.

With SR so particular about the non-transferability of the ticket for admission to the congress, this was just the loophole the participants needed.

I entered hall C past 10am. It was filled with people. The event crew was still waiting for the extra chairs to arrive to accommodate late comers like me.

Meanwhile, they tried to slot us to the empty seats in front, which to me defeated their efforts that people like me are supposed be seated at the back rows.

The sound was so loud in front that I refused the empty seat shown to me. I found one in the middle of the hall. The speaker Cheri Tree’s voice was booming away as she shares with the audience on how to “crack” or decipher the different personality codes to help you achieve your sales.

She was talking about the characteristics of the nurturing personality type when I left the hall, which was not conducive. Also, I did not feel good with my friend still waiting for a seat and being told that later his ear was suffering from the piercing loudness of the sound system.

I left also because it was not Joel who was supposed to be speaking and nowhere in the booklet that was given to me when I registered was there any information on the programme for this congress for the next three days.

The booklet features 17 pictures of the speakers on its front cover and repeated the pictures of the speakers followed by a brief profile on them. Nowhere in the venue did the organiser attempt to put up a tentative programme either on who will be speaking at a certain time.

The booklet given contains a message from SR chief executive officer, advertisements, a page on the organiser’s upcoming events for this year and 40 blank pages where you are supposed to write your notes.

At the bottom of these blank pages with carry the heading “NAC 2013: Step Into Your Greatness”, there is a line which says these pages are copyright and all rights reserved if you thinking of reproducing it in any form without SR’s written consent.

I could not help but laugh at all these legalities. Who in the world would want to reproduce these blank notes?

On my way out, I received another SMS asking me to come early the next day to avoid the traffic and a reminder that “multi-billionaire from China will be on stage” the next day and a special one-hour session with KC See from 7.30am although the door opens at 8am.

What the organiser fails to realise that high achievers like to be in control of their lives and want to plan ahead, and not subject themselves to an organiser who likes to keep the information to themselves and release it when it suits them.

I am glad I am not a paying participant. Otherwise, I would have fumed much more at such treatment.

Great fun @Tokyo Street promotion area in Pavilion KL

By Laura Lee

Tomorrow (30 April) is the last day of the two-week long Japan Art Exhibition, which is held at the Tokyo Street promotion area on level 6 of the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. For those who still have not been to this new section of the shopping mall, do make a stop over here.

I had a most enjoyable time here when the shopping mall created some fun activities for us media to participate in so that we would get to know Tokyo Street more intimately.

Before we were divided into various groups according to the colour codes, some of us had the opportunity to have a drink first at Komugi Cafe housed in the Tokyo Street promotion area before the fun began.

There are in total 40 kiosks here while the rest are lots. While waiting for the others to arrive, some of us dabbled our hands in origami, learning how to fold a sakura.

A number of us thought that this would be one of the activities that we would be required to accomplish in this “explorace” but it was not to be so.

Don’t worry if you can’t get some of the steps correct while making your sakura as there is a helpful instructor around. Once done, don’t forget to add your sakura to the tree as you will be rewarded with a free voucher.

I didn’t pin mine up to the tree as I wanted to treasure the first sakura I made, thanks to the help shown by the instructor.

Once divided into our various groups, our first task was to dress up our chosen candidate in a kimono or yukata. Since one of the guys in our group had his hair tied up at the back and looked very much like a Japanese youth, we decided that he would be our best representative.

We were glad we selected him as we learnt later that it was easier to dress a guy in yukata than a lady in kimino. Being the first group to accomplish that, we from the red team felt very much elated.

We had to accomplish the other tasks in the various stations and were given 20 minutes at each of these stations. We had to decipher the clue given in the envelope to decide which is the selected lot or kiosk to go to accomplish our task.

At our first station, we have to figure out the different flavours of mochi that were given to our team to try. We accomplished that within 20 minutes and were told that we have a good head start against the other teams.

Our next clue took a while for us to figure out which was the kiosk meant in the clue that was given but we finally found it but there was another team there already.

We were told to wait for the other team to complete their task first before we could do ours. Our insistence of not wanting to wait for our turn paid off as the event organiser and kiosk owner cleared a space for us to start on our quest.

We were given micro-sized nano building blocks and had to make the structure specified in the picture. We wrongly placed two of these blocks and struggled to remove it. The kiosk owner had to help us get that two tiny blocks out.

When we were at Legoland in one of our media familiarisation trips and were given the opportunity to create some structures, we were given each a tweezer to enable us to remove the blocks, which were much bigger than these tiny nano blocks designed by Kawada in Japan for those aged 12 and above.

The reason given why these blocks are designed to be so tiny is “The smaller it is, the more realistic the work becomes!”

I won’t advise that these blocks land in the hands of children below the specified age group as the packaging for these nano building blocks has a choking hazard warning and stipulates that it is not for children under three years old.

When the results were revealed later, only one team managed to accomplish this task within the time given. It was certainly not us as we lost so much time trying to get the two blocks out.

In our next task, we were supposed to capture several Polaroid shots of what depicts Tokyo Street and it must have one of us in the picture. We took a photo of one us shopping at Daiso, one of favourite Japanese outlets where most of the items are sold for RM5 each.

We got a bit carried away in our photo selection for this task but had great fun nevertheless decided which kiosk or outlet to select at the Tokyo Street promotion area.

In our last task, we had no choice but to wait for the other team to finish eating the burgers before we could start on ours.

While some of us figured out the two Japanese words that we are supposed to say before we start and end our task, the others watched the demonstration on how to make the burger as they have to make it later for our team to eat it all.

We did it again within the stipulated time and rushed to deliver this envelope to the last station, which we thought was where the sakura art origami counter was.

It was not so. We finally found the correct kiosk where a man was waiting to receive our last envelope. We were so confident that we would be the winning team and overlooked the five minutes penalty for not accomplishing our nano building block task.

Although we turned out to be the first runner up, we had great fun. Our team members each received two pieces of limited edition Tokyo Street tea tray and a nano building block set.

I and some of our red team members took a picture for remembrance

The tea tray is given as a free gift to customers for every RM50 spent. There are four different motifs to select from.

One of our team members was busy shooting our participation throughout the game and stopped only to join us when we asked him to pose for one of the Polaroid shots with oversized Kitty cat and Doraemon soft toys.

In the last task, he lent us his assistance again in finishing the burger and figuring out the Japanese words. It was good bonding among us and lots of fun although we were not the champion team to take home RM3,500 worth of prizes.

Currently, also on at Pavilion KL is the KakiSeni Festival 2013 which culminates in the 10th annual BOH Camerionian Arts Awards on 1 May.

For more details on its happenings, visit www.pavilion-kl.com.

MAHB assures klia2 will be opened on 28 June 2013

By Laura Lee

Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MABH)’s release on its first quarter performance for 2013, which just came in, addresses a rumour that has been rife in the market regarding the scheduled completion of klia2, the new low-cost carrier terminal.

The airport operator said, “With regards to the construction of klia2, MAHB has noticed that some of the contractors continue to be behind schedule. The contractors, however, have reaffirmed their commitment to work towards the completion date of 28 June 2013.

“MAHB will diligently monitor the progress and will be meeting the contractors, airlines and agencies again soon to determine their readiness towards the date of 28 June 2013.

“MAHB wishes to reiterate that all stakeholders must be ready without compromising safety, quality and operational efficiency in completing klia2.”

At the inaugural flight of Air France to Kuala Lumpur on 23 April, I was alarmed when one of the industry players involved in transportation industry shared with me his concerns that klia2’s opening might be delayed possibly until the end of this year.

I was informed that of recent no photographs were allowed to be taken at the construction site of klia2.

I bumped into Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERLSB) chief executive officer Noormah Mohd Noor at the Air France’s function and asked her for her comments about this matter as ERLSB has been tasked with the construction of the RM100 million ERL’s extension to klia2.

Her immediate response was, “No comments” but on after thoughts she added that on their part, they have delivered their side of the bargain and kept to the schedule.

Since I was back at the KL International Airport yesterday for the inaugural flight of Turkish Airlines, I could not help but check with MAHB communications staff and officials who were present. I was assured that klia2 scheduled opening would remain at 28 June.

From left: Tourism Malaysia director general Datuk Mirza Mohd Taiyab, Turkey ambassador in Malaysia Her excellency Serap Ataay, MAHB Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, Turkish Airlines board member Ismal Gercek and Azmi at the cake cutting to commemorate Turkish Airlines' resumption of flights to KL after more than a decade 

One of the assurances came from MABH senior general manager (GM) of operations services Datuk Azmi Murad, who was supposed to have left for the Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition in South Africa as he is one of the speakers.

MAHB GM of corporate planning Randhill Singh was the last minute replacement for him as the speaker for the conference session on The Global Report, which addresses the unique economic, geographical and cultural challenges in airport city and aerotropolis development.

I asked Azizah Aziz, Tourism Malaysia senior deputy director from the director general office for her comments on klia2’s possible delay in its opening. Her reply was she is happy as long as klia2 opens this year.

This new target date for klia2’s opening was mooted by the prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who had wanted it to coincide with KLIA’s launch date in 1998. He made the announcement on 5 January this year.

The earlier date set for klia2’s opening was this month (April).

At MAHB's recent annual general meeting, its chairman Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah had reportedly maintained that klia2, which was 82%, was on track to begin operations on 28 June.

However, research houses like RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd and CIMB Research have raised questions about klia2 being able to meet its targeted date.