What Matters the Most
Nov 24, 2008 Events
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Over the past week, I’ve been attending a lot of events, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2008 Singapore.
Thinking back on the week, though, one thing struck me. The session that I enjoyed the most, and gained the most out of, in my opinion, wasn’t the talks. It wasn’t listening to experts, etc. It was the networking session - just interacting with other people who are passionate about the subject.
At the end of it all, that’s what I think matters the most - the people. Not “experts” or concepts or anything. Yes, those are important. But what’s the most important is the people (to me, at least).
What matters the most to you?
Tags: community, Global Entrepreneurship Week, People, singapore
The #1 Way to Build a Community
Image via Wikipedia
Over the weekend I attended a few sessions at Podcamp Singapore and the Digital Media Festival. The one thing that struck me the most was the idea of going where the people are.
At DM Fest, the topic came up when I was talking to someone just after a session about communities. I was asking his opinion about whether it made more sense to use your own logins if you’re trying to build a community, or to try and leverage technologies like OpenID so people can use other accounts to join. The answer was a pretty obvious one.
At Podcamp Singapore, the topic came up in both the sessions I attended. Coleman talked about choosing the right medium - text, audio or video. As you can imagine, one of the main factors discussed was about audience preference.
The other session I attended was by Amsie from Curious Foodie, who shared her journey on blogging. During the session, the discussion went on a very nice (in my opinion) tangent when the owner of fourcardflush, a poker blog, asked for advice on how to build the local online poker community - the poker community in Singapore is largely unseen online. The suggestions? To go out into the offline community, take part in the games, and build from there.
3 very different sessions, with different focuses and applications. But the common general theme is quite prevalent.
The easiest way to build a community is to go where the people are. Don’t just try to pull them to where you are. Go to where they are, join them, and build relationships first. Then do you thing, and they will follow.
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Tags: audience, blog, community, OpenID, podcamp singapore, singapore
Liveblogging Podcamp Singapore
Nov 1, 2008 Announcements, blogging
I’m attending Podcamp Singapore, and will be experimenting with live blogging using CoverItLive. I’ll be liveblogging the two afternoon sessions. I haven’t decided which of the sessions I’ll attend, but yeah.
You’ll be able to watch the live blog of the two sessions here. One will be from 2-3pm and the second from 3-4pm. The topics of the sessions will be announced when I decide which one I’ll be attending.
[?]Tags: blog, conference, coveritlive, live blog, podcamp singapore, singapore
Going it Alone
Sep 7, 2008 Sports
After the Olympics, there was quite a bit of controversy here in Singapore about the table-tennis team. One of the biggest issues was that Singapore’s top male player, Gao Ning, who was aiming to make the top 8, lost in the 3rd round without a coach on the court-side.
He blamed his team manager and coach for his loss, saying that they “embarrassed” him.
I, for one, think that it’s a really stupid controversy, and a really stupid thing to be talking about. Gao Ning should have nobody but himself to blame. Yes, it was a mistake and it was unfortunate that he didn’t have a coach. But he’s supposed to be a top-class player, he should have been able to make the step up. After all, he’s the one playing the game, not the coach.
Contrast his story (and reaction) with the story of Taiwanese tennis player Lu Yen-hsun, who made it to the last 16 of the Olympics - beating Andy Murray in the process - also without a coach.
If he could do it, why couldn’t Gao Ning - who’s much more highly regarded in his sport?
At the end of the day, you are the one who’s putting in the performances and doing the task. Sure, it’s always good to have people behind you and supporting you. But when it comes down to it, it’s about you and how well you do.
You’re always going to face controversies. There are times when you’re going to have to go it alone. And that’s the true test - can you step up by yourself?
[?]Tags: coach, controversy, gao ning, lu yen-hsun, olympics, singapore, table tennis
What I want Social Media Breakfast: Singapore to be
May 26, 2008 Personal, blogging
On Saturday, 24 May, Daryl, Sheylara, Brad and I hosted the second Social Media Breakfast. I want to thank all who came, and my apologies for not being able to talk to all of you. If you were there but we didn’t manage to talk, feel free to connect with me online - all my contact details are on my blog sidebar.
Daryl posted about the successes and the failures of the event, and it got me thinking. When we first started this, it was more of a “make it up as we go along” kind of thing. We never really firmed up what we wanted from it.
So here’s my opinion on the topic. Disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion of why I wanted to start this. It doesn’t represent the whole group or community. So feel free to disagree.
To me, the Social Media Breakfast is a way to build real, deeper relationships. It’s about making friends (Friends with a capital F), not just about business contacts or networking per se. That’s why I like it with the informal format. I think there are lots of networking sessions out there where you can meet really intelligent people and have good discussions. They are all well and good, and there’s a place for all that.
But I want this to be more than that. I want it to be about building deeper, more personal friendships. I want it to be a place where you can meet and catch up with friends, and build personal relationships and just have fun together.
It’s very easy for us to get caught up with work and with the online social world - our blogs, Twitter, etc. But no matter how personal our blogs or tools like Twitter are, they can’t replicate or replace the personal connections made through real life interactions.
And that’s what I want the Social Media Breakfast to provide. A platform to bring the social back, as CC Chapman put it.
Yes, when you gather intelligent, passionate people (like all who were at the event) together, there are bound to be interesting discussions that get you thinking. But that isn’t what I want the main focus of it to be. I would like the main focus of the Social Media Breakfast to be the relationships built, not the discussions that took place.
Once again, though. That’s just my opinion, and I’m just one person. So from you guys, especially those who have been to one of the first two breakfasts, what do you want from Social Media Breakfast: Singapore?
[?]Tags: daryl tay, friends, ladyironchef, relationships, sheylara, singapore, social media breakfast
It’s not all about the money
May 26, 2008 blogging
Picture via About a week ago, Digital Life (the tech-focused section of the most widely-read newspaper here in Singapore) had an article about blogging. The online version is only available to paid subscribers, I think, but it basically asked the question of whether people are earning money from their blogs - and as such, whether blogging was worth it.
Reading it kind of got on my nerves. The shortsightedness of it reflects part of why blogging hasn’t picked up in Singapore.
Blogging shouldn’t be about how much you can earn. Some of the best bloggers I know - Chris Brogan, Dan Schawbel, Robert Hruzek (among others mentioned on my recommendations page) - bloggers who provide amazing content consistently, don’t run ads on their blogs, and as such, I don’t think they make an direct income from their blog.
There’s nothing wrong with putting ads on your blog in the hope of earning from your content. But that shouldn’t be the focuus of it. You shouldn’t be blogging to earn money. That isn’t the point of it. The point of it is to let yoru voice be heard.
And the benefits go far further than direct income. The benefits are how it builds your personal brand, the number of relationships you can build, etc. It’s not about how much you make from it. If anything, the money comes indirectly from building your personal brand.
If you’re starting out just because you want to earn money online, it’s not going to work. Blogging should not all about the money.
[?]Tags: blogging, earning, money, personal brand, singapore
Do we really care about safety?
May 19, 2008 life
Image by nimboo via Flickr
Those of you not in Singapore might not have heard of the Mas Selamat incident. Basically, Mas Selamat was allegedly the head of the Singapore branch of Jemaah Islamiah, and he escaped from the detention center a few months ago.
When the incident first happened, there was a lot of press about it. Everyone was talking about it, it was a huge concern. Someone even started a Facebook account for it, stirring questions about whether people - especially youths - were treating the issue too lightly.
The thing is, there has been no word about the issue for a while now. All the press has died down. The posters are almost completely ignored. Is the threat gone? No, because he’s still out there (as far as we know). But yet nobody seems to bother anymore.
Which leads me to wonder - is it really safety that people are worried about? Or is it a worry about the unexpected? Because if it is really about safety, there’s no reason that the worry has died down. People aren’t really worried about safety breaches. People are worried about unexpected safety breaches. When it comes to public perception, it’s not truly a matter of how serious or important the breach is. It’s how unexpected it is.
The unexpected is what really stirs people up and gets them talking. Once you’re no longer new and fresh - once you’re no longer unexpected - you’ll get ignored, no matter how important you really are.
How do you ensure you don’t become borign and get ignored? How do you stay ‘fresh’?
Tags: ignored, importance, Mas Selamat, Mas Selamat bin Kastari, singapore, unexpected
