Getting our just desserts

The rewards of journalism are rarely pecuniary. Which is why a slap up meal at one of the newest fancy restaurants in town at someone else's expense is always greatly appreciated. Not just that, but the wise old heads at Text100, one of my favourite IT PR agencies, correctly predicted that most journalists would already have had about as much yu sheng as they could stomach ... and therefore the obligatory raw fish and sugared, honeyed diced vegetable salad was dispensed with in favour of something a little different.

In this instance, Oracle were hosting a Chinese New Year meal for Singapore media at Aurum in Clarke Quay. Good - if slightly weird - food, good company always helps bridge the gap between the news makers and the news breakers.

I enjoyed swapping notes with Frank Koo, Managing Director for Oracle Singapore, as well as catching up with some of my peers from the local media scene ... though it is amazing how the IT journalism landscape is shrinking. It can't be good for the vendors, or the reading public to see so few journalists being in a position to specialise in IT reporting. Think I'll have to discuss this in a future post.

[Not pictured is Janice Wong ... Text100 Account Manager, amateur photographer, and honorary Jock.]

James2

I know that a lot of Singaporeans have problems distinguishing between different one-syllable ang moh names, and so this was an important consideration when it came to recruiting Alphabet Media’s new Director of Sales & Marketing.

So please welcome … James (Hosking). The fact that like me he’s also English (technically as a Cornishman he’s ‘South Welsh’) is just a pleasant coincidence. Or alternatively an insufferable imposition, depending on whether you have a soft spot for us Brits.

James2, as he already likes to be called, has been a sales whiz kid for a while, having delivered sales and maketing training for a variety of UK-based firms. He came to Singapore at the end of last year to follow his better half (currently working for Strait Laced), and he is now keen as mustard to build on the success of Public Sector Technology & Management, Asian Security Review and our events business.

James2 has a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Warwick University, and is both a Cancer and an Ox. He’s also a terrific addition to Alphabet Media’s pool team, despite having a wooden leg.

[Pictured above: Sitting pretty - James2 makes himself feel at home.]

Mumsy

This is a very special person, and it's not often that you get to see her in action, so I thought I'd share this rare pic with the rest of you. Elaine ('Mumsy' to a select group of conference managers from the old AiC Worldwide) takes good ideas, and makes them happen.

Through a mixture of organisation, imperial calm and delicious home cooking she has ensured the smooth running of our events from focused seminars for the likes of Adobe and SAP, as well as our own 220-delegate Government Technology Forum and standalone conferences like Transport Security Forum.

Elaine and I go back quite a long way, as I still remember chatting with her on my first day's work in Singapore. A lot has happened since then, and a lot has changed. But I'm very glad to say that Elaine remains the same - brilliant at what she does.

Here comes the cavalry

When in an earlier post I said that Alphabet was hiring, well I meant it. We have pretty aggressive plans for 2007 - including the holding of 6 events, 12 seminars, the launch of a new magazine, and the retention of the annual Symantec Pub Trivia Quiz trophy. Good as we are, we're going to need a little help to tick off all of the above - and, thankfully, help has arrived in the very pleasant form of Kelly, Jeslin and Sita (left-right).

Kelly joins our sales and marketing team, with a particular emphasis on events and Asian Security Review magazine. Jeslin adds to our inhouse telemarketing capacity ... particularly important in the lead up to five government seminars we're organising for SAP as well as for our own upcoming Transport Security Forum conference. And last but not least Sita is takes our newly-created post of Operations Manager to ensure the slick handling of pre-event logistics and on site management of all our conferences and seminars.

Gone but not forgotten

All good things come to an end. No, this isn't the prelude to an existentialist commentary, just a fond farewell to Alphabet's first pair of interns - Alanna and Sarah (left-right).

Cheeky, chirpy and practical, Temasek Polytechnic's golden girls impressed from the beginning. They have been with us for over six months, and in that time they've shared the many highs, and surprisingly few lows of the rest of the Alphabet team, from the run-up to last year's Government Technology Forum through to the ramping up of our events business for 2007 and beyond.

Of course nobody is perfect, and although we were able to pass on a little wisdom from the daily operations of Alphabet Media, we ultimately weren't able to address their rather worrying penchant for North Asian drama (Alanna) and Hello Kitty accessories (Sarah).