What this event over at Marina Bay Sands was, I don't remember now.
It's been a while.
It might have been an investor-relation thing where participants who attended came full of fire and passion for the disruptive work they were doing in their respective worlds.
Whatever this event was, the Australia-Singapore connection, represented so effectively by the dominance of Australian companies in the ballroom, was certainly there.
One company, I remember, dealt with eucalyptus trees. Maybe it were the product they were selling that made them memorable, or maybe it were all the standee banners they had, showing pictures of the trees, the forests, the technique, the process, the sustainability, everything. I can't recall what exactly it was they were looking for- the percentile calculations appeared to be a little boggling- but I think they were looking for funding for the plots, or investment in a couple of trees.
I didn't speak to anyone from the booth.
I didn't speak to anyone at the booth next to theirs either.
Not because I didn't want to network with the lady.
But because she didn't seem to want to speak with me.
It was a very simple setup. A single standee banner, a table, a sign-up book, and the lady herself at the table typing away professionally on her laptop.
I don't know what role she was or what business she had there, but sales and conversation was not part of her portfolio, I suppose, since she neither greeted approaching visitors nor gave out her name card.
What she did do, however, was to (curtly) indicate that you should put your name down in the sign-up book.
Which I did.
I don't know if I ever received an e-mailer from them.
I doubt so.
It puzzles me though- is it the nature of those in medical-related professions (they deployed therapists to patients who were recuperating at home) that they maintain a serious demeanor in name of professionalism?
But why then would you fly all the way here, spend all that money, and not hobnob with anybody? How much effort would it be to hand out a name card?
That being said, some of the other companies seemed to be on the quiet side as well.
Either that, or they might have been in the presentation room right next door, where, only a few moments earlier, had a wellness company wrapping up their presentation and taking questions from the floor.
I was there.
At the back.
Listening to them run through their deck explaining how their business of meal preparation and meal deliveries helped busy individuals and their families lead healthy lifestyles through carefully curated menus and the plus of convenience.
I thought the concept quite a good one.
Except that I'm not sure if it were the right audience sitting there listening to their presentation.
I hope it were.
Because those that I saw coming out from the ballroom to queue at the buffet table thereafter (I was at the coffee machine) seemed to belong more of the (local) retiree community.