Always a blessing it is, I tell you, to be able to go for networking meetings, especially if- and when- they come as a surprise.
I am not a social butterfly.
But if there be meetings, in particular, at places that are interesting, I make the best effort to be there.
For this one meeting, honestly, I had not thought I would attend a gathering under the BNI network.
Our business is, after all, a little bit versatile from the regular ones networks like BNI tend to prefer.
But our work does have one of the most varied, and versatile applications in all kinds of industries big and small, and so it was that I found myself at a location somewhere here in River Valley on an early morning to support a business associate doing his marketing presentation that day.
If the presence of the networking breakfast interested me, the place interested me further.
It is not every day, nor every occasion that I have the opportunity to visit a place like the Chui Huay Lim Club.
Perhaps this might sound a little arrogant, like why should I- not being Teochew- want to have the chance to visit there, but I've always found clan houses interesting, and as much as I of this generation doesn't have opportunity to (casually) drop into the clan houses of my own dialect, I'm thoroughly fascinated by the heritage and history, what they used to stand for, what they stand for now.
Fascination, however, is not enough, and it would be presumptuous if I were to tell my Teochew friends that Chui Huay Lim Club is a place I would love to visit.
I wont' be going into the history and heritage of this place right now in this post.
But let's just say that I was entranced by their huge, grand, towering entrance as much as I was entranced by the sight of a wooden junk ship model placed neatly by the side near the wheelchair ramp.
If the exterior looked traditional, the interior, may I say, looked bright and cheery.
I'm not sure the facilities of the place- I've been told that there is a swimming pool- but there was a restaurant on the ground floor, and a huge ballroom up on the second floor.
Outside the ballroom was a foyer where this morning breakfast was served, and can I say, never have I been more thankful for the Nanyang Coffee in the huge coffee canister on self-service free flow. Of course, glad I was too for the breakfast foods, that, to my surprise, were actually quite substantial.
Not only did they have century egg and pork congee, there were sandwiches, pastries, a bit of fried stuff, and a variety of dim sum-style kuehs too.
I (obviously) helped myself to a cup of strong black sugarless coffee, but I got myself some of the chye tow kuays and sandwiches too.
The size of the ballroom was comparable to just about any ballroom in a hotel, with a full-sized stage, full-sized curtains, a high ceiling, and tables enough for a hundred, at least, or more.
Now I'm also not going to be talking about the BNI meeting itself- people have told me that every chapter, every week, is more or less the same- but let's just say I had a chance to estimate how many groups there were, how many individuals there were, what sort of businesses there were, and can I say I was thoroughly impressed by the level of enthusiasm they had at so early an hour, and the conviction of principles and values that this particular network did hold.
They have such discipline, I tell you.
Something that left a huge impact on me however was the varied number of businesses that exist in this country.
I don't mean huge industries or conglomerates.
I mean businesses that trade on a somewhat B2B kind of level where you can have a particular expertise and a range of tasks and a whole gamut of trade related to it.
They made sure you knew it- the BNI- for everyone got a minute, or so, to do their elevator pitch and some of them got creative, I tell you, introducing themselves with a song, a poem, or a quote that they had written by themselves and memorized by heart.
The gamut of businesses and trades was interesting.
One might be in education, for instance, and get to know someone with an expertise in vehicle tooling.
Another might be in insurance, and be in a group with someone who did professional cleaning.
There was just this entire extension of trades from all parts of the industry.
It made me wonder just how many businesses there were in this country, and how many were inter-related, if they were inter-related at all.
What's more, there was this huge sense of accountability.
Never mind that some of the presentations were actually done by volunteers- however assigned or otherwise- who sat through everything clicking away, there were also one or two who gave accounts of how their fellow members had offered assistance to each other during a time of necessity.
This morning I listened to our business associate make his presentation.
Then I introduced myself- in Mandarin!- and afterwards managed to slip downstairs just as the section of the pitch came round.
I don't mind listening to a pitch or strong suggestions to join a network.
But this was not the morning for me.
10am is not sales mode for me, introvert that I am, down I went the carpeted staircase back to the brightly lit, cheerful lobby where I waited for my colleague, and said business associate, to bounce back down.