A few weeks ago, I asked Vivian (Head of GEW Malaysia Secretariat) what date falls on the day that marks 100 Days to GEW.
After a few minutes of intense calculation, like a Chinese Feng Shui master, she exclaimed "on the eight, eight" !
8/8 ! Wow!! Excellent ! What an auspicious day !
I have a special affinity for the number 8. I have done almost everything important on a date that somehow adds up to 8. Call it superstition. Also according to numerology, my "life path" number is 8 (date of birth + month of birth + year of birth, all reduced to a single digit).
So, with that date, we had 2 reasons to celebrate now - one for the 100 Days to GEW and the other, it falls on an auspicious date !
Now the next challenge is to get the Patron, Dato' Saifuddin's time on that date. I managed to get a brief appointment with the Deputy Minister and his aide a week before the 8th. They kindly agreed "8th is fine, though it looks like a super busy day" ! Time : 2.30pm.
I was exhilarated we had the VIP's date and time out - now to confirm the venue and the menu and to send the "mark your dates" alerts out whilst we plan the program.
As we were working out the details, we (my team and I) realized from various Facebook updates, Money Tree, a GEW partner will be having their YES Challenge on the same day and time too.
I did not like the idea of competing with a partner event and also to divide the entrepreneur community. So I rang Michael Reyes (Regional CEO of Money Tree) to explore the possibility of a joint event. Michael liked the idea. So did I.
Michael and I met to discuss the possibility. But even before I arrived at the venue, I realized this was going to be a tough one. I was confined by the Patron's time and his preference for a venue - in central KL whilst Michael was confined by his sponsor's venue in Taman Tun.
We discussed and agreed we have no choice but to keep the events separate. We also discussed the media and the invitee list and agreed our audience is also different except for a few judges. I have to live with some of these key people not attending the GEW function. That was fine - the judges have to be there to support Michael and Money Tree.
We shook hands and agreed we will proceed with each other's events and support each other in other ways.
The plans for the countdown then proceeded and then the fun began - Dato' Saifuddin can now only make it at 1.30pm and he had to leave by 2.30 pm for another appointment with a another Minister.
We had to move the tea menu to a lunch menu. We did it gladly.
The venue was fixed at Saloma Bistro Cafe - a nice white washed bungalow and cafe a few metres from KLCC.
More on the event in my next entry....
2 comments:
would love to come to this event.. its on the 21st nov, but where? And, have you got a website on details or a list of attendees?
hello is there a website for this event?
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