How time flies!!!

The past week, Lab Asia 2009 was held in Putra World Trade Center(PWTC) in KL and Agilent had a booth there to show off some of the latest technologies and instrumentation. I volunteered to help man the booth for all 3 days as well as to document the event through photography.

A few key lessons could be gleaned from the event.

First lesson, as we age, we build relationships and networks. They span the range of the good, the bad and the neutral. I am glad to say that most of the lasting relationships and networks that I have built up over the years have been more good than bad.

During the event, I met up with so many people whom I have not seen for quite a while. There was Mr. Ooi from Chemopharm, who now have Khoo Teng Liat and Lim Teck Thai working with him. Khoo was instrumental in hiring me into HP back in 1981 and Teck Thai was a Pengarah (Director) of one of the departments in Chemistry Department then. 1981!!!! That's like a millenia ago!

There were ex- staff who continues to move around in the same industry and circles. Lip Woon Thiam and Teh Teong Soon still work with us. Koo Siew Ling and Dr Law Khoon Huat work on the competitive side and some are kind of neutral.

There were the customers who have gone from being students - like Dr Tan Soo Choon ( in 1981 when I first made his acquaintance, he was studying for his Masters in NDRC, USM) to being key customers who can influence purchases.

There were many whom I have not met for more than a decade since I no longer work directly with the customers in Malaysia, who still remembers me clearly as the engineer who can lift the GC by himself from floor to table during installations. The ones who came by the booth were people like Mr, Jeevan who heads the chemistry dept now, Danny Daulan based in Kedah and a bunch of ex Petronas people who are now in different companies.

Secondly, such events provides the opportunities to work with your colleagues from different countries and fucntions. I mean, one knows these people, but in the normal course of work, you normally do not interact with them in any significant way. We had our Marcom ladies Lynn and Sirada. The AE manager Hwee Sian Rob Solazzo, Miji Lee and so on.

Third key lesson of such events - you can still make new acquaintances despite being around for dinosaur years. As I look at the other booths, I see many are manned by much younger people whom I do not know.

It's time to turn on the charm!