Inter-Alliance International Group
"The Winning Edge"
Business Seminar
May 2005
Well, what a fantastic few days….!!
This year's Inter-Alliance International Group Business Seminar
was held at the Pan Pacific Glenmarie Hotel on the outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur from the 24th through to the 27th of May 2005.
Using the theme, "The Winning Edge", we encouraged attendees
to focus on sharpening their professional and technical skills so
that they constantly improve on their chances of "winning"
sales and clients.
The total number of attendees at the “Winning Edge”
Seminar was just slightly under 100. That’s a pretty impressive
50% increase on the previous best attendance.
Following the launch of the Seminar and its theme – “The
Winning Edge” – the opening night’s international
food evening was a delight. The selection and choice on offer was
quite amazing. Every taste was catered for. A wonderful start to
what turned out to be an exceptional few days.
More importantly, the quality of the presentations and of the syndicate
sessions was immensely impressive and the new “business at
leisure” concept worked a treat. On the social side, the evening
events were varied and offered something for everybody.
The business sessions got off to a flyer with the launch of the
new World Executive Club followed by excellent presentations from
3 of our key sponsors. Indeed, the very first of the sponsored sessions
(by Prudential) included an inter-active investment game that really
livened up proceedings and got everybody actively involved from
the very start.
Going into Kuala Lumpur for the “ Souled Out” evening
was a great experience especially with the presentation of the first
ever World Executive Club recognitions and the confirmation that
our 3 Gold Club members would be travelling to Cape Town for their
Summit meeting with the IAI Group Board. For Liverpool supporters,
the night will be remembered forever.
Lance Fraser introduced himself at the opening session the following
morning and all of Thursday’s business sessions maintained
the high standards set on the opening day. The evening provided
delegates with a choice of what to do: floodlit golf, a visit to
another restaurant in KL or a free night to enjoy the hotel facilities.
It was nice to have a choice.
The golf sessions were fantastic. The 2 courses that we played
on were in excellent condition and were suitably challenging to
players of our calibre.
Friday saw the first ever “business at leisure” session
and it proved to be a very popular concept. Separate concurrent
sessions were held to introduce our new IT support system, MIDAS.
These sessions proved to be very valuable as an insight into the
functionality that will be made available to all IFAs in the future.
The Gala Dinner on the final evening was again a very special affair.
A hectic evening followed as we loosened up listening to the live
band over a quiet nightcap. Some of us played a friendly game of
pool. But throughout the evening discussions continued on all sorts
of business related subjects: the growth of the Chinese economy,
the movement of the Euro against the dollar, and, the inverted yield
curve conundrum.
Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and hugely educational event.
We were delighted again by the support we received from our sponsors,
the quality of their presentations and their energy in making sure
that they met as many delegates as possible. Elene’s work
in coordinating the entire event was incredible – this was
truly a question of one person doing the work of many. Lance organised
the golf outings superbly and Lili made sure that all the electronics
worked smoothly and then took enough photographs to wallpaper the
entire office.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again record my thanks
to all of our sponsoring Product Providers (see their details inside)
and - Thank you one and all.
The hotel management and staff were of the highest quality –
and I have been involved with many different hotels around the world
organizing these sorts of events. I would say that this was one
of the finest experiences that I have had with a business seminar
anywhere.
These pages have been prepared to enable you to relive the Seminar,
if you were there, or to sample the quality of the meeting if you
missed out this time. Either way the message will be clear - do
not miss our next Seminar in May 2006.
Finally, thanks to all of you who were able to be there. I hope
that you came away with some new ideas, some renewed enthusiasm
and sufficient determination to achieve a “Winning Edge”
for yourself within your business environment.
