Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting @ Singapore

This 5-days-event was tiring but very enjoyable. It is definitely better that the International Trade Mark Association (INTA) conference that I attended in Berlin. This networking filled event gave me many new contacts and even good friends. It gave me a great insight of networking and marketing.

Unlike INTA, it was not all work. I had the opportunity to meet some of my old friends for a meal and to catch up.

Since Singapore is nearby and I’ve been there a few times, I decided to take some cost cutting measure and stayed at One Florence Close again. I paid SGD88 a day. The recommended hotels e.g. Pan Pacific near the conference area were around SGD300 a day!

I chose One Florence Close because I stayed there last year and it was quite nice. However, the place isn’t as good as it was before. Things are not as ber-quality before. But the permanent residents, Pepper and Romeo are still as adorable as before.

Pepper on the bed! mmm

The people in this conference were more friendly and open. Although called the Asian Patents Attorney Council Meeting, we had observers all over the world in the conference. We had around 1300 people in the conference. The conference grew within a short span of time. The first conference had only 250 people.

Opening ceremony

I think we had around 20 -30 people from the United States. However, Laos had only one participant.

In every APAA conference, there will be an excursion. This time round, we had one in the Singapore Zoo. I had a hard time waking up as my new found friends were feeding me wine throughout the whole night at the hospitality suite. Every night there will be a lot of participants hanging out at the hospitality suite to drink and network.

The zoo wasn’t fun as most people went on their separate ways. I was fortunate to be able to meet a German guy who was alone. The zoo excursion ended with lunch by the riverside.

Lunch..

Unlike INTA, there were not many receptions held by law firms. I heard that there was one reception held by an IP practitioner’s SGD15 Million house. He had his Aston Martin/Lamborghini parked on the porch. The only reception that I went was one organised by an Indonesian firm. It was quite sad as they were not many people.

The closing ceremony was held on Wednesday and they had a performance by a local magician.

Closing ceremony

I adjourned to Clarke Quay with some new found friends to drinks at one pub which brews their own beer. On their menu, they had a list of beers which they claim taste like certain famous beer. I ordered one that tasted like Hoegaarden!

My last day was just pretty smooth sailing – no rushing and no accident. But I left a magazine and my pyjamas at Florence Close. Uh oh!

The next APAA will be in November 2009 in Hong Kong. I cant wait!