Déjà vu in Thailand: partner conference, thunder, sunset and sand.

Hi folks – from sunny thunderous Thailand!

Been a while, I know – but I’ve been busy (as always). Of course I have – for it’s our partner-conference (both regional and global) season. We’ve already had Italy and Hungary; now it was Thailand’s turn…

After landing, we head on over to the venue, which turns out to be the same hotel where we put on another conference (SAS) late last year. Small world, and déjà vu, as they say…

But back to this year’s conference: it was the partner conference for the ~Middle Eastern and African regions, aka META (Middle East + Turkey + Africa). But enough already with definitions and demarcations! Let me simply tell you the conference was a 10/10!

• Guests: 135 (140 were planning to attend, but five didn’t get their visas in time; we’ll take this into account for the future)
• Countries represented: 24
• Partner companies represented: 65

But enough of stats already! Let me simply repeat that the conference was a 10/10 :)

Despite the considerable jet-lag (~five hours) practically all participants were suffering from after flying in the day before – all bottoms were on seats right from the get-go in the morning! Quite right. I do like an early start. Best for catching those worms…

I kicked things off with my usual going over of how we’re doing and what we’ve got planned for the future. Then came the presentations one after the other giving more detailed, technical accounts. For a full day-and-a-half our guys and girls talked and highlighted and explained and demonstrated, while the audience listened and took it all in ever so intently. And everyone – on both sides! – endured the marathon effort right to the end! Bravo!

So, why is it we have such regular, large-scale, and by-far not cheap events around the world for our dear partners? I’ve surely written about this before… Let me see now – ah yes, here we are.

What else? The weather was perfect – for a conference!…

Lightning – check. Thunder – check. But this wasn’t the thunder you’re probably used to that rumbles for a second or two; this thunder went on for a full 15 to 20 seconds – playing long chords! My word. Incredible!

So – like I say: perfect. Just look! ->

…For 20-second thunder-chords + lightning means not a single participant in the conference even thinks about glancing over toward the beach :)

As if on cue, when the work was done – the weather turned nice. Perfect again: time for some beach fun!…

I remember how last time I was here I said to myself I must get to the end of this beach – here:

And that’s just what we did. It was a mere four kilometers from our hotel. Over there where the mast is is mainland Thailand across the water ->

As you can see – we did our beach-walking when the tide was out. Cue some super pics! ->

This is the bridge that connects Phuket with the mainland:

A farewell glance northward:

And then back along the beach ->

…Taking in the modern-kunst beach installations along the way ->

For dessert – super sunset! ->

Not quite the sensational sunset of last time, but still great:

And that’s all for today folks, and all from Phuket. Conference, beach walkies and sunset – all goodies. Must come back here again for future conferences…

The rest of the photos from Thailand are here.