BNI Day in Singapore: Simply Amazing!
The Legends at Fort Canning Park witnessed the remarkable energy amongst the BNI members in Singapore last May 23, 2007. Its success was fully supported by the 200 delegates in attendance.
BNI Singapore marks its 8th year in September with 22 chapters and a few more chapters to be launched before the end of 2007. Sim Chow Boon and Mervin Yeo were at the forefront as National Directors- the Captains of the ship who will steer BNI Singapore to a higher level. Chow Boon and Mervin are actively involved in developing BNI in the Philippines, the 37th country with Genesis Chapter as the pioneer.
Edlynn Ng and Harvest core group
My involvement in BNI started in September of 2006. Through Eric “Sam” Dizon, my colleague in Pru Life UK (Philippines) or Prudential to our Asian neighbors, I attended the info sessions of Genesis chapter. BNI allows only one person per profession so I had to find another chapter. During typhoon ‘Milenyo’, Chow Boon was in town and we got to discuss about a lot of things about BNI. We were in Glorietta then and he was so amazed with the typhoon (there are no typhoons in Singapore). There was no electricity, no internet and the cell sites were down as well. The roads were chaotic due to the billboards that fell and we were back to basics. During that time I drew up a guest list of my clients who were enterprising and decided to invite them to a breakfast meeting. My objective was to thank them by introducing them to each other and hopefully, businesses transactions will be consummated amongst us. I introduced BNI and right there and then, we were 6 members. Little did I know I have already formed a core group. Our first meeting was in October 11, 2006 at Dome Café in Shangri La Edsa Plaza Mall in Ortigas Center. Running the chapter was a serious undertaking. I was the only one trained for the Leadership Team, and my strong belief in word-of-mouth advocacy enabled me to consistently deliver week after week. We have 15 members to date and we will launch Harvest on June 27, 2007 at Discovery Hotel function as Area Director and Visitor Host for Harvest and the chapter is in good hands with Deedee Espina as President, Ardee Aram as Vice-President, and Marcia Castaneda as Secretary/Treasurer.
The conference started with networking and breakfast. We were called in by 830am into the function rooms and we settled down. I am very happy to be with Deedee during this trip and I have another soul who will help me ‘infect’ the Philippine members with vibrant energy.
The BNI members represent a talented pool and one of the members of Crescendo chapter, Anne, facilitated the icebreaker activities: the Mexican wave and the Q & A game. Chow Boon delivered his opening address. He focused on going back to basics or the FUNdamentals. Members who do the basics will become valued and contributory towards building a very productive chapter.
There were two keynote speakers in the persons of Al Argo, of Argo Global, a dynamic sales trainer who spoke about “The Edge Factor” and Christine Sim, an HR veteran who shared ideas on her journey “From Success to Significance”. There were also breakout sessions on various networking topics by the Directors of BNI Singapore. Mervin Yeo shared a presentation based on BNI Chairman Dr. Ivan Misner’s book “Truth or Delusion.” We also had fun by the way. The talented host Gerard Otto rendered two songs, and Jeremy Pei wowed the audience with his magic performance. Raffle prizes were also drawn and I was honored to have picked some of the winners.
The second part of the program was the Awards Ceremony where over 40 awards were given. 
It was fun meeting Ong Kuan Kuan, BNI Singapore Deputy National Director who was in very high spirits, and Susan Choo, Regional Director of Johor, Malaysia (BNI Malaysia) as well as Zhiwen Chin, Assistant Director. We sat in the same table for lunch and in the course of our conversations, found out we were having common experiences as well as challenges.
Through BNI, we hooked up with Judy of Crescendo Chapter and we visited her in Caffe Pralet.
Cheers to Sim Chow Boon, Mervin Yeo, Ong Kuan Kuan, Alfee Goh and the other directors for a successful conference. Congratulations to the awardees for 2007 especially to Crescendo for bagging chapter of the year! Continued success for next year and the years to come!
