TCT Asia before opneing
This was the scene as we arrived last night
In surroundings that are so unfamiliar, with food on offer like Five Spiced Donkey (After trying this I am now unsure of my local Chinese's Pork Char Sui, they taste remarkably similar), with the constant construction racket keeping one awake it is amazing how much like home a trade show floor feels.
Tentatively walking through the doors of the inaugural TCT Asia and seeing the towering Stratasys booth was like being on a Brittany Ferry and through the fog, appear the White Cliffs of Dover, the smell of melting plastic is like the aroma of a roast dinner and the sound of motor steppers whirring away is the din of a Tower of London's raven call.
TCT Asia Jam Packed
No floor space at all
It's a tribute to our partners VNU Exhibitions just how much this is a TCT Show + Personalize event, it was with some trepidation that we licensed our respected and established brand to partners and it has been a marked success.
Numbers for visitors and conference delegates are verging on astronomical plus the amount of two handed business cards I've amassed is ruining the lining of my new suit jacket pocket.
Last night's spirit of adventure seeped into today as I tried some 3D Printed food for the first time - a dinosaur shaped cheese and chive cracker from XYZPrinting. I can safely report back that I have not died and it tasted fine if a little dry, bit like the donkey.
TCT Asia Food
A cracker from XYZprinting's food printer.
That was as far as I got in terms of new things on the show floor for it was a day whereby I should sit in the conference reporting on the Executive and CEO sessions. In the afternoon I was tasked with chairing Stream B, which involved some English Speaking talks from the likes of Graham Tromans and Koen Van de Perre and then some Chinese speaking talks from Shen Weidong of VW Shanghai.
Packed out conference.
TCT Asia Conference Room
It was interesting to chair a session involving mixed languages, I had feared that I'd have to develop body language skills in order to judge when said speaker was finishing. But thanks to the miracles of simultaneous translation I was able to enjoy the talks and be just as informed if not more than any English talk I'd seen.
Mr Shen of VW Shanghai
Mr Shen addresses a packed out stream
Tomorrow should offer more of an opportunity to stomp those familiar show floor miles, tonight should offer an opportunity to consume more Biblical animals. Snake anyone?
