austrade attachment.
didn't go school for the last 4 days, was at the singapore expo.
and i'm happy to say that i was an intern at Austrade!
we helped run a trade fair..or rather, we were there to support them. and it was highly tiring.
but the food was good.
i mean, it was 3 expo halls worth of food from all over the world.
there was steak from USA, sausages from germany, coffee from USA, green tea from japan, chocolate from belgium....the list just goes on and on and on.
and the best part of it? all austrade exhibitors or any exhibitors get the food for FREE.
hahahaha unlike the other people who have to pay like. 80 plus bucks just to get in?
unfortunately, it wasn't open to the general public, only to the traders and people like that to prevent idiots (seagulls) from coming in so freely just to sample the food and waste time. *ahem*typical singaporeans*ahem*.
anyway, so we were helping out at the australian pavillion, cos there we were attached to austrade, the australian trade commission.
initially, four of us (me, victor, elizabeth, and marianne) were attached to the four different states, which are basically, NSW, Victoria (NO REF WHATSOEVER to VS or VJ), WA, and SA. but we kind of figured early on that if we stood at the booth and stoned, we would have wasted a whole day doing nothing. so after all the customary introductions and whatnot blahblahblah to all the exporters, we decided to go to what's new from australia!
where zhou yue and sid were stationed. and i swear that it is wayyy cooler than staying at the states, cos we saw first hand the 37 products that were there to attract any exporters to bring them out of australia and to the world.
basically our job for the last few days was to:
1) act as support staff for the states people, relaying their wants and needs to Austrade
2) try to draw as many interested people to the new products
3) help out in any way we can (i.e. basically keeping people happy, taking pamphlets and stuff for more experienced austrade members at the what's new stand, and for zy's case, setting up the laptop for the country briefing, and marianne had to follow her state rep, fiona, arnd.)
actually, i got a lot out of the attachment. i'm just typing it down on blogger so i won't forget what i've learnt cos i have a presentation to make. anyway, if you've read this, the content of the presentation (i.e. the reflections part) will probably be the same as the one below, so if you want to sleep during the presentation, sure no prob.
anyway, what i've learnt is not about the trade policies, cos we're working with the trade commission, an extension of the government BUT NOT the government legislatory board or the people who actually make the laws and rules governing international trade. at least, i've learnt that international trade is the driving force behind any economy, especially singapore's. our pavillion (singapore) was just about as large as the australian pavillion, and all the big names were there, like goh joo hin, singapore food industries, etc.
and i've picked up a lot of trivia, like the amount of money spent to bring in the companies to exhibit their products. =)
and that california is the world's 6th largest economy. like o_0
a mere state in the USA is the 6th largest economy in the world.
and also that the american style of doing business is totally different from the australian style. australians will want to get to know the person before doing business, but the americans will want to sign the contract and everything before getting to know the person.
and barriers to entry exist, and these usually come in the form of tariffs and whatevernot for foreign exports as these countries have to protect their local industries if not the economy will not do so well.
wells. and the ugly singaporean is so ugly, it's speechless.haha. anyway. that's all for now. let me sieve my mind for more stuff before i post it up.
and i'm happy to say that i was an intern at Austrade!
we helped run a trade fair..or rather, we were there to support them. and it was highly tiring.
but the food was good.
i mean, it was 3 expo halls worth of food from all over the world.
there was steak from USA, sausages from germany, coffee from USA, green tea from japan, chocolate from belgium....the list just goes on and on and on.
and the best part of it? all austrade exhibitors or any exhibitors get the food for FREE.
hahahaha unlike the other people who have to pay like. 80 plus bucks just to get in?
unfortunately, it wasn't open to the general public, only to the traders and people like that to prevent idiots (seagulls) from coming in so freely just to sample the food and waste time. *ahem*typical singaporeans*ahem*.
anyway, so we were helping out at the australian pavillion, cos there we were attached to austrade, the australian trade commission.
initially, four of us (me, victor, elizabeth, and marianne) were attached to the four different states, which are basically, NSW, Victoria (NO REF WHATSOEVER to VS or VJ), WA, and SA. but we kind of figured early on that if we stood at the booth and stoned, we would have wasted a whole day doing nothing. so after all the customary introductions and whatnot blahblahblah to all the exporters, we decided to go to what's new from australia!
where zhou yue and sid were stationed. and i swear that it is wayyy cooler than staying at the states, cos we saw first hand the 37 products that were there to attract any exporters to bring them out of australia and to the world.
basically our job for the last few days was to:
1) act as support staff for the states people, relaying their wants and needs to Austrade
2) try to draw as many interested people to the new products
3) help out in any way we can (i.e. basically keeping people happy, taking pamphlets and stuff for more experienced austrade members at the what's new stand, and for zy's case, setting up the laptop for the country briefing, and marianne had to follow her state rep, fiona, arnd.)
actually, i got a lot out of the attachment. i'm just typing it down on blogger so i won't forget what i've learnt cos i have a presentation to make. anyway, if you've read this, the content of the presentation (i.e. the reflections part) will probably be the same as the one below, so if you want to sleep during the presentation, sure no prob.
anyway, what i've learnt is not about the trade policies, cos we're working with the trade commission, an extension of the government BUT NOT the government legislatory board or the people who actually make the laws and rules governing international trade. at least, i've learnt that international trade is the driving force behind any economy, especially singapore's. our pavillion (singapore) was just about as large as the australian pavillion, and all the big names were there, like goh joo hin, singapore food industries, etc.
and i've picked up a lot of trivia, like the amount of money spent to bring in the companies to exhibit their products. =)
and that california is the world's 6th largest economy. like o_0
a mere state in the USA is the 6th largest economy in the world.
and also that the american style of doing business is totally different from the australian style. australians will want to get to know the person before doing business, but the americans will want to sign the contract and everything before getting to know the person.
and barriers to entry exist, and these usually come in the form of tariffs and whatevernot for foreign exports as these countries have to protect their local industries if not the economy will not do so well.
wells. and the ugly singaporean is so ugly, it's speechless.haha. anyway. that's all for now. let me sieve my mind for more stuff before i post it up.
posted by ivan~ at 8:47 PM
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