Grew up in Canada in Victoria on the west coast - father died
at an early age (42) - sudden heart attack - I was 10 and
my brother 8 and my sister a baby. Pensions weren't much in
those days so mom worked three jobs to give us the means to
go as far as we could in education. I had two newspaper delivery
routes and multiple jobs to help pay my through university
- Safeway clerk, department store stock boy, plywood mill
maintenance work, surveyor's assistant, truck driver, and
janitor. On more than one occasion while I was President of
the UBC student association I spent Sunday mopping the floors
of the same Faculty Club where I had been a guest at a formal
dinner the evening before.
What was your professional background? What kinds of jobs
or work have you done in your life?
Studied commerce and public administration as I didn't like
studying the liberal arts, in particular languages. I studied
to be a civil servant or public sector corporation person.
My specialization was accounting, although I did get very
interested in market research and marketing. Because of my
interest in student politics on which I spent too much time,
I was a kind of "pull it off at the last minute"
student. Iorganized and led a month long student strike over
tuition fees in 1963 that pulled 20,000 students out of University.
I was responsible for the construction of 15 million dollars
(in 1965 big money) of student financed buildings - a Student
Union Building and two winter sports facilities. I moved east
to do a year in the national capital as VP of the Canadian
Union of Students which got me involved in committees for
the 1967 Montréal World's Fair - the highest class
of worlds' fairs with over 55,000 workers and 100 countries
participating. I worked on the fair from 1965 to 1968. I moved
up very fast and despite my earlier aversion to languages
I started to learn and work in French. That ultimately led
to a lifetime career in the print and electronic media business
in both English and French.
What places around Asia have you worked?
Spent the last 12 years mostly in Asia, usually for 10 months
out of the year minimum and usually for a few weeks
or months at a time in each country. Always on publishing
projects either in relation to the PATA magazine for the Americas,
which I published for several years, or on projects developed
with National Tourism Organizations in China, Vietnam,
Cambodia, etc. I spent most of my time in China, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Thailand and for the last 4 years wholly in Indonesia.
Other Asia countries where I worked in publishing were HK,
Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka,
Australia, Fiji and Samoa.
What was the most interesting job you've ever had?
I have to say the job I have now, creating publishing and
distributing the Bali MICE Guide as the work uses all I've
ever learned and all my cumulative experience in visiting
over 70 counties. Holding down the number two spot in
a department of 15,000 at Expo '67 and creating and running
the most popular radio station in Canada with over 1.1 million
listeners were also high points. A particular place in my
memory was an embarrassing evening working a part time university
job as a projectionist. I was the only male in the 200 person
crowd where I had to show a film on how to conduct a self
examination for cancer of the breast to the Vancouver Dockworkers
Wives Club. Though I was asked, I didn't stick around for
tea.
What was the most interesting place you've ever worked?
It's hard to pick one. How can you choose between surveying
on the Artic Circle, dodging road blocks and street fighting
in Phnom Penh, management at the number one French language
news station in Montreal during the FLQ crises after the British
Trade Commissioner was kidnapped and martial law declared,
taking the last cruise (pre Three Gorges Dam) along the Yangtze
River, Vietnam in the early 90's. There are just too many.
How did you ever end up in Bali?
First came in the 80's on vacation, then in the early 90's
on business several times but hadn't been back since 97 when
I took a three day side trip between Sri Lanka and Cambodia
to show Bali to my neighbour from Canada in February 2001.
I've been in Bali ever since and haven't been back to Canada
for over 4 years.
How did you get involved in publishing the MICE Guide?
I knew Jack Daniels of Bali Discovery Tours from my PATA publishing
days when he ran a cruise ship operation based in Bali. While
on my short visit to Bali in 2001 I looked up Jack and in
the conversation the Bali MICE Initiative and the Bali MICE
Guide was brought to fruition. The challenge was to get a
bigger share of the more financially rewarding and intensive
job creation MICE market for Bali. With the help of people
like Erhard Hotter, Robert Van der Mass, Danny McCafferty,
Kamal Kaul and many others we got the first 100-page Bali
MICE Guide out three years ago. It was mailed to over 3500
MICE professionals around the world. Now we mail over 10,000
copies of a near 200 page Bali MICE Guide to over 60 counties
and organise related promotional events in major cities, educational
seminars, plus there's a website and more in the works. In
sum, we have established one of best MICE promotion operations
anywhere in Asia and this on a shoestring budget entirely
private sector financed.
What makes Bali so special as a place to hold meetings?
Bali is recognized repeatedly by the travel industry and consumers
as the world's best island destination. Bali has a wealth
of touring, sporting and other activities available in a beautiful
island setting with a fantastic climate but it's the welcome,
the warmth and the unique, vibrant authentic culture of the
island that is the key to the Bali's success both as a tourist
and as a MICE destination. Bali compliments the above with
facilities that have few rivals - dozens of luxury hotels,
tens of thousands of exquisite suites, rooms and villas plus
an amazing variety of world class spas, venues and meeting
facilities. Bali is also a great gateway to the diversity
of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and
the greatest archipelagic state. All this plus a wonderful
position far enough but not too far from the intensity of
burgeoning Asia and the economically developed countries of
Europe and the Americas make Bali the perfect place for MICE
and men.
For anyone interested in being considered for Siapa, please
contact : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2005 Al Hickey
You can read all past articles of Siapa
at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
