QampA Richard Tan InfoCommAsia
Published: WORSHIP
In this month’s Q&A we speak to InfoCommAsia’s general manager Richard Tan about how the not-for-profit organisation serves the world of A/V and lighting and the new technology church volunteers should be aware of.
What is your main role at InfoComm, and where are you based?
As the general manager of InfoCommAsia, which is the Pan Asian regional subsidiary of InfoComm International, I am responsible for the development of their portfolio of trade shows in this region. I have two other colleagues that work in tandem with me to develop our shows in China, Dubai and India.
Where does this take you in an average month?
Anywhere from India to the US. We have trade shows in China, Dubai and India so I travel to those countries regularly for meetings. And visits to ISE and the InfoComm show in the US are a must, both to meet with our international exhibitors as well as for strategic meetings with my counterparts for shows outside of Asia. In between, I travel to Japan and Korea to meet with our key exhibitors in those countries, something I have taken upon myself to do at least once a year since I joined InfoCommAsia in 2006. Travel is a significant aspect of this job and has been so over a large part of my career and fortunately, I enjoy doing that.
Do you have any favourite locations?
Singapore. This is where home is, and with all the travel that I have to do, there is nothing better than the warm and fuzzy feeling I get whenever my flight lands back in Singapore. And of course, there is always the local food in Singapore that is difficult to get elsewhere and that I begin to miss greatly when I have to travel for any length of time.
What is the role of InfoComm in the world of A/V and lighting?
InfoComm International is the leading non-profit association serving the professional A/V communications industry worldwide. We organise trade shows and provide education and certification to help elevate professional A/V knowledge and expertise, both to our 5,000+ members around the world but also beyond that in reaching out to vertical market end-users of A/V technology. We have trade shows in the US, Europe, Russia, China, Dubai and India and more recently we launched our first event for the Latin American market in Mexico.
What kinds of new A/V technology should church volunteers be aware of?
I believe unified communication technology is something that churches will harness more and more so to connect their communities across geographical divides, to enable sharing of experiences and teachings between churches and to manage distributed content.
What's the most rewarding thing about your job?
Working with an organisation that cares about the wellbeing and future of the A/V industry. I have worked with commercial trade show organisers for a good part of my career, and their goals are always tied securely to bottom lines. With InfoComm, the first priority is to deliver good shows that will help bring the A/V community together, provide them with opportunities to expand their business, to discover new knowledge and to bring them to a better place. The profit comes as a result of this focus on serving the industry. It takes a little more time but it is much more satisfying to develop a business this way, to see happy faces at the close of each show and to know that we have done something good for the industry.