I am now in Korea and I love everything about this country. In South Korea, about 70% of the land is covered with mountains and Seoul itself is a world class city with a world class tech community. I am a bit haggered but glad to be here again.
Being an evangelist for Adobe Systems definitely has its benefits. At the airport I got picked up in an Equus Limo (made by Hyundai). The car is amazing - full on Luxury. At the Hotel Intercontinental, there is a pyramid sticking out of the ground reminiscent of the Louvre in Paris where I was 3 weeks ago.
Tomorrow I will be meeting some of the top bloggers and top press in Korea. It will be an honor to meet with luminaries such as Ik-Jong Kim (Electronic Times), Hong-Seok Lee (Digital Times), Kyu-Hee Cho (eWeek Korea), Management & Computer magazine's Sang-il Lee, Computer World's Jeong-eun Kim, Jun-Kee Park or Monthly w.e.b., Electronic Information Times' very own Jeong-Hyun Heo, Computer Times' Jeong-Hyun Kim and several other top notch publications. This country just *loves* technology.
I am really keen to meet my fellow blogosphere devotees too. A special meeting has been arranged where I will get a chance to talk to Jun-Gyun Bae (Flex Adobe Community Champion), Ho-Sung Shin (Flex Adobe Community Champion & one of the brains behind the Dongbu Life insurance Flex project), Man-Young Lee (Flex Adobe Community Champion, BAM, Java and BPM master), Kwang-Nam Hur (Flash Adobe Community Champion), Joo-il Yang (blogger extraordinaire and Flash Designer), Chang-Shin Lee (top flight Java guy), Tae-Wan Kim, Dong-Ho Lee, and Sung-Hoon Choi among others.
Many people who talk to me think the evangelist role is only about talking, promoting etc. It is also about listening. Tomorrow, while I might be giving two presentations, most of the day will be focused on listening to what Koreans want from Adobe and what they think we need to be doing in the next 1,3,5 and 10 years. After all, they are the real users and the ones who are instrumental to our success.
Time to grab some sleep and ready myself for a power day tomorrow. here is the schedule:
7:00 - Up and get breakfast
8:00 - Pack up suitcase, leave hotel room
9:00 - meet local Adobe staff.
10:00 - 10:45 a.m. Pre-meeting with Interpreter (get set up for live concurrent translation into Korean)
10:40 - 11:00 a.m. Reception (I hope they have Tim Horton's)
11:00 - 11:10 a.m. Introduction to Press
11:10 - 11:50 a.m. Presentation (WHOOPS! Maybe I should write one before going to bed)
11:50 - 12:00 a.m. Q & A
12:00 - 13:00 p.m. Lunch
Session 2. Blogger Roundtable
13:00 - 13:10 p.m. Introduction
13:10 - 13:40 p.m. Presentation
13:40 - 14:20 p.m. Open Forum
14:20 - leave for airport (60 minutes via limo)
16:30 - on flight bound for Singapore
21:45 - arrive Singapore
22:00 - clear customs, get bags
22:30 - get to hotel
23:00 - new blog entry and prepare for next day.
This is the reality of Technical Evangelism. If you think you've got what it takes, email us - we have more jobs like this open!
Welcome to Korea, Duan.
ReplyDeleteI'm Sang-Houn Ok sitting in front of you. I'm in charge of Flex and LiveCycle presales. The car you ride was the most expensive car in Korea.
Thanks - it was a blast. I had no idea that an Equus (Hyundai) could go so fast. Reminded me of the Porsche back home. That was one hot car! I'll never forget that rush to the airport. Made it by three minutes!!!
ReplyDelete