March 30- April 1, 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hot! Sticky! Yuck! Not the best first impression of Kuala Lumpur but an honest one. We arrived at night so I was unable to see the grandeur of this city until the following day. It is quite the city but it was hot and sticky!

The first event was a community event hosted by an organization/association dedicated to raising awareness about Autism as well as provide support to families of autistic children and those with autism. SRC was able to meet a few of the autistic children and families who are supported by this organization. It was quite an experience. The event was well attended and SRC's message well received.

The second event was HUGE! This is probably the largest public program I've been a part of since working with SRC. I mean largest as far as participants paying to attend. I think the U.S. Symposiums were close to this number and may have exceeded but at any rate there were 1,000+ attendees. It was an amazing event. So well orchestrated and the AV was spectacular. I was sitting off to the side of the stage and unlike other events I had to manage more than just my laptop. I wish I had taken a picture: my laptop sat in the middle along with two DVD players, a large sound board to the left and a large switcher on the right. I worked the switcher and sound when playing a video. So, it was a lot of juggling but it went well. I was testing a DVD player right as SRC was being introduced and not knowing the the audio was live when the DVD played the sound came over the speakers...loud. Luckily, it was like intro music so it fit really well. I could have passed out right there but I quickly recovered. I also had to count on the person on the other end of the headset to switch between camera and graphic from my laptop. For the most part it went really well.

SRC did an amazing job with such a large group. He got out into the audience and at one point engaged in a two way dialogue with one of the participants when he asked a question. The gentleman was so great. He did not expect this two way dialogue to take place so, in desperation said, "Help! Someone else come and take over." He did an exceptional job talking with SRC and going back and forth with the questions and answers. At another point in the day he also engaged in a two way dialogue with a woman who had a point to make. It was so interesting to see this happen but enjoyable for everyone.

At the conclusion of this event we moved hotels in order to be where the event would be held the next day. It was a beautiful hotel! Below is the view from my room. At this point in the trip I was feeling very anxious to get home and I was counting down the hours until we boarded that plane for the U.S.



The program on April 1st was with a client and it was just a a half day event. It think it went well although the end seemed a little rushed. Then again, I would have rushed to if I were speaking. I just wanted to be done and on my way home. I guess that is not fair to the client but it was an accurate description of how I felt. SRC came away very energized because one of the things he had been asked to do is to help the client determine the origin of a prevalent issue in their company. Within the first 90 minutes he found the source and could not have been any more enthused by that. I was enjoying that enthusiasm as he proceeded with new insight into the client.

This is a picture of me with one of the organizers of the event, Liana. She is wonderful and after so many months of communicating by email regarding this event I was so happy to meet her in person.

After 20+ hours of flying we did make it home. I was so happy to be home and could not wait to sleep in my own bed. As we came around the corner into baggage claim I spotted the driver who welcomed us with firm hand shakes. I then began looking to see what baggage claim we needed to go to. My eyes were scanning the room and came to rest on a tall, dark, Latino with a huge smile on his face. There he was, my knight in shining armor who came to rescue me and take me home. I was so shocked to see him there I turned and walked the other way. I also felt really gross and smelly but I turned back around and gave him a huge hug. It was so good to see him. I thought he had to work that night but he just smiled and said, "April Fools!"