Audio Engineering Society Singapore Section

Reported by: Kenn Delbridge
Photographs by: Daniel Lee

The 9th AES Singapore Section AGM was held under unusual circumstances on June 26, 2003: the Lion City had been a hot spot in the SARS epidemic that spread across the world at a lightning pace and many public events in the 2nd quarter of 2003 scheduled in Singapore were canceled or postponed. Even though the Republic was eventually declared SARS-free only a few days before the AGM, the committee decided to go ahead with planning for the section's traditional late-June date instead of requesting the Registry of Societies for a postponement, fully aware that the turnout would likely suffer. Even though the turnout was lower than in previous AGMs, it was nonetheless a credible turnout, in large part, no doubt, to the formidable list of lucky draw items from generous sponsors, including Audio Technica, E&E, Genelec / Team 108, Global Precision Products, MTV Asia, Nickelodeon, Sennheiser Electronic Asia, Studer S.E. Asia & SV Pro.

The evening kicked off with all attendees required to have their temperatures checked before they were admitted to the venue, the NUSS Guildhouse at Cineleisure; situated behind the Mandarin Hotel and just off Orchard Road. The AGM started with a welcome from out-going Chairman Kenn Delbridge, followed by a report from out-going secretary, Cedric Tio: the SARS situation had scuttled a potentially interesting end to a term that saw the highest average attendance ever at the section's seminars, including a record 98 attendees during our visit to the Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay. Lost to SARS were a speaker technology seminar featuring two R&D engineers from Genelec and an AES Seminar to have been held in conjunction with Broadcast Asia 2003 (the entire conference was canceled) that would have featured AES Fellow Tomlinson Holman and SMPTE Governor (and AES Member) Gavin Schutz. The membership of the section as of the end of the 2002 / 2003 term stood at 73. An unfortunate last-minute appointment led to Treasurer Michael Teh traveling overseas and unable to present the financial report, but the outgoing Chairman gave a verbal update of the section's finances as being healthy.

The new committee was then elected in by walkover (there was only one nominee for each of the positions available) and the new committee will be led by Arthur Ngiam. An AES member for 28 years, Ngiam has been involved with the Section as an honorary auditor and sponsor of section events and as Chairman will lead a team that includes Matthew Packer as Treasurer and committee members Daniel Lee and Li Teo, all first-timers to the committee. Continuing on from last year's team is committee member Richt Teo, with 2002 / 2003 Chairman Kenn Delbridge handling the secretarial duties. Cedric Tio and Michael Teh were elected as honorary auditors.

With the formalities taken care of, dinner was served; after that, it was the lucky draw, with enough prizes that all the attendees received a prize from the first round before a second round for AES members only was held for the big prizes, with A/Prof Gan Woon Seng going home with the top prize, a pair of Genelec 1029A active speakers.

The AES Singapore Section would like to thank Dr. Joe Peters for his assistance in arranging the location and to our lucky draw sponsors, Audio Technica, E&E, Genelec / Team 108, Global Precision Products, MTV Asia, Nickelodeon, Sennheiser Electronic Asia, Studer S.E. Asia & SV Pro for helping us make this a successful night under the unusual circumstances.

Copyright 2003 AES Singapore Section