WiT Indie returned to Penang, Malaysia in March for its second edition, seeing over 150 attendees – made up of tours/ activities travel agents, independents, creatives and hotels – take part. Lydia Yang of Lydiascapes Travel gives us her take on the most significant moments during the event.
The morning started with a very cheery, positive note and the crowd came with a great receptiveness to see what the day ahead has to offer. The conference had attendees from all walks of life, from independent digital consultants, creatives to small scale hotels to experiences/ tour operators, and everyone comes with differing but fresh perspectives and a unique set of skills.
The conference kicked off with a lovely opening thought about the struggle in the pursuit between love and money. The theme ‘Love & Money: How to Do Both and Be Happy’ aimed to address the balance between what one loves or is passionate about (e.g. environmental conservation), and the need to make money to help that passion blossom further.
One of the Snap Talk sessions, titled ‘Designing & Building a Brand for Independents’ was led by Simon Wong from Triquetra.sg, who started Singapore Sidecars. It was a bizarre but bold move to invest in vintage sidecars to raise funds for social causes, by riding it from one country destination to another. However, a passionate social enterprise quickly learned to adapt and tap on opportunities, making it one of the most unique and talked about social enterprises in Asia and beyond.
The day featured representatives from the big travel brands like AccorHotels where Deputy CEO, Louise Daley shared its focus into F&B offerings and the importance of investing in tech and payment forms. Will Plummer (CEO, Trust My Travel) and Stephen Joyce (CEO, Rezgo) then shared how looking at online payment solutions are an important consideration point to help automate and maximise the customer experience, as well as ease the business processes.
A pleasant and much needed change in rhythm came through a light hearted but heartfelt session led by the passionate BananaMana Films duo – Christian Lee and Jason Chan – directors of Jimami Tofu. They discussed how to eliminate the unnecessary ‘hard’ tasks in your career and life, and focus on your skills that are ‘easy’ to work on that can make you happier in the long run. I cannot agree more that sometimes we need to decide to drop the hard stuff that might make money, but take up a lot of time and aren’t enjoyable, which eventually cost you more in life (like the time that could be spent pursuing something else).
Another unique aspect of WiT Indie was the Coaching Circles and discussions that allows for open conversations about some of the topics covered, like “Tips and Useful Ideas for Independent and Small-Scale Hoteliers”, “How to Create Free Publicity and Content” and even a session perfect for students and people interested in making their first steps into the travel industry – Tern-Lite.
The day ended with a panel discussion featuring local Penang heritage warriors who continue to pursue (and preserve) what they love, believe in for their businesses and why these trials and tribulations and resistance they went through make them emerge stronger. We had Eric Chong from Penang Green Acres ending of the session with one of the most memorable words “Wind down the window and smell the durian flowers’’. Perhaps it’s a good reminder as we end of WiT Indie that even as we go about the daily grind to make money and get tasks done, we need to phase to spot the golden opportunities that may appear around us and remember to grab them, embrace it and enjoy the fragrance in the process.
Perhaps that’s what WiT Indie is about, to bring together the skills of individuals and small business owners, and combine our diverse skills/ resources to build something greater. Perhaps as an independent, instead of looking at the industry giants and desiring to be like them, we should focus on our natural ability to be nimble, adaptable and grab the low-hanging fruit around us. That was what I came to realise when I was at WiT Indie this March.
Written by Lydia Yang, Lydiascapes Travel
Lydia Yang is an independent digital marketing consultant specialising in digital marketing in the travel and hotel industry. She comes from a hotelier background and used to manage digital marketing for of all the Maldives Properties, for the largest hotel chain in the world. Currently, she is pursuing her dream to be a digital nomad to be able to work remotely from any location in the world and find time to do what she loves most – rock climbing.
