Steve Jordan reflects on the IMA (International Mobility Alliance) conference in Cambodia last year, the prospects for another, and considers the sense of belonging we all crave that keeps us on the conference trail.
Never in living memory and, I suspect, outside living memory, have the good people of the moving industry been starved of each other’s company for so long as they have now. The end to our isolation, contrary to popular speculation, is not in sight, it is merely being tentatively discussed – and longed for.
IMA 2020 in Cambodia was the last face-to-face industry conference that any of us attended. It took place at a time of extraordinary tension, confusion and ignorance about COVID-19 and what it meant for the industry and society. Nobody at that meeting, including me, could possibly have guessed what was in store.
Patricia Jade Ooi started IMA in 2018. It was her initiative. Some of you will know the history, some of you won’t. Either way, it’s not important to this story. It was not an original idea, but she did approach it in her own way. She also used her own savings to breathe life into it. And she worked hard to make it a success ...
Photos:
Top: Delegates at the 2019 conference.
Bottom: Patricia Jade Ooi.