Authorise payments for online transactions using a mobile phone, download education courseware onto a PDA or trace your family roots on a genealogy site. These are just three examples of the many activities that visitors will find at e-Festival Asia 2001 - Singapore's only experiential public event for multimedia and online technologies...
Singapore, 22 February 2001 | For Immediate Release
Authorise payments for online transactions using a mobile phone, download education courseware onto a PDA or trace your family roots on a genealogy site. These are just three examples of the many activities that visitors will find at e-Festival Asia 2001 - Singapore's only experiential public event for multimedia and online technologies.
Co-organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Reed Exhibition Companies, e-Festival Asia will feature five pavilions - e-Communications, e-Learning, e-Entertainment and e-Transactions and Broadband - that will bring people closer to an e-connected lifestyle. e-Festival Asia will showcase the best in interactive products and services from 40 exhibitors, aimed at demonstrating how emerging trends are part of our daily lives.
Dr Kaizad Heerjee, Assistant Chief Executive of the Online Development Group, IDA said, "e-Festival Asia aims to provide an interactive and educational experience to encourage visitors to adopt aspects of an e-lifestyle that are relevant and beneficial to their daily lives." He added, "Through e-Festival Asia, we want to present online transactions as a complement to traditional modes of service delivery."
e-Festival Asia is expected to reach out to more than 50,000 visitors. Special outreach programmes have been planned with community partners for free transportation to attract 20,000 homemakers, workers and senior citizens to e-Festival Asia.
The public is encouraged to contact these community partners for transport arrangements. They are: the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Central Singapore Community Development Council. Majilis Ugama Islam Singapura, Senior Life.com, Singapore Association for the Deaf, Singapore Council of Women's Organisations, Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), The Singapore Scout Association, Yayasan Mendaki (Mendaki) and Youth Guidance.
On arrival at e-Festival Asia, these visitors will be guided by e-Ambassadors through basic transactions such as sending short text messages through mobile phones and emails.
E-Festival Asia is designed to cater to a wide variety of interests. A Broadband Pavilion will feature some of the best entertainment packages and services available on the Internet. Catch the latest hits on Asia-I-Want-In and Planet MG; view sitcoms and dramas on M2B.com; purchase a used car from JustClickCar.com or get sound investment advice on AsiaStockWatch.com. Visitors can also find out more about digital television services from Singapore CableVision at e-Festival Asia 2001.
At the e-Learning Pavilion, visitors can learn a foreign language, read popular stories or download recipes from Temasek Polytechnic onto their Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). Using Chineseroots.com, visitors will be able to create their own genealogy data electronically.
To cater to the needs of the community and non-English speakers, a Community/Language Zone will be setup within the e-Learning Pavilion. Visitors will get a sneak preview of a community portal developed by the Central Singapore Community Development Council and AsiaOne. Representatives from AMP, Mendaki and SINDA will be on hand to introduce visitors to basic Internet skills and websites in community languages.
The e-Transactions Pavilion will feature online travel portals like Chanbrothers.com and Travelsutra.com as well as retailers like Digiland Mall, e-Mart and Systems@Work.
Visitors who are unfamiliar with Short Message Services (SMS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) applications will get a demonstration and hands-on experience in the SingTel-sponsored Wireless Zone at the e-Communications Pavilion.
At the e-Entertainment Pavilion, United International Pictures will be introducing visitors to the animation process for "The Rugrats in Paris", an animated feature to premiere in March. Visitors will also have a chance to participate in Ikonz's LAN gaming challenge. The Singapore Scout Association will provide instruction on digital video production and photography. Visitors will get to experiment with these and post their work on a website.
Mr Jimmy Lau, President of Reed Exhibition Companies, Singapore said, "e-Festival Asia is an excellent test bed for companies wishing to showcase their Internet products in a consumer space by reaching out to visitors with different levels of technology awareness. IDA has created a win-win partnership for the community and businesses by playing a pivotal role in educating the public on the benefits of an e-lifestyle."
e-Festival Asia 2001 will be held at the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hall 401 from March 7 - 11, 2001. It is open to the public from 10:00am to 8:30pm daily and admission is free. Visitors to the show website http://www.efestasia.com stand to win prizes for completing an online survey or e-Festival Asia quiz.
e-Festival Asia is the anchor event of e-Celebtaions Singapore which runs from 7 March to 12 April 2001. Details about e-Celebrations Singapore will be announced on 27 February.
ISSUED BY CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIVISION
INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
Note to Editor:
E-Celebrations Singapore features a series of events held over five weeks from 7 March-12 April, organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). It aims to heighten the awareness of the benefits of an e-lifestyle in the areas of transactions, communications, learning and entertainment. A total of 90 events are organised under the e-Celebrations Singapore branding with 57 partners consisting of corporations, associations, community groups, tertiary institutions and the media.
Reed Exhibition Companies (REC) is the world leader in creating high profile, targeted industry events where buyers and suppliers come together to do business. Every year REC events bring together some 156,000 suppliers and over 9 million buyers from around the world. Today, REC events are held in 29 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia/Pacific, and are organised by 30 fully staffed offices. REC's portfolio of over 440 events serves 49 industries in 11 key sectors. As a member of the Reed Elsevier plc group, a world-leading business and information provider, REC offers integrated market access programmes covering exhibitions, trade publications, direct marketing and the Internet.
For further information, please contact:
Gabriel Wong, Elliza Rahim or Ho Hwei An
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
Phone: (65) 733 1110
Fax: (65) 733 5550
Hannah Lee
Reed Exhibition Companies
Phone: (65) 434 3584
Fax: (65) 334 4119
.webp)