AmCham, EuroCham, BritCham, AusCham, something Cham

[Queef]

Just wondering if any of you ever participated in any of their events. I found myself going to some events organized by some of the Chams, it felt like an organized mess hosted by barely competent people. Every. Single. Time.

Do the "chams" tend to be disconnected from reality?

Does Eurocham truly believes that by drafting a letter and mailing it to the EU commission they would prevent the withdrawal of the EBA?

Why do they keep promoting the idea that doing business in Cambodia is just as easy as doing business in the "west" (not that it's easy everywhere in the "west")?

Do they actually have as much lobbying power as they like to claim?

I'm puzzled. I was expecting some kind of think tank. It's just the same crowd as in bassac lane/ FCC/ Bouchon, with the exact same boring conversations (Cambodia was better 10 years ago/ The "west" is evil, but I already got a return ticket just in case shit hits the fan). I guess there really isn't any correlation between nice clothing and grey matter.

If you could share your experiences, that'd be great! Thanks!

[StroppyChops]

This may get me in a little trouble, but the Cham I'm most familiar with still thinks we're in the era of high tea at the Raffles. Seriously.

[Anchor Moy]

They sound very weird and wonderful. Do they ever leave their air-conditioned spaces ? Please tell us more.

[IraHayes]

This may get me in a little trouble, but the Cham I'm most familiar with still thinks we're in the era of high tea at the Raffles. Seriously.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with high tea at Raffles.
But i get where you are coming from..... detached from reality coupled with an over abundance of self importance makes for some pretty intolerable people.

[pczz]

This may get me in a little trouble, but the Cham I'm most familiar with still thinks we're in the era of high tea at the Raffles. Seriously.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with high tea at Raffles.
But i get where you are coming from..... detached from reality coupled with an over abundance of self importance makes for some pretty intolerable people.

Bit like most western governments really

[StroppyChops]

They sound very weird and wonderful. Do they ever leave their air-conditioned spaces ? Please tell us more.

It depends on whether the ambassador is an air-conditioned space, they tend to cling to that gender-unspecified person.

Seriously though, typically couldn't organise a chook raffle.

[Arget]

They sound very weird and wonderful. Do they ever leave their air-conditioned spaces ? Please tell us more.

It depends on whether the ambassador is an air-conditioned space, they tend to cling to that gender-unspecified person.

Seriously though, typically couldn't organise a chook raffle.

Or a root in a brothel................

[Kuroneko]

They sound very weird and wonderful. Do they ever leave their air-conditioned spaces ? Please tell us more.

I thought the Chams here were Muslims

[Spigzy]

I stopped attending around 7-8 years ago. I've never been one for networking events anyway, and these gatherings whilst perhaps useful for some, never gave me anything I couldn't get by picking up the phone and talking directly to whoever could help with my business needs. Good for newcomers perhaps, but once you've attended a few, you're likely to know everyone you're ever going to need to know. As far as influence on government decisions go, I think they're probably about equal with Sam Rainsy - both domestically & internationally.

[Queef]

It was just weird. Every single event was just weird. Some guy gave a lecture about increasing revenues but didn't know what a KPI was. They do address some valid issues. They just don't know what to do once they figured out that that one particular issue truly matters. Headless chickens....
They also fail to address obvious issues (issues that even Joe, the filthy pill popping soap dodging backpacker, can easily notice). They just pretend that these issues are either out of their scope of work, or nonexistent. Weird.

As far as lobbying is concerned, it didn't take me long to realize that it was just one of their selling points. They have as much political importance as Sarah Palin imo.

The only good thing that came out of whatever Cham events: I got to see the Japanese dude that beat up his Pakistani girl. She was there too.

Thanks for your input. I won't be wasting my time and my company's money on this crap. I'm sure the local three star general has more influence and connections anyways.