Alphabet Media - a great way to fly

I'm writing this from the departure 'lounge' of Los Angeles International Airport (Heathrow, I take it all back), so for once the title of this blog isn't meant figuratively - though joining Singapore's happiest, fastest-growing media company is a great way to get your career off the ground.

Literally you'll go places if you join Alphabet, because travel is a key part of the job - and I think that's a jolly good thing. Why? Well apart from the regular contribution to the office pantry of exotic tidbits from returning travellers, jetting off helps set our work in a wider regional, sometimes global, context.

I travel (that's Santa Monica, California pictured above - and yes I was working); everyone in the editorial team has recently travelled, or will soon (Jianggan - Paris, Langkawi; John - Macau; Amelia - Baltimore); Bryan recces all our overseas hotel venues (Kuala Lumpur, Phuket); Kelly has a couple of sales trips planned (Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong); Melissa handles our conferences, wherever they may be (Kuala Lumpur, Phuket); our top telemarketer for our overseas conferences always attends; even Dawn is set to be coerced to leave behind boyfriend Bernard for a few days and travel off to Sweden later in the year, as some of us visit our friends at Midfield Media for a strategic chinwag. And that's not even mentioning that everyone gets to go to our big annual overseas event - FutureGov 08 - which this year is being held in Bali.

The readers of our two magazines are drawn predominantly from beyond Singapore's shores, and although we go to some lengths to have a good mixture of nationalities in the office to mirror our audiences, the view from Beach Road can only reveal so much of the wider world. And with all the previously reported doughnut gorging, getting off our collective lard arses to engage with our communities of end-users overseas can only be a good thing. Even in the age of the internet, nothing broadens the mind, or slims the hips, quite as much as going abroad.

Just make sure you don't fly United Airlines. Bunch of wankers.

Bending it like Beckham

Alphabet gives a whole new meaning to afternoon footy. Instead of putting on muddy football boots and running forlornly around a sun-hardened pitch, we have an altogether more civilised version. Cross Wembley Stadium with The Office and you get the picture.

It all started many moons ago when Avaya gave us a football during the last World Cup. We've been happily booting it around our office ever since. However as the mighty Alphabet empire has expanded across the entire 4th floor, we've had the space to get more adventurous with our dazzling displays of footballing skills.

We may never again attain the heights of artistry that Chirag used to reach, but J2 is pretty handy with keeping the ball in the air, Chris is a good goalie, and I like to think of myself as a defender in the same mould as Arsenal's old Adams-Bould-Keown-Dixon back four. Couple this with Captain's never-say-die dribbling runs, Jianggan's very theatrical huffing-and-puffing and Bryan's Beckhamesque skincare regime, and I think you'll agree that we have the makings of a very fine footballing side.

There has, admittedly, been some collateral damage in our pursuit of sporting excellence. I'd like to say on record how very sorry I am to have smashed Chris' coffee mug. And Dawn came very close to a couple of black eyes the other day (my fault again).

But the results are there for all to see, generally around 5pm when the pace of work begins to slow down. I swear, it's like watching Brazil. I'm not sure why we boys* put in as much energy into office footy as we do. But whatever else you might say about Alphabet Media, we've got balls!

*Attempts to form a ladies team are ongoing.

Tired of the Turtle? Join the Duck!

One must never get complacent about these things, and I realise that statistically it is unlikely that everyone presently at Alphabet is going to stay with us until retirement ... but when I walk into the office every day I like seeing happy, familiar faces.

So it does give me a little frisson of excitement when companies like Terrapinn and IQPC start ringing around the office, whispering sweet nothings in our ears, trying to lure our Alphabetters over to the Dark Side.

Of course it rather begs the question why someone would want to leave a stable, happy, high-performing team, where they are individually recognised not just by management and their peers in the office, but also by a wider community of senior government officials. This contrasts rather with the weird parallel universe on offer elsewhere, a place where everyone is rushing around trying to replace the six members of staff who jumped ship the previous week, and wondering which of their present colleagues is about to follow suit. A place with high staff turnover is not a happy place to work, which is presumably why it only really appeals to kids straight out of university - and even they, evidently, don't hang around for long...

I can imagine that running a large, hierarchical conference factory can't be easy in today's tight labour market ... which is why I'm rather pleased that Alphabet is not a large hierarchical conference factory.

And I think our present staff - including quite a number of people who didn't love the Turtle, and who were unimpressed by ICPCQ - are rather pleased not to be working in that type of environment either. So if you're tired of the Turtle, or are fed up with acronyms, feel free to drop me a line at james.smith@alphabet-media.com. Click to learn more about the Duck.

[Pictured: Kelly and Saffron. We do things differently here.]