A Young Entrepreneur & Taylor's Alumna - Witness Lee Jia En, Creative Director of WuRen Production

Mr. Witness Lee Jia En, a young entrepreneur, who started his own production company after completing the Bachelor of International Tourism Management (Honours) (Events Management) programme from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events. Witness Lee discovered his interest in photography and video production during his final year at Taylor’s University. After graduating from the programme, he decided to pursue the creative media industry as his career.

With 1½ years of experience and preparations, Witness Lee established his own production company, WuRen Production. WuRen Production is a Media Production company which provides marketing and branding services such as commercial video, corporate video, product shoot and digital marketing as well as collaboration with various companies to provide professional services to the clients. His passion in production has led him to work very well in leading the production company and he has finally found a skillset which is unique to the journey of his business, which is Color Grading.

With his learning experience from the Events Management programme, he could plan projects quickly in the simplest and most convenient way to serve a client. By using fundamental knowledge and coordination skills, he has boosted his experience in the actual industry workflow, which has given him a slight advantage over the others of the same generation. WuRen Production started off under the guidance of a mentor from Stellar Education Group. Witness Lee was lucky to have met his mentor who was willing to give him the resources needed to build up a business as well as unlimited business entrepreneurship knowledge for this industry.

Witness Lee is grateful for his mentor’s guidance and advice which has allowed him to strive in the media production industry despite the many challenges caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Witness has always had three beliefs in mind, which are being persistent, never giving up, and having faith in managing whatever you are facing.

“Be persistent in knowing why you built this company and what you want to achieve. Without trying, you will never know what works best for you. Have faith in your decision and situation. Even if things go bad, trust that things will get better and good luck will come to you.” - Witness Lee Jia En

Teamwork or Dream Work? Teamwork in the Professional Environment by Adjunct Professor Shukri Rifaie

Mr. Shukri Rifaie, Adjunct Professor, School of Media & Communication and CEO of Rifaie Chua & Sethi Sdn Bhd was invited to share his experiences and thoughts on teamwork in the professional environment with the students of Advertising and Brand Management Collaborative Project module. The session was entitled “Teamwork, Dream Work? Teamwork in the Professional Environment”.

The students who attended the session were Semester 5 students who are currently working on their final projects. Mr. Shukri related some of his experiences working with good colleagues as well as more difficult ones. He described the differences between a “leader” and a “boss”, and also emphasized the importance of having the right attitude as the root of correct professional behavior.

Around 40 students from the School of Media & Communication participated in this hybrid session with Mr. Shukri Rifaie.

The Secrets to Venue Selection for Conferences & Conventions by Mr. Francis Teo, President of MACEOS

Location! Location! Location! Sometimes half the battle is won if the right venue is selected for an event. How so? Apart from the facilities of purpose-built convention centers, the services offered would play a significant role. What’s more, Venue Managers who are interested to help event organizers create a memorable experiences would definitely make a difference.

These were nuggets of wisdom from a very experienced and passionate industry leader of the business events industry. A member of MACEOS for 14 years before taking the helm as President, Mr. Francis Teo is currently the Head of Setia City Convention Centre, who manages both the Shah Alam and Penang purpose-built convention centers. He described the intricacies of managing the physical aspects of convention centers, Francis also emphasized the duty of care to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for clients and their guests.

With a diverse audience from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, China, Algeria, Maldives, France, Germany and Africa, the 50 undergraduates took an affinity to Francis, a Taylor’s Alumni, as he took time to address their questions. These session helped students dive deeper into selected topics in the Conventions and Meetings module under the Bachelor of International Tourism Management (Hons.) (Events Management) program offered by Taylor's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Events (SHTE).

The school was glad that Industry Advisory Panelist such as Francis contributes his time and effort to help steer future leaders in the industry. Not only reveals secrets from his 22 years experiences in convention centers management, he also encouraged the next generation of event organizers to be brave and resilient as the industry is coming back stronger. With the collaborative efforts from various sectors, there wouldn’t be any doubt.