As the crowds started trickling in from 7.30am, well before the doors to KL Convention Center’s Grand Ballrooms 1 and 2 were open, it was evident that Joey Yap’s Good to Great in 2008 Seminar was off to a great start.

This year, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, UTAR Council Chairman, was officiating the event and his speech which began with “Let me say now that I do believe in Feng Shui”, received a thunderous applause from the enthusiastic audience.

With that, Joey took to the stage to do what he does best. Kicking off his talk with an exciting insight into what the year of the Earth Rat holds for all of us.

Standing crowd

The presence of various VIPs also added to the excitement of the event, which was covered by Malaysia’s RTM1 and TV3, as well as Bernama and The Star newspaper.

As reported by The Star and the various news media who were present, the event was an overwhelming success with more than 3000 participants attending. Even though the seats were almost full, people still continued to trickle in after 11am, with many making last minute ticket purchases. An additional 500 seats had to be added at the rear of the hall to accommodate the additional attendees and some even had to be turned away as there were simply no more seats available.

Four giant screens in the hall helped to ensure that no matter where you sat in the hall, you would always be able to follow the events on-stage.

The breaks gave the media a chance to speak to the attendees. Participants from all walks of life were interviewed; some had even travelled from other countries to attend Joey’s talk. Their positive feedback on the event and the excitement in the air was evident as the interviews were conducted.

When Joey began speaking about the individual Chinese Astrology Outlook for the 12 Animal Signs, there was a general curious interest from those in the crowd, many had obviously been waiting for this section to learn what the year held in store for them. In a ground breaking new format, Joey introduced a method that immediately enables every participant relate the information to their entire BaZi (Astrology) chart!

In an unprecedented move, Joey decided to actually take a walk through the crowd of participants in the hall in the later part of the afternoon. He took questions directly from the participants and helped clarify any questions they had then and there.

Up close and personal with the participants.

Joey Yap conducting the Q&A with the audience

The second break of the day gave participants an opportunity to get Joey to personally sign his books, although the line was a little long, the organizers ensured everyone was taken care of and had their books autographed.

Book Signing

By the end of the day, the participants left happy, with a sense of not just having learned what to expect for the year ahead, but also with an understanding of what to do and how they could make 2008 from Good to Great.