AN INTERESTING invitation to attend a lo hei dinner to usher in the Year of the Ox arrived in my mailbox last week.
It was for a “virtual lo hei” from networking giant Cisco. I was curious. Was it going to be that all guests to this event will be represented by avatars in a sort of Second Life environment? Will there be virtual fire crackers too?
It didn’t turn out that way.
Instead of fire crackers, there was a Chinese drum roll to signal the start of the festivities. There’re no avatars but people interacting with each other via a high-definition very life-like video conferencing system called telepresence, a system developed by Cisco.
Cisco's New Year system.
Photo handout: Cisco
Since the lo hei – tossing of salad with raw fish which symbolises prosperity – was very much a Singapore thing, the team here led the celebration. Two plates of yu sheng were tossed cheered on by Cisco staff and families in other cities in the region like Shanghai, Sydney, Mumbai, New Delhi, Taipeh, Bangkok and Seoul.
While the Singapore team was tasting the yu sheng, pineapple tarts and love letters, their colleagues in different cities provided the entertainment. The Oriental societies like Taipeh, Shanghai and Seoul shared how they would celebrate this festival.
Koreans, for example, would start the festival by paying respects to their ancestors. The Chinese, of course, would give “red envelopes” – hong baos – to children and the singles.
Indians don’t celebrate the Lunar New Year but they showed they could add to the festivities by dancing to lively Indian music.
Not to be left out, the Australians put up a puppet show -with a self-made dragon “dancing” across the three 65-inch plasma screens.
Cisco’s chief executive John Chambers also made an appearance and decided to drop the sales quota for the Asia-Pacific region!
In all, the two-hour event was quite fun. Technology hasn’t made it possible yet for people to “taste” the yu sheng across the miles but it certainly enhanced the camaraderie of Cisco’s Asia-Pacific business team.
In some respects, one doesn’t need to be always present for an event. While face-to-face meetings can’t be replaced for important events, It maybe enough now and then for virtual get-togethers. The important criteria is that everyone should be able to see and hear each other as if everyone is in the same room.
Of course, Cisco was paying for the bandwidth for yesterday’s event, but to demonstrated what a wonderful way for businesses and families located in far flung places to celebrate major festivities “virtually”.
If only Cisco dropped the $50,000 price tag for an entry level telepresence unit!