LIVE - SaaStr APAC 2023: Everything to Know for Feb 22-23!

for the very first SASTR event in APAC. We've been planning this for many a year, sort of behind the scenes. So we're super excited for this to be the very first official one in APAC in 2023. So hello everyone. If you have any questions as we go, drop them into the chat or drop them into the Q&A. We will answer questions not only as we— I'll try and answer them as we go along as they pertain to what we'll review. And then we'll do more formal Q&A at the end. So we're super excited. Like I said, this is our very first SaaStr APAC. The very first one is happening in Singapore in just a couple weeks. So we're just a few weeks away now from the big show. And it'll be great. We're going to have actually more SaaS founders and CEOs there than we originally planned for, which is great. More people to network with, more people to learn from. So it's going to be a jam-packed day and a half. So we're gonna walk you all through it so we can help you make the most out of your time at SaaStr APAC. And it is the very first SaaStr event in Asia Pacific. So if you've never been to a SaaStr event in person, buckle up. It's a lot different than other, like, traditional trade shows, if you will, or conferences or conventions, because it's all SaaStr style. So we'll walk you through it today. Cool. Without further ado, I've got like a purple glow. Without further ado, I'm gonna go ahead and kick us off and walk you guys through everything you need to know before you go to SAS Trade Pack. Okay, location. We are at the amazing Suntec Singapore Convention Center and Exhibition Space. This is right in the heart of downtown where all the SaaS companies are in Singapore. Really easy to get to, very accessible, lots of great hotels nearby, walkable, walking distance. So we're very excited to be at this place of Suntec for our first year event. Usually our first year events are a little bit smaller, more turnkey, not in a giant convention space, but we have so many of you lovely faces joining us. We're going big for the first ASTRA APAC, so we'll be taking over Suntec for 2 days. It should be a lot of fun. If you're in the region, hopefully you know Suntec or have been through it. There is a mall attached to it that you may know, or Suntec City. Has the Fountain of Wealth, which is the photo here on the left. So it's pretty well known. But if you're new or traveling into the region for this event in particular, it's fairly easy to get to. So it'll be great. Like I said, we'll be at Suntec. The location is at 1 Raffles Boulevard. When you're trying to get there, we're gonna be taking over Level 3. It is the first level once you go up the escalator, so it'll be pretty obvious that it is SAS TR there. You'll see a bunch of fun SASTR signage to kind of point you and lead you in the right direction, as well as plenty of us in our SASTR attire to help you get checked in and where you need to go for content, et cetera. So we'll be at Suntec. Just remember, level 3, go up the escalators. It'll be the first event you see on the third level. We'll also have some fun, like, SASTR branding as you come up the escalators and as you get in. So you really cannot miss us. There is free Wi-Fi at Suntec, so you'll be able to, you know, take notes, work, Slack, etc., as you need during the event. And if you need help at any given time, and if you need help pre, you know, or during, so first of all, on site at Suntec, again, Level 3 on the event days, we will have our registration team there ready to help you with whatever you need in terms of registration, getting into the event, questions you may have about the event. At any time now, if you have a question, you can use the email alias that is registration@saastrinc.com. That goes straight to our dedicated registration team. We are working in different time zones to try and keep up with everything, and you can do that there to ask any questions you may have. And if you have anything in particular that's like, you know, you don't want to maybe ask in this webinar, in front of others, but you wanna ask before you come to this event, definitely email our registration team. A lot of them are on this webinar right now watching, and they'd be happy to help you out there as much as they can. Yeah, they can't drive you to the show, but they'll do everything short of that. Okay, if you are coming from out of town and you are an out-of-towner, as we usually say in the States, There are a couple attendee hotel blocks that are super close to Suntec that you can stay at. So one of them is the Hotel Grand Pacific. Again, super close. The links are here and we will be sharing these slides afterwards. So no worries there. If you still haven't booked, they are also on our attendee portal on sasterapac.com. So if you need to still book, I do recommend booking. There's a lot actually just going on in and around Singapore. Outside of SASTR, there's a lot of other big conferences and conventions happening at the other major hotels. So just for reference too, if you're like, why is the city so crowded? Um, SASTR's happening, that's a big crowd. There's a lot of crowds at other international events that are happening all around, um, Singapore. So that is something to keep note. So if you haven't booked yet, um, and you're coming from out of town, make sure you do so, um, because a lot of the blocks have been filling up. Transportation. Again, Suntec is fairly easy to get to. A lot of, you know, buses and lines do go there already because it is a major hub and convention center. So just, you know, follow the line and access points for Suntec, or, you know, get in a cab and tell them Suntec and go from there. I see a lot of questions about health and safety, which we'll literally get to in like 2 slides. So we will get there. But accessibility, really easy to get to Suntec. Even if you are an out-of-towner. Again, a lot of the buses do already stop there. They're all listed here, and again, we'll send this around for your reference, um, post, post-webinar, uh, to get there. So, um, a few things before we get to the health and safety portion of it, um, for the event. So Suntec Singapore, like I said, is a very big space. Um, this is our campus map. It is also available on the app. We'll have big signs signage around this during the event, so that if you ever are not sure where you're supposed to be within SaaStrAPAC, or you're not sure where a particular session is, um, this will be there. It is the SaaStr events app, um, for those asking what app it is, and I'll have a QR code that you guys can scan too in this webinar. Um, so this is our campus map and a kind of overview of the lay of the land, if you will, for SaaStrAPAC 2023. You'll notice that the first thing you'll hit when you come in up the escalators will be our registration area, um, and it'll be a large space. So we'll have a lot of registration desks, uh, for everyone to check in. This is where the majority of you will be coming first to get your badge. Um, so that's registration. Um, workshop stages and the main stage. So there are many stages here. It's, you know, verbiage of main stage, workshop stage, they're actually like the same size of stages. So size aside, we have actually 3 stages now in addition to the Brain Dates. So do pay attention when you're signing up for sessions and also on any of our printed agendas, which speaker you're trying to see, because they will be on different stages here. The workshop stage and the main stage are connected, so they're fairly easy to walk back and forth from. You don't really have to worry about travel time in between stages here, which is quite nice in this venue. Or if you're walking, you know, from a Brain Date to the workshop stage, that'll only take you about a minute or two. So really accessible and easy to get to there. And then the Brain Dates. So the Brain Dates are our networking, which we'll have a full overview as well. These are networking. You can think of like if you're gonna go past, you know, the big stages, that will get you to the Brain Dates and all the networking there, including the Super Brain Dates, which are the big group networking sessions. Up off the main stages and radiate areas, there's Workshop Stage B. So this is our third stage for workshops. And then we have a few like just attendee rooms. Like we've got like, you know, a coat check if you need to. I know some people are kind of probably leaving that Thursday evening. If you need to drop your bags, etc., that is available on site as well. So that is that. COVID testing, I'll cover in a second. We do have a dedicated COVID testing area, but there's also things like if you need them during the day, there is a prayer room and mother's room as well. So that is the overview of the lay of the land. Like I said, this is in the mobile app. We'll be showing it a lot more in our attendee emails as we get closer. We'll have it printed at Suntec so that everyone can find it. Really easy and handy, but this is what we're working with here in terms of like 3 stages for one day and a lot of networking content. All the like things like coffee, food, happy hour, that will all be in Summit 1 and Summit 2, as well as the sponsors we love. So if there's particular sponsors you've been wanting to talk to or get the chance to meet to and learn what they do at this event, that will all also be in our main area of Summit 1 and Summit 2. Okay, I know this is what everyone's asking in the chat. I will cover some important registration and health and safety information. I'll try and answer as many questions that come in as I go. If I don't get to your individual question, please do email our registration team. It is registration@sasterinc.com. I'll try and drop it into the chat momentarily. But yeah, do you know, obviously this is a lot of individual case-by-case basis too. So if I don't get to your question, there are a lot of questions that have already come in. Again, I'll try to answer as many as possible. There is a lot of ground to cover because it's a jam-packed event. So do email our team if I don't get to your particular question. Okay, so first and foremost, there are a few things you need to bring with you for registration and entry to SaaStr ABAC in order to get your badge. So first, make sure you have a valid ID. This way we can make sure your ticket is you. We do not allow badge swapping or sharing of any kind. We do these ID checks. So keep that in mind as well. We do check valid IDs. For us, passport is preferred because this is an international event. If you have a driver's license, we will accept that, but passport is preferred. Basically something that says that you are you and that you match the details that are on your ticket registration. So that's the important part. There. Try and slow down a little bit too. 2, always good to have a copy of your ticket. Usually in your email confirmation, there's a QR code at the very bottom. Or like I said, when I go over the app, if you have the app, it'll have your ticket QR code on there. You can also print a copy of your ticket, which a lot of our attendees have done. Bringing a copy of your ticket, just super helpful in case, again, something happens or you change your registration details at the last minute and maybe the system didn't, like, maybe 5 minutes before and the system didn't refresh. Um, always good to always have a copy of your ticket, um, to ensure that again it is smooth sailing for entry into SASTRA APAC. Okay, I know we'll probably get more questions on 3 and 4, so we will go over them in more detail. Um, but you will need to have proof of negative COVID tests within 72 hours for all in-person attendees. I'm going to slow down here because we are very much aware of Singapore dropping the COVID restrictions and requirements, um, starting next week. However, these are our rules. It is an international event. We've updated some of our, um, health and safety policies today based on the news that came out, but this is still going to be a requirement. So we are not going to drop this requirement for COVID testing for all in-person attendees. Um, quite simply put, we don't want anyone to come or leave sick ASASTRA International event. This has been our policy at many of our international events. They've been, you know, updated and changed as we go along and as policies update. But yes, this policy of having a proof of negative COVID test will not be— again, will not be dropped. There's some good questions here. Is a self-test okay? Yes, and I'll explain how you can self-test. Et cetera. So I'll get into the testing requirements momentarily, but yes, just wanted to, again, TL;DR, if you know nothing else, or if you drop off this webinar after this question is answered, this requirement is not getting dropped even with the new updates with Singapore. So this is our event requirements for entry. If for some reason you do not want to, you do not know about these beforehand, and you do not want to meet these, our registration team would be happy to issue you a refund. Again, you can just email them. I can't refund you in the chat right now, but if you email them registration@saastrinc.com, they'll be happy to help you out with that. So we will have testing on site, which again I'll cover momentarily. But it— keep in mind, you know, testing takes time. The more people who need to test on site, the longer you're going to wait. Um, again, this is our probably 4th event that we've done now, um, with our health and safety guidelines. And so it's— we've gotten into a pretty good flow of these, um, but it does take time because there's just people and we can't speed up the time it takes for the test to percolate and do its thing. That always takes 15 minutes. So yeah, speed that up. Uh, okay, last thing you will need to bring with you for entry will be your proof of valid COVID vaccination. This can be digital. This can be preferably printed. We can read the digital codes, and I'll show you guys in a second too how to pre-upload that beforehand, just so that again you can speed through registration once you get there. Okay, cool. So I think I'm answering most of the questions as we're going. Okay, so first and foremost, Again, we— this SASTR APAC is our first event in Asia Pacific. It is a very international audience, so you will need to do all these things in order to get your badge and come to SASTR. We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable and have a really good time at SASTR. And again, we don't want anyone to come sick or leave sick from any of our global international events, and that's why we have these policies in place. So I kind of said this, so I'll, I'll dive into each one now. So for those planning to attend SASTR APAC, number one requirement is yes, vaccine verification is required for all attendees. So this, this right now is taken off of the SASTR Singapore website. Obviously, with the news that came out last night or this morning, depending on where you are, Singapore is dropping this. However, SASTR is not dropping this requirement. So you do need to be fully vaccinated to come to SAASTR. For the questions that are coming in, or for maybe those who didn't know, how do you know if you're fully vaccinated with all these like combinations, etc.? The best way will be to upload your proof of vaccination into our attendee registration portal. I'll show you how to do that next. That is the best way to know that you will be allowed entry once you come. The worst Worst case scenario would be that you come and you are not allowed entry because we weren't able to pre-verify it. We've had, I think, about 25% of folks already pre-verified. So thanks everyone who did that already. That's super great news. We're super close to the event, so I know a lot of people wait to do it around now. Um, so I'll show you how to do it now. Um, to upload your proof of vaccination, this link is on sasterapac.com in our attendee portal. And again, we will share the slides and all the links. So that you guys have them handy. But what you'll basically do is you're going to log into what we call our attendee portal. Make sure you use, and this is very important, make sure you use the email that you registered with. You know, no typos, no G. If you use your Gmail, your Gmail. If you use your work email, your work email. If you don't remember, our registration team can look you up and help you with what email you are registered on. When you log in, this will be the first screen you see here. So you're gonna hit this nice button that says edit details. It will pop up with a bunch of fields, including, like, you know, if you want to pick your sessions, but we're not worried about that right now. What you will do is you will see a button to upload the front, and if needed, the back or the second page of your vaccination card proof, PDF, whatever it might be. Um, and so you'll upload that, you'll hit save, and basically that will send a notification to our dedicated health and safety team. Who will, you know, look at all your details, make sure they're in line with our health and safety policies, and verify you or reach out to you if there is an issue. They are doing these— literally, we're trying to keep up with these every day. So you can expect an answer within like 24 to 48 hours once you do upload your vaccination on whether or not it's been approved or if there's an issue. Usually they're quicker to reach out if there's some sort of issue. Sometimes it's a file issue if the file type is not openable sometimes. Sometimes it's just a question of, you know, if some— sometimes people miss the second page, quite frankly. That's a common issue. So yeah, they're, they're super happy to help you triage. Again, cannot recommend this enough to do this beforehand. This is the best case scenario is like after this webinar, you would go upload your proof of vaccination so that our team can make sure you are verified. And that is honestly the best way to speed up your entry and answer any questions so that there's no uncertainty. All right, so cool. That's the first part, is be fully vaccinated. Part 2, and this is an "and" not an "or," so wanted to call that out as well. It is required to have proof of negative COVID test for all in-person attendees, and this is for everyone, whether you're coming from our host country of Singapore or whether you're traveling internationally. Again, we know that Singapore is dropping those next week for their, like, airport requirements. We are still requiring this to come into the event so that no one comes sick and no one leaves sick. Um, so let me explain this a bit because I know there's some questions around the testing in particular. Um, so for those who want to bring a test with you, if you do any sort of test that gives you a digital result, it can be an at-home test that gives you a digital result. It can be a physical location that you go to and get like a printed or digital result. All of that is great. We really have no preference on the type of test that it is. You can also do an at-home test. So an over-the-counter test in Singapore. I know it's the ART test a lot, the antigen rapid test here. We are like the PCR test. Um, here in the States, we call it something else, but regardless of where you are, um, if you do an over-the-counter COVID test to bring with you, as an at-home test, which a lot of folks do, you know, take your test, follow the instructions, and what you'll do is take a photo of the result next to your ID with the timestamp. So the best way I tell people to do this is like if you have an iPhone, take a photo of the result with the ID and your iPhone will timestamp it automatically because it timestamps all your photos. So that's the best way to do it. If you're on like an Android, etc., phone, you know, take it next to a clock that has the time and date. and that is the biggest thing, so that it's within 72 hours. So that's all good to do the at-home test. Um, so hopefully that answers all the questions in the chat on the self-tests. Um, so yeah, those are all great. We will have rapid testing on site. Again, like I said, this can take time. So if you're going to do this on site because you can't— maybe you can't get a test, um, before you come in, which I always just recommend before you travel, um, to make sure you you are not sick. But if you do come to SAASTRA APAC, we will have testing available on site. But it does take time, right? So factor that into your time. Keep in mind, a lot of people are gonna come right at 8:00 and 9:00 AM on that February 23rd, on that Thursday. So come early, come get your badge. It's why we have registration for 6 hours on February 22nd to help everyone get in, 'cause we don't want you guys missing content, et cetera. For this. So there'll be a lot of ways to get your badge so that, you know, you don't end up waiting too long at the health and safety part. So testing will be available on site. It is on that campus map. We'll also have plenty of signage on site. So as soon as you see SASTR, you'll be able to go. We'll direct you where to get a COVID test, and then everyone who's negative will get that fun purple wristband that I put onto the slide, and that is how And that's how we'll know that you are negative. If you're coming on the 22nd and not the 23rd, make sure you do not take your wristband off. We've had people lose them from partying too hard, uh, but to try and keep your wristband on you, um, otherwise you will likely need to retest. So make sure you keep your wristband on you. That's why it has like a little strap thing, like a festival style, um, so that you don't lose it. Um, okay, next thing that we are doing, um, each day of the event that you come in, we're gonna have passive temperature check. So this is like a picture of our temperature scanners that we have. They're probably very much like the ones you guys have seen at airports or major venues. You basically walk in front of it and it will just, it will be green or it'll beep at you if you have a temperature. And if for any reason, again, you're not feeling well or you're, you're feeling really good now, but you start to feel a little bit sick right before the event, I know it's a huge bummer, but I'm pretty sure SaaStr will be back next year, or, you know, there's SaaStr Europa, SaaStr Annual. If you're not feeling good, we can refund you so that you can come either later this year or next year. Again, just email our registration team and they're happy to help update your travel plans. Okay, last thing here, and this is important for all the out-of-towners. This is actually not a SaaStr rule. And this is also not dropped with all the COVID stuff that Singapore dropped today for requirements. This is not dropped. So do keep that in mind. The Singapore Arrival Card, you still very much have to do if you're coming into Singapore. So for all my out-of-towners, including myself, um, do not forget to do your Singapore Arrival Card. Again, we'll send all these links. Uh, we'll send the deck so that you guys can get, uh, this link. Easy. Um, it is like it says, it is not a visa. So if you're coming from out of town in a country where you do need a visa, um, our team is able to help write visa letters. So if that is something that you need, we've had plenty of attendees do it. I would say probably, I don't know, 30% of our attendees have already gotten visa letters from us. Um, if you're one of the folks who still needs one, please email our registration team. They do need like your full name, email, job company, title, basically the stuff that's on your ticket registration. But, you know, they need your full legal name, etc., to write you a visa invitation letter, but they are happy to do that. We do this a lot for all of our international events. So if you need one, or if you're not sure if you need one, maybe check and then, yeah, get one from our team if you do need one. They are still doing a lot of those. Okay, Singapore Arrival Card, again, not a visa. It is required to enter into Singapore for everyone who's not from Singapore. So this is mandatory. Again, this rule has not been dropped. You do need to do this. We do not have any control over this. So you do need to do this up to 3 days before your arrival. Keep in mind any time differences on your arrival time to Singapore, like for us coming from the States, you know, you kind of need to time shift since it takes a whole day to get there. So this is Again, mandatory per Singapore for anyone who's an out-of-towner. There is a fee to it. I think it amounted to about $35 US. So there is a fee in that. Again, we can't waive it. We really have no control over this. This is a requirement just to come into Singapore if you're an out-of-towner. Hopefully you knew about it, but if not, you still have time because you really have to do this literally right before arrival. And you can, you know, set a little calendar reminder for yourself to do this before you get on the plane. It's what I recommend. Okay, registration badge pickup, health and safety hours. We put this here. You could take a screenshot of it. It's also in the agenda on the app or on the website. But just to make it super clear and plain as day when registration badge pickup is, it starts at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, February 22nd. At Suntec. So again, there's a block of time there that you can go get your badge, get tested if you need to, make sure everything is good to go. Highly recommend if you're in town, go get your badge early. I've, you know, people love, love getting their badges early so that the next day we do have an express line. So if you get your badge early on day 1 or you go to LAVO, you'll be able to go through the express line the next day, which will very much breeze you right in, um, to SAS for APAC content and networking. Um, so that is registration at the Fullerton on Wednesday. We also have a very cool welcome reception at Lavo. Um, it's the top of the Marina Bay Sands. We're taking over the whole thing. Um, so that'll be super fun just for SASter, and we'll have our full registration set up there including badge pickup, uh, health and safety checks, etc. So If you're coming in late or if you come at the last minute to LAVO, that is okay. We'll be able to get you badge there. Oh, great question in the chat. I'm gonna answer. Can you get your badge for other people in registration? Unfortunately, you cannot. Just with all the requirements, again, ID checks, health and safety checks per person. It really has to be the person who is picking up the badge. So, okay, glad I answered your question, but great question because I'm sure other people had it. So yeah, if you are coming with a team, as I know many of you are, everyone's got to go get their badge as themselves at least once. So, and then if you are coming in later or you're coming in, you know, just Thursday morning for the event, Thursday is our core day, as we call it, is our jam-packed day. Registration opens, I didn't really— at Suntec at 8, but content doesn't really start until 9 or 10 to give you a buffer time. So Again, if you've not gotten your badge yet, do recommend you get there early, although our registration will be open all day if you're coming in later. This is what our badges and lanyards look like. So when you get there, you know, you'll get your fun attendee branded badge, and I actually keep all of mine as keepsakes. So hang on to yours. All right, the SASR Events app. I know there's some questions about this earlier, so you can point your phone at this handy QR code, and if you don't have it yet, it will direct you to download the SASTR Events app. It is available on the App Store. It's available on Google Play. It is super cool because you can sign up for sessions in it. So if you haven't like booked sessions yet or looked at the full schedule, you still got time to do that. The mobile app's a great way to do that because it's super easy. You can just like click the little seat button and then it saves your seat for a session. You can also see things like speaker bios, you know, timing of badge pickup, the campus map. What is a brain date? That is all in the mobile app. So highly recommend if you haven't already, download it. It will ask you to log in again with whatever email you registered for. So if you don't know it, reach out to our registration team. If you do know it, great. These are some screenshots of what you can expect in the mobile app once you do download it. Again, it's got all the sessions. You can click this little, like, save seat button that will literally save your seat in that session. It is not mandatory. However, I highly recommend doing this because there are sessions that are capacity limited, and we have seen a few already fill up. If that does happen and you want to really get into a session, you can still show up and see if there's room. We're also live streaming and recording everything, so all the attendees here will get all the recordings. Um, after the fact as well. So if you're like, there's two sessions I really want to see at the same time, um, it is okay. Just pick whichever one you're feeling that day, um, and watch the recording of the other one after. Um, so yeah, highly recommend downloading the mobile app. Um, in the mobile app you'll see our speakers and agenda. They're also on sastraapec.com. This is our agenda at a glance. Like I said, there's a lot for an inaugural event, and especially for a day and a half event. But you can clearly see here, you know, registration and badge pickup times at Suntec, when the opening night reception is with Saster and Sequoia Indians Southeast Asia at LAVO. That'll be a lot of fun. Again, if you've never been, I've never been, but it's been like a bucket list of mine. LAVO's at the top of the Marina Bay Sands. If you get to the Marina Bay Sands and you're like, where's LAVO? It's at the top. It's on the roof. So go, you know, ride the elevator up there and you'll, you'll see Saster. You'll actually probably see our mascot in the lobby anyway. So So if you see like this big purple hexagon, that is us. Also, we're very lavender themed. So if you like see lavender, it's probably Zaster. And then Thursday, it's a full day. Like I said, registration opens bright and early at 8 AM. Sponsors will be there at 8 AM. Our networking lounge and formal networking and brain date starts at 9 AM. Speakers and content and like workshops start at 9 AM. And then it is a full day, guys. I know there's like back-to-back sessions. Lots to see, lots to learn. There's lunch, there's sponsors, and then there's happy hour starting at 4 o'clock in Suntec. You know, we'll start pouring the wine and the beer, and then we'll, we'll end with a closing AMA with SaaStr CEO and founder Jason M. Lemkin. So that'll be fun to close it all out, and then we'll have some, we'll have a toast to the first SaaStr APAC. So taking a deep dive into each event by day, Really, day 1, the focus is on, you know, getting your badge early and coming to the LABO opening reception. So if you haven't been or haven't seen it, it's a very cool space. And if you stay late enough on like the later half of the opening night reception, you will be able to see like the Marina Bay Sands water show from there. So it'll be fun. It'll be a great way to kick these off. We've done a lot of these opening VIP receptions at our international events. They're really meant to help our attendees like all of you Have a great way to network, you know, get your badge early, have a way to network, kind of meet people because there is so much content on Thursday the 23rd. Highly recommend coming to the opening night reception if you can swing it. Everyone who has a ticket can come to the opening VIP reception. It'll be super fun. I know a lot of people have made really great connections with these over the years that Zaster has done them. So highly recommend it. It's a good chance, you know, there's music, there's food, there's drinks. Go network, you know, bring your business cards, bring everything you need to network with folks and come ready to have a good time. So that is the opening reception. It starts at 5:30, which is quite early, but we are going all the way to 9:00. So that's the opening VIP reception there. Again, highly recommend you come get your badge early at Suntec before you get to Lavo. It's just gonna be a lot faster. So go to Suntec starting at 1 o'clock. We'll be there till 6 or later if there's a bunch of people. So we'll be there till you guys need us to come get your badge and then go to LAVO. They are about a 5-minute cab ride from one another. So if you're like, where do I go first? Because I'm like right at 5 o'clock, you can go to Suntec and then go to LAVO. They're super quick to get to. From one another. So that will be fun. Main day, Thursday, February 23rd. There is a lot of content, a lot of really great speakers, a very good mix of like CEOs, CROs, you know, marketing, sales, and a very global mix of international speakers that we have at this event. So the full agenda, if you've not seen it yet, is live. It's on samsterapec.com. You can see the full thing. I know there's a lot of sessions, so we'll try and highlight some of them here. Like I said, the morning really starts at 8 AM with registration and badge pickup. Sponsors We Love will be open, you know, coffee will be flowing. A lot of people do come early as well to network in the morning before content starts. So if you are just coming on this day and, and you can't make it to the LAVO, good idea to come early. We'll be kicking it off at 9:00 AM with an AMA. There's a few other workshops going on, but just, you know, to get the day going, we have content there. We also have brain dates starting at 9:00 AM, which we'll cover in a bit of what a brain date is. But we'll have brain dates all day. I, I'll say this again, but I'll say it now. If you're not yet registered for a brain date, I will show you how to do that in a minute. Highly recommend you do it beforehand. Once you get to the on-site, it's more like energy and probably crowded than you thought it was gonna be. So good idea to pre-book these so that you have them in your calendar and that you can meet some really great folks preset at SASDR and have some preset meetings before you go. So we'll explain how that works, but it starts at 9:00 AM and it goes all day. Then we'll have our official kickoff at 10:00. So if you're like, what time should I really, really get there? You know? You can, if you're cutting it or your flight gets in at 8, it's okay. The official kickoff starts at 10 and we'll have content all day long. So we're really going from, you know, 9 to 5-ish on content. So again, full day of content. We do, you know, our seating for those who've never been to a SAS TRIVENT is a mix of seating in theater and in the round. So you are able to, you know, bring your laptop, take notes. A lot of people do. We encourage it. And some people bring, you know, pen and— there is going to be pen and paper there if you need it. But yeah, highly recommend, you know, bringing your iPad, laptop, tablet, etc., to take notes because there will be a lot of really great content. Bessemer is going to do a really fun State of the Cloud APAC update. They do this every year at SaaStry Annual as the big State of the Cloud update. And we've done it in Europa the last couple years, so this will be fun that we are bringing it now to our third international event. To have an APAC version of State of the Cloud. So that'll be a fun one. If you're looking for one to sign up for at that time, that's a good one. And like I said, we can't really cover all the sessions here. There's too many good ones. We're going to go all the way to, you know, 4:45. We'll kick off the AMA. We'll go as long as people have questions, like we've done at our other events. But, you know, you can grab— basically grab a drink, ask some questions, do some networking, and then we will end the very busy day with our happy hour and closing reception. This is on site at Suntec, so you do not have to go anywhere. And this will be a lot of fun way to kind of like, you know, chat with all the new friends you've made, all of our sponsors, speakers, all of us at SASster. And yeah, we'll be— it'll be a fun day, very jammed and lots to do there, but Yeah, it'll be great. So yeah, happy hour will be the last thing on site. So usually I've, you know, I've heard from folks like sometimes they really love the happy hour more than anything else. So yeah, do stick around for that at the close of Thursday. Okay, I've talked a bit about our sponsors, but first and foremost, I do see some of you on this attendee webinar because I know it's great information for sponsors as well. So thanks to all of our sponsors. Who are sponsoring this year's SaaStr APAC. This event would not be possible without you. So thanks to all of you. If you guys are interested in chatting with any of our sponsors, this is the one to take a screenshot of. Obviously it'll be a bit prevalent in person too because of the branding and signage that all of our sponsors has. But if you're looking for someone in particular and you wanna know just off the bat like where you can find them, this is the sponsor map of where to go and chat with these folks. So a lot of great represented countries and companies here with international companies sponsoring the event. So that'll be cool. We've talked a lot about Brain Dates, so I'll get into a bit of it. What is a Brain Date? How is a Brain Date? Why is a Brain Date? As a reminder, all Brain Dates will be in this mega Brain Date lounge. There will be plenty of signage on site, but it is rooms, you know, 324 through 326. You'll notice it because you'll see all the Brain Date branding there. But it will be on site and there is a check-in area. I just want to clarify for those who maybe haven't been to Brain Date before, there is a huge check-in area once you do get there. So that when it is time for your Brain Date, you know, try and arrive, I think about 10 minutes early so that the Brain Dates can stay on time because again, they are kind of back to back. So we try to keep them as on time as possible to host all the Brain Dates. There is a check-in area. The Braindate team will help you get to your assigned table and meet the people that you are networking with. So that's how Braindates work on site. So then what is a Braindate? So basically Braindates are one-on-one group, one-on-one and group mentoring sessions that are of different sizes. So the one-on-ones are obviously one-on-one. So me and one other person. The small groups are one-on-four. So one host, so me and four other people. The Super Brain Dates are, I think, up to 20 people. So like 1 host and 20 people in a small classroom type environment. But really, no matter the size of the Brain Date, they are designed to share knowledge with your fellow SAS community members and minds that are going to be present at SAS TRAAPAC in Singapore. The goal of these, and we've done them for years now, is to help each other learn something new, create connections, partnerships, find mentors. And exchange strategies of what's working or maybe what's not for you. Like I said earlier, highly recommend you plan on booking your Brain Dates before you arrive. To get started, you'll log into Brain Date. I'll show you how to do that next. You do need to, again, use the, use the email that your ticket is associated with. So if you don't know it, email registration. They will help you. If for some reason that doesn't happen, you can also email registration and we'll help you out. Um, if it's not for some reason syncing to Braindates, it does. I will say if you just got your ticket, it does take about an hour to sync. So maybe get your ticket, give an hour, and then log into Braindates. Um, some, you know, sometimes it's faster than that, but sometimes with the emails parsing through, it can take about an hour. So just one caveat there. Um, but once you jump in, you know, it is exciting. You can jump in right away. I think there's more than like 100 people already in Braindates. So a lot of you are already braindating, which is super cool. So what are braindates? They are different topics. Some of them were hand-curated by the SaaStr speaker team. So some of these are ones of like partners, speakers that we've brought in that we know. Others are just, you know, self-created. So there are two ways to really join a braindate. The first is to join an existing either group or one-on-one Brain Date. So when you log into the app, it will literally look like this, um, and you can see what topics are interest to you. Um, and all you would have to do is like, you know, hit schedule a Brain Date or join Brain Date, and that would, um, have you book a meeting with them to do a Brain Date. So, um, that's how that works. Many of them are at set times. One-on-ones are a bit more flexible. The group ones usually are at a set time. If you're like, you know, I'm browsing the marketplace for a Brain Date and I don't really see a topic that I want to network on, you can post your own topic and create your own either one-on-one or group topic. If this is your first time, you haven't done Brain Dates, highly recommend the one-on-one setting. The groups are great if you wanna have more of like a debate or more of a lively discussion about something high level like email marketing, funding, expanding international, recruiting. Like if you wanna have more people in like a more high level conversation, definitely recommend the groups. If you wanna do more of like a niche or a deep dive topic, definitely recommend doing a one-on-one there. So, um, that's kind of a good rule of thumb there. Um, and you can go in and create your topic again. You can do it right after this webinar. Uh, we'd love to see more topics and more of you in there. So yeah, again, like I said, book them before you arrive. The Bright 8 team will be at LAVO to help you sign up as well. If you want to, you know, browse the topics, or if you're not sure how it all works, they can give you a rundown there. Super important to book them. It will be hard to book them on the day of because there will be a lot happening. So recommend— you can't recommend this enough— that you do it before you arrive. Okay, other instances of networking at SASSTAR. Also, I've seen in the Q&A there's some questions on like, who's attending? How can I best network? Obviously, we're very cognizant that this is the first ASTER event of its kind in Singapore. So wanted to help you guys again with this. Hopefully this webinar is helpful and hopefully our emails and tips of how to make the most of it are helpful before you get there. But networking at ASTER, so this is our current like attendee demographics. And makeup of the folks who are attending SaaStr APAC in particular. So you can see there's a lot of CEOs and founders, there's a lot of marketing, there's actually a lot of CTOs that are coming, there's a lot of VCs. We actually wrote a really great blog post last week of like all the investors that are coming. So if you're a CEO, you can get into our Meet a VC program. I just emailed everyone about it. If you want more details, let our team know for founders. But again, these are the folks you can expect to meet in around, you know, these job functions and these company stages at SaaStr APAC. So if that helps with your networking, you know, hopefully that helps you frame who you want to meet there at SaaStr APAC. And also I'd say I put some cool photos from our latest SaaStr Europa event, but networking happens a lot. And honestly, during sessions, before sessions, in the morning, um, at SaaStr Europa, we did Brain Dates, um, before we officially started content. We're doing the same thing in the morning here. Um, so Brain Dates are a great way to meet people. Like, the Brain Date Lounge is always full. Uh, you know, going to things like the opening VIP reception, staying for things like the closing party, all great ways to network with your fellow attendees. Also, you know, sitting next to someone in session, striking up conversations, looking at the speaker list, seeing who's, you know, seeing, you know, posting out on social. I've seen a lot of you posting on social like, hey, who's coming to SAS for Singapore? And then people commenting back. So there's a lot of ways to network at SASR, even though it's only kind of 1.5 days. A lot of chances to network with folks. There. So again, do keep that in mind as you're planning out your day and your schedule. There's a lot of opportunities for networking here and a great way to meet face to face. Also, I know a lot of you are coming with your team members because you haven't seen each other in a while. So if this is the first time, like meeting someone off of Zoom IRL for the first time, SASTRA is a great place to do that. You know, we bring the content, we bring the speakers, we've got all the networking and the food and stuff. So good way to do that as well if this is like your first time. Meeting some of your global teammates. So yeah, lots of ways to network and maximize it at SaaStr. I know a lot of people too are just like, you know, posting on social, hey, who's coming to SaaStr? And like booking coffee meetings, et cetera, around the event days or planning to meet up at the opening reception. So I'll end here and then I'll try and hit a few questions before we wrap 'cause I know this is a super long list of things to know before you go. So thank you all for watching. I know you've all stayed and there's a lot of you on here. So thanks so much. First and foremost, I started out with this. I'll circle back to it. This is our first SASTR APAC event. I did see a note in the comments too of like, I thought this event was originally at the Fullerton. It was originally at the Fullerton, and then about December, our attendance kept doubling. We've actually been planning to do SASTR APAC since 2019 and have just waited for the right time and conditions to do it. I think with any event that you launch or any new product feature that you launch, right, you're always crossing your fingers hoping for the best, but you're not really sure how it's gonna go until it's out in the world. So yeah, we launched SaaStr Singapore first thinking, you know, we'll probably have like 500 people show up. It's a first-year event. We'll do it somewhere really beautiful and turnkey like the Fullerton. And then right before the holidays, our attendance doubled. And then right after the holidays, it doubled again. Yeah, so with everyone who's coming now, there's probably gonna be more than 1,000 people who are coming to SaaStr APAC, so definitely pace yourself. But it is gonna be a large event, and that is why we made the move to Suntec because our global— so all of you, so thank you for coming to SaaStr APAC, the very first one, and making this just already such a hit. Our team has been, you know, working day and a lot of nights to bring this event to Singapore. We're super excited to do this, you know, first one with all of you. And again, we're hoping, you know, this goes really well so that we can come back and have, you know, not just one SASR event, but this is the inaugural one. I do feel like our inaugural events are always really special. You know, there's always good energy, fun networking. Again, people are coming from all over the world for this. So it'll be fun and it's, you know, probably unlike any other event you've ever been to. FESTR events I've always heard are a bit different because there's a lot of content, there's a lot of networking. It's not like a traditional trade show where, you know, the sponsors are in a different place either. Like it's all kind of, it all flows. We actually think about the flow of the attendee journey quite a bit and it's how we base everything. So the entire agenda, you know, is based around, you know, we're starting off with networking so everyone, If you don't know someone and you're coming to this event, that you can meet a friend, right? Meet someone like-minded, someone new at the event before all the content, etc. So we really try and tailor these. If you guys have any feedback, please send it to myself and the registration team. We do take attendee feedback from all of our events and incorporate, you know, as much as we can into our future years' events. So there's that too. So thank you all for coming. I know it hasn't happened yet, but thank you all for already signing up for SAAS or APAC, for coming to this webinar. It'll be a lot of fun. It's our first faster event there, um, and it's been a ton of fun even just planning it and just to see the crazy amazing response, um, that everyone's had to faster coming to Singapore. Um, so that was unexpected and like a lot of fun for us. Um, like we literally have a Slack channel. Some of our team is chatting in the chat. We literally have a Slack channel and we like celebrate when people sign up for SaaStray. So it's pretty fun. If you've never been to a SaaStray event, but you've seen these coveted shirts, just, you know, to end on a fun note, SaaStray shirts are always a hit at any of our events. I will say we do these shirts and we do these water bottles because those are like our top 2 swag items for all time. We will have SaaStray swag and shirts for all of our attendees. It'll be super fun. We've also started doing 3 designs now because people were literally, our attendees were like, I like this one, or I like the location one, or I like the one with the tagline. So there's 3 designs you can choose from. These Sastra shirts, you guys have probably seen them in photos, show up forever, um, and so do these water bottles. Um, so we'll have some at Sastra APAC, which you can grab once you are all checked in. Um, so that's some fun swag. We'll have some fun Sastra stickers that you can put on your laptop, your luggage, whatever you want. Um, we'll have these there, and these are Limited edition, guys. We only really mint these per event. So I know some people are asking us for like some of the water bottles from manual. I'm like, we don't have those anymore. We literally like limited edition per event. So yeah, like that, your badge, your stickers, you know, it's a whole vibe if you start to get into it and collect them all. So yeah, it's pretty fun. We also started doing the flair at all of our SaaStr events. So these are buttons. We have these fun like country flags so you can You know, put a button of where you're attending from, which is super cool as like a little visual cue of where you came in from. And then we do them by, um, you know, kind of job function, um, and ARR stage. This is really to help with networking. So like if you wear this button at a glance and you're like, oh, I'm actually trying to hire a VP of sales, I'm gonna see whoever has a sales button on them. This is why we do these buttons so that it's easier to network. So highly recommend once you get in. Get your buttons, because the flair does help you network with one another. And it's also a good icebreaker, right? If you're like, oh, hey, why'd you pick that button? Good icebreaker if you're trying to, you know, break the ice and meet someone new there. So, okay, cool. We have made it and made it to the end of our formal slides. So I'm going to try and go back and answer as many questions as I can that we have not answered yet. Here. Okay. So, all right. There is a question on, for those of us who have group tickets, if we need to change the name of one of the persons attending, or I've seen this scenario a lot too, if you bought them all like under Amelia, but Amelia has 4 people coming and now is the time for Amelia to have Poya and Jason come to the event. How do we go about doing that? The best way is to email our registration team. So I'm gonna drop it into the chat. I know I've said their name a lot. So I'm gonna drop it into the chat. It is registration@saastrinc.com. So in the chat there, any and all questions, ask them. If you need to assign, what we call assign or transfer a ticket pre-event, you can do that now. When you do email registration, it is very helpful if you have the original ticket holder's name and their ticket number, and then who you want to assign or transfer a ticket to. So we always need, you know, their email, their first name, last name, company, job title, and what country they are attending from in order to make the ticket transfer. Now, once a ticket has been checked in, you cannot transfer it. So if you're like, oh, I'm going to go to Lavo and then my colleague's going to go to Santek the next day. Doesn't work that way. We do not do transfers after it's been checked in. We also typically do not do transfers during events to prevent this kind of thing. So make sure if you have not assigned your ticket yet, you assign them beforehand. The, again, only exception to this rule is if Amelia comes and she's like, I need to use my second ticket for POYA. It's still in my name, but it has not been checked in yet. They'll be happy to accommodate that onsite. But otherwise, you know, do that now. It also slows down your onsite experience. So highly recommend you do this now so that when we look you up in the system, you come right up versus us having to transfer, have you go to the help desk. You know, takes an extra 10 minutes that you could save now. So cool. I have answered that one. Onsite COVID testing fee. So the simple answer to this is our onsite fees are nominal. So, you know, under $10 US. If you come early enough, you know, that is the fee. If you come late, and I kid you not, if you come late and like the Suntec team has to do it as opposed to our team, I think it's I think it's about $30 US. So it does go up. So again, highly recommend you self-test or get an over-the-counter test. That is a lot easier and faster. You know, take a picture of your ID or do one of the ones that has a digital result, do that, or go somewhere that has, you know, free testing and bring the result within 72 hours. So highly recommend, but great question there. Okay. Sorry, this has been covered. I joined the webinar late. What is the latest vaccination health and safety policy? So I will try and briefly cover it. We are recording this, so we'll send it out, but just briefly so everyone knows. And people are asking, what is a conference pass? It's the same thing as a ticket. But okay, so to answer this question for those who joined late and maybe did not get the full info on the health and safety policy, because I know it's been talked about a lot with the Singapore travel updates. But again, FASTR is not changing these policies. If you have a very particular question about your attendance, do email our registration team. That's the best way to get it answered. I'm trying to answer as many of these questions as I can, but again, I can't see everything. I can't pull up your ticket in real time. So highly recommend reaching out to our registration team. But yeah, these are the policies here just at a glance, right? You've got to be fully vaccinated. Don't come sick, and we will have passive temperature screening. So that's really the highest level of it. There's more to it. So if you have follow-up questions, please let us know, or watch the replay of this first. But hopefully that helps answer that a bit more for those that came in late. Okay, I'm trying to read this question briefly. Okay, there is someone who's asking on behalf of a colleague who's coming on their particular COVID shot, again, email our registration team without seeing it in front of me. And actually, I don't look at these for— we have HIPAA compliance in the US, which is like not a thing elsewhere, but a thing here. I don't look at these, our, our health and safety team does. So I don't have your information. Reach out to our team and they'll help answer any questions you have around their particular case. Of, you know, wherever they may be in their vaccination cycle, they can help you with that. So I know that's a bit of a non-answer, but it is always helpful to have more info. So I think that's all the questions in the Q&A. Let me go back to the chat, just make sure we answered everything. I will move my screens to here for those, for those who have to leave, because I know it's about to be the top of the hour. Thanks everyone for joining. If you've gotta go, there's a good question that just came in here, and I see some chatter on the chat about it. Is the LAVO opening reception open to all SASTA registrants? Yes, it is. So regardless if you have a sponsor type, a, you know, big co-type, or a startup type, as long as you have an actual ticket, you can come to the LAVO opening VIP reception. Great question. Basically open to everyone as long as they're a valid ticket holder. If you don't have a ticket though, You know, but you're watching this because you're interested in getting one, get one and then come to Lavo because it'll be a fun time. So hopefully that answers that. Okay, I'm gonna go back through the chat one more time. Just to make sure. Okay, I think I answered them all. Again, there's a lot of chat and Q&A. So if I did not, I sincerely apologize. Try to keep up with it as we go. Again, cannot stress this enough. If you have any questions in particular, or you think of something, or something happens and you need to transfer your ticket or figure something out, email our registration team. It is registration@sasterinc.com. It's in the chat, it's on the website. We'll also put it in the email with the link to the slides. And maybe as a last closing note, I know we kind of ended on a bit of fun before we did Q&A. This is the first SASTR APAC APAC event. It's going to be a ton of fun, guys. There's so many of you coming now, like, this is a crazy good response. It'll be great to meet lots of new people. We're really excited to bring this first SAASer event of its kind to APAC and Singapore in particular. So it's going to be a lot of fun. In, in, you know, if you put aside even everything I said, my top 3 takeaways for anyone coming to SAASer APAC, and then we'll wrap there. One, don't forget to bring these things with you. So, you know, You need to bring your ID, your ticket, your proof of negative COVID test, and your proof of vaccination. Always good to, if you're traveling, to always bring these things. Also, if you are traveling and you are an out-of-towner coming into Singapore, don't forget to do the Singapore Arrival Card. You do have to do it still, even with the rule updates. So make sure you do that right before you arrive. Also, if you're an out-of-towner like me, bring all your plugs, like your— Conversion plugs, et cetera, so that you can plug in, take notes, get on the Wi-Fi there, et cetera. Ooh, good question here, which leads me to top takeaway number 2. Make sure you book your sessions in the agenda and that you also book a Brain Date beforehand. You can create more than one Brain Date. It will start to limit you if your Brain Dates don't fill because we do want to give everyone a fair chance. You can create more than one. So if this is your first time braindating, Highly recommend you create one Brain Date on like one topic and then another one on a different topic to see which one is more popular with your fellow attendees. So yeah, that's top takeaway number 2. If you've not yet, be sure you register for your sessions in the app. And yeah, you can register in the app, you can register online or on the mobile app. Do so there beforehand. There is a question that came in. Can I, can I pick up my badge at LAVO and register? Do I need my COVID test for that? You do. It's the same health and safety policies. We'll have a full registration entry at LAVO. So if that's your first point of entry, you'll go through a very similar flow to do all the checks. Highly recommend bringing your COVID test there. We will have COVID testing there on site. It's just not going to be as, you know, full bore as in a big convention center. So the wait times may be a little bit longer. There, but you can do that for sure. Okay, so that's top takeaway number 2, register for sessions, register for your Brain Date beforehand, you know, meet our sponsors. And then last takeaway is, you know, have a lot of fun. Networking at SASTRA is a lot different. A lot of folks are again coming from an international group. There's a lot of CEOs and founders. People have used SASTRA events throughout the years to do things like recruiting, to meet their team, meet their customers. Meet new faces, learn a lot. There's a lot of content, so there's a lot to learn and take away from SaaStr and take back to your team. So I think that leads us to the top of our— thanks everyone who's joined and stick around. Hopefully this will helpful, and we're so excited to see you guys in just a few weeks at SaaStr APAC in Singapore. So with that, have a good day, have a good evening. If you have any questions, reach out to our team, but thanks again, and we will see you guys in Singapore very shortly.