2024 Bali Annual Meeting Recap

 

Gold Sponsor: PT Transcontinent from Indonesia

 

It is with great pride that we can confidently say this may have been our greatest Annual Meeting ever, and it is not lost on us how special it is that this lines up with our 20 year anniversary as a network.  We want to thank our Gold Sponsor, PT Transcontinent from Indonesia, as well as all of our other sponsors and recap an amazing experience in Bali.  To view our 2024 Photogallery, click the link below:

 

 

Our 2024 Hotel venue was the fabulous Grand Hyatt Bali in Nusa Dua, which sits on a gorgeous beach.  The grounds were immaculately maintained lush gardens with koi ponds and spacious swimming pools, and wonderful food and beverage options, and offered a nice variety of event venues for our various event functions. 

 

The GLNK Inc Team greeted arriving members and distributed our 2024 AGM Meeting Bag, sponsored by Global Freight Services KFT from Hungary.  This bag contained several important event related items such as:

 

• Name Badges
• Badge Lanyards Sponsored by WM LOGISTIK GmbH from Germany
• Meeting Book Sponsored by WECAN INTL from China
• Baseball Hat Sponsored by SKYLINE FREIGHT & TRAVELS PVT LTD from India 
• Page Marker / Note Pad Sponsored by NETWORK SHIPPING & TRADING from the Caribbean

 

This year the Meeting Pen Sponsored by SPEDITION from India also came with a fun challenge.  Each pen was printed with the name of a fellow attendee, and we challenged our members to help us distribute them by finding an attendee and giving them their custom pen!  It was a fun way to encourage connections.

 

Our 2024 Annual Meeting App Sponsored by AVERITT EXPRESS from USA & Puerto Rico was very highly rated this year, receiving praise for its utility and optimized functionality.  The meeting app greatly elevates the event experience, containing attendee’s individual meeting schedules, company profiles, and the ability to take and share notes during meeting or presentations.

 

 

For the first time this year, in collaboration with Smailing DMC, we offered add-on Group Tour experiences to attendees looking to enjoy more of Bali while spending time with fellow members.  First up was a trip to the GWK Park, which boasts one of the largest sculptures in the world, followed by a trip to the temple at Uluwatu.  We dodged aggressive monkeys while taking in spectacular views, followed by a cultural show of Kecak dance.  Afterwards, we all headed to Jimbarang beach to sit on the sand and eat delicious seafood.  We also offered an optional Denpasar City Tour the next morning to members who had already arrived and were looking to take in the sites.

 

Monday began official network events.  Our first order of business was to sit down with the GLNK Inc. Advisory Board, who offer us invaluable input for new network initiatives and  improvements from the membership perspective.  We are so grateful to this board and for the contribution of their time and their input.

 

 

Then we transitioned to the New Member Orientation, and with so many new members and first time attendees, we had a packed house!  This event is an excellent opportunity for new members to make some initial connections in a smaller group of fellow newcomers ahead of the larger cocktail party while getting a brief overview about the network and the event.  This event is also a great opportunity for returning members to introduce themselves to the new folks!  Thanks to all who attended.

 

 

For the first evening of the 2024 Bali event, we had our Welcome Cocktail Party, Sponsored by Pearl Logistics Thailand.  The setting was a beautiful venue called Pasar Senggol which is modeled after a traditional Balinese temple, with a small market of local craft sellers at the entrance.  Attendees reveled in the surroundings while having a cheers with old and new friends, making connections in a casual atmosphere and getting the event started with good vibes and energy.

 

 

Tuesday began Day 1 of the General Meeting Sessions.  We like kicking things off with a lot of fun and energy to fill the room with excitement to fuel some productive networking over the following three days, and to say thanks to all who made the effort to be present from all over the world. This year we were filled with gratitude celebrating our 20 Year Anniversary as a network, and took a few moments to acknowledge this.  We felt so much joy to celebrate at this meeting with our largest attendance to date, with over 240+ agents from 90+ countries present!

 

 

We also thanked our Gold Sponsor, PT Transcontinent from Indonesia, whose leader Ismail Rasyid addressed the group and welcomed all to Bali as the host from their country.

 

 Then we all gathered for the 2024 Bali AGM Group Photo.  What a handsome group of the industry’s best!

 

 

Then, it was time for coffee and snacks to power up for the day’s meeting!  Special thanks to our Coffee Breaks Sponsor, FMI GROUPE from France!

 

Following the coffee break, we entered the One On One Meetings: 20 minute back to back meetings set in advance by attendees.  Our Annual Meeting events are an unbelievably productive opportunity to sit down with high quality, local specialists representing over 90 countries around the world for one trip.  Members were thrilled at the high amount of new members present, thanks to the efforts of our sales team, making for exciting new connections while catching up with known established partners as well.

 

 

As a network, we believe it is also our duty to engage our members with relevant and important trends in the industry.  This year our themes were Sustainability and Digitalization, both very prevalent topics being discussed in the forwarding world, and we brought in experts to share their thoughts and offer their solutions.  

 

Sustainability is an extremely important trend that we are passionate about, and are committed to pursuing on behalf of our network as a whole, leveraging each other’s efforts and strengths into a better future for all.  Read our latest blog on this topic to learn more. To present an attainable solution for carbon emissions tracking and carbon offsetting and insetting, we invited our new partner Lune whose product is inexpensive, simple, and instant to implement offering the perfect solution for forwarders looking to offer sustainable logistics to their clients.

 

It is our tradition, started by our Founder Bill Siemens, to make a charitable donation to the local community hosting our event every year.  We have named this initiative the Bill Siemens Global Gratitude Pledge.  This year, we decided to pledge to a sustainable effort benefitting our host country by donating to Forest Conservation in the Katingan Peatlands, supporting wildlife and forest conservation, as well as providing educational resources and sanitation to the local communities.  We are very grateful to Lune for sourcing this project so we could contribute, and we would also like to thank the network members who joined us by making their own contributions: WECAN INTL from China, BLITEB D.o.o. from Slovenia, and Supply Chain Solutions from the USA and China.  Together, our contributions resulted in 140 t/co2 offset, proving our network is committed to making a difference.

 

 

Beyond just donating, our members also rolled up their sleeves for some boots-on-the-ground activism. A 2024 Bali Beach Cleanup was led by LLS TEAM SPEDITION GmbH, who mobilized members and collected a large cart full of trash off the beach.  How's that for improving the environment?

 

Next up was the topic of Digitalization.  Many forwarders are too focused on their daily tasks that they often don’t zoom out and think of how they can improve their service offering to their clients, while streamlining their operations.  Freightoscope presented their platform that offers the solution, tailored perfectly to independent forwarders, offering transparency of data to clients, coordinated sales collaborations with your teams, and better operational efficiency.  

 

 

 Celebrating together at our Gala Dinner is often one of the most memorable moments of the whole event, and we set a high bar at our 2023 AGM in Panama.  We have to thank our Silver Sponsor, Infinity Logistics from Malaysia who sponsored our fantastic dinner on the beach, on the sand, with a spectacular fire dance show and a rocking band.  James Ku helped lead the whole group in cheers-ing Malaysian-style, and shouts of “Yam Seng!” were heard for miles around. 

 

 

On the final day, after making some closing remarks, and the final round of One On One Meetings, we closed out the whole event with a new agenda item: the Wrap Party.  Members enjoyed live music from an excellent Indonesian acoustic trio and enjoyed a BBQ and drinks overlooking the ocean, finishing the week on a high and a feeling of accomplishment.

 

These events are the highlight of our year, and we are grateful to always be surrounded by the incredible people that make up the companies that are members of our networks, who year after year we have developed close bonds with, and consider to be our global family.

 

We are also thrilled to announce next year’s dates and destination:

2025 AGM in Greece: April 7 - 10

Gold Sponsor: Be Accurate Ltd. 

 

Globalink & Global Value, thanks again for a great 2024 AGM in Bali.  We can hardly wait to deliver another exceptional experience for you next year.  See you in Greece!

 

2024 Advisory Board Members

Anthony D'Ambrosio - Supply Chain Solutions - USA, China  

Rick Harty - TSI - USA  

Justin Todd - Seabridge Logistics - Australia  

Felipe Mazzini - Silver Freight - Argentina  

Maria Perez Bellido - Cargo Services Group - Spain, Mexico, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Chile

Xavier Chang - Solex Logistics - Singapore

Torsten Stoppel - Am Zehnhoff-Söns GmbH - Germany

Nikos Simou - Be Accurate Ltd. - Greece

Brett Frederiksen - DN Freight - South Africa

2024 Dedicated Meeting Table Sponsors

Seabridge Logistics Group PTY LTD - Australia & New Zealand

LLS Team GMBH Internationale Spedition - Germany & China

PT. Bina Global Transport - Indonesia

WeCan International Logistics Co., LTD - China

Express Air Freight / Skyline Freight - USA & China

AGI Global Logistics Ltd - United Kingdom

PT. Transcontinent - Indonesia

Freightoscope

2024 One Page Ad Sponsors

Be Accurate Ltd. - Greece

PT. Bina Global Transport - Indonesia

Global Cargo Logistics - Uruguay

Logiworld - USA

WeCan International Logistics Co., LTD - China