Over 200 venture capitalists and other members of Singapore’s investment community gathered at the Amara Hotel on the morning of 31st March for the SPRING SEEDS Conference 2010.

The half-day conference was an opportunity for SPRING SEEDS Capital to showcase some of the start-ups it supports to potential investors. One section of the ballroom was set up like a mini-exhibition, with booths for each of the start-ups to show off their big ideas. The morning started with registration and refreshments, leaving the conference attendees to check out each booth and engage in some casual networking before the formalities began. The conference proper started with a speech from Inderjit Singh, Chairman of SPRING SEEDS Investment Panel followed by the year in review by Tan Kai Hoe, Chariman of SPRING SEEDS Capital and Deputy Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore.

The remainder of conference consisted of four very interesting and informative talks. First up, Ramasamy Ramesh, Founder/CEO of Techno Fibre Singapore, explained the challenges that a local set-up might face while expanding overseas. Tan Lye Huat, Founder/CEO of HIM Governance  discussed the importance of corporate governance for SMEs and there was a quick tea break before the talks continued.

Rice Communications’ Managing Partner, Sonya Madeira Stamp, was up next. Her presentation, titled “PR and Social Media: 10 Things to Remember”, was a quick primer on the subject of communications, dispelling the rumour that public relations is all about dealing with the media. Instead, it focused on how even small start-ups could benefit from a properly implemented communications strategy, and outlined some points to consider.

In brief, the 10 points were:

1. Branding builds credibility
2. First, prioritise your audience
3. PR is essential for outreach
4. PR is an ongoing effort
5. Good PR takes planning
6. PR is not (that) expensive
7. Social media is part of the communications mix
8. Not everyone needs a full social media strategy
9. Social media is about the audience, so build an identity, stay consistent, be different, engage your audience and remember, it’s all about people.
10. Ask yourself, are you ready?

And finally, Clara Tan, Assistant VP, Enterprise Banking, DBS Bank spoke at length about the factors that a bank would consider before financing a young company, before everyone broke for lunch which marked the end of the half-day conference. While some people took the opportunity to leave, others took advantage of the generous buffet that had been laid outside the conference room. Lunch was also an opportunity to meet and greet friends and colleagues, to explore the mini-exhibition or to just stand around talking. The real fruits of the conference won’t be visible for a while – it will be interesting to see the partnerships and new relationships that were formed during the event, and what they lead to.

Check out Sonya’s presentation on Slideshare: