Following considerable discussion with exhibitors, potential speakers, and other interested parties, it has been decided to change the format of the Work Boat World Asia conference to better suit the local environment. At the recent Work Boat World Europe event in Venice, it became obvious that briefer, more specific presentations were more attractive to more people in the industry in Asia and the Mediterranean.

"The first and most important change for this year is that there will be no charge for the conference! As a result, there will not be the usual bound set of conference papers. Instead, loose photocopies of presented papers will be available where appropriate," said Conference Co-ordinator Marina Stehle. "Because so few people in Singapore seem to have the time available to sit through a two day conference, we have broken the Work Boat World Asia Conference down into a series of seminars and product presentations spread over the full three days of the events," Ms Stehle explained. Accordingly, the organisers, Baird Publications, are providing a venue, facilities and limited catering to exhibitors at Work Boat World Asia who would like to organise their own seminars during the event. The organiserswill help to promote those seminars through the program and other publicity and will co-ordinate and promote the product presentation sessions on day two.