The idea of forming the HK section came across me in 1994. At that time, there have been a lot of growth in the TV industry in HK. New stations like STAR, WHARF, CTN, TNT, NBC as well as many production houses were set up. The number of engineers and production people engaged in the TV field have grew substantially. I think it will be nice if there is a chance for these people to meet regularly so that they can share their experience and knownledge. Moreover, I hope to see our local experience being recognized by other countries as well. I believe setting up a SMPTE local section will be ideal to serve this purpose. So I wrote a letter to SMPTE's president Mr. Young. He quickly consented my thoughts. I began my work by petitioning the ideas of local members and got a enthusiastic response. A working committee was formed in early 1995 and election of managers was held in June. I must thank all the managers, especially Mr. S. C. Chan (secretary/treasurer), who have volunteered to devote their time to make the formation successful. In Nov 1995, the local section was officially formed and we had a inauguration reception with Mr. Young and over 60 members attended. Then every two months, we have held various functions like visiting CTN, Compression Technology seminar, Film Production seminar....etc. All these had good attendance and response from the members. The number of members has increased 30% since then.

I am pleased that the HK section is growing under the new board of management. I look forward to seeing more participation of the activities by the local members.

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Mr. Michael Cheng

Mar 17, 1997