Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS) invited me to Bangladesh Outsourcing Conference 2011 and eASiA 2011 as a speaker, to present to an audience of students and freelancers. I wasn’t prepared for the excitement that I will see there, or for the sheer number of freelancers that are working through oDesk. This event was thoroughly prepared as professionally as can be, including the awards ceremony and gala dinner!

This video exceptionally well which sums up the spirit and excitement of the local freelancers.

http://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_profilepag e&v=m4UENXem61Y

At the event I met with best freelancer of the year 2010, Alamin Chowdhury, who is doing SEO for clients such as Toyota. I also met with Matt Cooper, the VP of Marketplace Operations at oDesk, who was the keynote speaker to our session. Matt was a cool guy to talk to, and I asked him for his oppinion on how to get the really high-paying contracts in the marketplace.

(Picture: Yeafesh Osman, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh presenting the award, and Fahim Mashoor, Senior Vice President of BASIS in the background.)

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It was a privilege to meet with distinguished members of BASIS, and hanging out at their office. I also enjoyed speaking with Marjanaul Hassan at Business Innovation & Incubation Centre and Academy of Management & Science, and visiting their headquarters in Dhaka. I’m very excited to have met many freelancers that work on oDesk, most of whom are now friends on Facebook. I am especially grateful to Alamin Chowdhury, who went extra steps to make me feel at home introducing me to these leaders in the community.

Thanks To

• Fahim Mashroor, Senior Vice President of BASIS
• Erica Benton, MarComm Manager of oDesk
• Alamin Chowdhury, Best Freelancer 2010
• Matt Cooper, VP of oDesk Marketplace Operations
• Hassan Tanvir Mansur, my first Bangladeshi friend
• Roya & Nicole, ticket agents of Etihad Airways, Frankfurt desk

The book is being published by Crown / Random House. Publication date is May 8, 2012.

Conference day #3 is themed “Freelancing Conference,” and I’ll be talking about how to make an awesome career as a freelancer. The benefits of having a professional career as a freelancer nowadays are tremendous. I’ll share my story about how I began working on oDesk in 2008., and how I use oDesk today, as a highly-paid career contractor.

I’m very excited to been offered this opportunity to speak on eASiA 2011, which this year is held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from December 1-3. This is the 6th annual ICT event, with previous conferences being held in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.