Biz Events Asia Volume 2 August 2018

Volume II 2018

ASSOCIATIONS

How to create legacy beyond economic impact; Disability inclusion at meetings

M&I TOOLKIT

Authentic brand building; Data culture in Asia; Attendees of the future

CONFESSIONS OF A WORKAHOLIC HOW TO MANAGE STRESS AND AVOID BURNOUT

E d i t o r ’s Letter

Is your job killing you?

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Biz Events Asia is the official media partner and member of:

t’s late. Angry husband is yelling from the bedroom, asking why he can still hear the clicks of my keyboard — but deadlines are looming and the magazine must go to print.

The printer does not sleep, therefore neither shall I. It’s 2am when I find time to sit down and write this, my very first note as managing editor of Biz Events Asia magazine, where our cover feature is about work-life balance... irony is a cruel mistress. Much like planning an event, publishing a magazine is a labour of love — powered by a dedicated team of people who work tirelessly behind the scenes, after hours, and well after bedtime to deliver on time, and on budget.

While passion drives many of us, a seemingly endless cycle of planning and executing events (or magazines) can take its toll, and prolonged periods of stress can seriously affect our physical and mental health. While stress can be harnessed as positive energy (known as eustress) and can actually improve cognitive function, without support, it can spiral into anxiety and depression; leaving many of our colleagues feeling isolated and miserable.

This is a problem we all know exists, so, as an industry, we need to start talking about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

To kick-start the conversation, we speak to five prominent event planners, who candidly share their stories in our Cover Story (p.22) and how they manage stress as part of their daily routine.

In this issue we also sit down with AirAsia’s engagement guru, Allan Phang, to discuss the power of authentic brand building (p.44). We investigate how event planners can harness the intellectual capital of everyone, including those with a perceived disability (p.14), and why legacy matters (p.30).

Finally, I’d like to thank my team, all those who contributed to this issue, and you, our readers, for entrusting me to lead the BEA brand and continue a legacy rooted in truth, transparency and, above all, friendship.

We all love what we do, so to keep the fire burning, let’s make sure our colleagues know that #Eventprofscare.

Lauren Arena, Managing Editor

Managing Editor Lauren Arena lauren@untangledgroup.com CEO | Publisher El Kwang el@untangledgroup.com Creative Director Chua Yi Kiat kiat@untangledgroup.com Contributors Sanjay Surana Kim Benjamin Jenny Salsbury Jack Carter Steven Knipp

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Sales & Operations Michelle Lim michellelim@untangledgroup.com

International Media Representatives

Gina Sin gina@untangledgroup.com

China: Mary Yao mary@mhichina.com +86 10 6551 5663 ext 8008

Design & Production PIXO fanix@pixosolutions.com

Dubai: Rahul Sequeira rahul.sequeira@themediavantage.com +971 56 693 1213 South Korea: Alexander Paik apcomm@naver.com +82 10 5042 1337

Biz Events Asia is published by Untangled Pte Ltd 15 Queen Street, Tan Chong Tower, #03-03, Singapore 188537 Email: hello@bizeventsasia.com | Website: www.bizeventsasia.com Tel: +65 9833 1583 Visit us online for regular updates throughout the month: www.bizeventsasia.com Privacy Policy: Untangled is committed to managing your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act. For a copy of our Privacy Policy, please go to www.bizeventsasia.com/privacy Printed in Singapore by Sunrise Printing & Supplies Pte Ltd. Reg no. L002/11/2017 PPS 1785/04/2013 (022963) MCI (P) 150/03/2018

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CHINA

ibtm China Beijing | 12-13 September 2018

HONG KONG

Eco Expo Asia Hong Kong | 25-28 October 2018

PHILIPPINES

PCAAE Associations Summit Zambales | 23-24 November 2018

MALAYSIA

Global Trade Development Week Asia Pacific Kuala Lumpur | 18-20 September 2018

THAILAND

IT&CM Asia Bangkok | 18-20 September 2018

SINGAPORE

ITB Asia Singapore | 17-19 October 2018

AUSTRALIA

C2 Melbourne Melbourne | 17-19 October 2018

Contents Volume II 2018

Selina Sinclair Global Managing Director Pacific World

Editorial Advisory board members

Andrew Chan Founder | CEO ACI HR Solutions

Sumate Sudasna President | Thailand Incentive & Convention Association (TICA) MD | CDM Thailand

Max Jantasuwan Founding CEO Events Travel Asia Janet Tan-Collis President | SACEOS CEO | East West Planners Deanna Varga Director Mayvin Global

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Neeta Lachmandas Executive Director The Institute of Service Excellence, Singapore Management University

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Co ntents

06 10 11 14 20

14

Upfront Leaders GenNext Diversity & Inclusion Case Study

22 Cover Story How to manage stress and avoid burnout in the demanding business of events.

Up Close

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44 30

50

Human-centric design will foster meaningful connections for attendees of the future.

Improving geopolitical climate shows promise for Seoul’s business events sector.

Thailand

How can association meetings create legacy beyond economic impact?

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56

Focus Group

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South Korea

Association Impact

M&I Toolkit

36

50

with Allan Phang, AllStars Engagement and Internal Branding at AirAsia.

TCEB elevates destination marketing with the Thailand Incentive & Meeting Exchange.

China

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Hainan has become a major tourism hub, but can it also succeed as a MICE destination?

We gather industry leaders in Bangkok to discuss data management in Asia.

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Up front

SACEOS president-elect outlines ‘gutsy’ future SACEOS has signed an agreement with UFI to introduce the ‘Asia Pacific Executive Development Programme’, an industry-first certification that will focus on education to equip exhibition professionals with skills for the future.

Aloysius Arlando, president-elect at SACEOS, says the partnership aligns with the association’s vision to not only look at bold initiatives and priorities, but “have the guts” to put words into action.

“We need to ensure that whatever we set out to do, we do it well, and that means working in partnership with government agencies and global bodies to tap into their wisdom and their membership worldwide to see how best we can evolve and create a meaningful set of initiatives,” he says.

UFI CEO, Kai Hattendorf, says he looks forward to collaborating with SACEOS, one of UFI’s longestserving members, to better serve the APAC region.

“There are markets where you compete and there are markets you can only ‘crack’ if you collaborate. What we will bring to the table is our global framework of education, whereas SACEOS will cater to the needs of planners in Singapore and ASEAN, so we will look at what we have on the table and co-create.”

Arlando adds that SACEOS’ flagship event, the Singapore MICE Forum, will continue to evolve as an education platform, not just for local members, but for business event professionals across the region.

“When we look at SMF’s re:imagine series for the past three years, the transformation is a journey.

As we embrace more associations, local organisations like SACEOS need to think regionally, so we can try to predict what the future will bring and enable industry players and members of our association to be futureready,” Arlando says.

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U p f ro nt

PCMA-ICESAP strengthens APAC team The Professional Convention Management Association and Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia-Pacific (PCMA-ICESAP) appointed Antonio Codinach as regional business director APAC, replacing Nigel Gaunt.

He is joined by Patricia Cheong, associate director for development, who is tasked with forging new brand partnerships in the region.

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ICCA searches for new CEO

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Long-time CEO of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Martin Sirk, left the association unexpectedly in July. ICCA’s chief value officer, Dennis Speet (pictured), will lead the association as acting CEO while it looks to replace Sirk.

A new CEO is expected by March 2019.

Korea The Korea MICE Bureau introduced the Korea Incentives & Meetings Support (KIS) programme for event planners, which leverages the hallyu phenomenon (Korean popular culture) in an effort attract more corporate groups. The KIS programme includes free admission to hallyu-related tourist attractions, hallyu souvenirs, and exclusive concert events featuring popular K-pop performers. To drive interest, popular boy band SHINee (pictured) was also made honorary ambassadors of the MICE industry in Korea.

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Australia The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre has opened its 20,000sqm expansion, making it Australia’s largest convention and exhibition space. The AU$205 million (US$148 million) project increases the total size of the venue to 70,000sqm. New light-filled spaces include a theatre with 1,000 retractable seats, new exhibition halls and meeting rooms, and an outdoor terrace. The expansion includes a new 347-room Novotel Melbourne South Wharf, which is integrated with the centre.

Japan

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Up front

CWT Meetings & Events has joined forces with JTB Communication Design (JCD), the meeting and events arm of the JTB Group, to provide strategic meetings management (SMM) services in Japan. SMM provides greater transparency of spend, cost reductions, improved compliance, risk mitigation and improved effectiveness of a company’s meetings and events. The collaboration brings together CWT’s global SMM expertise with JCD’s in-depth destination knowledge.

Christian Metzner joins the newly opened W Kuala Lumpur as general manager. He previously served as GM at The Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort, Langkawi.

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Hong Kong

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Malaysia

Uniplan Hong Kong managing director, Darren Chuckry, left the agency abruptly in July after less than 12 months in the role, and eight years with Uniplan. Until a new managing director is appointed, Judd Christie, executive creative director, will oversee the office in close collaboration with CEO, Christian Zimmermann.

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Inspiring events for better business results A gateway to the Chinese meetings, events and incentives industry.

Connect with us at www.cibtm.com

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Organised by

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Op in i on Leade r

When professional gets personal Marriott International’s Daniella Tonetto says team engagement extends far beyond the confines of office walls.

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You have to make sure your staff feel like they’re part of a team, part of a family.

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n the hotel industry across Asia Pacific there are customers who often become friends. I’ve seen this in my conference sales teams — they attend each other’s birthday parties, meet at the pub after work — and the line between professional and personal becomes very easily blurred.

I find that my Gen Y and millennial team members also want to be engaged in this way.

As a manager, you need to develop a social interest in what they’re doing — whether it’s a monthly team dinner or one-on-one coffee breaks — they really want you to know what they are doing, what’s affecting their work, what their families are doing. Having come from a corporate environment, I must admit I find this challenging because for me, work is work and personal life is personal.

Nevertheless, I make a concerted effort to walk around the office and chat with the team.

I make this part of my daily routine. If I don’t engage, I fear that I may lose that connection with my team... essentially you have to schedule time with your staff and get to know them on a personal level.

We all have busy lives, but the workplace has such a prominent place in our lives.

As a manager, you have to make sure your staff feel like they’re part of a team, part of a family — this builds loyalty. People don’t leave jobs, they leave their boss or their teams.

Today’s generation of employees want to know that their opinions count — this is where recognition is important.

You also need to identify the ‘key influencers’ — some might be a good influence, some might be bad, but they’re critical to the

dynamics of the team, so it’s good to keep them close. For every minute you spend with everybody in the team, spend five minutes with the influencers, because they’ll share your messages.

Communication In my generation, we didn’t have mobile phones, messaging apps and social media, so to connect with people you had to talk to them face-to-face (or on the office phone). Millennials, however, are wired to their device(s) 24/7. They don’t know any differently, so there isn’t a defined line between professional communication and personal communication.

Emails often don’t get very far, especially when clients in China prefer (and insist on) doing business via WeChat. When dealing with clients, I insist my team take screenshots of everything that comes through via WeChat and save conversations into a record system — otherwise there’s no record of the business exchange.

Internally, we have a series of WhatsApp chat groups for team discussion — we have a group for the MICE team, a group for the marketing team, and PR team. The key is working out how the team likes to be communicated with and using those channels to influence and work with them.

We can set ground rules around workplace etiquette, but if you keep forcing staff to do something that they’re simply not wired to do, they’re not going to do it. So, as managers, we have to adapt if we want to engage our staff and empower the leaders of tomorrow.

Daniella Tonetto is general manager, sales & marketing, at Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, Cotai Central and The St. Regis Macao, Cotai Central.

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O p i n i o n G e n e rat ion Ne xt

Have you been paying attention?

As the first wave of digital natives, millennials need to be engaged differently, says Jonathan Soon.

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We ask because we want to understand.

Not because we want to challenge authority.

uch ado has been made about the declining attention span of millennials in the workplace. We are touted as the generation with the five-second attention span, endless ‘browsing’ social media and failing to really engage. Often, we get a bad rap for having a limited attention span — especially at work.

As much as this seems like the defining characteristic of this generation, it is simply not true. Millennials do not have a limited attention span. We just happen to have an efficient one.

Millennials are the first wave of digital natives.

We grew up with digital interfaces, mastered the internet, and spent our formative years in a datasaturated world.

Because we are the first generation to be able to command information at the snap of our fingers, millennials are also conditioned to filter out unrelated (and uninteresting) content much faster than previous generations. Call it a natural mechanism to better manage our attention capacity. We have an in-built resistance towards any “creative interpretation of facts”.

In an age of overwhelming information and scarce pockets of time, millennials have developed some form of information blindness — which means communication can be difficult, and often calls for a new approach.

First, let’s start by dispelling the myth that millennials require more engagement. This is not true. We just need to be engaged in the right way.

Millennials need exclusive insights Millennials will not react to any generic content, especially if it is forced upon us.

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Instead, we crave information that is not readily available to the masses. For example, your real-life experiences, and lessons learnt from overcoming impossible situations. The unwritten and unspoken culture of the industry. The nooks and crannies of an organisation.

Show us the big picture Millennials are extremely passionate and will go to great lengths to achieve their goals. We want our work to matter. We may not have many years of experience, but we make up for it with incredible zeal — especially when the bigger picture is clearly communicated.

Millennials are primarily driven by a sense of purpose. By knowing how, and most importantly, why our roles exist at the workplace, we are ready to tackle any challenge. We may even introduce new digital tools or tech-savvy ways to automate, and eliminate, time-consuming tasks.

State of Clarifornia Last but not least, the younger workforce works best when goals are clearly communicated.

Assignments are well defined, and so are the success factors. Millennials tend to have an affinity for asking questions — and sometimes to the point of questioning why certain systems and processes exist.

We ask because we simply want to understand; not because we want to challenge authority. That’s why Millennials often thrive in companies that have an open work culture.

Jonathan Soon is marketing & communications manager at Sarawak Convention Bureau.

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Op in i on I APCO

The art of creating incompetence

I We are only as good as the people who work for and with us.

Biz Events Asia is a strategic media partner of IAPCO

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IAPCO president, Mathias Posch, says onedimensional hierarchies promote people to the level of incompetence.

In 1969, NASA, the USA, and basically the entire world celebrated one of the greatest achievements of mankind — the moon landing. To back up the live telecast, NASA separately recorded the high-resolution SSTV signal. When some NASA employees looked for the tapes in the early 2000s, they were missing.

Much later, it became clear that the tapes had been accidentally erased in the 1980s when deemed unnecessary. One of the greatest feats of mankind was captured on tape yet deleted by an act of utter incompetence.

Every day, we experience incompetence around us. “How do all these incompetent people get hired?” we ask ourselves. Truth be told, they probably got promoted into incompetence.

“Every employee rises to their level of incompetence.” This is called the ‘Peter Principle’, established by Canadian researcher Laurence J.Peter. He looked at how people move up the ladder based on their competence in the position they are currently holding. However, the position they get promoted into might require different abilities, possibly creating an incompetent employee. Should the employee rise to the challenge in the new position, they will get promoted again, and again, until they reach a level where they no longer excel.

As we usually do not demote people, the nowincompetent employee will struggle in the new position. In our industry, we could have a fantastic conference coordinator, who could become a super conference manager, but will utterly fail as an account director. The skills of logistical excellence that drove them up the ladder are secondary in a position requiring excellent communication and client-management skills.

Companies often create one-dimensional hierarchies with career paths for employees in which individual performance is best rewarded by putting them at a ‘higher’ level of the hierarchy. The employees themselves may not realise they are now incompetent.

Through a promotion, we create an issue rather than move our company forward in the right direction. One of the pitfalls is that, when evaluating an employee for a future position, we tend to look at current performance rather than focusing on what skills are needed for the new position.

So how can we avoid applying the Peter Principle in our organisations? Let’s look at some of the most innovative companies. Apple rotates people around different projects and departments, allowing them to show different skills and testing them in different roles before eventually promoting them. Microsoft has two streams for promotion — a technical stream and a managerial stream, allowing subject experts to move up without taking on management tasks, while fostering those with management skills.

We need to think about the culture we create in our companies — how do we reward excellent performance without moving A-players out of their positions?

Ultimately, businesses like ours come down to people — we are only as good as the people who work for and with us. Making sure that we keep employees happy is key — and the greatest happiness comes from knowing that one is doing a great job and that one’s contribution matters.

Mathias Posch is president of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO), and president of International Conference Services. IAPCO represents 130 companies comprised of more than 7,500 professional congress, meeting and event organisers from 41 countries.

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Div ersi t y & Incl usi o n

Disability inclusion at meetings Event planners can harness the intellectual capital of everyone, including those with a perceived disability. By Kim Benjamin

Community support... Ahead of the World Down Syndrome Congress in July, Glasgow Convention Bureau ran awareness programmes to educate local operators.

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D i v e r s i t y & I nc lusio n

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hen Glasgow hosted the World Federation of Haemophilia Congress in May and the World Down Syndrome Congress in July, attendees included those living with these conditions. In the run-up to the events, the city’s convention bureau ran an awareness programme to help taxi drivers and staff at transport hubs, hotels, restaurants and visitor attractions to better understand delegates’ needs.

For the haemophilia congress, advice included how those with the disorder cannot carry their own bags, so help with luggage could be provided. Haemophiliacs are also more susceptible to internal bleeds after travelling, so the need for quiet and private places to mix and inject medicine was also highlighted. Training also focused on how delegates may require taxis for short distances as the condition can affect mobility.

“We knew we couldn’t do this alone, so we partnered with Glasgow Welcomes, the official training body for the hospitality industry in the city, and VisitScotland, to deliver bespoke educational sessions,” explains Aileen Crawford, head of conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau. “We also utilised the expertise from within the associations to share the experiences of local people living with these conditions, to educate tourism and hospitality businesses across Glasgow.”

Crawford says sessions enabled customer-facing staff at various event touchpoints to feel more confident and knowledgeable when interacting with and meeting specific requirements of visitors with medical conditions.

“Disabled people need accurate information to make an informed choice,” she adds. “They know the support they need but cannot commit to coming to a conference if there is a lack of accurate information on accessibility.”

Glasgow’s initiatives have highlighted the need for meetings and events to be more inclusive. Certainly, within Asia, both planners and agencies believe more needs to be done to make meetings and events more accessible for delegates living with a disability.

Leah Carter, global head of events at the Association of MBAs, manages a range of events across Asia-Pacific, including within China, Japan, Australia and India.

She believes progress is being made and modern venues and hotels that have opened recently in China are being designed with people’s disabilities in mind. She suggests exploring other options for those who are sight or hearing-impaired.

“Ensure you have someone who can sign the conference, consider sending presentations in advance that delegates can view on an iPad at their own pace and set up multiple screens that can be seen from different angles in one room.”

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Calv Tey, director of production at FreemanXP China, says there is a definite need within Asia to raise awareness of delegates with a disability, to create and promote a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) for all to use and follow.

“SOPs can relate to construction, helping aids and using a room with an induction loop facility for hearing-aid users,” she says. “When planning AV presentations, bear in mind that excessive sound is painful and debilitating for people using hearing aids. For a self-service buffet, have a server assist wheelchair users or mobility-impaired people by bringing food directly to their table.”

Bear in mind that not all disabilities are visible, warns Jessie States, head of meeting innovation at Meeting Professionals International (MPI). She says it’s important to not make assumptions about what makes a welcoming experience.

“Listen most of all, and adjust as needed so that everyone can participate,” she says. “In practical terms, walk spaces thinking how easily they can be navigated by people with differing levels of ability in the areas of mobility, sight, hearing and even touch. Make sure that signs are easy to read and slides can be read from a distance. Use fonts that are easier for people with dyslexia to read and use hashmarks in your graphs to distinguish colours for those who cannot do so.”

Event organisers should focus less on perceived disability and try to understand a person’s special abilities.

SHERRIF KARAMAT President and CEO PCMA

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Div ersi t y & Incl usi o n

MPI is currently conducting research with the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality that will examine tactics which can be utilised to make all attendees at meetings and conferences feel welcome through inclusive event design, with the findings set to be revealed in November.

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), meanwhile, launched the ‘Ascent CEO Promise’ in May, which asks CEOs to commit to embracing a culture of inclusiveness in their organisations and events.

PCMA president and CEO Sherrif Karamat says there are obvious elements that can promote inclusivity but he believes events will be much more inclusive if planners take the necessary steps to harness the intellectual capital of everyone, including those with a perceived disability.

“Event organisers should focus less on what the perceived disability of someone may be and try to get an understanding of what that person’s special abilities might be,” he says. “In many cases, they might be a very insightful contributor to the content and experience.”

Karamat points out that from the event organiser perspective, the challenges can seem overwhelming at first, such as finding appropriate venues and budgeting costs. By involving delegates with disabilities in the planning and design process, organisers can focus on the most important aspects of being accessible and inclusive.

“Some venues were built a long time ago when the awareness level of the needs of those with a disability was not where it is today and some of these venues may never truly be 100 per cent up to what is considered optimal,” he adds. “However, going forward, venues, suppliers and event organisers must engage all stakeholders in the design and building/renovating of venues if they are to be welcoming environments.”

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Listen most of all, and adjust as needed so that everyone can participate.

JESSIE STATES Head of meeting innovation Meeting Professionals International (MPI)

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D i v e r s i t y & I nc lusio n

With MPI’s and PCMA’s initiatives in mind, inclusiveness for the meetings and events industry is clearly moving up the agenda. Olinto Oliveira, director, live communications at MCI Macau, believes that the APAC region has an advantage in that it is still a growing and evolving market, which has allowed it to adapt to changes needed. To develop best practice, though, inclusiveness has to be embedded from the start.

“It really begins at the conception level of the event, curating an experience that will allow any audience, regardless of any disability, to still experience the event in a way that will be meaningful to them,” says Oliveira. “Many times we get so caught up in deadlines that we forget to take into consideration distinct experience needs from individuals who are in a different situation from our own.”

Organisers who plan an event and then try and tweak it later to make it more “inclusive” may face problems. As Oliveira suggests, if the team has a mentality of inclusiveness at the starting line, then the event can be developed with this in mind already.

Disabled people need accurate information to make an informed choice.

AILEEN CRAWFORD Head of conventions, Glasgow Convention Bureau

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P artn er C ont ent

Immersive events... Universal Studios Singapore (above); S.E.A. Aquarium (top right); spice-inspired canapĂŠs at The Maritime Experiential Museum (above).

Unconventional venues that inspire Unique venues at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore set the stage for experiential meetings and events.

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s meeting delegates become incredibly time-poor, the need to provide event experiences that engage and inspire is now more important than ever before.

With six uniquely themed hotels, 12 celebrity restaurants and more than 32,000sqm of dedicated meeting space, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore (RWS) is perfectly placed to help meeting planners create a truly immersive event experience.

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Home to more than 20 event venues and 1,600 guest rooms, RWS offers a comprehensive event solution, where a range of uniquely themed venues are within easy reach – and a myriad of entertainment, services and activities remove the stress of managing logistics and dealing with multiple third-party vendors.

Event planners can utilise unconventional spaces at Universal Studios Singapore™. In the evenings, the theme park opens itself up for corporate buyouts, where gala dinners and cocktail receptions

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P a r t ne r Co ntent

can be held in various zones or themed restaurants. The Lost World™ zone can be converted into an outdoor dining venue with live BBQ cooking stations set up amid the jungle of Jurassic Park®.

Adrenaline-pumping rides, live entertainment and event menus can all be carefully curated to create a customised event experience. Companies looking to enhance team bonds can also participate in a scavenger hunt, where team members search for clues hidden within the venue to solve a puzzle.

The Maritime Experiential Museum can add a dash of adventure to your event, as attendees relive the conquest of seas in 15 thematic galleries that transport them back in time to the Maritime Silk Road.

The museum features two meeting rooms where creative events of 180 guests or cocktail parties of up to 800 people can be accommodated.

At S.E.A. Aquarium, guests will be mesmerised by more than 1,000 species of marine animals as they sip cocktails at the Ocean Gallery, which can host elegant gala dinners for up to 200 people, networking parties for 350 people or immersive brand events like fashion shows.

Mega-scale events, conventions, exhibitions and meetings can be held at the Resorts World Ballroom, which spans 6,000sqm and seats up to 4,000 banquet guests. The space has also recently introduced new high-definition wall screens that allow a 180° to 360° immersive experience that will impress your guests.

Meanwhile, at the Equarius Hotel, three new ballrooms will be launched in 2018 with capacity to host up to 680 delegates. Go beyond the walls of the hotel and complement your seminar with an exclusive garden tea party or a chic cocktail reception at the hotel’s VIP pavilion.

For events with a bang, head to The Coliseum at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, where impressive audio-visual capabilities combine with 1,720sqm of open space to host concerts for more than 1,350 people, award ceremonies for 600 guests (banquet style), or carnivals for corporate family days.

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Adventure Cove Waterpark is ideal for team-building, with thrilling waterslides and rides. The waterpark can host exclusive pool parties with DJ performances and live barbecue stations.

RWS also features a number of celebrity chef restaurants that showcase international flavours and award-winning dining experiences like CURATE, Asia’s first Michelin chef showcase restaurant.

Awarded ‘Best Dining Experience’ at the Singapore Tourism Awards 2018, CURATE is the only restaurant in Singapore that welcomes Michelin-starred guest chefs from anywhere in the world to cook up a culinary showcase. Exclusive buyouts are

available for corporate groups of up to 50 people.

Meeting delegates can unwind after a long day of business conversations at the award-winning ESPA, where treatments can be tailored to peel away stress and tension. Spa facilities include a Turkish hammam, onsen-style pools and rock saunas.

As consumer demands continue to evolve, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore has set itself up to help event planners create experiences that will resonate in the minds of attendees, strengthen team bonds and help build brands.

Unique event spaces... Resorts World Ballroom (top), Equarius Hotel function rooms (above).

Jurassic Park TM & © Universal Studios/Amblin Entertainment. All rights reserved.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE, Universal Globe logo, and all Universal elements and related indicia TM & © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. © 2018 Genting International Management Limited. All rights reserved.

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Ca se St udy Amway C hi na

Amway China descends on Queenstown Tapping into China’s lucrative incentive market pays dividends for New Zealand.

By Jack Carter

Making memories... Amway China recognised that Queenstown could offer delegates an ‘otherworldly’ experience and an escape from city life.

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hen 6,000 Chinese delegates flew to Queenstown for the Amway China 2018 Leadership Seminar in April this year, it marked the single largest piece of incentive business in New Zealand’s history.

Over the last few years, the Asia ‘mega incentive’ market has been dominated by New Zealand’s neighbour, Australia. Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast have welcomed significant numbers from Nu Skin, Perfect China and Infinitus China, respectively, in the last two years, totalling more than 14,000 delegates and an estimated AU$120 million in spending. Tapping into China’s lucrative incentive market is big business for any destination.

Ideation

Choosing Queenstown — home to a population of less than 30,000 — as the host destination for a 6,000-strong incentive over more sophisticated and developed cities was unconventional. However, picking a smaller destination gave Amway China the flexibility to be creative and deliver something entirely new for its delegates.

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“Amway China chose New Zealand, and Queenstown, because it was excited by the wide variety of things to see and do here and how easy they are to access,” says Lisa Gardiner, international business events manager at Tourism New Zealand.

“New Zealand’s style of hospitality — known as manaakitanga — where people arrive as strangers and leave as friends also appealed to Amway, as did our flexible, creative and innovative approach that enabled us to meet its needs during the planning process.”

The client also recognised that choosing Queenstown gave delegates an escape from urban, cosmopolitan settings. From boat trips into Fiordland National Park and bungee jumping off Kawarau Bridge, to wine tastings at Gibbston Valley and visits to an historic gold mining town, Amway China wanted to immerse delegates in an otherworldly environment.

Execution

Successfully delivering 6,000 delegates into a region the size of Queenstown was a logistical challenge Amway China had never

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C a s e S t u d y A m w ay Ch in a

Photo credit: Tourism New Zealand

experienced before. It just wasn’t possible to have one big event.

“An alternative format to get the movement into Queenstown in smaller groups of 500 was recommended and accepted by Amway,” says Kiran Nambiar, business development director at Destination Queenstown.

The delegation was separated into 11 waves, with each arriving at the destination for a five-day programme over the course of six weeks. There are no direct flights from China, so groups flew out of Shanghai and Hong Kong, and transited in Auckland.

Air New Zealand even increased its domestic flights between Auckland and Queenstown just for Amway, and offered tailored services, such as cabin greetings, priority check-in and free amenities.

Queenstown and its tourism operators were under pressure to deliver 11 incentives back-to-back, each one requiring the same high levels of service.

“This is a huge change in the way Amway operates, but they had confidence in Queenstown operators that this format would ensure delivery of a superior experience for its delegates,” Nambiar says.

Each group of approximately 560 delegates was spread across three hotels: Hilton Queenstown Resort and Spa, DoubleTree by Hilton Queenstown, and Queenstown Village Apartments.

The first day of the programme was kept free to allow delegates to recuperate after the long flights. They had a choice of activities for days two and three, which included a full-day trip to Milford Sound and the Dart River Wilderness Safari where many of the iconic Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed. Day four was reserved for business meetings and a gala dinner at Coronet Peak, before the final day saw the group enjoy lunch at the renowned Stratofare Buffet Skyline Queenstown.

Where possible, operators tailored the activities for the Chinese delegation, bringing them to life in a variety of creative ways. For example, on arrival at the Dart River Wilderness Safari, groups were given their own Lord of the Rings cloaks. As they explored the forest, actors

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dressed as characters from the film were waiting to surprise them.

Key to making these experiences memorable for Amway China’s delegates was ensuring that operators and venues were ‘China ready’, which, Nambiar explains, wasn’t an issue as the destination was prepared well in advance.

“China is the largest long-haul market for New Zealand and this reflects in the market mix for most operators in Queenstown, where China is a big, or growing, part of their business. Over the years, they have adapted their products to meet the needs of the China market, so all operators were well prepared for the Amway movement.”

Amway China’s business owners rated the leadership seminar programme

as one of the best ever in the company’s history, with an overall satisfaction rating of 96 per cent. Gardiner believes that having a globally recognised brand rate Queenstown so highly is a huge accolade to the destination and she hopes it will lead to more business from the region.

“The success of Amway China’s incentive programme has put New Zealand in an excellent position to host other large incentive trips, especially outside the traditional peak summer season. We have already seen an increase in interest in New Zealand as a host destination, especially in China, where we secured double the amount of incentive business in the year ending June 2018 than the previous year.”

We have already seen an increase in interest in New Zealand as a host destination, especially in China.

LISA GARDINER International business events manager Tourism New Zealand

Lessons learnt Industry collaboration can overcome logistical challenges for smaller destinations Authentic destination experiences engage delegates Ensure all venues and service providers are trained to meet the needs of international delegates

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Confess i of a wor o

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h

ol

The events industry is a people business, so why do we neglect self-care?

Lauren Arena investigates the realities of work in this intensely demanding sector and why we need to start a conversation about mental health and wellbeing.

ka

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I

t’s networking hour at the latest industry conference. You spot a familiar face across the room, and before you can grab another glass of wine, they ask: “Hi, how are you?” Your response, as always, is: “Great”, “very busy”, “business is good”. But, strained eyes and clenched teeth tell a different story.

Behind the curtain, the realities of working with constant deadlines, excessive travel, and demanding clients can have serious health implications. Prolonged periods of stress can induce heart disease, back pain and headaches.

Psychological implications include anxiety and depression.

The role of ‘event coordinator’ is continually ranked among the top five most stressful jobs according to CareerCast — and that’s only after enlisted military personnel, firefighter, airline pilot and police officer, all with potential for severe injury. In a 2017 Stress Matters survey of 200 event professionals in

the UK, 71 per cent believed their colleagues were suffering from stress, with workload the biggest contributor. Forty-six per cent of event planners also stated they used alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to cope with stress, and 71 per cent experienced sleep problems.

While similar industry-specific research is currently lacking in Asia, the 2017 Healthiest Workplace report by AIA Vitality, which surveyed 10,001 workers in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, revealed stress, sleep deprivation and physical inactivity are common issues across the region (see p.26 for more details).

For event planners, sleepless nights and stress-fuelled days are an ongoing challenge; and in Asia, where workplace culture remains largely conservative, many suffer in silence.

Here, five event professionals from across the Asia-Pacific region candidly share their stories and how they harness stress to not only survive, but thrive in this industry.

Common factors of workplace stress Demands

Control

Support

Relationships

Role

Change

Workload, work patterns and the work environment.

Promoting positive work to avoid conflict and deal with unacceptable behaviour.

How much say do you have over the way you work?

Understanding your role and responsibility within the organisation.

Encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by management and colleagues.

How is organisational change managed and communicated?

Source: Health and Safety Executive

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“Stress is like a virus — it can harm or help you”

“Adrenal fatigue affects most event professionals”

ERICA SEO, Head of sales APAC, Pacific World

STUART KATZEN Owner & creative director, Eventify World

Erica Seo has worked in event sales for more than a decade and, as head of sales for Pacific World in APAC, her job requires regular travel and networking.

“People always say how envious they are of my life and my job — they see me wining and dining, and travelling across the region (and yes, this is a great part of my job) — but this comes at a cost.

“There are countless hours I put in behind the scenes, sleepless nights, and the never-ending workload that haunts me constantly. As a result, I occasionally get into a routine to isolate myself from everything, including my own social life.”

With events being focused on human connection, Seo spends a lot time socialising with clients, business partners and various stakeholders — many of whom have become friends. But she also sees the downside.

“I spend so much time with ‘industry friends’ that this has become my social circle. This is a cause of anxiety because if I were to leave the industry, my social network would fall apart.”

With her hectic travel schedule, Seo admits she finds it difficult to balance work and life, but has learnt to accept stress as part of her daily routine. She now looks to harness eustress and is conscious of when this escalates into negative emotion.

“I try to channel my stress into positive energy and when positive stress brings adrenaline, I become more productive and tend to enjoy that state of mind. But when the workload builds and I can’t see any progress, stress becomes negative and leads to anxiety and depression. At this point, I re-direct my focus. For me, late-night baking and running 10km on the treadmill help to clear my mind and release stress.”

She insists: “It’s important to find your own way to turn negative emotion to positive stress.

“Treat stress as a cure for negative energy — just like a virus, stress can either harm or help you.”

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After a long and successful career in Australia’s entertainment and live events industry, Stuart Katzen remains as passionate as ever, but admits that success in events doesn’t come without sacrifice.

“Time spent away from family and friends is never recouped and, over the years, what starts out as excitement and adrenal-charged fun, becomes draining, stressful and ends in eternal fatigue. On the flip side, it’s an industry with some amazingly talented people where most participants love what they do — you have to, to keep doing it,” he says.

“As the owner of a boutique agency, my biggest challenge is personal stress and adrenal fatigue — this affects most event professionals at some point, whether they realise it or not.

“As a young person in the industry, I loved the rush and adrenalin of the event; the long hours. Building the event was exciting and I relished the high. The come down, post event was always tough, but there was always the next one to get me going. The result was a continuous adrenalin roller coaster, which ended with an inevitable crash at the end of each year. As I got older, my year-end recovery took longer and the recoup period became less effective.

“I had to come to terms with the fact that my body and mind could not keep that up. I had to revaluate my work life and how I lived it.”

Katzen then restructured his business and also decided to pursue his long-time passion for cooking.

“I took a six-week job as a pasta chef at a small Italian restaurant in Sydney… four years later, I’m still cooking pasta two nights a week. I turn off my phone, step into the kitchen and from 3pm–9pm I read dockets and put pasta on plates. It’s fast and furious and at the end of each night I feel like I’ve run a race; I feel lighter and relaxed. It’s my time, my way of switching off, my meditation.”

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“Good is never enough. You have to be brilliant” DAMION BREUST CEO, Directions Conference and Incentive Management

After more than 25 years working in the business events industry across APAC (including almost 10 years leading event marketing and corporate relations for Barclays investment bank in Singapore), Damion Breust has seen it all. He contends that heightened competition in APAC is putting additional pressure on event professionals.

“The companies we deal with know that they have to be exceptional to succeed in this market, and they expect the same standards from us when we plan events. That puts a lot of pressure on us at all stages of the process, from the first concept discussion to the final delivery of the event. It means we have to get every detail right — and then make every detail even better. In a demanding market like Asia Pacific, good is never enough; only brilliant will do.”

He adds: “To deliver at that level, you really need two things — passion and creativity — supported by a relentless drive. This is where we need to strike the right balance and ensure our drive doesn’t make us flat.”

Breust says this ‘work hard, play hard’ approach can have negative implications on staff wellbeing — and managers need to be aware.

“This is an industry where you can burn out easily, and if that happens, your creativity and passion start to fade. It’s game over.

“As head of the agency, my role is to ensure that the talented and motivated people on the team manage the pressure. We have honest conversations and I try to create an environment where people feel it is OK to openly discuss the way they feel. The people I work with need to have private lives and personal time — I must respect and protect that.

“Personally, I handle the pressure by exercising, taking long walks to clear my mind, and always trying to stay one step ahead of the work, so I am acting rather than reacting.

But even so, this industry can be a high-wire act; without balance, you fall.”

High-wire act... In a demanding market like Asia Pacific, event planners must have passion and creativity, supported by relentless drive.

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Employee health and wellbeing in Asia

43%

60%

Singaporeans with at least one dimension of workrelated stress

of Singaporeans do less than 150 minutes of physical activity each week

50 %

2/3

Australians with at least one dimension of work-related stress

Australians do more than 150 minutes of physical exercise each week

82% Singaporeans with at least one musculoskeletal condition

1/4 Australians sleep less than 7 hours a night

51.3 Days

High productivity loss at 51.3 days a year

45

Days

Low productivity loss at 4 days a year

“Always reach out if you need support” MARTIN ENAULT CEO APAC, C2 International*

The old adage ‘if you love want you do, then you’ll never work a day in your life’ rings true for Martin Enault, who has more than 18 years’ experience in entrepreneurship and event.

He says tapping into your passion (and the passion of your employees) is key to survival.

“In the events industry, we very quickly learn that being ‘values-driven’ is the best way to survive the potentially high-stress work environment,” Enault says. “The success of C2 is that our people are inspired to be a part of a movement that is a catalyst for change.”

Enault is also chairman of mental health advocacy group, Revivre (based in Canada), and regularly shares his personal journey with anxiety and depression, and how it has shaped his success.

“It took many years to realise how much anxiety and depression affected me. I started having panic attacks more and more frequently, and having episodes where all I wanted was to disappear from the world, and not see anyone. What truly changed my life was when I realised that instead of trying to treat my anxiety and depression, I could change

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my state of mind by being conscious of the physical manifestations and mental effects.”

Enault says the ability to read warning signs and recognise triggers has helped him to embrace mental health as a part of his “day-to-day personal management”.

“I learned about the effect of food on depression and anxiety. I discovered the kind of environments to avoid. I recognised the early warning signs of panic attacks… This new understanding brought me a new way of seeing the world. For example, I can associate how anxious someone makes me feel, with how likely I am to achieve a business deal or friendship with that person. The sensitivity that accompanies anxiety and depression can actually be an acute advantage in reading relationships and potential encounters.”

He adds: “The important learnings are to speak out, to find the tools to manage your life in a way that works for you, and to always reach out if you feel like you need support.” *Enault stepped down from this position in mid-August.

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64 % Hong Kong people with at least one dimension of workrelated stress

85 %

Hong Kong people sleep less than 7 hours a night

Hong Kong people with at least one musculoskeletal condition

56%

90%

53% Malaysians with at least one dimension of work-related stress

49 %

of Malaysians don’t eat a balanced diet

Malaysians sleep less than 7 hours a night

70

Days

High productivity loss at 70 days a year

67

Days

High productivity loss at 67 days a year

Source: The Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality 2017

“Don’t lose yourself amid the chaos” MARINE DEBATTE Head of events APJ/China, BI Worldwide

As a working mum, Marine Debatte says setting priorities and recognising the importance of rest is crucial. She likens the physical and mental strains of executing large-scale projects to pregnancy.

“We run an annual four-day programme for a client in the automobile industry. It includes up to 600 delegates from 20 countries — it’s a huge project and takes nine months to plan. Every year when we win the tender, there is excitement and joy, then the workload gets heavier and you lose sleep. When the big delivery day arrives, it’s painful, but by the end you’re so proud with what you have achieved.

“After delivery, however, you need time to recover. In the events industry, there is never enough recovery time, and often you’re juggling multiple pregnancies at any one time.”

To avoid burnout, Debatte says everyone needs a strong support system. “We have this image of ‘Wonder Woman’ at home and in the office, but we don’t do it alone. I have a great support system at home and at work, where my boss and my team allow me to be flexible and trust me to do my job. Mutual trust and

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respect are so important. But in agency life, that is not always the case, especially in Asia.”

Debatte, who has worked in the events industry across Asia for more than 10 years, says entrenched cultural norms often inhibit employees from asking for help.

“Cultural traditions in many Asian countries often focus on community and family, so there is no room for the individual and, therefore, not a lot of selfawareness,” she says.

“It’s important to take time for yourself. As event planners (and women) we wear so many hats, but we only have one head. Self-awareness, self-respect and selflove are crucial. You don’t want to lose yourself amid the chaos. There is not enough self-care in Asia.”

Debatte says the inability to disconnect is another challenge that is magnified in Asia.

“There’s no set workflow pattern in Asia, where you can gear up for busy periods and rest during the festive season. Projects always pop up that disrupt the flow and if you work in a regional role, there is no downtime — you’re constantly juggling different rhythms.”

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Holistic approach to mental health

Business leaders and associations within the events industry need to adopt a proactive approach to dealing with mental health.

C2’s Enault says companies must be proactive in educating their leadership teams about the benefits of addressing mental health at work. “By promoting wellness, listening to employees and creating outcomes through systemic change, we are able to use positive education to encourage self-management of mental health. Correct management also represents a significant opportunity to address productivity and maintain talent.”

Eventify’s Katzen says business owners can begin by making small changes. “We insisted on staff not eating at desks, taking a full hour for lunch and taking regular ‘movement’ and coffee breaks. We also engendered an atmosphere of family and held regular performance reviews as a platform for two-way communication with staff.”

Brisbane-based leadership coach, Belinda Brosnan, says high-performing teams require ‘psychological safety’ in the workplace.

“The key for leaders is to create an environment that gives equal voice to everyone and allows people to speak up without the fear of being shut-down and ridiculed. This also requires leaders who are adept at asking questions and listening deeply — the ability to ask questions and build trust through courageous and caring conversations is key to an emotionally healthy workplace.”

She says it’s important to understand the basic neuroscience of the brain during periods of extended stress. “Our field of vision narrows and our thinking becomes binary — we start to believe that only two options exist ahead (e.g. I can leave my job, or I can stay).”

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C ov er S to ry

World Mental Health Day World Mental Health Day 2018 is on 10 October. Join us in raising awareness about mental health in the events industry as we launch the #Eventprofscare initiative to encourage event professionals in Asia to have open conversations about stress, anxiety and depression in the workplace.

Join the conversation #Eventprofscare #worldmentalhealthday In the UK, workplace health and safety regulator Health and Safety Executive (HSE) offers step-by-step advice on how to implement stress management procedures in the workplace, and focuses on six key areas that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing (see common factors on p.23).

Meanwhile, advocacy groups like Mind HK and Silver Ribbon Singapore run regular mental health awareness workshops, events, and Mental Health First Aid training courses in an effort to destigmatise mental health and facilitate greater understanding among the local community.

Silver Ribbon Singapore is hosting the first Global Summit for Mental Health Advocates in October, which will serve as platform to connect all stakeholders — business, government agencies, mental health professionals, and caregivers — to share knowledge and promote an integrated approach to mental health awareness.

But there is still much work to be done.

“Too many people are still afraid to talk openly about mental health,” Enault says. “I hope more voices will join the call to bring mental health out into the open and to recognise the far-reaching evidence of how many people are affected.

“I look forward to a day when we perceive suffering from depression as no more shameful than breaking a leg. But for now, in the events industry, the show must go on.”

Work-life balance High-performing teams require ‘psychological safety’ in the workplace, where leaders are proactive in dealing with mental health.

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A sso ci at i on Im pact

Legacy matters How can association meetings create legacy beyond economic impact — and how can stakeholders measure and articulate event outcomes? Jenny Salsbury investigates.

Stellar performace... SpaceX founder Elon Musk unveiled his lofty vision to colonise Mars at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2017 in Adelaide.

he term “legacy” has become a cover-all for outcomes from running events in a specific location. But what does this look like? And how can it be measured in a way that creates value for all stakeholders?

Beyond showing monetary value to governments, there is a broad set of outcomes ranging from advance in science and healthcare impacts to creating new trade opportunities and empowering young people that far outweigh the financial impact of association meetings.

This issue goes to the heart of associations — often their reason for being, such as ‘making a significant difference’, ‘furthering outreach projects’, and ‘offering

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practical assistance’. Essentially, associations have a humanitarian role to play beyond wealth creation and sharing best practice.

It is therefore important to distinguish between ‘legacy’ and ‘economic impact’ — the former appeals to more visionary or esoteric goals; the latter about providing accountability. Associations are now defining this positive impact more sharply, with stories built around outcomes.

(In)tangible outcomes

The World Parkinson Coalition (WPC), which provides the only international forum on Parkinson’s disease, is a great example. WPC runs triennial international

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Association Impact

congresses, attracting some 4,500 delegates from more than 60 countries. Attendees are not only from the scientific and research community but also include carers, families and people with the disease.

Despite being a relatively young organisation (four congresses since its launch in 2004), WPC has already been recognised for its inclusive format and for its impactful “Parkinson’s Ready” programme, which engages the local community, trains staff (hotels, airport, convention centre, taxi drivers) and works with healthcare providers in the host city to raise awareness.

People with Parkinson’s are also included in planning decisions in the lead-up to the congress.

While quantifying business and academic outcomes can be incredibly difficult, Mathias Posch, president of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) and International Conference Services (ICS), says public outreach and community engagement can help entrench conference outcomes far beyond the parameters of the events.

“Association goals are generally for the betterment of society — be it medical advances, scientific breakthroughs or humanitarian aspirations. We realise that bringing a conference into a destination leaves a legacy by itself if we work with the destinations to harvest the combined brainpower and expertise that is coming into the area,” he says.

“This can be done through obvious things like public outreach and patient days, and also by providing local professionals with access to the experts and an ongoing learning plan,” he says, adding that “long-term research partnerships and collaborations stemming from conferences could and should be another goal and legacy from a conference”.

Following the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Sydney in 2013, ICS together with Business Events Sydney, surveyed delegates both immediately after the event and a year later. They found that ongoing research and teaching activity stimulated by the event increased over time.

Tip of the iceberg

Leading industry bodies IAPCO, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), and the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) teamed up to launch ‘The Iceberg’ in 2017, an online communication platform that encourages event professionals across the association and corporate meeting sector to share stories of legacy. Event case studies can be easily accessed on the platform, to help industry professionals develop their own strategies.

ICCA has been actively involved in legacy for at least 10 years. Members have produced some outstanding projects, such as the 2011 Beyond Tourism Benefits report by Business Events Sydney, which examined the educational and social outcomes of events in Australia’s largest city.

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Until we can actually measure impact beyond tourism, we’re not going to be able to convey the real power of legacy.

GREGG TALLEY President and CEO, Talley Management Group

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“What is really gratifying is how this whole area has become mainstream. If you’re not doing this now, then you’re in the minority,” stated then ICCA CEO Martin Sirk at the ICCA Congress in Prague in 2017.

Convention bureaus regularly survey the revenue and job creation generated from meetings in their city, but often, it’s the hard-to-find, widerreaching benefits that tell the bigger story around knowledge transfer and intellectual capital. The Iceberg ensures these hard-to-find stories are told.

Making the case for evaluation, and indicating future direction, Greg Tally, president and CEO of Talley Management Group, and ICCA board member, says: “Until we get to the point of being able to actually measure some of these components of value or impact beyond tourism, we’re still not going to be able to convey the real power of this.”

Long-term investment

Some destinations have invested heavily in developing the right environment to attract convention business. The decision to build one of the largest life science hubs in the Southern Hemisphere in Adelaide is already paying dividends, attracting a number of international medical and scientific conferences to the city.

The AU$3.6-billion Adelaide BioMed City incorporates the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and South Australian Health and Medical Research

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Legacies are a huge asset in garnering support from industry and government to assist in promoting the benefits of hosting events.

DAMION KITTO CEO, Adelaide Convention Bureau

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Association Impact

City-wide approach Adelaide's new BioMed City (below left) has helped to attract medical and scientific conferences, such as IAC 2017 (far left), where plans to launch an Australian space agency were announced (left).

Institute, University of Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building and University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute.

According to Adelaide Convention Bureau CEO, Damion Kitto, 40 per cent of all events won within the last 12 months fall into the life sciences field.

Thanks to this level of investment (and the imagination of the city), the International Union for Physical and Engineering Science in Medicine recently announced that the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering will be held in Adelaide in 2024, with some 2,500 delegates.

The six-year lead time will also allow the local medical physics and biomedical engineering industry an opportunity to invest in and leverage business and knowledgesharing opportunities in the lead-up. This is expected to be particularly impactful in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics and data analytics — primary growth areas in healthcare and medicine.

Besides the hardware, Kitto says the collaborative, city-wide approach of the bureau has helped to bolster legacy outcomes of recent events such as the 68th International Aeronautical Congress (IAC), which took place in September 2017.

“Working with Team Adelaide partners at every level is the beauty of working in a city

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small in size but large in infrastructure,” he says. “The size of Adelaide and our ability to assist event owners with local networks, from grassroots to the highest levels, enabled the organisers to feel their event was truly valued.”

Not only was the IAC the largest conference ever held in Adelaide, but it was also the largest congress in the organisation’s history, attracting 4,470 delegates from 71 nations.

The conference has already created some long-term legacies; the Australian Federal Government used the conference to announce plans to establish a national space agency.

Adelaide SPACE start-up Fleet and French space agency CNES will track and support nanosatellites. Italy’s largest privately-owned space company SITAEL signed a letter of intent with local start-up Inovar to jointly establish a multi-million-dollar company in South Australia to develop and integrate nanomicro satellites. Interestingly, applications for aerospace engineering and technology at universities across the state are up by close to 20 per cent this year.

Kitto adds: “For the bureau, legacies are a huge asset in garnering support from industry and government to assist in promoting the benefits of hosting events — we hope they also entice other individuals and organisations in Adelaide to act as a future bid leader.”

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M&I Toolkit S ection Sp o nso r

Community building is brand building AccorHotels’ Ianic Menard says doing right by the local community can foster brand engagement.

S In 2016, 75 per cent of our global hotels were engaged in community or solidarity initiatives.

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uccessful events today are assessed not solely on return on investment (ROI), but also a return on engagement. When an event experience is designed to resonate with participants on an emotional level, it allows people to identify themselves with a brand whose products and services help give their business or life meaning. Thus, building brand trust and advocacy.

We are planning to open more than 350 hotels across Asia Pacific over the next five years. As we continue to expand, the way we manage our impact on local economies and communities has never been more crucial. This is why we have created a new five-year plan for our Planet 21 corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. To path the way towards positive hospitality and a greater legacy for our business, Planet 21 focuses on four fields of action — employees, guests, partners and local communities.

In 2016, 75 per cent of our global hotels were engaged in community or solidarity initiatives. They supported local initiatives with high-value impact, whether it was to prevent food waste, fight child sex tourism, sustain agroforestry, or support the least fortunate in the society.

According to a 2017 study by the Asian Development Bank, 14 per cent of the population in Cambodia lives below the national poverty line, among which 12 per cent of youth are without education, employment or training. Through fundraising and scholarship programmes, we are helping the youth of Cambodia to have a brighter future and become self-sufficient by partnering with Paul Dubrule Hotel & Tourism School. The school offers a

10-month training programme, which alternates classroom periods with annual internships, to 300 students aged between 17 and 22. Thirty-four per cent of students are sponsored, and all find jobs within one month of graduating.

In Danang, Mercure Bana Hills French Village launched the first Planet 21 café in Vietnam in July 2016, which encourages their staff and guests to engage with the local community, and to educate them around sustainable practices such as recycling and waste management.

Because our commitment does not end at the hotel door, in 2017 we invited partners from Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) to participate in our ‘Plant for the Planet’ programme in Thailand. Twenty-four staff and partners from AccorHotels and CWT headed to PUR Farm, located about an hour’s drive from Chiang Mai, where we participated in an experiment that employed agro-ecological techniques to preserve threatened Thai plant species. This not only helped foster cohesion and strengthened values between the two companies, but also helped raise awareness about how Plant for the Planet contributes to local farmers socially, economically and environmentally.

Successful brands are able to set themselves apart by first getting their employees on board with their company vision and values, and then embedding these into everyday workflow and organisational structure. Gearing your brand towards doing good will not only strengthen internal bonds, but have wide-reaching, positive societal and business outcomes.

Ianic Menard is vice president of sales, marketing and distribution for Accorhotels Upper South and North East Asia and the Maldives.

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DANIEL CHUA Platinum Member

LILY TAY Gold Member

Lily and Daniel enjoy the benefits of Le Club AccorHotels Meeting Planner, the loyalty program designed exclusively for event organisers. Join today and enjoy them too. ✓ No black out dates to redeem points ✓ No cap on earning per event ✓ Redeem on next meeting ✓ Free to join ✓ Points never expire

at accorhotels.com/meetingplanner TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY

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M&I Toolkit

Are you ready for the

attendees of the future?

Human-centric design will foster meaningful connections as delegates command greater control over event content and formats. By Sanjay Surana

Tech savvy... Attendees of the future will demand more interative technology that will make it easier to interact and convene.

T

o create the perfect event, a planner must understand the conventional delegate. Sounds straightforward, but rapidly changing demands and technology keep redefining what is expected at an event, presenting organisers with a raft of questions.

How will future delegates interact with new and evolving technologies such as AI and augmented and virtual reality?

How do these delegates want to be communicated with and how do they want to engage with one another?

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And what must venues do to meet the needs of future attendees?

“I think what delegates need most in conferences is efficiency,” says Etienne Chia, vice president, strategy & digital at FreemanXP China. “They are increasingly time poor and want to make the most of their time.”

Chia adds that delegates also want shorter but more diverse talks, demos and workshops that leverage industry experts and speakers from other sectors to present new perspectives. “Event designers should focus on creating

less noise, less stuff, and more humancentric activities that help uncover deeper meaning and ways you can contribute to something greater than yourself,” says Marc Pomerleau, global strategy vice president, FreemanXP. David Litteken, vice president Asia Pacific, BI Worldwide, shares similar sentiments: “Even with technology advances, there will still be a need for humans to interact and convene. But event attendees of the future are going to look for more of a blend of human and technology interaction.”

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M &I Toolkit

For Gregory Crandall, director of brand engagement at Pico+ Hong Kong, events will be split between two audiences — attendees and broadcast.

“The broadcast audience will view content and participate in presentations and sessions online. Their aim will be to absorb and share information.

“The attendee audience, however, will be looking to meet people and build deeper relationships. These two audience groups will become sharply defined in the future, so conference managers need to start thinking about how to prepare different content feeds and sets of experiences.”

The role of technology, is at the forefront of transformations in the industry and the experience of attendees.

“Well-designed VR and AR have the power to bring to life and make visceral experiences that might otherwise go unexplored due to complexity, time or space,” says Pomerleau. “This can help generate empathy, a core element of inspiration and meaningful connection.”

Chia identifies the potential of AI, conveying how it will eventually touch almost every part of the attendee journey, but in an invisible way. “The most obvious opportunities are around personalisation: Attendee journey customisation and attendee matchmaking can both be optimised through data analysis, pattern recognition and machine learning,” he says. “Voice recognition can enable live transcripts of panel discussions, while voice assistants can help answer frequently asked questions.”

But for others, such as Jaime Roseburgh, market leader Singapore and ASEAN, American Express Meetings and Events, the reach of the latest technology is not yet ubiquitous.

“We are still some time away from AI or VR playing a meaningful, mainstream role in major conferences.

Most venues will find greater benefit in attempting to keep up with current tech trends rather than trying to predict the next. Strong, reliable Wi-Fi, the provision of iPads for specific agenda items, and smartphone charging stations are all simple ways to add value to a conference venue in line with current trends.”

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The most obvious opportunities are around personalisation: Attendee journey customisation and attendee match-making.

ETIENNE CHIA Vice president FreemanXP China

Undoubtedly, the era of virtual communication has altered the way that delegates receive their news on an event and build connections, allowing greater density of interaction for minimal increase in cost.

But there are dangers to this. “We have to be careful with over-communicating,” says Litteken.

“I tire of receiving so many inquiries wanting more and more information in the weeks leading up to a conference. Use the drip campaign to get delegates excited about what is in store for them once they arrive.”

“Future event professionals will need to give their audience customisable solutions that meet their personal preferences, especially around their volume and frequency of interaction,” advises Crandall.

“Whatever the platform, the audiences will continue to demand control.”

That said, technology will enable future connections to be made more seamlessly and unobtrusively. “For example,” says Chia, “attendee solutions exist that use Bluetooth sensors in delegate lanyards that can let attendees know exactly who they have been talking to and for how long, all without them having to share business cards or exchange phone numbers. Machine learning match-making solutions can indicate whether someone’s profile is a good match for your needs.”

“Apps already play a central role in many large conferences, and as app functionality increases in the future, it’s likely that this will drive further opportunities for delegates to connect, and arrange one-to-one meetings,” says Roseburgh.

Virtually there... Flexible venues that blend physical and virtual environments will be ‘hot property’.

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M&I Toolkit

Community Instead of attending a single event, delegates will be more focused on joining and building a community.

Events can be either “a moment or a launch pad to build a community”, notes Crandall. If organisers design around the latter, delegates will be less focused on attending an event and more focused on joining and building a community.

“Planners should focus on creating a sense of community for delegates that lasts far beyond the event date,” he continues.

In concert with these advances, venues will need to adapt. “Delegates will want and expect venues to create a sense of anticipation and surprise through flexible and fast-designed change and novelty,” states Pomerleau.

“This will be done through a combination of physical environmental design and technologies such as projection mapping, video, AR and VR. Multi-purpose venues designed to host a varied spectrum of activities in quick succession [a gaming arena in the morning, an EDM rave in the afternoon] will be hot properties. Flexible agility will be the name of the game.”

Crandall believes venues with pipelines for highvolume data and technologies for way-finding will become preferred destinations for conference organisers.

Beyond venues, event agencies will constantly need to refresh their skill sets, outlook and practices.

“I encourage my staff to get out in the market. Attend different types of events, openings, art previews and more,” Litteken adds. “I also encourage them to get more comfortable with technology and bring our IT people into the brainstorming process.”

Pomerleau concurs: “The bottom line is work with and hire young people and people who look and do things differently from you, and do it on their terms.

Gaining fresh perspective opens us to new possibilities, learning, and change.”

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Focus on creating less noise, less stuff, and more human-centric activities.

MARC POMERLEAU Global strategy vice president FreemanXP

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P a r t n e r Co ntent

Why Singapore is your meetings hub AccorHotels’ expanding portfolio provides a wealth of meeting options in the Lion City.

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ingapore sits in the centre of a bustling travel network, making it the gateway to the region and beyond. The city delivers a bold and ever-changing landscape of opportunity for business events that keeps it fresh and exciting, while setting benchmarks for creativity, quality and innovation.

Event planners are spoilt for choice when it comes to meeting and conference venues in Singapore. Here are some of our top picks:

Raffles City Convention Centre

Combining contemporary design features with cutting-edge facilities, Raffles City Convention Centre will soon have a fresh new look, following a renovation of all ballrooms and select meeting rooms set for completion in September 2018.

Located in the heart of Singapore’s business, shopping, dining and entertainment districts, the complex includes Fairmont Singapore and Swissôtel The Stamford, which together provide 2,030 guestrooms and 15 lifestyle and dining choices. The hotels are directly linked to Raffles City’s flexible function space, which comprises three ballrooms and 24 meeting rooms.

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay

Located at the buzzing riverside district of Clarke Quay, the 403-room hotel is surrounded by more than 150 restaurants and bars. Besides a pillarless ballroom that can accommodate 650 guests, there are four meeting rooms and an outdoor terrace that overlooks Marina Bay, the Singapore River and lush greenery of Fort Canning Park.

Novotel Singapore on Stevens

The newly opened Novotel Singapore on Stevens is home to a dedicated team of

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Flexible spaces... Sofitel Singapore City Centre (above); Novotel Singapore on Stevens (top right); Swissôtel The Stamford (right).

meeting specialists who can help organise events in the hotel’s The Polaris ballroom for more than 400 guests. There are also six function rooms and two outdoor terraces for alfresco coffee breaks.

The complex includes two hotels — Novotel and Mercure Singapore on Stevens — eleven dining outlets, two 35-metre swimming pools, a tennis court, and 24-hour gym.

Sofitel Singapore City Centre

Opened in late 2017, this luxurious 223-room hotel presents an innovative Magnifique Meetings concept across 10 flexible venues. Here, a team of event professionals carefully curate every detail to deliver unforgettable event experiences.

Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa

Surrounded by manicured lawns, spacious outdoor areas with panoramic sea views,

the Celebrations & Events Centre at this 215-room resort is served by a private drop-off point and features a 1,300sqm venue that can be customised to suit any theme or event type. The two ballrooms and five function rooms can be divided into 15 rooms, serving both large conferences and intimate gatherings.

Swissôtel Merchant Court

Centrally located in Singapore, the hotel combines easy-to-use technology, reliable service, and great cuisine to create meeting and events that inspire.

Swissôtel Merchant Court’s Vitality programme, which embodies a philosophy that health and happiness go hand in hand, can also be incorporated in meeting agendas — energy-boosting superfoods, group fitness and wellness sessions can help delegates remained energised and engaged.

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F o c us Group Data M a na g em ent

Lost in translation Data can build trust and empower global teams, but only when shared and communicated effectively.

By Lauren Arena

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Fo c u s G r o up D at a M an age m e n t

Discussing data (left to right)... Lauren Arena, Nooch Homrossukhon, Ian Cummings, Megg Withinton, El Kwang.

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ata is the new oil. Well, almost.

Like oil, data is a source of power and has spawned a lucrative, fast-growing industry. But unlike the commodities of yesteryear, data is a super abundant resource. It can be used and reused, by multiple players. However, unregulated data-mining can cause serious privacy concerns that lead to an imbalance of power (think of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal).

To unlock the true power of data (and its potential for the betterment of society) it must be shared. Data can be harnessed to build trust that leads to better ways of working and positive business outcomes, but we must first establish trust to encourage people to willingly share their data. It’s a classic chicken-and-egg scenario. So where do we start?

For Megg Withinton, a statistician and managing director of Missouri-based research firm Intellective Group, it all starts with terminology.

“There’s always a challenge in making sure that everybody is on the same page. Even the word ‘meetings’ is open to interpretation.”

Withinton, who is also chief research advisor for The Incentive Research Foundation, has worked with stakeholders across the business events industry and stresses that vernacular must be precise — and the industry’s never-ending list of acronyms is both exclusionist and troublesome.

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“Even within very tight-knit organisations, there’s a language that starts to become shorthand but it doesn’t always mean the same thing to everyone,” she says.

“For me, precision is really important and I can see how people can get very confused because the MICE industry talks to itself a lot, but not to the people who are looking for help… they don’t use the same language.”

For Nooch Homrossukhon, director of the meetings and incentives department at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), even the term ‘business events’ can be tricky.

“We’ve been trying to ensure this term resonates with the local people, operators in Thailand, and also the government,” Homrossukhon says. “As a government organisation, TCEB needs support, services assistance and facilitation from other government agencies, so if they don’t really understand the meaning and significance of business events, it’s very hard for us to get support — both from external and internal stakeholders.”

Withinton warns: “The assumptions we carry around, and the way we talk about the industry, may not be meaningful to the wider marketplace.” Constant conversation (qualitative data gathering) is key to overcoming this challenge, she says.

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I think Asian people still have a certain fear of expression.

NOOCH HOMROSSUKHON Director of meetings and incentives department TCEB

Data culture

So how can we start having open conversations that encourage our audience to share their data and our internal teams to embrace new ways of working with data?

Ian Cummings, vice president — EMEA at CWT Meetings and Events, manages teams across Europe and the Middle East and also works with his regional counterparts across the globe. In Asia Pacific, Cummings says there can be a reluctance to adopt new data management practices.

“In very broad general terms, the more advanced programmes and processes that we manage originate in the U.S. From there, it spreads across Europe and APAC in that order,” he says.

“When we talk about putting in place processes that are in line with the rest of the globe, APAC is generally slower to come to the table… sometimes people don’t always see the requirement for a new process and it becomes cumbersome.”

Challenges Overreliance on immigration cards for data Reluctance to share information Engaging clients early in the event planning process to talk about data Global companies not willing to invest time in building relationships in Asia, which hinders business and data collection

But when it comes to dealing with global clients — and executing global programmes in several markets — Cummings says unified processes like strategic meetings management (SMM) that rely heavily on data cannot be avoided.

“Globalisation is happening, whether we like it or not. This means we have to be better at communicating the value of new processes or operational change.

“In APAC, once you’ve put the process in place it works well with very little deviation. But getting it going is sometimes challenging.”

Looking at the business events industry more broadly, Cummings says SMM compliance is an ongoing challenge — no matter where you’re operating.

The assumptions we carry around, and the way we talk about the industry, may not be meaningful to the wider marketplace.

“Commercial teams and CMOs are very creative. They don’t want to be told by procurement to go to a preferred hotel chain. I think a lot of data within the industry sits outside capture.

“I’m a personal lover of data; I think it helps in decision-making. Unless you have good quality, reliable data, it’s really hard to make decisions.”

He adds: “Think of the potential from linking your event to customer relationship management (CRM) data. Events are often about sales, but you should be able to track a spike in sales via a CRM tool following your event.”

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But how can we encourage our audience to actually complete a feedback survey?

Withinton has conducted surveys in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, but admits APAC is “a weak spot for us” due to language barriers.

TCEB’s Homrossukhon suggests the biggest barrier is cultural. “It’s not the language barrier that stops us from participating or responding to a survey.

It’s more related to our culture. We keep things to ourselves. It’s very hard for us to express our ideas or opinions in the international arena. I think Asian people still have a certain fear of expression,” she says.

Communication barriers

Possible solutions Link event outcomes with CRM data Don’t undermine the value of qualitative data – and the power of conversations Use data to create ‘personae’ that correspond with client objectives Acquire reliable, qualitative data from in-market representatives and partners who establish and nurture local relationships

Across Asia, many cultural and business norms are rooted in ‘face value’ and hierarchical tiers of respect. So, failure or ‘losing face’ is not accepted or discussed — and certainly not shared in a survey.

“Generally speaking, people in Asia can be more judgemental, that’s why we are largely conservative,” Homrossukhon says. “In the western world, workplace and business culture is more open, where different comments and opinions are welcomed.”

She adds: “In Asian countries, for the first meeting, we tend to talk about more personal things to get to know the person rather than the business opportunities or the real discussion. The nature of doing business in Asia is largely based on indirect communication and meeting face-to-face, so the trust level takes much longer to establish. But once you have built the right relationship, it flows very quickly.”

Unless you have good quality, reliable data, it’s really hard to make decisions.

This conservative approach also applies to data sharing, be it personal or professional.

Cummings says: “Customers want to know what their peers are doing, but they don’t want to risk their data and don’t want to show it to anybody.

“When we ask for data from APAC, there’s a certain level of concern about its reliability. It’s something that we need to move fairly quickly to change.”

Homrossukhon admits that acquiring reliable data is an ongoing challenge and says the bureau remains conservative about folding certain data into their marketing mix.

“When it comes to M&E, it’s quite hard to track because when people arrive in Thailand, they will not opt for business on the immigration card, they will say they are tourists. Due to sensitivity and confidentiality issues, some corporations are not comfortable with sharing their information,” she explains.

Elevating the data conversation

Beyond the immigration card and postevent survey, how can we measure intangible outcomes like ‘return on engagement’?

“Based on research we’ve done, ROI or ROE of an event is only measured in 30 per cent of all cases,” Cummings says. “We’ve got to elevate the conversation with chief commercial and marketing officers so we can understand their objectives, design a measurement, and then present event data in a format that’s usable.

“But to do this properly you need to engage them early and outline objectives and measurement processes. This requires a series of planning and development meetings that the client often doesn’t have time for,” he says.

To combat this, Cummings says CWT is now conducting more intensive research to better understand its global audience and adjust its communication strategy accordingly.

“We’re doing a lot more research on the various ‘personae’ that exist in our industry and we’re looking to create content that is relevant to them.”

IAN CUMMINGS Vice president – EMEA CWT Meetings and Events

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Up Cl ose Allan Phan g

Up close with…

Allan Phang Allstars Engagement and Internal Branding, AirAsia

AirAsia’s engagement guru says authentic brand building starts from the inside out. By Lauren Arena

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llan Phang is a people person.

He’s also been labelled an esports evangelist and an ‘intrapreneur’ for his work on a highly successful engagement initiative for 'the world’s best low-cost airline', AirAsia.

In just over six months (June 2017 – January 2018), Phang planned and executed an engagement strategy around online gaming that not only engaged staff members (known as Allstars), but also tapped into the booming esports industry.

As part of the airline’s People and Culture division, Phang is already on his sixth portfolio, having worked his way through various regional marketing departments, partnership and business development, and regional corporate culture.

But only five years ago, he was a college drop-out and accidental entrepreneur who ventured into the paintball industry.

Then one day, AirAsia group CEO, Tony Fernandes, walked into his store…

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Tell us about your professional background?

Allan: I was in the paintball industry for 10 years, and was involved in running international paintball tournaments in Asia.

Our events usually attracted 2,000 participants from more than 30 countries.

One day, Tony Fernandes and his son came into my shop to buy some equipment, so I decided to email him about opportunities at AirAsia. He responded within minutes, inviting me for an interview at AirAsia’s global HQ in Sepang, Malaysia. And the rest is history.

How did you create a sense of community around AirAsia to engage your colleagues and build brand loyalty?

Allan: We have special interest groups like futsal, badminton, scuba diving, running, and those involved take part in internal and external events representing the brand. And recently, we added esports to this list.

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U p C l o s e A llan P h an g

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Take the time to immerse yourself in the community, then engage internal stakeholders and employees.

ALLAN PHANG Allstars Engagement and Internal Branding, AirAsia

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We encourage our Allstars (our employees) who are avid gamers to form groups to compete with each other after working hours. We also encourage them to represent our brand, so they feel empowered and proud to represent AirAsia at regional tournaments.

AirAsia is moving towards being a digital company, and esports is the sport of the digital generation, so it’s a perfect fit — especially for the next generation of graduates. Gaming is part of their lifestyle.

What’s your advice to those looking to build communities and brand affinity?

Allan: You need to identify people who are passionate about certain activities and empower them to lead a special interest group. If you have a non-runner, for example, leading a running club, it’s going to be a nightmare. You need to really harness people’s passion.

How did you raise awareness about esports internally?

Allan: Of our 24,000 employees, only a handful knew about esports, so to tackle this we created an Esports Club, which was very organic. We did a survey and found that a number of our Allstars are avid gamers who play console, PC and mobile games. These people became our leaders and they rallied together to form groups.

We also created personalised jerseys for our club and handed them to our c-suite executives. This helped to speed up the internal awareness initiative.

How did you justify the Esports Club concept to AirAsia bosses?

Allan: Every company wants ROI, KPIs. With AirAsia it’s about flying people from point A to point B, but it’s also about brand-building and creating awareness among future customers.

Like every company, we have budgets to spend on newspaper and television

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U p C l o s e A llan P h an g

advertising, but the next generation of travellers aren’t reading newspapers or watching linear TV — they’re streaming videos online and often use pop-up ad blockers.

This is where the highly engaged esports community presents a great opportunity — and it’s growing every day. But not many brands understand this market, so we have first-mover advantage from an airline perspective.

It took you only six months to convince senior management and secure a budget to execute the strategy. How did you do it?

Allan: We actually attended a few esports tournaments and took videos and photos to report back to management. I shared photos of an event I attended at the Beijing Olympic stadium, where there were 40,000 to 50,000 people in the audience. The first question I received was: “Is this photoshopped?” For me, this highlights the importance of conducting on-the-ground market research — afterall,

seeing is believing. You can't simply sit in your office and look at forecast reports, you need to immerse yourself in the community/ industry you're interested in. That’s what we did differently.

We’re an airline, so travelling to the events was easy, and when you witness these events first-hand you get to experience the atmosphere and the emotion felt by the fans — the passion, the cheering, the crying.

For me, esports was totally new, but I saw the immense potential — the eyeballs, the figures, and I wanted AirAsia to get involved, but we had to come from an inside-out approach to make it happen. This position is very unique. Many companies simply ‘sponsor’ events in order to stick their logo somewhere.

For us, it’s very authentic and organic.

We actually encourage our Allstars to get involved in internal tournaments, as well as participate externally and represent the brand at events across Malaysia and regionally (where AirAsia has market presence).

AirAsia Allstars Esports Club... AirAsia HQ has a dedicated Esports Zone where employees can train for regional esports tournaments.

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We’ve spoken a lot about how you’ve established the AirAsia Allstars Esports Club, but how do you rate its success?

Allan: When we started in June 2017, we had about 14 members. Today in Kuala Lumpur alone, we have more than 200. There is an ecosystem in place, an actual community of special interest groups.

We also created an Esports Zone in our office, which has 12 fully equipped gaming units so the team can play and train. This year our target is to scale-up across the region and involve our Allstars in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India… I’ll be flying around the region to ‘evangelise’ our Esports Club.

Did you leverage social media to help build awareness around the AirAsia Allstars eSports Club?

Allan: We created a dedicated Facebook page to share with the world what we do internally, as well as connect with the broader gaming community. They were very excited and surprised that a company as big as AirAsia supports their passion. It brings more legitimacy to the sport.

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You need to identify people who are passionate about certain activities and empower them to lead a special interest group.

ALLAN PHANG Allstars Engagement and Internal Branding, AirAsia

Game on Esports tournaments in Beijing and Malaysia attract massive crowds (left); AirAsia Allstars Esports Club now has more than 200 members (below).

When it comes to brand engagement, how powerful is non-endemic brand sponsorship?

Allan: It’s mind-blowing. Current employees will see the company as forward-thinking and they will feel proud to be part of an organisation that supports their passion. And, for the next generation, it inspires them. We’ve received several requests and enquiries from people looking to join AirAsia since our involvement in esports, especially from people working in the tech and IT sector.

But, brands need to understand the space before they jump in. Take the time (and the initiative) to immerse yourself in the community, then engage internal stakeholders and employees, before you roll-out an external campaign.

You also need to add value to the community.

At AirAsia, we fly the community around the region to attend tournaments. In June, we sponsored the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG), a tournament organised by Alisports, where AirAsia is the official airline for Southeast Asia players. In April, we acquired Malaysian mobile esports outfit, Team Saiyan. We provide them with a gaming house and professional training — sports psychology, physical fitness training, the real deal.

It’s all about authenticity and supporting the ecosystem.

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Destinat i on Feat ure So u t h K o r ea

Seoul revival An improving geopolitical climate and domestic resilience show promise for the Korean capital’s business events sector.

By Gina Sin

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D e s t i na t i o n Fe a t ur e S o ut h Kor e a

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L

ast year, Seoul adopted more aggressive security policies to counter nuclear and ballistic threats from North Korea.

China then banned group travel to South Korea and encouraged consumers to boycott South Korean companies. The diplomatic row was short-lived, however, and business and cultural exchanges have resumed.

Relations between North and South Korea also improved following the landmark Panmunjom Summit in April 2018, where the Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula was signed.

With geopolitical tensions waning, Chinese business events delegates are returning and peace agreements appear to be holding firm.

Weathering the storm, Seoul has proven to be an incredibly resilient market, maintaining its prominent third position in the Union of International Associations (UIA) world convention city rankings for the past three years.

In fact, 688 international meetings were held in 2017, up from 526 meetings or 31 per cent more than the previous year.

To recapture business, the Seoul Tourism Organization (STO) launched the PLUS Seoul Package in 2017, which provides financial and non-financial event support for international meeting and incentive planners. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also plans to enable free Wi-Fi throughout the city by 2020.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is planning to introduce an express rail system in the Seoul Capital Area by 2025.

The Great Train eXpress, which will also service the surrounding cities of Songdo and Ilsan, is expected to cut commuting times by up to 80 per cent across the region, providing faster and greater accessibility.

The new Coex Center Jamsil is also set to open in 2030 as part of a massive complex that will include an arts centre, hotels, shopping facilities, and sports, culture and entertainment venues spanning more than 720,000sqm.

In January this year, Malaysian marketing company Sahajida Hai-O brought nearly 1,200 employees to Seoul in eight waves for a fourday incentive travel programme. Highlights of the trip included a tour of MBC World (a hallyu theme park), hanbok dress-up and a tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace, as well as tucking into halal samgyetang (herbal chicken ginseng soup stuffed with glutinous rice), and a gala dinner with a welcome video message from the city’s mayor. The mega incentive resulted in an estimated KRW3 billion (US$2.6 million) economic boost for the city.

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D e s t i na t i o n Fe a t ur e S o ut h Kor e a

Market resilience Coex Convention & Exhibiton Center (left) hosts 30 per cent of all events held in Seoul, including the annual TCTAP CardioVascular Summit (below).

The TCTAP 2018 CardioVascular Summit, organised by the CardioVascular Research Foundation and supported by the Heart Institute of Asan Medical Center, took place at Coex (April 28 to May 1, 2018). Hailed as the city’s crowning glory, the summit has been held annually in Seoul since its inauguration in 1995 and is now recognised as the representative conference on the treatment of coronary artery disease in Asia Pacific.

This year’s event attracted approximately 4,000 cardiovascular experts from 50 countries around the globe. Despite the geopolitical climate, the summit continued to grow in size and scale and now includes live streaming demonstrations of coronary artery interventions from leading hospitals around the world.

Yoonjoo Bae, assistant marketing manager of the CardioVascular Research Foundation, explains: “Keeping the event in Seoul allows close access to the Asan Medical Center, which offers an enormous amount of data and expertise in the cardiology field. While there are similar conferences held in the United States and Europe, Korea is the leading country in this field for the Asia-Pacific region.”

Interestingly, there is no bidding process for this event and organisers aren’t swayed to take the event to a new destination. “Since the CardioVascular Summit has been successfully hosted in Seoul with no major issues for more than two decades, we plan to continue holding our event here so that we can focus on improving the event experience each year,” Bae says.

Pushing potential

Following the Panmunjom declaration, the number of client requests has doubled.

SKY SEO Director Danim Travel

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The successful hosting of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games and peaceful outcomes of the Panmunjom meet are expected to restore confidence among international meeting organisers. And local operators like Sky Seo, director of Seoul-based destination management company, Danim Travel, are already experiencing a positive upshot in business.

“Thanks to the Winter Olympics, we were able to introduce Korea to clients who had never thought of developing the destination on a regular basis,” Seo says. “Also, following the Panmunjom declaration, the number of client requests has doubled.”

Seo believes international event planners can rest assured that ongoing peace talks will endure. “So far, there has been a lot of improvement from both sides, and we can see a willingness to go for a peaceful arrangement between the Koreas. Moreover, South Korean citizens aren’t really scared about these issues.

Seoul’s proximity to the border has little to no effect on its safety — the demilitarised zone is a minefield stretching across the whole border that bars all possibility of ground attack, even if it were to occur,” she says.

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New STO, better future?

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Peaceful progress Peace talks at the Panmunjom Summit, and the successful hosting of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, have restored faith among event planners.

Photo credit: Cheong Wa Dae

The recent restructuring of STO from a public-private corporation into a governmentfunded foundation also points to positive change, with a focus on both business and community interests. Former executive vice president of the Korea Tourism Organization, Jae-sung Rhee, joined STO in April 2018 as its first president and CEO. Upon his appointment, he said: “By supporting the MICE industry and collaborating with local businesses, we hope to bring about both quantitative and qualitative improvements to Seoul, with the ultimate goal of improving our citizens’ lives, stimulating industrial growth, the economy, and strengthening the city’s competitiveness.”

He added: “The now governmentsponsored Seoul Tourism Organization will continue the work of the preceding organisation in a way that reflects community interests, professionalism and responsibility.”

STO has also launched new joint marketing campaigns in an effort to reclaim lost business and diversify market share.

“We have been holding working-level and representative talks with members of the Seoul MICE Alliance [a public-private partnership of government agencies and business events service providers] through joint bids and hosting meetings to promote business between SMA members and related organisations,” Rhee shares.

“The drop in MICE visitors from China pushed us to diversify our target markets, and in 2017, the number of incentive participants from outside China grew by 26.1 per cent from 2016,” he says.

“We also launched the Greater Metropolitan Incentive Committee in 2016, a joint marketing initiative with the Korea Tourism Organization, Incheon Tourism Organization and Gyeonggi Tourism Organization to participate in roadshows and conferences abroad, such as the India MICE Road Show (March) and Asia Business Meet in Singapore (July) in 2017,” Rhee adds.

“This year, we are planning similar sales events in the Middle East with our Greater Metropolitan Incentive partners.”

Seoul’s endeavour to attract business through industry collaboration has shown the kind of resilience that a united industry is capable of in times of adversity. While the impact of joint marketing efforts has yet to be assessed, the geopolitical black cloud that lingered over South Korea seems to be lifting and there is renewed hope for the city’s business events industry.

“As a French Korean working in the MICE industry, I strongly believe that Korea, especially Seoul, has so much potential that is yet to be seen,” Seo says.

We hope to bring about both quantitative and qualitative improvements to Seoul, with the ultimate goal of improving our citizens’ lives.

JAE-SUNG RHEE President and CEO Seoul Tourism Organization

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P a r t n e r Co ntent

Luang Prabang opens up to events New hotels add five-star accommodation options and creative event venues to the ancient Laotian capital.

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estled among towering mountain ranges, lush greenery, and the majestic Mekong River, Luang Prabang’s architectural, religious and cultural heritage affords an old-world charm unlike anywhere else in Asia. Gilded Buddhist temples dot the UNESCO World Heritage site and, combined with French colonial structures from the 19th and 20th centuries, create a colourful mosaic that links the the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers.

The exotic allure of the city has long attracted FIT visitors, but, thanks to new accommodation and venue options, event planners and corporate groups are starting to pay attention. Key among these new venues is the all-new Pullman Luang Prabang, which opened in July 2018, along with Sofitel Luang Prabang — two signature hotel brands under AccorHotels’ expansive portfolio.

Set amid 16 hectares of sprawling paddy fields, the Laotianstyle Pullman resort features 123 spacious rooms, suites and twobedroom villas scattered among infinity pools, natural ponds, and grassy rice fields. A purpose-built facility for meetings and events houses a 300-seat ballroom, five meeting rooms and an alfresco prefunction terrace — all served by a dedicated kitchen, which provides locally-sourced, sustainable produce and organic fruits, vegetables and herbs all grown on the property.

Pullman Luang Prabang also provides a number of creative

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New hotels... Pullman Luang Prabang (left); Sofitel Luang Prabang (right).

options for more immersive events, such as breakfast or lunch arranged by the hotel at Kuangsi waterfall (a 30-minute drive away), barbecue opportunities by the resort pool for up to 100 people, or casual cocktails in one of three gazebos (each can host up to 20 people) in surrounding paddy fields. The two-bedroom villa — ideal for chairman or CEO accommodation — can also host a cocktail party for 50 people, or a 12-seat boardroom dinner.

The resort’s dedicated event staff can suggest and arrange additional event concepts.

Smaller corporate groups can also book the 25-suite Sofitel Luang Prabang for exclusive use. The luxury hotel is housed in a heritage-listed, 20th-century colonial mansion, which has been lovingly restored and is tucked away in a quiet residential quarter.

Every morning at sunrise, monks walk in a procession through the streets

of Luang Prabang to accept alms offered by local residents. As part of the Pullman’s ‘Responsible Tourism’ initiative, the resort organises a daily alms-offering where hotel guests can participate and learn more about this local practice. The resort also supports a local children’s hospital, wildlife conservation and local businesses such as Ock Pop Tok, a textile institution that has pioneered social business and ethical fashion in the region since 2000.

Groups can join classes and workshops at Ock Pop Tok as part of a teambuilding or CSR programme to practise silk and bamboo weaving, natural dying, and traditional batik drawing.

Undiscovered opportunities exist beyond and in proximity to the resort.

Whatever the purpose, the untouched beauty of Luang Prabang will nourish the spirit and mind of delegates who connect with its nature, culture and people.

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Destinat i on Feat ure T ha i l a nd

More than just smiles

Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau takes destination marketing to new heights. By Lauren Arena

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D e s t i n a t i o n Fe a t u r e Th ailan d

Experience Exchange... Buyers from Australia, Europe and U.S. dine at Six Senses Hideaway Samui.

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o one can deny the market resilience of Thailand, both as a leisure and a business destination. So how do you elevate a destination marketing campaign beyond images of picture-perfect beaches and gimmicky catchphrases?

For the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), the answer is: Time. For the past three years the bureau has hosted the Thailand Incentive and Meeting Exchange (TIME), inviting buyers from key markets to share ideas and educate local operators, conduct business, and experience the destination first-hand.

Kicking off with a focus on the Chinese market in 2016, followed by the Indian market in 2017, this year TCEB invited long-haul buyers from Australia, Europe and the U.S. to engage with Thai suppliers and explore what the Kingdom has to offer.

TCEB’s director of meetings and incentives department, Nooch Homrossukhon, says the success of the TIME platform lies in the value offered to both buyers and sellers.

“Within TIME we have three different platforms — the main platform is ‘Knowledge Exchange’ held in Bangkok, then we have ‘Business Exchange’ and Experience Exchange’,” she says.

Moments in TIME Event experts shared market insights (below), while buyers explored Bangkok and Koh Samui (right).

Q&A with...

Jo Aigner, MICE manager Southeast Asia at Abercrombie & Kent How have you seen Bangkok evolve as a destination for meetings and events?

Bangkok has taken significant strides forward in recent years to position itself as a leading destination for MICE. Meeting and event venues are among the best in the world and new hotels such as Pullman King Power and Park Hyatt continue to raise the bar in terms of cutting-edge technology and quality standards. More local businesses are entering the market to make authentic experiences accessible to visitors.

Alongside the private sector, the Thai government is also investing in infrastructure improvements, event venues and convention centres, like the mixed-used ICONSIAM development, which is due to open in 2019.

What is it about Thailand that continues to attract business?

Thailand is a globally connected travel hub, with fantastic food, friendly people and a rich cultural heritage, making it an ideal and accessible destination for MICE. Traditionally, Thailand has been strong in shorthaul markets, however, in recent years, we have seen increasing interest from further afield thanks to improved connections, cheaper airfares and an integrated global destination marketing strategy, which has helped to shape Thailand’s image as a safe and rewarding place for travel.

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D e s t i n a t i o n Fe a t u r e Th ailan d

“Our main purpose for the Knowledge Exchange is to educate our local industry partners and give them the latest information, trends, and compliance regulations in each market so they can map out their marketing plans strategically.”

“For Experience Exchange, we engage international buyers by inviting them to Bangkok and then encouraging them to explore another destination within Thailand. We spend time with them, get to know them, and build relationships — and these often become longterm relationships.”

Meanwhile, this year’s Business Exchange was redesigned from a standard table-top session into a ‘Social Club’ where buyers met sellers in four different settings that reflected Thailand’s destinations — beach, nature, culture, and city.

This year, close to 30 long-haul buyers experienced Bangkok and Koh Samui, while event experts representing Australia, Europe and the U.S. spent time with local suppliers, sharing market insights such as event spend, compliance (with a focus on GDPR for the European market) and the need for personalised event experiences.

In the 2018 fiscal year, Thailand is expected to welcome 1,327,000 business travellers, generating a total revenue of THB124 billion (US$3.7 billion).

The number of business travellers from the meeting and incentive sector is estimated to grow by seven per cent to 569,000. While the long-haul MICE market is expected to grow by five per cent.

“Next year we plan to take TIME to a regional level,” Homrossukhon says. “Over the last three years, TIME have been focused on local industry partners, and we invite speakers from targeted source markets, but next year we plan to work with other CVBs and DMOs to expand the platform within ASEAN.”

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Q&A with...

David Fotheringham, director, AsiaAbility How have you seen Koh Samui evolve as a destination for meetings and events?

Samui has long been a boutique destination for leisure travellers, but is beginning to open up as a destination for MICE. As the number of resorts continues to grow, more offer meeting space, services and facilities to make hosting conferences a viable option.

What attracts groups to island destinations like Koh Samui?

One trend we see is the desire for a unique, creative and often very “themed” experience. Whether it’s an entire conference themed to The Apprentice or a Survivor bootcamp (both of which we have run for international groups at the Anantara Bophut), groups take advantage of the setting to create quite magical conference experiences and creative team-building sessions.

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MICE ecosystem

Looking ahead, TCEB’s vice president of business, Nichapa Yoswee, says the bureau will continue to evolve its marketing and engagement strategies to support the government’s Thailand 4.0 economic policy. Under the policy, the Thai government has created a THB10 billion (US$286 million) investment fund to develop 10 S-curve industries (see infographic below right) that will elevate the country from an agricultural, production-based economy, to a service-based economy.

“TCEB is tasked with responsibilities to create business and knowledge platforms for MICE entrepreneurs, stimulate demand and support the development of the MICE market,” Yoswee says.

“To elevate the meeting and incentive sector, TCEB will implement strategic plans for 2018 and 2019 that focus on building a ‘MICE Ecosystem’ to support related industries, engage target markets, and integrate work for mutual-benefit,” she adds.

According to Yoswee, this will include support for meetings from Thailand 4.0-targeted industries, such as smart electronics and biotechnology, and the development of second-tier destinations such as the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), Hua Hin, Prachuabkirikhan, Chiang Rai, and Koh Samui in Surat Thani.

“The development of MICE resources in these cities will help to create jobs and raise revenue following the Thai government policy on income distribution and sustainable economic development,” Yoswee says. “We will also work to strengthen the proficiencies of local MICE operators in the areas of product and service development, and sales and marketing.”

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Social Club... Buyers met sellers in a casual setting, where theming and F&B reflected various elements of Thailand.

Thailand 4.0 targeted industries

Next-Generation Automotive

Agriculture & Biotechnology Affluent, Medical & Wellness Tourism

Smart Electronics

First S-Curve Food for the future

Biofuels & Biochemicals

New S-Curve Robotics

M ee tin g

Digital

Aviation & Logistics

s, I ncen

Medical Hub

Ex tives, Conventions and

ns o i it hib

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Destinat i on Feat ure Chi na

Hainan rising

Raffles Hainan

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D e s t i na t i o n Fe a t ure Ch in a

As Hainan marks its 30th anniversary as an independent province, the island has succeeded in becoming a major destination for mass tourism. But can it also succeed as a major international MICE destination?

Steven Knipp investigates.

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y any standard imaginable, China’s development of Hainan Island as an ideal destination for mass tourism has been astonishing. For the last 30 years — due to its balmy weather and whitesand beaches, the nation has referred to the tropical island-province as “the Hawaii of China”.

However, it’s only been in the last few years that the necessary mega financial investments (by both the government and private sector) have been made — and really transformed the once sleepy Hainan into something resembling America’s own booming tourist paradises of Waikiki and Maui.

Hotels aplenty…

Today, in the provincial capital Haikou, there are nearly a dozen international standard hotels, including such global brands as Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott and Langham. The city also boasts the largest exhibition centre in Hainan.

But it’s in Sanya, the sprawling seaside resort on the island’s lush southern coast, where the bulk of new development has taken place. Here more than 50 fivestar resorts have opened in the past 10 years — spread from Yalong Bay and Sanya Bay, to Dadonghai and Haitang Bay, with such illustrious brand names as Grand Hyatt, Rosewood, Raffles, MGM Grand, and St. Regis — and many more brands are expected.

In the first six months of 2018, Sanya hosted nearly 10.3 million tourists — a 10 per cent increase from the previous year; but it’s notable that a whopping 9.9 million of those visitors were domestic tourists.

Accessibility

Hainan now boasts two international airports — Haikou Meilan, in the north serving the capital, and Sanya Phoenix in the south, serving that resort destination.

And a third, Qionghai Bo’ao, which handles domestic mainland tourism, the lion’s share of Hainan’s visitors. A fourth international airport, this in Sanya, is expected to open in 2020.

Meanwhile, in May the government expanded its visa-free access for visitors to Hainan from 26 countries to 59. And by 2020, the island hopes to host two million overseas tourists.

Ready for international MICE?

Noor Ahmad Hamid, Asia Pacific director of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) is convinced that the island can become a popular international MICE destination, and is doing everything it needs to do.

Hamid notes that Hainan has actively increased its membership in ICCA, including both the Haikou Convention & Exhibition Bureau, and the Sanya Tourism Development Commission.

“The increase in Hainan’s ICCA membership is perhaps due to the government focus on the business events industry — in particular their interest to position Hainan as a ‘knowledge hub’ for international association meetings,” he says.

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Hotel boom More than 50 five-star resorts have opened in Sanya (left), including Shangri-La’s Sanya Resort & Spa in Haitang Bay (centre) and the luxurious Raffles Hainan (below) in Clearwater Bay.

Like many other secondary destinations, Hainan has a long way to go in terms of marketing itself to the business event sector.

NOOR AHMAD HAMID Regional director - Asia Pacific ICCA

Among the ICCA members in Hainan is the island’s largest project developer, Ocean Flower, as well as exhibition and conference organisers such as HIMICE, Hainan Ba Fang, and Hainan Redsail.

“Like many other secondary destinations, Hainan has a long way to go in terms of marketing itself to the business events sector. However, with good accessibility and infrastructure on the island, we are sure that they can attract large-scale conferences.

“The challenge though,” Hamid adds, “lies in how well they can turn Hainan’s image as a ‘postcard destination’ for leisure tourists into a ‘business events destination’ to meet the discerning needs of business travellers.”

Where association meetings are concerned, Hamid says that ICCA has “worked closely with our (Hainan) members in training them to understand this market segment and give them access to the ICCA Association Database. Also, through ICCA they got the opportunity to network with other key players around the world”.

Robert Cousins, general manager of Raffles Hainan, and veteran hotelier who has worked in China for many years, concedes that Hainan will have to compete with Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines for a slice of the international MICE sector; but says that the island’s “development and infrastructure is equal to, if not better than, these places,” and that “Hainan absolutely deserves to be among the best in terms of international destinations for MICE travel — especially in Asia”.

Cousins notes that the island has enough “capable MICE business within China that we

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can grow significantly… (but) we’re not yet ready to seriously compete for global business. The Sanya Tourism Association is doing a fantastic job to increase awareness of Sanya as a destination for MICE. But we need greater support from the association, and more direct flights before we can go after international business.

“Accessibility may be a slight barrier. When you look at inbound travel and connections into Hainan’s airports, it’s still dominated by domestic carriers. At our hotel, 97 per cent of our [overall] business is still from Mainland China.”

Cousins says offering visa-free access to nearly 60 nations means government is taking the right steps.

But is Hainan ready now?

“I think we need time for that to develop… it can happen in five years. It can happen fast. But, (currently) if you want to arrive visa-free, you can’t connect via a mainland city, so the only way to get to Hainan visafree is to connect via Hong Kong or Singapore.

“As a hotel, we’re very focused on MICE business within China, and the massive companies that are growing here. We also want to market ourselves internationally, but we need help for that.”

The national government’s plan to transform Hainan into China’s largest free-trade zone will certainly bring increased international business interest to the island; and to help make it easier for business travellers to Hainan, the government plans to increase the number of international flights to 70 by year’s end.

“We will be ready,” says a confident Cousins, “to chase, tackle and engage every international destination that will have direct access into Sanya, but we still need that help (from government).”

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Sustainable future?

Another concern for those keen to make Hainan a major regional, or global, MICE destination is whether the island’s feverish development can be sustained, without causing the kind of severe environmental damage that has taken place in other island destinations such as Bali, Phuket and Boracay — the latter of which has been completely closed down for half a year to assess if its once famous pristine beaches can be salvaged.

Currently, Hainan’s environment — its air, rivers and forests and beaches, are the best in the nation; even the air quality for the capital, Haikou, has ranked first among 74 other major cities for the last five years. Indeed, the government claims that the island’s forest coverage has actually grown by 65 per cent during the past three decades.

And professor Ge Chengjun, of Hainan University, says the government is fully aware that “the good (quality of the) environment is the biggest asset for Hainan”.

Currently the provincial government is prioritising the development of a dozen “environmental-friendly” industries; aside from tourism, these include health care, internet technology and agriculture.

The biggest threat to Hainan’s near-pristine environment may well be the nation’s booming real estate industry, as affluent mainlanders from the north have been flooding into the island. In fact, the government plans to attract a million new residents (adding to the current 9.3 million) to the island by 2025, with the first 200,000 arriving by 2020. The new residents are expected to help Hainan develop its status as China’s newest and largest freetrade zone.

Despite this government plan, however, Liu Cigui, party chief of the Communist Party Secretary of Hainan, and formerly the province’s governor, stated that over the past five years Hainan has “witnessed earth-shaking changes”.

And in March he told reporters that “Hainan cannot be a ‘processing plant’ for real estate. We cannot build as many houses as buyers outside Hainan want”.

We’re very focused on MICE business within China...

We also want to market ourselves internationally, but we need help for that.

ROBERT COUSINS General manager Raffles Hainan

Near pristine environment... Mandarin Oriental, Sanya.

Haikou security scandal In July, noted Hong Kong film director Sharon Lam-ching awoke in her room, on the 18th floor of a Haikou hotel to find a man on top of her, wearing only his underwear. Screaming, Lam chased the man (who had climbed across from his balcony) out of the room and called hotel security, who alerted the police.

But when Haikou police arrived, they steadfastly refused to open a case file, or even take notes about the sexual assault. They then tried to talk the business traveller out of pressing charges for the attempted rape, suggesting that she reach a settlement instead. They then threatened to charge her with assault (for fighting off the man) if she insisted on pursuing the case.

The woman’s assailant turned out to be a 27-year-old trainee pilot for Hainan Airlines. Then a manager of the airline also arrived to speak to Lam, hoping to persuade the female film director not to press charges. His reason being: “It is very expensive to train a pilot.”

The disgusted and frightened Lam immediately flew back to Hong Kong, where she released a detailed public statement.

Within hours after Lam went public in Hong Kong, Hainan Airlines acknowledged that the suspect was their employee. And the Haikou Public Security Bureau issued a statement saying they will treat the case seriously. Since then, Haikou city police have suspended the officers who allegedly refused to open a case file for Lam.

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