THE upcoming Singapore MICE Forum (SMF) will give attendees an Asian perspective to the industry as it begins Gearing Up for the Next Wave of Change.
Unveiling the theme for the forum last week, SACEOS president Janet Tan-Collis said: “It is time for Asian leadership to take charge and take the lead in the way we do business.
“We see that Asia is taking full control as we move along and we need to gear up for the change. It is like the rising of the phoenix – when we are up there, it is going to be hard to go down,” she said.
For the first time, Kishore Mahbubani, the dean and professor for the Practice of Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, will deliver the keynote address on the Asian Paradigm at the SMF.
Said Tan-Collis: “Mahbubani is someone who really knows the pulse of Asia and we will be able to see from his perspective how MICE in Asia will transform the world.”
Another first for SMF is the Asia Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange (AMITE), which brings together 30 pre-qualified, hosted buyers from Europe and North America and Asian suppliers of meeting and incentive travel for one day of pre-arranged and one-to-one meetings.
According to Tan-Collis, AMITE is a new regular programme that is part of SACEOS’ strategy to direct greater attention towards the meetings and incentives component.
While SACEOS has 124 members today, Tan-Collis said 80 per cent of this membership comprises PCOs, PEOs and suppliers to exhibitions and she is striving for “greater balance”.
Nevertheless, she emphasised that this does not signal a dilution to the members from the exhibitions industry.
She said the greater integration between all MICE compenents today drives the dynamics of the full meetings industry.
Emphasising that education, accreditation and professionalising the MICE industry underline the core of SACEOS’ mission, Tan-Collis added that SACEOS will be conducting two certification workshops: Certified in Exhibition Management and Certified Meeting Professional during that week as well.
SMF 2014 will kick off on July 13 and run through until July 18. Registration is open at www.regonline.sg/singaporemiceforum2014
