Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s meeting & events division has appointed Sam Li as general manager for China, placing in his hands a team of meetings and events specialists across the company’s five offices in China
What would you say is your most critical responsibility in this position?
That will be ensuring that we create highly participative, digital and data-driven meetings and events experiences for our clients in China.
With better Internet connectivity and more people using (smart devices and apps), there has been a noticeable shift from people just attending an event to active participation. The technology available today allows us to create an attendee experience that is far superior to what was possible even five or seven years ago.
Name three things you hope to achieve for clients this year.
First, I want to grow our Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) business in China. While the concept of SMM is still relatively new here, the interest we’re seeing in these programmes from Chinese companies is very encouraging. We are now seeing a greater union between events and SMM, enabled by data.
Second, I want to increase awareness and uptake of our integrated solutions for small meetings among local and multinational companies in China. Often, companies have little or zero visibility over the number of small meetings they host and over the expenditure associated with these meetings.
Third, I want to focus on further building our capabilities in creative events and incentive travel.
Which tradeshow will you be attending soon?
In March, I will be attending Corporate Travel World China in Shanghai, co-organised by CWT China and TTG Events. I’ve attended this conference over the past few years. It’s a great event to learn more about the latest trends and developments in China’s meetings and events and business travel industry, and also to network with industry colleagues.
