THE management of Putrajaya International Convention Centre, a 25-30 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, is actively seeking more international corporate business and aims to turn the centre into a renowned venue for international congresses, conferences and meetings.

The centre’s CEO, Badlishah Ahmad, said key international target markets are Greater China, regional markets, Europe and the US, and to achieve global reach PICC will join the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau in its overseas trade show participation.

Badlishah said China is on PICC’s radar due to good air connectivity and friendly bilateral relations between the two governments, which will result in government-led events.

He added: “With Putrajaya being the administrative capital of the nation and PICC’s convenient location, the centre will be a natural choice for meetings, conferences and congresses.

“We can comfortably accommodate mega events of up to 8,000 delegates. We are the biggest conference and congress facility in the country and the only facility with a Head of State room for 180 pax.”

So far, the centre has secured one event from China this year. The International Chinese Film Festival, to be held from May 5 to 8, is expected to attract more than 2,000 delegates from China, said Badlishah.

To capture more business from China, the centre will work closely with event specialists strong in the market.

Badlishah added: “We are not just a venue provider, we can also assist with arrangements within Putrajaya for tours, transportation, hotels and entrance fees. We act as a one-stop centre.”

Singapore-based travel specialist, Discover Holidays (Asia), has reported a strong start to 2014, with 15 events confirmed to-date for the year.

Speaking to TTGmice e-Weekly in an interview, managing director, Rodney Yew, said “all contracts are signed” and “some have also paid in full”.

“1H2014 looks set to be better than the same time last year,” he said, adding that several more projects are still in the bidding process.

When asked what had spurred such a performance, Yew credited “hard work from the team in courting clients” last year.

These events will be held in Asia-Pacific and attended by delegates from within the region. They include a 200-pax oil and gas conference, a 150-pax F&B conference, a 120-pax cosmetics conference and a 200-pax IT conference – all planned for Singapore – as well as a 470-pax pharmaceutical meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

“Regional destinations are still most favoured by my clients,” said Yew, whose company specialises in group tours and corporate events from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

“Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coasts are getting increasing attention from my clients, which I believe is due to clients’ clear awareness and understanding of that these destinations can offer.”

Yew observed that clients are more likely to pick destinations they are familiar with, even though there are exciting options available elsewhere.

“For example, while I know that Perth has evolved a lot over recent years and has many fresh experiences to offer, not many of my clients know that and are reluctant to consider it. Destinations must invest in brand building not only in the MICE market, but also in the consumer market because clients are consumers themselves,” he added.

SUNTEC Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Suntec Singapore) has announced it will be the “venue of choice” for JEC Group’s major global CONFEX events for the next three years.

Convened by the world’s largest organisation dedicated to the promotion of the composites industry JEC Group, JEC Asia Composites Show & Conferences is one of its CONFEX events that provides a platform for composites designers, manufacturers and suppliers to showcase their technologies and will take place in Singapore between November 17 and 19, 2014.

In 2014, JEC Asia is targeting 5,000 delegates and visitors, and 300 exhibiting companies from 50 countries.

According to Arun Madhok, CEO of Suntec Singapore, the convention centre’s ability to offer flexible customisable space attracted the JEC group most.

“The extreme flexibility of Suntec Singapore’s space allows us to easily accommodate multiple room configurations…we are able to switch room configurations in a very short time and resize meeting rooms and conference halls from one day to the next,” he said.

“Whether an event grows 10 per cent, 50 per cent or 100 per cent from year to year, Suntec Singapore’s flexible space will fit the need without wasting any resources,” Madhok added.

According to the press statement from Suntec Singapore, the growing interest in Asia is driven by the region’s key strategic position for the composites industry, having overtaken the Americas and Europe in terms of production.

Asia represents 41 per cent in production volume compared to 32 per cent in the Americas and 20 per cent in Europe and is expected to reach 50 per cent by 2015.

DESPITE a challenging start to the year due to Bangkok’s ongoing political turmoil, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) is seeing business returning to usual, according to Sakchai Pattarapreechakul, president of NCC Management & Development, which operates the venue.

“The MICE impacts were not much initially, but the Bangkok shutdown (on January 13) and the state of emergency (invoked on January 21) worsened the situation for us. The emergency decree resulted in a lot of cancellations and postponements – some organisers postponed their shows till the third or fourth quarters this year or even skip this year’s edition,” said Sakchai.

As show organisers were worried about transport and access to the convention centre due to its proximity to the Asoke intersection, where one of the main protest rallies is located, the QSNCC team quickly worked to convey the message to clients alongside photo updates that venue access was not obstructed; visitors can enter QSNCC directly from MRT subway station or via road access from Rama IV Road and the expressway.

“We worked very hard to persuade the first client to come back,” said Sakchai. “Once the first show, 17th Thailand Baby & Kids Best Buy (February 6-9), proceeded, other organisers were encouraged to continue their shows. Thailand Mobile Expo and 6th Shopping Paradise Fair (both February 13-16) took place just last week and this week we are seeing the 14th Thai International Travel Fair (February 20-23).

“Our events (bookings) from February onwards are already back to normal,” Sakchai added, although he admitted that there are “some problems with minor cancellations” as some 5-10 per cent of exhibitors dropped out of the shows.

At the same time, QSNCC also saw some spillover meetings and small exhibitions traffic diverted from other downtown venues such as Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, he said.

Overseas confidence is visibly more shaken as organisers of potential new international shows are mostly doing site inspections now while the bidding front is “still quiet”, Sakchai admitted. But in spite of a shaky start to 2014, the number of international shows at QSNCC this year is expected to increase 30 per cent from 2013, he shared.

To restore organisers’ confidence, QSNCC has rolled out various “value-add packages” including such perks as complimentary advertisements with the centre on local publications and social media sites, discounted subway fares, F&B discounts at the venue and special rates for overseas visitors at partner hotels, Sakchai said.

International shows such as Asian Paper (April 23-25), 10th International Mycological Congress (September 24-26), Cosmobeaute Thailand (September 24-26) and EcoLightTech Asia (November 12-14) are scheduled to take place as usual.

TWO upcoming major sports events will give the Gold Coast a significant boost in its branding as a business events destination, said Gold Coast Tourism Corporation chief executive, Martin Winter.

The Australian city will host the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in August and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April.

“(These games) give us a big opportunity to attract a myriad of business events in allied activities, such as sports science and sports medicine meetings and conferences,” Winter said, adding that tourism and related businesses in the city and its surroundings will benefit from “big teams that come to the Gold Coast in the lead up to the games for training and acclimatisation”.

Although athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games will be housed in a Games Village equipped with some 8,000 dwellings, hotels in the destination will benefit from these advance teams, said Winter.

“There are approximately 65,000 beds in the Gold Coast – more than what’s available in most other capital cities – which will provide sufficient accommodation (for the advance teams),” he explained.

Although Winter acknowledged that the city will be packed out and accommodation capacity stretched during the games, he believes the impact on business events will be minimal as events unrelated to sports and the games will likely be held “at a different time”.

Winning the games’ hosting rights also presents the Gold Coast with new opportunities to market itself to international consumers.

“The Gold Coast is given an 11-minute opportunity during the Glasgow 2014 closing ceremony to promote the destination and the next Commonwealth Games. Besides that, we will have ground presence in central Glasgow where people can go and get information on the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” he said.

“A string of activities” will be rolled out to promote the destination and the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but details can only be revealed after the conclusion of the Glasgow edition, which will run from July 23 to August 3.

MELBOURNE Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC) launched a new brand yesterday to better market its event technology prowess.

The new brand, Imagine, is accompanied by a tagline, Technology that brings your events to life. It represents a suite of technology solutions that includes digital signage systems, social media integration to help event organisers control and moderate the display of rich media content and tweets, webcasting and event recording as well as intelligent lecterns.

Explaining the move, MCEC chief executive, Peter King, said: “There is a lack of understanding (among clients) of what we can do for events technologically.”

Along with the launch of Imagine, MCEC has also debuted a new service that allows clients to work with its technology team to create 3D floorplans of function spaces.

Visualisation Studio, as the new service is called, is built on MA3D, a German-made programme and enables event organisations to try out various lighting effects, layouts and positioning of projectors and screens, etc to see how the space would look like in reality.

According to Michael Walsh, MCEC’s director of technology operations, the venue is likely to be the first of its kind in Australia to offer such a techonology service to clients.

“It is free and part of the package clients get when they book our spaces. It is meant to improve the client’s event-planning experience and offer a more realistic visual of their event than the standard 2D floorplan,” he said.

The first event to utilise Visualisation Studio will be held this May.