Scott Schaefer has been appointed as general manager of Holiday Inn Dandenong and will lead the team for the launch of the hotel.
He has 15 years of experience in management roles within IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Australasian properties, and most recently supported three Holiday Inn hotels and the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort.
Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines will enter into a joint venture to deepen their cooperation in increasing passenger capacity between Singapore and Indonesia.
Expanding on the Memorandum of Understanding that the two airlines signed in November 2021, and subject to regulatory approvals, the proposed joint venture will cover routes between Singapore and Denpasar, Jakarta, and Surabaya.
In addition, both carriers will explore the implementation of new initiatives, including joint fare products and an alignment of corporate programmes to enhance the value proposition to customers.
Irfan Setiaputra, president and CEO, Garuda Indonesia, commented: “This joint venture agreement, as a further milestone of the partnership expansion initiative, will certainly strengthen the commitment between the two carriers simultaneously, delivering a seamless and valuable flying experience to both our customers across the globe.”
He added that the collaboration will also help strengthen tourist flows between Indonesia and Singapore, making it easier for international tourists to explore South-east Asia.
Singapore Airlines’ CEO, Goh Choon Phong, said: “(This joint venture) reflects our firm commitment to grow the aviation markets in Indonesia and Singapore, facilitating a greater level of business and people connections and promoting both countries as regional tourism destinations. Our customers will also enjoy even more benefits, including an improved level of network connectivity, enhanced travel convenience, and additional fare options.”
The Youth Mill
Business event organisers have an opportunity to support disadvantaged young people in Australia’s Aboriginal communities when they engage in cultural performances through The Youth Mill, which works with a diverse range of Aboriginal groups to provide education, employment and cultural awareness.
Performances for events held in the Northern Territory are offered through The Youth Mill’s Beats of Culture music and Women of Artful Flavours arts programmes.
These performances allow local young artists to showcase their extraordinary talents to a broader audience, embrace and convey their heritage, as well as educate themselves and others about the depth, beauty and strength of First Nations culture, and the importance of maintaining one of the world’s oldest living cultures.
Phare, the Cambodian Circus
Phare shows – a blend of theatre, music, dance and modern circus arts – are of great renown but underneath that fine global repute is a gold-hearted purpose.
Phare artists are students and graduates from Phare Ponleu Selpak’s vocational training centre in Cambodia’s Battambang, a non-profit organisation established in 1994 to help poor and troubled local youngsters. From free education at the start, the centre went on to offer music, theatre and circus classes. Students and graduates are given a chance to hone their skills and earn a decent wage that will take them out of poverty.
Phare also uses the revenue to fund the school, allowing it to support even more local youngsters.
Phare performs every night at its big top on Siem Reap’s Ring Road, and the complete experience on-site includes opportunities to purchase souvenirs made by local artisans and sample the tasty street food.
Corporate groups can also arrange to visit Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang to watch a circus show by the students or take a tour of the campus.
Bangkok Charity Orchestra
The Bangkok Charity Orchestra is said to be the first orchestra to be committed to raising funds for charities in Thailand.
Beyond its work dedicated to supporting recognised charities in the country, it also promotes classical music and brings aspiring musicians together to perform on a quality stage.
The Bangkok Charity Orchestra’s key principle is to donate 100 per cent of the concert proceeds to selected charity projects. The orchestra is funded by corporate sponsors and supporters. It is also open for private engagements in formal concerts for charitable causes.
Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei have taken the top three spots in Asia-Pacific, according to ICCA’s Country & City Rankings for 2022.
Singapore handled 101 meetings in 2022, followed by Seoul at 66, and Taipei at 55. Rounding off the top 10 Asia-Pacific list, in order from fourth to 10th, are Bangkok, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Melbourne, Kyoto and Jeju.
The rankings return after an absence of two years, when ICCA observed that approximately 85 per cent of all meetings were held in person at the end of 2022.
As for the worldwide rankings, the US topped the list with 690 meetings in 2022, followed by Spain at 528 meetings, and Italy at 522 meetings.
In a joint effort with members, ICCA’s Research team identified over 10,500 meetings of which some 9,000 meetings were held in person, being either unaffected by Covid-19 or held in a hybrid format.
As the association meetings industry is still catching up to the numbers of the last pre-pandemic year (13,254 meetings in 2019), ICCA conducted a brief country and city comparative analysis based on rankings rather than the number of meetings. ICCA will provide context to in-person versus planned meetings showing how these statistics can be best utilised.
ICCA CEO, Senthil Gopinath, said: “This is a tremendous undertaking by our team, one that is most welcomed by our members because the ICCA Country – and City – Rankings always generate huge industry interest. It’s heartening to see the drive towards in-person meetings is once more very strong and we predict this trend will grow throughout the coming year.”
The New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) has partnered with the International Association for Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) to develop a multi-year leadership programme.
The Next Generation Leaders Programme will be designed specifically for IAPCO Members in the Asia-Pacific region, and delivered through a series of online education workshops organised by NZICC and the IAPCO Training Academy.
Applications for the Next Generation Leaders Programme will open in late May, with the NZICC planning to run the first workshop in July 2023.
One participant each year will also secure a coveted scholarship, named after former IAPCO President, The Conference Company founder and New Zealand industry stalwart Jan Tonkin, to attend IAPCO’s Annual Meeting and General Assembly alongside senior leaders within the global business events community.
Sarah Markey-Hamm, IAPCO’s president, said: “Without Jan’s involvement with IAPCO our association would not be in the place that it is in today. She lives and breathes the business event sector and has been instrumental in developing the IAPCO education programmes over the last 15 years. Her wisdom and counsel are cherished and freely given when asked. Even though her formal involvement with IAPCO Council has concluded she remains a strong contributor to the educational content across IAPCO’s products whilst serving on Faculty. It’s an honour that she has agreed to lend her name to the scholarship programme in our region.
“We’re anticipating strong interest from our Asia Pacific members. The online format of the workshops has opened up this opportunity to a vast audience. I’m excited to see the impact of this programme and the benefits it will bring to the participants involved and to the wider business and professional events industry in New Zealand and beyond.”
NZICC, in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, has already secured a number of large international conferences. The World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education has been confirmed as one of the first to use NZICC facilities in November 2025. The conference will see 3,000 international visitors welcomed to the city, delivering an estimated economic impact of more than NZ$6 million (US$3.6 million).
The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) will be launching the 2023 Incentive Travel Index survey, in partnership with the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) this year, as well as readies a 2024-26 strategic plan.
These were some of the updates that Annette Gregg, CEO of SITE and SITE Foundation, revealed at IMEX Frankfurt last week.
Gregg also announced a handful of refreshed, renewed and new industry partnerships with the likes of Meeting Professionals International, Destinations International, and Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals.
Participants at the press conference also got to preview results from SITE Foundation’s latest in-house research project, Participant inSITEs.
As SITE readies a 2024-26 strategic plan, its membership base is the largest it has been since the pandemic.
This year, members will receive access to online, on-demand versions of SITE’s Certified Incentive Specialist and Certified Incentive Travel Professional certification exams, and shared content through different industry partnerships and on a newly-launched members-only education platform on SITE’s own website.
Participants were also given a rundown of upcoming SITE events, which include an Executive Summit taking place in Zimbabwe this June, SITE Classic this August in Mexico, and a November International Board of Directors meeting that will be held in Egypt. Gregg also highlighted the formation of the newest SITE chapter, SITE Arabia.
“These destinations stand out as excellent emerging incentive travel locales,” said Gregg. “It’s always special to bring the insights and expertise of our community to exchange new ideas and best practices with in-country experts and educate all SITE members about what’s on offer in new destinations.”
International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) has launched its Accessible and Inclusive Events Guide, providing guidance and resources for event planners to help organise events that cater to everyone.
From an inventory of physical accessibility features at the venue, to advice on creating a welcoming experience for people of all abilities, the guide delivers on ICC Sydney’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and exemplifies its broader mission to provide accessible, equitable and inclusive events.
The new guide for event organisers complements the information and services provided to venue delegates via an accessible format on ICC Sydney’s website.
CEO of ICC Sydney and group director – convention centres, ASM Global (APAC), Geoff Donaghy, said: “At ICC Sydney, our ambition to be More Than A Venue carries through to our diversity, accessibility and inclusion approach. Attendees of every walk of life have the right to feel respected and valued, and we recognise the powerful role our customer service plays in this.
“Our aspiration to create the most accessible and inclusive environment for events means that every visitor feels welcome and can participate — and our new Accessible and Inclusive Events Guide, corporate culture and state-of-the-art amenities support event organisers to deliver this.”
Around 1.3 billion people worldwide experience disability today, and one in five Australians. On par with the broader Australian population according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 census data, approximately 5.5 per cent of all visitors to ICC Sydney’s live entertainment events require increased accessibility provisions.
Across ICC Sydney venues, physical amenities include low gradient, step-free access across all three interconnected venues – Convention Centre, Exhibition Centre and Aware Super Theatre; sensory-friendly rooms; accessible toilets; wheelchair-accessible parenting rooms; induction loop hearing augmentation system; and Braille on room door signage.
Australia’s largest disability-related event is the Sydney Disability Connection Expo, and its founder River Night said the Expo was ready to resume its place as the best-attended and most inclusive event in Australia.
“The support from the whole team at ICC Sydney has been exemplary. From event management services to logistics and exhibitor services, the venue team has been a real contributor to the successful planning of the most accessible and inclusive Sydney Disability Connection Expo. We look forward to providing an unparalleled platform for visitors to engage with disability service providers at this exceptional event.”
ICC Sydney Director of Human Resources, Luke Fleming said: “Our diversity strategy is aligned with the ASM Global ACTS framework and spans five key focus areas: Able @ Work, First Nations, Generation Success, LGBTQIA+, New Australians and Parents and Carers.
“As an employer of choice, we strive for visibility across these areas in our workforce and this, in turn, has ensured the successful delivery of events including the recent Sydney WorldPride Human Rights Conference, Premier’s Gala Concerts for Seniors, and the Source Kids Disability Expo.”
PCMA, the global association for business events professionals, and Singapore-based event technology firm, Gevme are leading Project Spark, a complimentary research and educational initiative to uncover the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the business events industry.
Now in its first phase, Project Spark is being tested for various practical applications within the scope of business events to understand its impact on workforce productivity.
It can currently perform some 20 tasks, including fleshing out an event agenda; writing social media posts or summarising key takeaway based on published content like a video presentation; developing interview questions; writing speakers’ bios based on available notes. It also has an option of customised tasks.
During a system demonstration, PCMA managing director, APAC, Florence Chua, told TTGmice that Project Spark is built on several language models and its user interface is designed to guide instructive prompts that will result in better outcomes.
In trailing its event agenda writing capability, a set of prompts including name, objective and format of event as well as the number of attendees were placed in. Within seconds, Project Spark was able to generate a detailed agenda, complete with session timings, potential keynote and presentation topics, and ice-breaker ideas.
Project Spark is offering limited access now and is open to everyone. Those that are keen to trial the system can join the waitlist at http://sparkit.ai.
PCMA’s president and CEO, Sherrif Karamat, said in a press statement last week that “AI in the business events industry is just beginning”, and industry professionals need to come together to understand its power.
“We believe business events are about creating social and economic transformation. Properly channelled, AI has the potential to empower each of us to accelerate innovation and progress for our audiences, our businesses, and our careers,” he said.
“Project Spark is the starting point to explore, together, the challenge of adopting new AI technology and better understand how disruptive technology will enhance the power of the human connections our industry creates,” added Gevme CEO, Veemal Gungadin. “AI isn’t out to take jobs from event professionals, but to boost their skills. It makes tough tasks simpler and turns ordinary work into something special.”
Participants at PCMA Labs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, starting June, will get guided hands-on experience with Project Spark. Limited spots are available, with priority given to PCMA members.
The progress of Project Spark will be shared on June 26 during PCMA’s Educon in Montreal, Canada.
Business Events Sarawak formally launched the Legacy Impact Master Action Plan (Legacy MAP) 2023-2025 at IMEX Frankfurt last week.
The Legacy MAP is a course of action for the next three years developed by Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) alongside the Sarawak Government and consultancy group, GainingEdge, to define and drive decisions about hosting business events in Sarawak. It aims to leverage the relationship between business events and legacy impact, and optimise this to contribute to Sarawak’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 goals.
With the business events industry one of the six key priority sectors under tourism in Sarawak’s PCDS 2030, the Legacy MAP is designed to support the key outcomes sought by the strategy which are economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, while helping business event planners create greater value when designing event programmes.
To achieve the greatest impact, Sarawak will actively seek events that align with PCDS 2030 and prioritise those under the strategy’s six economic sectors (manufacturing, mining, agriculture, forestry, tourism and services) and seven enabling sectors (digital, innovation, education, infrastructure, utilities, transport and renewable energy).
Sarawak’s deputy minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Snowdan Lawan, said: “The Legacy MAP is closely aligned with the government’s development policies. Therefore, we are positioning business events as a frontline sector to facilitate strategic collaborations and open a host of economic and social opportunities. Legacy impact is Sarawak’s unique value proposition to the world and we believe that this transformative thinking will allow the industry to enjoy greater returns on both objectives and investments.”
The Legacy MAP changes the traditional narrative about business events only contributing to Sarawak’s economy via delegate numbers and expenses. Instead, it cements the new narrative that business events – with the vast knowledge, connections and innovations it carries – can contribute to the five core legacy pillars of sectoral growth, community development, environmental sustainability and good governance on top of economic impact.
A national survey conducted by BESarawak last year indicated that 93 per cent of respondents from Malaysia’s business events industry viewed legacy as a positive move to add greater value to business events.
Amelia Roziman, CEO, BESarawak, said: “We have expanded our economic-based business model to include legacy because it is more sustainable as years go by. Every stakeholder group in the business events ecosystem has unique areas of interests and influence and the Legacy MAP is going to speak directly to their needs and how they can impact Sarawak’s legacy goals as well as their event goals. We aim to create value for both sides of the table – business event planners and Sarawak’s local communities.”
The Langham, Gold Coast has released a new MICE offer for their corporate and business clientele as the events industry in the Gold Coast picks up.
The limited-time offer, Celebrate a New Way to Meet, includes several complimentary add-ons for event planners and companies that are planning to hold events at the hotel. Events must be booked before August 31, 2023, and be held before July 31, 2024.
Up to there complimentary benefits can be enjoyed per booking, which include two complimentary upgrades to Junior Ocean Suites; complimentary arrival tea & coffee or infused water, in conjunction with a full or half-day package; complimentary 30-minute, three pieces of pre-dinner canapes for a gala dinner; and 10 per cent discount on audiovisual equipment spend.
Organisers will also receive a choice of a voucher for Chuan Spa valued at A$220 (US$144), or a voucher for a one-night stay in a Superior Room.
For more information, contact tlgdc.sales@langhamhotels.com.
