Both companies hope to better serve their clients in Asia
EventX, an Asian-focused event SaaS company providing event technology and event management solutions for businesses, has acquired Toasty, a meeting platform that helps engage people in meaningful conversations.
Founded in 2020, Toasty was designed to bring interactive workshops online. Used by over 16,500 participants and available in over 25 countries, the video meeting platform is poised to bring back human connection in a digital world.
Both companies hope to better serve their clients in Asia
Through this strategic acquisition, EventX will continue to broaden the product range and maximise its capabilities in hybrid event solutions. This will also help accelerate the company’s strong growth across its hybrid event management solution, and its recently launched metaverse-enablement solution to strengthen the value proposition for both Asian clients and partners.
To address the event industry’s needs of increasing the quantity and quality of attendees acquisition, EventX also recently rolled out a new “Attendee Generation” offering as a marketing hacking tool for event organisers.
With information such as the company size, profile and job title of potential prospects, the function helps organisers to get more target audiences to join their events. It also aims to enable event organisers to get familiar with the notion of a well-defined persona and segmenting, personalising and ultimately connecting more attendees with the right value.
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) announced its annual Club Melbourne Ambassador Program Award winners in a ceremony last week, acknowledging the recipients of the past three years.
The award winners are:
2020 Club Melbourne Awards
Stephen Durkin - 5th Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference – AusRock
Mary Lawson - Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions
2021 Club Melbourne Awards
Simon Crowe - International Congress of Psychology
Thas A. Nirmalathas - Opto-Electronics and Communications Conference
Thas A. Nirmalathas - Global Entrepreneurship Congress
2022 Club Melbourne Awards
Matthew Jackson - Outstanding Achievement
The Annual Club Melbourne Fellowship programme was also announced, with Melbourne researchers Gemma Sharp and Shoujin Wang named this year’s recipients. Launched to support the next generation of Melbourne’s research leaders, the Fellowship was created to recognise excellence in research and leadership in mid-career Melburnian researchers.
The Club Melbourne Ambassador Program includes 126 Victorians from diverse disciples of medicine, science and environment, technology, engineering, business, and education, with only a select few invited to join the programme each year.
With support from the Melbourne Convention Bureau, Club Melbourne Ambassadors have helped to secure 156 business events for Melbourne bringing more than 177,400 delegates and contributing A$1 billion (US$689.1 million) to the Victorian economy since 2005.
Cebu City is ready for business events; The Magellan's Cross Pavilion at Plaza Sugbo pictured
Business events are steadily returning to the Philippines, buoyed by the huge and hungry domestic market, with a smattering of foreign groups.
Tourism Promotions Board’s (TPB) deputy chief operating officer Charles Aames Bautista told TTGmice on the sidelines of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa) event that there the country was now welcoming more domestic exhibitions, bleisure trips, as well as incentive trips from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, like the recent group of 500 pax from AXA Philippines.
Cebu City is ready for business events; The Magellan’s Cross Pavilion at Plaza Sugbo pictured
According to Bautista, TPB will support over 200 business events by year-end, of which around 80 are international events. To that tune, after two-year hiatus, Philtoa’s Philippine Travel Mart will also resume this year.
He shared that TPB has also cast a keen eye on Business Process Outsourcing companies, another sector that is big on incentive trips, and is also working to incentivise the film industry to shoot in the Philippines as a film’s cast or crew alone can number up to 200 pax, similar to the size of a business events group.
Fe Abling-Yu, Arfel Travel and Tours president, is also seeing signs of recovery, with business events now comprising 80 per cent of her total travel agency business, and nearing 2019 levels.
She observed that a number of companies have shelved overseas business events in favour of domestic destinations like Clark, Boracay, Cebu and Bohol to help support the country’s economy. Lesser-known destinations like Morong in Bataan province also offers good conference facilities, having recently hosted a government-related conference.
Bruce Winton, Marriott International’s multi-property vice president in the Philippines, added: “An interesting trend to watch for now is how changing workplace dynamics will translate into periodic gatherings.
“As many businesses shift more permanently to hybrid or work-from-home roles, periodic, quarterly or annual get-togethers may just become more important.”
For Marriott properties in the country, Winton shared that corporate meetings have started to recover, and that year-end activity is “on track to match 2019 volumes”. He forecasted that next year’s recovery will be even more “significant”.
There is also a lack of universal standards when it comes to corporate sustainability
With borders open and economic recovery a priority, regional corporate travel managers (CTMs) are having to put more employees back on the road while balancing sustainability.
According to a senior CTM in a global financial institution, the challenge was the lack of a “world standard for carbon offsets”, and airline partners such as Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines having different policies on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
There is also a lack of universal standards when it comes to corporate sustainability
The senior CTM added: “Business trips are resuming. It’s about building back the business, meeting clients and management travelling in the region to meet staff.”
Aircraft are full, he commented, because business owners were prepared to pay high airfares not to lose business opportunities.
He pointed out: “Our regional travel policy has changed to improve traveller wellness, not compromise on comfort and (budget) limits have gone up to retain employees.”
Meanwhile, the regional CTM of a US pharmaceutical company said travel was back to about 50 per cent with no more travel restrictions and only personal consideration on destinations.
“Travel to Singapore is back with a vengeance,” he shared, adding that “if an employee has to travel and if the budget is available he or she will”.
He added that while the company was not asking its TMCs for travel and meeting sustainability reports yet, it was a matter of time as the issue is now on the radar.
Benson Tang, executive director of Corporate Travel Community (CTC), and organiser of the CTC Summit and Sustainability Expo in Singapore on November 3, told TTGmice that sustainability in corporate travel is a hot topic, and will be this year’s theme.
“Travel is a big carbon emitter and the summit will field experts and CTMs to speak about it,” he said.
The summit, Tang added, will also address topics such as SAF and how to tender for it, standards for measuring carbon emissions, and looking at petrol versus electric vehicles for ground transport tenders. There will also be an exhibition, which will “focus on suppliers with green initiatives”.
the report reveals significant levels of hopefulness amongst corporate travel managers as
Meetings, events, travel and hospitality technology provider Cvent has recently released its Cvent Travel Managers Report which provides in-depth insights into current corporate travel trends and activity across regions.
The report reveals significant levels of hopefulness among CTMs
For Asia-Pacific, findings include:
Corporate travel managers expect their organisations’ travel volume to increase: 67% of respondents expect travel volume in 2022 to eclipse the levels of 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
The survey revealed that 85% of corporate travel managers are currently sourcing hotels for their organisation’s travel programmes and most of them expect their organisations’ travel spend to increase significantly in 2022.
Travel managers are sourcing across borders: Almost 65% travel managers say they’re sourcing internationally, both within and outside of Asia, with those in China (79%) and Singapore (66%) the keenest.
A significant rise in travel budget is anticipated: 76% of respondents expect their firm’s business travel budget per trip to increase in 2022, compared to spend levels of 2019.
Travel managers are looking for flexibility from hotels more than ever: About 61% of respondents say dynamic pricing is the most important part of their travel programme in 2022.
Travel managers have become more interested in dual or dynamic rates: A majority (84%) of respondents across all markets surveyed say they’re requesting dual or dynamic prices during their 2023 RFP negotiations. These strategies could open new doors for hotels, giving them the opportunity to vary pricing based on factors such as demand, availability, and customer loyalty.
Interestingly, the report also revealed significant levels of hopefulness amongst CTMs, as organisations look to get their employees back on the road to engage with their clients and prospects face-to-face to fuel their growth.
MIM @ MBEW 2022 is ready to promote Malaysia as a global business events destination; WTC Kuala Lumpur pictured
The Meet in Malaysia @ Malaysia Business Events Week (MIM @ MBEW), initiated by the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), will return from August 29 to September 1, 2022.
Held at the World Trade Centre (WTC) Kuala Lumpur, the seventh edition is expected to welcome more than 700 delegates, international speakers and buyers, association executives, industry partners, and stakeholders.
MIM @ MBEW 2022 is ready to promote Malaysia as a global business events destination; WTC Kuala Lumpur pictured
Themed Reshaping Business Events, conference topics will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability and UNSDG, and talent pool, among others. Speakers will represent key international business events associations such as ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), and Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI).
A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signing, between Malaysia and Indonesia Industry stakeholders, will also be held, shared MyCEB’s CEO Abdul Khani Daud.
There will also be a B2B exhibition, sustainability workshops, and a business strategy roundtable happening on the sidelines. Efforts have also be made to go sustainability, which includes minimising food waste, avoiding single-use plastics, upcycling event collaterals, and working with NGOs for a food drive initiative.
In addition to inviting and organising local buyers pavilions to visit Food Expo Trade Zone and Hong Kong International Tea Fair for businesses, the HKTDC also arranged more than 700 virtual business matching meetings for buyers
Four major business events in Hong Kong – organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) – saw the participation from more than 1,000 exhibitors and attracted over 430,000 visitors, highlighting the importance of Hong Kong in global trade.
First, The International Conference of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine and Health Products was held in a hybrid format under the theme Innovative Drug Development and Clinical Research in Chinese Medicine. It featured 17 keynote speakers from all over the world, who discussed research results and shared successful case studies integrating Chinese and Western medicine.
HKTDC invited local buyers to visit Food Expo Trade Zone and Hong Kong International Tea Fai
The conference was organised by the Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association, together with the HKTDC and eight scientific research institutions.
Meanwhile, the three exhibitions include The HKTDC Food Expo, HKTDC Home Delights Expo, HKTDC Beauty & Wellness Expo and HKTDC Hong Kong International Tea Fair.
Numerous group pavilions participated at this year’s Food Expo through local representatives. From Mainland China, the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality presented local specialities and shared culinary cultures, along with the Aomori Prefecture of Japan, the Japan External Trade Organization and Indonesia.
The HKTDC and the Aomori Prefectural Government of Japan also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to carry out economic exchange programmes in the future. Besides expanding bilateral trade and investment, the MoU will also strengthen the economic partnership and create new business opportunities.
The Trade Zone of the Food Expo and the Hong Kong International Tea Fair also targeted industry and trade buyers. In addition to inviting and organising local buying missions, the HKTDC also arranged more than 700 virtual business matching meetings. Exhibitors and buyers could also continue to schedule and conduct more online meetings through Click2Match within seven days after the physical exhibitions.
SchlueterThere are many technology solutions out there that we are ready to bring to the market to push the events industry forward, however the time required to properly execute and implement some of these is limited
Australian event technology curator Sprintr is shifting its focus to smart events – a market the company believes will grow – and away from hybrid and virtual formats.
Differentiating the forms of events, Chris Schlueter, Sprintr’s director of business & innovation, said: “Hybrid events are live and streamed to a virtual audience. Smart events cover a more diverse technology stack. A smart event is one which uses digital technology to enhance the experience.”
Schlueter: the pandemic has challenged technology providers to quickly develop technologies to suit the needs of the industry
However, to develop more smart events, Sprintr acknowledges the need to manage expectations of what can be achieved with virtual and digital solutions.
“In the conference world, it was alright to do a 60- or 90-minute session where people would sit in a boardroom and expected to pay attention until the session ended. You can’t do the same with digital events,” he said.
Although organisers can replicate some elements of a live event into a virtual environment, Schlueter advised that both events need to be approached differently to maximise attendee engagement and overall value due to dwindling attention spans.
For a smoother transition to smart events, Sprintr educates its customers on how to run effective digital events through face-to-face meetings during the planning process, newsletters, blog posts, and industry publications.
Sprintr’s smart events approach is a departure from its pre-pandemic bread and butter, where 80 per cent of business came from kiosk registration and the rest from event apps. Focusing on curating event technology solutions has enabled the company to emerge stronger from the pandemic.
Schlueter added that Sprintr’s strong partner network was also instrumental in its successful pivot.
“We had partners that began releasing digital products that our existing clients needed to interact with their virtual audiences. (By being a curator), this allowed us to ensure that the best possible solutions are delivered to our clients based on their needs,” he said.
While the marketplace is flushed with quality event technology products, Schlueter said there are challenges in implementing them.
“There are many technology solutions out there that we are ready to bring to the market to push the events industry forward. However, the time required to properly execute and implement some of these is limited. The pent-up demand for in-person events means shorter lead times. This, compounded with the skills shortage, means we are focused on delivering exceptional experiences right now, before we look to the future of smart events,” he elaborated.
Pre-pandemic, Sprintr was in the kiosk registration and event apps business
Looking ahead, Schlueter sees a bright future for event technology in the metaverse, especially for clients with “big dreams and big budgets”.
He pointed to Malaysia’s QNet convention, a metaverse event that took place in October 2021. It drew 500,000 attendees from 50 countries to a virtual 3D stadium and stage, demonstrating the technology’s reach and depth.
He also suggested that medical conferences can benefit from delivering content in the metaverse. For example, convening heart surgeons can utilise new technology to study a 3D model of a patient’s heart in a virtual space, allowing them to scale it up, dissect and examine its functions. Such technology offers a new learning style, and brings another level of immersion to attendees.
The Flexi Group is launching as the largest operator of flexible workspaces in Asia-Pacific, merging regionally-recognised brands the Hive, Common Ground and The Cluster under one umbrella.
With this merger, The Flexi Group will boast a portfolio of 45 locations across 12 cities and nine countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan.
The Hive Carpenter Lounge in Singapore
This first merger, in a series of planned consolidation activities, is supported by investment from Singapore-based Catcha Group and Malaysia-based Emissary Capital.
Chris Edwards, CEO of The Flexi Group, stated one of the key reasons for the move is because “the pandemic has changed the way the world works, with businesses of all sizes shifting their workplace strategies towards flexible solutions, employee wellbeing, and collaborative spaces”.
The Flexi Group will also take an asset-light approach to its real estate ventures, partnering with landlords on joint ventures instead of taking on large rental agreements. Their landlord partners in Asia include Chinachem Group in Hong Kong, Petronas in Malaysia, Central Group in Thailand, Ortigas in the Philippines and Hirsch and Faigen in Australia – with more to come in the next few months.
Edwards elaborated: “(Landlords) work with us to help engage the tenants in their buildings, offering them access to best-in-class events, flexible work solutions and bookable meeting and event spaces. Asset owners can also unlock revenue potential as our partners see increased returns of up to 30 per cent vs a traditional lease structure”,
Alongside their landlord partners, The Flexi Group will continue to expand their three brands across the region with multiple new locations set to open in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore over the next 12 months.
“Our multi brand for a multi-demographic approach is unique in the region. This strategy gives us the opportunity to partner with landlords across a variety of asset classes across Asia and Australia. With our multiple brands targeting a different market segment across a variety of industries, we will see exponential growth and are forecasting to grow by up to 100 locations in the next three years,” Edwards said.
Malaysia’s minister of tourism, arts and culture Nancy Shukri has appointed Ong Hong Peng as the new chairman of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board effective August 4, 2022.
Having began his service in the government sector in 1981, Ong has held multiple appointments in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
In his new role, Ong will work closely with the management and officers of Tourism Malaysia, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the tourism trade industry and the media to reinvigorate the tourism industry and place Malaysia as a safe and preferred holiday destination.
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In his new role, Ong will work closely with the management and officers of Tourism Malaysia, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the tourism trade industry and the media to reinvigorate the tourism industry and place Malaysia as a safe and preferred holiday destination.
