Hong Kong to ease quarantine rules for vaccinated visitors
Vaccine passports to have limited impact, repitching businesses takes precedence
While many see Covid-19 vaccine passports as a solution or “game changer” for the meetings industry, a PCMA panel discussion to mark Global Industry Meetings Day on April 8, countered that it would only offer “limited impact”.
Ben Hainsworth, managing director of EASL – The Home of Hepatology, opined that vaccine passports were “a distraction” because the industry had “no control” over it, and added that many vaccine rollout questions also had to be answered.
“A vaccine passport would be the catalyst if delegates and staff are legally required to be vaccinated, or if scientific groups may not accept the gap if venue staff are not,” he said.
“What is more important is to repitch the business,” Hainsworth noted, and moderator Oscar Cerezales, MCI Group’s global executive president corporate division, agreed.
Hainsworth pointed out that “offering 2019 value propositions would flop, and face-to-face events would have to be totally reformulated”.
Sanjay Seth, managing director Asia-Pacific, BCD Meetings and Events, expressed optimism as the company was “seeing and hearing from customers”, noting that while face-to-face meetings were preferred, clients have also embraced virtual events.
Seth added BCD was accelerating its omnichannel plans, looking at in-house opportunities, and is working with partners.
With online participation, Lyn-Lewis Smith, CEO, BESydney, commented the industry needed a different way to measure the impact of the disruption to direct expenditure for hotel stays, F&B, etc.
Covid-19, Smith noted, had taught people to do things differently and the industry needed “generalists” with “T-shaped skills”, while Seth said BCD would look for individuals outside the events industry like digital marketers and scientists.
On attracting new talent, Seth said the industry would need “to expound that it is very different now and what we do will influence healthcare and other industries”, while to focus on sustainable goals, Smith said philanthropic investors were needed to highlight the industry.
Seth also commented that venture capitalists should consider giving back to gig economy workers.
CENTREPIECE at Melbourne Park slated for September opening
CENTREPIECE at Melbourne Park, a new state-of-the-art conference and events centre, will open its doors in September this year.
The new venue – spanning across three storeys – has the capabilities to host a mix of events such as intimate dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, galas, functions, and more.
Level one, adjacent to Garden Square is a public café and restaurant. This space is available to be hired exclusively for events or can be the venue for social events hosted in conjunction with a conference.
Level two, adjacent to Rod Laver Arena and the new Tennis Show Court, sits The Grand Hall and Pre-Function space. The Grand Hall is a versatile space that is complemented by an outdoor terrace with uninterrupted views of the Melbourne CBD. This 2,000m2 space is divisible by three if required, and is perfect for conferences from 200 to 1,000 guests, a gala dinner of 1,400 guests or a cocktail party for 3,000 guests.
CENTREPIECE is also connected to a large outdoor piazza that can be used for activations and displays or for a VIP red carpet arrival. The venue is also connected to Tennis HQ, which boasts more than 1,000m2 of breakout spaces with an exclusive dedicated café for event guests.
On level three there will be more breakout rooms that can be used in conjunction with an event at The Grand Hall, or for smaller conferences. There are 10 studios that can seat between 10 to 100 guests, an auditorium for 250 guests, three outdoor terraces, and an additional five meeting rooms.
The venue’s general manager of premier events & experiences, Lara Burnes, has been eagerly anticipating the grand opening after more than four years of planning and three years of construction.
“With CENTREPIECE located within our iconic Melbourne & Olympic Parks precinct, the new venue will also become the official media centre for the Australian Open 2022. This year we were able to enjoy a sneak peek into how our venue will support the Aus Open, as well as interact with its surrounding sister venues,” she added.
This announcement comes as the Associations Forum National Conference confirmed the venue as its 2021 host. The conference will take place from September 6-7, and welcome hundreds of senior executives and board members from across Australia to Melbourne.
Business Events Perth dangles cash incentive for keynote speaker acquisition
Business Events Perth is offering up to A$25,000 (US$19,145) to help bring in extraordinary keynote speakers for national business events anywhere in Australia.
This cash incentive, available only for a limited time, is aimed at helping business event planners lock in an outstanding headline speaker, which will in turn boost registrations for their 2021 event. Eligible events can access up to 50 per cent of the funding once the speaker is confirmed.
The keynote speaker incentive is open to business events taking place before December 31, 2021, that have a duration of three days or more and a minimum of 200 in-person delegates.
Business Events Perth chief executive Gareth Martin said the new fund was designed to offer a helping hand to business events around Australia this year, which are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.
“We recognise that to revitalise the business events industry we need to invest in it and provide immediate support, so events can proceed with certainty,” Martin said.
“That is why this offer is available to national business events taking place anywhere in Australia in 2021, not just in Western Australia. We have to support events that are taking place now, so they’ll still be here in the years to come.”
Martin said the right keynote speaker can inspire and motivate a conference audience and a high-profile personality is often a decision-making factor for delegates to attend a business event.
In return for the funding, Martin added: “All we ask is that you book a new future national or international business event for Western Australia within 12 months of your 2021 event and the future event is held in (Western Australia) before the end of December 2024.”
This new funding is independent of other generous subvention funding offered by Business Events Perth for business events held in Western Australia.
ADX goes to Melbourne; MCB releases fresh funding initiative
Australia’s largest dental event, the Australian Dental Exhibition (ADX) will be meeting in Melbourne from May 6-8 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC).
The event is expected to attract over 5,000 in-person delegates from all over the country, who will meet in MCEC to experience the latest innovations, technologies and techniques in dentistry, as well as network in-person with professionals across the industry.
In addition to 9,000m2 of exhibition space, ADX Melbourne will host key professional bodies representing dentists and allied oral healthcare professionals providing a strong programme of seminars and social networking events.
MCEC now has capacity to host up to 10,000 patrons per event space per day, at a maximum of 75 per cent capacity.
The exhibition is expected to generate over A$16.2 million (US$12.4 million) in economic contribution to Victoria’s visitor economy and provide more opportunities for local businesses to increase trade.
“National events of this calibre deliver a strong proof point that business events in Melbourne are indeed back in action. Hosting the ADX 2021 allows us to showcase the very best that Victoria has to offer visitors from across the country and give a much need boost in confidence right across the Victorian business events supply chain,” Melbourne Convention Bureau’s (MCB) CEO Julia Swanson said.
This financial year alone, MCB secured 25 international and national business events expected to inject A$124.9 million into the Victorian economy over coming years.
Last week, MCB announced the National Business Events Program, a new funding initiative to encourage interstate organisations to hold their events in Victoria.
The National Business Events Program will provide business event organisers up to A$25,000 cover costs associated with venue hire, accommodation, transport and other event costs, with 50 per cent payable before the event commences to support upfront expenses.
ICC Sydney unveils dedicated space for digital events
International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) has launched its Media Studio – a dedicated permanent studio space offering broadcast recording services, live streaming and digital event solutions.
The Media Studio features green screen technology which allows for visual integration of presenters into customisable background content. The new facility and services will be delivered by the venue’s audiovisual and ICT teams who have executed more than 200 broadcast and hybrid events in the last 12 months including Online Retailer Fusion 2020, MEALIVE Awards, Stand Tall 2020 and ATA Live.
ICC Sydney’s director of audiovisual services Brian Nash said the venue is proud to expand its audiovisual product suite following positive client feedback and uptake.
“We are always looking at ways to expand our products and services to meet client needs and following the success of the broadcast studios originally set up in the ballrooms, we are pleased to be able to provide our clients with a permanent media studio in response to high demand for broadcast-quality recording services, even as live events return,” he added.
Traversing the globe virtually
Event brief
In 2019, MURAL – a global company that provides a digital workspace for visual collaboration – held its annual company retreat in Argentina. However, in 2020 due to the pandemic, travelling to a destination was not possible.
Laila von Alvensleben, head of culture and collaboration at MURAL, was tasked by MURAL CEO Mariano Suarez-Battan to plan a virtual retreat for the company’s 250 global employees (at the time of the retreat). Headquartered in San Francisco, MURAL has offices in Buenos Aires, New York, and Brisbane, among others.
While von Alvensleben had planned many events prior, this was her first time executing a digital event of this scale, and she had only two weeks to pull it off.
The retreat’s three main objectives were for the attendees to have a good time, to announce and celebrate the company’s raising of US$118 million in Series B funding, and to introduce employees who had not yet met each other.
Event highlights
The day before the event, attendees received an invitation in the form of a boarding pass — an image shared on Slack. The itinerary included flight information, photos of flight crew, and von Alvensleben as the flight captain.
Each employee could access a folder on a Google drive with images of everything they would need on the journey, such as Zoom backgrounds (e.g., an alluring beach), to help immerse attendees.
The journey kicked off with a Zoom background of a VIP lounge at an airline terminal. There, von Alvensleben welcomed them and revealed the itinerary for the day.
Employees would take a three-hour trip and “travel” from snowy mountains to tropical beaches, before culminating in outer space.
At the snowy mountains stop, an icebreaker game was introduced, which saw 50 breakout rooms with three to four individuals in each. They had about 10 minute to ask each other a few questions, find out what MURAL teams they were on, and add stamps to their passport accordingly. In total each person entered two 10-minute breakout sessions, allowing them to speak to six other colleagues that they had potentially never met before.
At the tropical beaches stop, attendees hopped into four escape rooms built entirely in MURAL. There, they had to work together to gather clues to help them progress to the next escape room.
MURAL also sent participants physical party props – such as sleeping masks and lip balm – that were used throughout the event. These items could also be used after the event was long over.
A surprise element – a band of MURAL employees performing a song – was added to the schedule during breaktime. While it was pre-recorded, the vibe felt very much like a live music event, which had all but disappeared during the pandemic. For this, the crowd went wild.
Challenges
Planning and executing this alone was impossible, so von Alvensleben rounded up 12 volunteers to help her. For 10 days, they met virtually almost daily to brainstorm ideas, flesh out the trip, work on the agenda, and distribute tasks.
There was a glitch in one of the escape rooms, where organisers supplied an incorrect password. This resulted in no one being able to reach the last room, which made it a little awkward.
Ordering and shipping party props during the pandemic was no small feat either. It took a painstaking 15 hours of making orders on Amazon and getting them shipped to individuals. Von Alvensleben indicated she would have definitely outsourced this portion of the work if there was more time, to ensure she could focus on the actual event.
An inspirational speech was supposed to conclude the event, but the person in charge of delivering it had a connectivity issue and disappeared. While von Alvensleben took over, she did not know the speech as well. On hindsight, she would have ended the retreat with the band’s performance instead.
Event 2020 MURAL World Tour
Organiser MURAL
Date August 14, 2020
Attendance 250
GainingEdge rolls out online training for MICE professionals
GainingEdge will soon begin offering its first round of instructor-led online courses on May 10, 2021.
These 90-minute courses will provide industry professionals with an opportunity to upskill their expertise through practical and interactive learning sessions. It’ll be offered in multiple timezones to provide flexibility in scheduling.
Led by senior GainingEdge specialists, the first courses offered will include business events branding; bid process and strategy; and local host development. As the year goes on, new topics and sessions will be added.
The courses are geared toward DMOs and CVBs, although GaingingEdge believes that all industry members will find them useful. The level of training is also targeted at those with industry experience and in positions with managerial or project responsibilities.
After participating in a session, the learner will receive a certificate of completion.
Jon Sivertson, CEO of GainingEdge, said in a statement: “We have been working virtually with our regular clients over the past year in helping them continue to learn and adapt in our everchanging MICE industry, and we will now be able to bring these sessions to the broader business events
community.”
Information on the online courses are available here.
Minor Hotels promotes Mark O’Sullivan to area GM
Minor Hotels has appointed Mark O’Sullivan as area general manager Bangkok.
This role will see O’Sullivan at the helm of numerous flagship properties including Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort and Avani+ Riverside Bangkok Hotel.
He first arrived in Bangkok in 2018 to take up the post of general manager at Anantara Riverside. During his tenure, he introduced several F&B concepts, as well as led the launch of Loy River Song, a luxury river cruise that transports guests from Bangkok to Ayutthaya.
Hailing from Ireland, O’Sullivan has over a decade’s worth of hospitality experience in Asia. He first joined Anantara in 2017 as general manager for Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas.
Prior to joining Anantara, the Irishman has cut his teeth at large global hotel brands such as Starwood and Hyatt, as well as boutique properties such as Club Coco and Brooks Hotel in his native Dublin.
Ovolo Group expands Dave Baswal’s role
Ovolo Group has expanded the role of Dave Baswal to managing director ANZ.
Previously, Baswal has been leading the Australian arm of the business since 2016. This includes acquisitions, repositioning, design and project management for The Inchcolm by Ovolo and Ovolo The Valley in Brisbane, Ovolo Nishi in Canberra and Ovolo South Yarra in Melbourne.
He has over two decades of hospitality finance and real estate management experience under his belt.
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Hong Kong will reduce the mandatory quarantine period for fully vaccinated visitors by seven days from as early as end-April or early May.
Travellers from low-risk areas including Singapore, Australia and New Zealand who have received all required doses of a vaccine, need only serve a seven-day quarantine, instead of 14, at designated hotels.
Those from high- and medium-risk areas will serve a 14-day quarantine, instead of 21 days. All vaccinated visitors are required to self-monitor for another seven days after their quarantine, the Hong Kong government said in a release on Wednesday (April 14).
Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents returning to the city from abroad, with the exception of China, are still required to complete a 21-day quarantine.
The easing of quarantine rules come as Singapore and Hong Kong are finalising the details of the travel bubble, which will exempt travellers from the quarantine requirement. Discussions of the delayed Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble resumed after Hong Kong brought the current wave of infections under control.
Hong Kong will make it mandatory for people leaving the city on these travel bubble flights to be vaccinated. However, Singapore will not impose the same vaccination requirement for incoming travellers from Hong Kong.