Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is turning its focus to the future to ensure the business is set up for ongoing success post-Covid-19.
This includes exploring new business models, products and revenue streams across local, national and international markets.
MCEC is preparing to restart its business events
To lead these efforts, MCEC’s chief executive Peter King has appointed Helen Fairclough to the role of director of business relaunch in the interim.
Formerly acting chief operations officer, and prior to that director of people, culture and improvement at MCEC, Fairclough has been with the organisation for close to six years and is a board member of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Like many in the event sector, we have found ourselves in the position of not being able to perform our core business at this time, and the immediate loss of revenue has proved challenging,” King said.
He added that Fairclough has been given “the licence to be unrestrained in what we explore as a business”.
“This is an exciting time to navigate through the change ahead. Even when MCEC is able to reopen its doors, we must accept that the world has and will continue to change. For this reason, MCEC must change too,” said Fairclough.
While the Business Relaunch is in early stages of exploration, in the coming months MCEC will be inviting customers and partners across the industry to collaborate.
“We hope to have many updates to share with you about new projects and initiatives over the coming months,” Fairclough said.
MCEC is a major contributor to Victoria’s economy, with more than A$1 billion (US$664.4 million) in economic impact last year alone.
While most businesses in Singapore will reopen by July, its aviation and tourism industries face a longer wait to reopen fully, predicted deputy prime minister Heng Swee Kiat in a parliament session yesterday.
To support these affected businesses, the Singapore government has rolled out its fourth budget, dipping into another S$33 billion (US$23 billion) of the country’s reserves.
Marina Bay, Singapore
The Fortitude Budget will provide another S$3.8 billion to augment its Job Support Scheme for businesses. Under the scheme, it will extend the duration of payouts to August 2020, and continue to provide 75 per cent of wage support until August 2020 to businesses that cannot open after the Circuit Breaker measures end on June 1.
This includes companies in the business events sector.
Aloysius Arlando, SACEOS’ president, said he was “glad the government has extended the default Enhanced JSS to include the MICE and event organisers and suppliers with the support tier dependent on the company’s SSIC”.
As well, the government will increase the level of support for sectors that have been severely impacted. For instance, workers in the retail industry will now receive 50 per cent wage support, up from the previous 25 per cent. The payouts will be made by July 2020.
Heng urged firms to use this support to “retain staff and train workers”. For the aviation and tourism sectors, he added, the government “will consider providing additional help depending on the situation and longer-term shape of these industries”, as well as the reopening plans for the economy.
SMEs affected by rental concerns will also receive support as the government will pass a bill mandating landlords to grant rental waivers to tenants with significant revenue loss. Further, the government will provide S$2 billion in cash grants to offset the rental costs for qualifying SMEs over one to two months.
Other tenants, including hawkers and commercial, can now receive up to five months’ rental waiver.
For unemployed workers, the government also slated the creation of 100,000 job opportunities in the public and private sectors for first-time and mid-career job seekers under a trio of SGUnited incentive packages.
The Fortitude Budget also includes another S$285 million in financial support to promising start-ups, as well as more than S$500 million to encourage businesses to embark on digital transformation during this period.
Finally, the government has launched a series of National Innovation Challenges, which urge inter- and intra-industry partnerships to develop solutions for the safe reopening of the economy.
In total, Singapore’s four Covid-19 support budgets have amounted to nearly S$100 billion, or almost 20 per cent of the country’s GDP. In addition to this, the government anticipates that a total of S$51 billion will be withdrawn from the country’s past reserves in this financial year.
It will also bolster its Contingencies Fund – from the usual S$3 billion set aside every year to S$16 billion this year – in order to respond quickly to “unforeseeable developments” that may arise, said Heng.
ICCA and the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) have come together to produce a trio of ICCA Conversations: Beyond the Curve webinars that seek to provide useful visions, knowledge and action plans for stakeholders of the meetings and conventions industry to navigate the new norm post-Covid-19.
The first webinar was conducted on May 26, focusing on an associations audience. It featured speakers Greta Kotler of the American Society of Association Executives and The Centre; Carola van der Hoeff of the International Pharmaceutical Federation; Chainarong Monthienvichienchai of Serra International; Richard Simcott of Polyglot Conference; and with El Kwang of Untangled as the moderator.
(From left) TCEB’s Nichapa Yoswee, GIS Group’s Jason Yeh, and MCI Group’s Oscar Cerezales
The second webinar will take place on June 2 from 16.00 to 17.30 (GMT +8), focusing this time on the intermediary community.
Four industry leaders will attempt to project some plausible future scenarios through logical analysis, shedding light on possible implications and the solutions meetings and conventions suppliers can take down the road.
The panellists for this session are Nichapa Yoswee of TCEB; Jason Yeh of GIS Group; and Oscar Cerezales of MCI Group; with Karen Yue of TTG Asia Media as moderator.
AIPC, the International Association of Convention Centres; ICCA, the International Convention and Congress Association; and UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, have joined forces to release a new guide that identifies and promotes globally emerging standards, protocols, and good practices to help business events sectors restart.
Titled Good Practice Guide: Addressing COVID-19 Requirements for Re-Opening Business Events, this is a third in the series of Covid-19 related guides being shared with the associations’ respective memberships.
Event organisers and venue operators need to put respective measures in place that create safe environments for participants
It supports their work to create conditions and safeguards that will enable the safe reopening of their activities while observing the needs and expectations of relevant governments and health authorities.
“International meetings and events are organised gatherings of professionals with specific, known and controlled attendee participation and need to be considered this way by global authorities, as opposed
to other mass gatherings such as festivals and sporting events. It is our challenge to convince local governments, associations and event attendees that our venues can be highly-controlled and safe environments.
“By sharing information and best practices between our global industry association partners, we hope we will be contributing to a more integrated approach, so that the international meetings industry can play its crucial role in economic and social recovery sooner rather than later,”
said ICCA president James Rees.
The guide complements two earlier publications – Good Practice Guidance to COVID-19 for Convention and Exhibition Centres and Good Practice Guidance for the Use of Centres as Temporary Emergency Facilities – which were produced and distributed in March and April of this year.
The publication was created as a collaborative project among different parts of the overall industry. It has been developed through the direct, practical experiences and expertise of members that are dealing with the impacts on a day-to-day basis.
Following distribution, the partner associations will be scheduling an online event to facilitate the implementation of the guidance provided in this publication and to assist members in interpreting its content into local actions.
With face-to-face physical meetings out of the question, online is the only medium available to reach one's audience
With face-to-face physical meetings out of the question, online is the only medium available to reach one’s audience
Increasing online visibility is a challenge for many, more so in this current time and space when all experiences have to be temporarily moved online, as well as compete against each other for more eyeballs.
Here are some tips for companies to rethink how to connect with their online audience.
Be agile.
Uniplan has reinvented and reconfigured part of their Hong Kong office by turning it into a livestreaming studio to help their clients launch products and hold events online.
Deepen collaborations.
We’ve seen luxury brands looking to their partnerships with hotels and resorts to create exclusive events and experiences for their guests in a safe environment.
Offer a unique experience.
Xiaomi, Huawei and other Chinese technology brands have temporarily moved their product launches online in order to avoid cancellations. Yet, brands should always think of how to create unique experiences by leveraging advanced technology such as augmented reality, 360-degree video content, so that virtual events can also convey brand messages effectively.
Explore live broadcasting.
Since Covid-19, Chanel has introduced live broadcasting of their fashion shows, resulting in a democratising of the whole fashion show participation experience.
Consider online sales.
Shanghai Fashion Week went fully online for this spring’s edition by collaborating with Tmall, which allowed them to generate online sales like never before. It also demonstrates that brands can consider collaborating with well-established e-commerce platforms in maximising sale channels.
Don’t ignore your international audience.
As conferences and corporate events resume in China among global travel restrictions, event organisers have stepped up effort in creating strong live connections with guests abroad and working with satellite venues in other countries for foreign guests to participate. Brands are advised to think of effective stage management/setting such that international guests can be well engaged.
Consider omni-channel solutions.
Physical pop-ups are taking place again but with reduced numbers of visitors allowed in at the same time. Developing an online platform together with the physical pop-up will allow guests to book their visit. The brand will also be able to collect personal data and engage consumers online before, during and after their visit.
Make use of social media platforms and KOLs.
The Ritz-Carlton has invited different guests such as yogis to stay in the hotel and do a photo series and live stream their practice to their followers using the brand’s location tag and showing the venue off to more niche audiences.
Digital consolidation.
Ensure marketing campaigns align offline and online. Guests that frequent a hotel’s restaurants and bars can be invited to see what is happening behind the scenes whether is a chef or bartender recreating an iconic recipe or showing the audience how to reheat a favourite takeaway dish at home.
Stay informative.
If you want to keep engagement, your audience needs a reason to be on your platforms and following your news. Hotels such as Upper House are hosting live panels at the hotel for guests to tune into from the comfort of anywhere.
Macau’s casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun passed away peacefully yesterday, surrounded by his family members, at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. He was 98.
He is survived by three of his wives and 14 of his 16 children.
Stanley Ho Hung-sun
Founder of Shun Tak Holdings and SJM Holdings, Ho almost single-handedly steered the revolutionary development of Macau’s gaming and entertainment industry over the past five decades.
When Macau’s colonial government decided to nurture tourism to rescue the declining manufacturing industry in 1961, the Eurasian debonair won the sole concession for gaming and built his casino empire that lasted 42 years.
This lasted until the handover to China in 2000, where the new administration later decided to open up the gaming segment by splitting the licences and issuing three franchises. He later linked up with US-based MGM Resorts International to be in a better position to compete with his rivals.
Ho was also a pioneer in the Hong Kong-Macau high-speed passenger ferry operations, and established one of Asia’s largest ferry fleets, and helped to connect the Pearl River Delta which propelled developments in the region.
Apart from an influential figure in many industry sectors, most notably in tourism, leisure entertainment and property development, Ho was also known for his generosity, regularly giving back to the communities by actively providing aid to the needy, supporting disaster relief, cultural and technological advancement, and Chinese heritage conservation.
As the number of Accor’s properties in Asia-Pacific grows, so has the number of female heads, as the company dedicates significant resources into helping them develop professionally.
The group is committed to having at least 35 per cent women general managers in its hotels by end-2020; it currently stands at 25 per cent. To date, out of 300,000 employees worldwide, 42 per cent department heads and 29 per cent of general managers are female.
From left: Anne-Cecile Degenne, Chidchanok Pasinpong and Jacqueline Poey
But there are still challenges women have to overcome, for instance, cultural perceptions and dated mindsets, in order to fix the gender imbalance present in the hospitality industry.
“Social norms in Asia-Pacific still place high expectations on females to be the main home carer for the family. This expectation makes it difficult for female leaders to balance family commitments and a career in hospitality,” said Christine Rumble, chief talent & culture officer, Accor Asia Pacific.
Chidchanok Pasinpong, general manager of SO Sofitel Hua Hin, opined that the cultural shift can only happen when people stop assigning gender roles at a young age.
“We need to empower girls so that they know they can pursue their passion and excel in any field they choose when they grow up, be it a male-dominated role or not. On the flipside, there are departments such as human resources and housekeeping that are dominated by women. There needs to be a shift in thinking that these are women’s jobs,” she said.
Anne-Cecile Degenne, executive chef with Raffles & Fairmont Makati, believes that equality is crucial in any workplace, but “mentalities are difficult to change entirely” and there are still people who believe that “high positions belong to men”.
The good news is, with more women performing well in their roles as compared to their male counterparts, perceptions are changing, suggested Jacqueline Poey, hotel manager of Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford.
Poey told TTGmice that Accor has helped her develop professionally. She recalled: “I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to attend a leadership training session only meant for vice presidents, high-potential general managers and corporate directors.”
The opportunity to go for greater goals was not unique to Poey. After helping Hotel Des Arts win the 2016 World Luxury Hotel Awards, Accor sought Degenne’s expertise to helm the kitchens at Raffles Makati and Fairmont Makati.
Meanwhile, Chidchanok is paying it forward by getting involved in RiiSE, Accor’s diversity network, by supporting other female employees through mentoring and training programmes.
Riise aims to share knowledge of solidarity and combat stereotypes. Its membership stands at 14,000, and nearly half are men. Other Accor initiatives include the International Hospitality Management Programme and GM Pass to fast-track star talent to general manager roles; as well as specific learning paths in different areas of management. These do not have gender quotas, and all participants are evaluated based on merit.
Recognising that there is also inequality in the F&B departments, Accor has launched a new network WILD F&B – Women in Leadership Disrupting Food and Beverage to bring female F&B leaders together to challenge and support one another.
Although gender imbalance has definitely improved in recent times, there is still room for improvement.
Chidchanok said: “We are definitely heading in the right direction but I don’t feel we have achieved a gender balance yet. On the property level, there’s a healthy mix in the executive committee. In corporate offices across the hospitality industry though, a majority of the executive committee is made up of men.”
As for Degenne, she hopes the call for female leaders in F&B be louder, as the strengths of a woman are usually compared to that of men. She wants to close the gap in gender inequality by sharing with fellow women her experiences as a woman and mother succeeding in the industry.
“Men and women are different and this needs to be recognised and celebrated. We need all types of people in our team – different gender, age and nationality. Diversity encourages everyone to perform better, by challenging status quo,” Rumble concluded.
Regional travel bubbles, new subvention funding models, and digital training will spur the recovery of Asia’s exhibition sector, according to industry leaders at a recent UFI Connects webinar that examined the role of government in establishing a ‘new normal’ operating environment.
A flurry of financial support measures has been rolled out across the region. In Hong Kong, the government has introduced a venue subsidy scheme for organisers, but Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association (HKECIA) chairman, Stuart Bailey, said more needed to be done to assist cash flow issues.
Panel speakers say that regional travel bubbles, new subvention funding models, and digital training will spur recovery of Asia’s exhibition sector
“We’re disappointed in the way the venue subsidy has been administered,” he said. “Organisers are still required to book and pay for the venue upfront and are reimbursed six to eight weeks after the exhibition.”
Bailey said government funds could be more effectively used to help pay suppliers, subsidise commercial rents for SMEs, or even boost visitor promotion efforts.
Beyond cash injections, executive director of the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, Andrew Phua, said the bureau is focused on capability development, and provides a subsidy of up to a 90 per cent for training programmes in virtual meetings development.
Phua also floated the idea of a regional travel bubble opening in South-east Asia, and revealed that the bureau is closely monitoring source markets for international exhibitions.
“We’ve also working on a green lane (immigration) clearance so that VIP buyers can enter Singapore, subject to health checks,” he said.
The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), meanwhile, is formulating market- and industry-specific subvention funds to encourage the return of international business.
The bureau recently submitted a Covid-19 hygiene safety standard to Thailand’s Ministry of Health, and senior vice president – business, Nichapa Yoswee, remains hopeful that events will recommence in June.
Regional travel bubbles could lead exhibitions back to Asia
“TCEB secured 56 international exhibitions this year, five have cancelled, but 51 remain confirmed and will be held in the second half of the year,” she said.
Both Yoswee and Phua said they are collaborating with government, industry and private sector partners to create a roadmap to recovery.
Collaboration seems to be the secret to a speedy recovery in China. Citing the success of the recent 2020 Hunan Auto Show, which took place from April 30 to May 5, Grace Mak, regional director, Asia for E J Krause & Associates Inc., said government acted as a conduit between the local bureau, event organisers and various stakeholders to ensure preventive health and safety measures were well-understood and implemented.
National contact-tracking apps were also utilised to monitor entry and restore confidence among event attendees.
Event organisers looking to resume physical meetings in the Covid-19 landscape will need to deliver heightened duty of care for attendees, partners and staff, which will impact how venues and other suppliers are chosen and how events are executed.
These projections and more were discussed during the hour-long TTG Conversations: Setting the stage for a return in business events webinar on May 21. It featured panellists Ian Cummings, global vice president, commercial, CWT Meetings & Events; Kerry Healy, vice president sales Asia Pacific, Accor; and Vincent Yap, director, integrated marketing solutions, Pico Art International, with Karen Yue, group editor of TTG Asia Media as moderator.
Panellists for the recently-concluded webinar discuss a new meeting normal
Cummings stated that the safety and well-being of attendees – which have always been key considerations – will need even great scrutiny due to the current health crisis.
“Venues with the highest level of (health and hygiene) accreditation will be the ones that win. But (this requirement is not just limited to) venues, as airlines that invest the most in safety for passengers will get the highest level of confidence. Airports (that do not) have correct distancing capabilities and (better processing of passengers) may cause us to change the meeting destination,” Cummings said.
Recognising the critical role health and hygiene accreditation will play in future tourism and events decision-making processes, Accor has put in place enhanced hygiene protocols across its properties and established the ALLSAFE Cleanliness label to reassure guests and customers.
The international hotel group has also taken a step farther by providing a complimentary AXA insurance that grants staying guests access to a telemedical appointment should they feel sick.
“This will give guests another level of comfort and assurance, so that they feel safe when they are in our hotels,” said Healy.
Unique venues, which have risen in popularity among business events, will also need to ensure adherence to new health and safety standards and accreditation.
Cummings urged: “I think all venues that host events have to take the necessary steps to get some form of accreditation, because if we don’t have confidence in their hygiene standards, we’re not going to book our customers there.”
Yap opined that venues could stand a higher chance of being chosen by event organisers by demonstrating the enhanced measures they are going to take. He cited Marina Bay Sands as an example of a venue that has ramped up its cleaning processes and crisis management.
The same effort needs to be made by other players in the events supplier chain, such as production companies, which have to ensure their equipment is sterilised and their event crew is healthy, added Cummings.
While there is currently “no specific accreditation” for booth construction, Yap stated that Pico could “demonstrate what the cleaning process is like” for reusable booth structures.
In answering a question from the audience about who should handle attendee contact tracing, Yap said it should fall on the shoulders of the organiser, “as this also encompasses the insurance portion, or public liability”.
ICCA and American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) have agreed to collaborate, to explore the possibility of new global projects, as well as provide education at each other’s events and tradeshows.
This link-up between the two associations will increase association and meeting supplier engagement in both organisation’s communities.Examples include a joint ASAE/ICCA Association Roundtables in conjunction with ASAE International Associations Advisory Council Meetings in Washington, DC; ICCA Participation in ASAE Association Fly In, a new ASAE/ICCA Webinar Series; ASAE participation at ICCA North American Chapter activities at the ICCA Congress; and new Congress Destination Workshops for associations.
This partnership also includes joint educational and advocacy activities at tradeshows worldwide and at events like the ASAE Association Leadership Forum, Asia Pacific.
ICCA and ASAE will also collaborate to submit Association Executive candidates to qualify for inclusion in ICCA Hosted Buyer Groups for international tradeshows.
ICCA CEO, Senthil Gopinath, said in a statement: “We have been working with ASAE for many years on various projects and are pleased to have an official collaboration agreement to deepen and extend our relationship and including many activities over the next 18 months.”
President and CEO of ASAE, Susan Robertson, said: “The international association community is strong and growing. These initiatives will provide additional opportunities for association executives to learn, engage with each other and the meeting supplier community, and increase the impact of their contribution to their respective societies.”
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Examples include a joint ASAE/ICCA Association Roundtables in conjunction with ASAE International Associations Advisory Council Meetings in Washington, DC; ICCA Participation in ASAE Association Fly In, a new ASAE/ICCA Webinar Series; ASAE participation at ICCA North American Chapter activities at the ICCA Congress; and new Congress Destination Workshops for associations.
