Augmented reality (AR) has been around for over a decade but industry stakeholders believe it will become more mainstream at future business events as technology continues to evolve.
Donald Lim, chief executive wizard, at Singapore-based Digimagic Communications – a full-fledged creative agency that specialises in the delivery of customised solutions – said AR is still in its infancy stage in business events but he believes it will become mainstream in less than five years.
Lim: high possibility of “smarter” events in the future
Speaking at a Business Events Forum organised by the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers, Lim explained: “AR functionality, like its ability to recognise the real world surroundings in a meetings or exhibitions environment such as floors, walls and ceilings makes augmented content in live meetings more “real” and frees away from the need of markers. This is unlike the past when AR requires users to point their camera at a flat graphic market or a graphic code in order to call out AR content.”
Lim added that this will lead to more smart events in the future where the audience is not just interested in good content, but also expect to be delighted with sensory connections and immersive experiences.
Gracie Geikie, director/principal consultant of Borneo Place, a PCO, opined: “Current conventions and conferences are still very mainstream and do not fully address or recognise that in years to come, millennials will be the main target audience for business events. We need to start the engagement now. The millennial audience wants ‘sparks’ and spontaneous engagement throughout the entire programme, even at tea breaks and lunches. Otherwise, it will just be a boring conference. For millennials, learning should be done in a way that will hold their attention span.”
“However, AR should be engaged in a convention not just to entertain delegates, whatever the age groups may be, but to also enhance effectiveness and to improve delivery,” Geikie pointed out.
Alun Jones, general manager at UBM Malaysian Exhibition Services, also believes that virtual reality and AR will gain popularity in the exhibition space. Speaking on its benefits, he said exhibitors from overseas can create the experience for exhibition visitors in situations where it is not feasible to bring large machinery into the country.
Dubai Association Centre – a joint initiative of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) – will debut the Dubai Association Conference in December, an event that will focus on advancing the association community.
To be held from December 11 to 12 at the DWTC, the event will feature a strong line-up of local speakers including Helal Al Marri, director general of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and Hamad Buamim, president and CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who will discuss their vision for associations.
An aerial night view of skyscrapers belonging to the Dubai World Trade Centre
In addition, Paul Bennett, chief creative officer of IDEO, will explain how associations can unlock the energy of knowledge to upgrade their offerings, while Greg Bogue, vice president of experience design at Maritz Global Events, will speak about creating engagement through purpose, passion and a picture of the future.
With the number of associations steadily growing across the Middle East, the conference will aim to offer a vital platform for networking and knowledge-sharing, in an effort to further boost progression across industries.
Issam Kazim, CEO of DTCM, said: “Dubai has seen a tremendous rise in the number of associations over the past few years, which is testament to the city’s significance to reaching their target groups based in the region. This rise has resulted in a heightened demand for networking and engagement platforms for associations across different industries.
“Dubai Association Conference is a step towards fostering a collaborative environment for associations to expand and thrive. We also believe that this conference will mutually support Dubai in its journey to becoming the regional hub for associations, and strengthen the city’s positioning as a gateway to the world’s fastest growing economies.”
Dubai Association Centre – a joint initiative of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) – will debut the Dubai Association Conference in December, an event that will focus on advancing the association community.
To be held from December 11 to 12 at the DWTC, the event will feature a strong line-up of local speakers including Helal Al Marri, director general of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and Hamad Buamim, president and CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who will discuss their vision for associations.
An aerial night view of skyscrapers belonging to the Dubai World Trade Centre
In addition, Paul Bennett, chief creative officer of IDEO, will explain how associations can unlock the energy of knowledge to upgrade their offerings, while Greg Bogue, vice president of experience design at Maritz Global Events, will speak about creating engagement through purpose, passion and a picture of the future.
With the number of associations steadily growing across the Middle East, the conference will aim to offer a vital platform for networking and knowledge-sharing, in an effort to further boost progression across industries.
Issam Kazim, CEO of DTCM, said: “Dubai has seen a tremendous rise in the number of associations over the past few years, which is testament to the city’s significance to reaching their target groups based in the region. This rise has resulted in a heightened demand for networking and engagement platforms for associations across different industries.
“Dubai Association Conference is a step towards fostering a collaborative environment for associations to expand and thrive. We also believe that this conference will mutually support Dubai in its journey to becoming the regional hub for associations, and strengthen the city’s positioning as a gateway to the world’s fastest growing economies.”
Located in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah, Mercure Kota Kinabalu City Centre offers 310 guestrooms comprising 135 superior rooms, 40 executive suites and 135 suites in configurations of one-, two- and three-bedrooms.
The 25-storey property is a 15-minute drive from Kota Kinabalu International Airport, and sits close to the city’s major shopping malls, eateries, entertainment hubs and the new Sabah International Convention Centre.
An executive suite in the hotel
For events and meetings, the hotel’s function room on the rooftop, which also houses the hotel’s gym and swimming pool, features state-of-the-art audio visual equipment and can accommodate up to 40 guests.
Various F&B venues are available, including the all-day dining Maupassant which offers a range of local and international varieties. For those who want to enjoy the sea view, Compass Lounge on the rooftop is the perfect place for a leisurely wine and dine affair.
Of the 27 properties AccorHotels plans to open in Malaysia, adding some 8,400 rooms to its network over the next three years, three developments are in Sabah.
Millennials, Strawberry Generation, Generation Y – whatever you might call them – is a segment of our society that is getting a lot of attention at the moment.
Born approximately between 1980 and 2000, millennials are quickly becoming the dominant generation within the workforce, rising into leadership and decision-making roles.
By 2025, millennials will account for 75 per cent of the global workforce , and Asia Pacific (APAC) will be home to 60 per cent of them by 2020. They are already the most frequent business travellers, and both employers and travel suppliers will benefit from understanding and adapting to their expectations.
More than the generations before them (Baby Boomers and Generation X), millennials thrive on a sense of purpose in their work. They crave autonomy, flexibility, personal fulfilment and empowerment. As their numbers grow, the culture they create will inevitably permeate every business.
Millennials continue to disrupt the travel industry, and the business segment is no exception
A big APP-etite for technology
APAC is ranked first in the world for the growth of smartphone traffic to the Internet. APAC also claimed the top spot for app revenue in 2016, which is expected to double by 2020.
Technology is very closely associated with the millennial generation; and is significantly impacting the dimensions of business travel – particularly in APAC which is home to many ‘mobile-first’ markets.
The expectations of these highly-connected ‘Digital Natives’ are rapidly evolving. Gone are the days where business travellers carry large suitcases filled with work documents. The new millennial business traveller travels light. They are highly dependent on their mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, ‘phablets’ and smartphones to improve their productivity and efficiency while on the go. They are also heavily engaged by social media, turning to mobile communication tools first to keep in touch with family, friends and business counterparts around the clock.
Travel suppliers must engage in digital and mobile-first strategies to reach modern and increasingly younger business travellers who are highly-dependent on their mobile devices for work and travel. Technology also presents many opportunities for businesses to empower their employees with mobile tools and solutions that enhance productivity and drive the topline.
Autonomy over their travel choices
Millennial business travellers prefer autonomy – whether real or perceived – over how they travel.
Millennial employees want to have the option of being able to customise their own business travel journey according to their preferences. Loyalty programmes, such as frequent flyer and hotel points programmes, also impact their choices. Employees’ highly consumerised behaviour mean they book with their preferred suppliers directly, often resulting in non-compliance with their employer’s travel policy.
To combat this, employers must implement technology solutions that end users ― the travelling employees ― will find easy to adopt.
Booking tools and functions must be fast, intuitive and accessible via mobile devices, and offer a variety of options for transport and accommodation. If these tools are used effectively, data can be easily captured, allowing for smooth processing of expenses and for easily locating employees while are travelling in the event of an incident.
A new work-travel hybrid experience
It’s been well documented that those in millennial age group desire ‘experience over expenditure’. This has given rise to the idea of ‘bleisure’ (a combination of business and leisure). Bleisure is most associated with younger business travellers who want work-life balance, and to easily blend business travel with leisure by extending trips and bringing along family and friends.
Asian business travellers are in fact almost twice as likely to make a booking that includes a weekend (12 per cent) compared with their European peers (seven per cent).
Employers therefore need to make it easy for millennial employees to take advantage of business travel to enjoy leisure time, but must design travel policies that clearly define where business travel ends and leisure travel begins. Allowing younger travellers to have this flexibility will lead to greater employee satisfaction and can help to attract and retain talent.
What businesses and the travel industry can do better
The effective use of technology is the leading differentiating factor both travel providers and businesses can harness to keep pace with the ever-evolving customer. The travel, expense and invoice industry is rapidly evolving with advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.
These advanced technologies are helping businesses save time, simplify tasks, and deliver richer, more personalised experiences today than ever before. And Concur is at the forefront of this technological revolution, championing innovation.
Currently in beta in the US, Concur Bot for Slack is designed to help employees tackle select travel and expense tasks directly from Slack. Users can interact with the Concur platform through a conversational interface, allowing them to request information about their business travel plans and submit expenses without interrupting their work in Slack. End-users can type a question like, “When is my next business trip?” and the bot will instantly respond with itinerary details.
Traditionally, APAC organisations tightly control business travel and spend. As travel decisions continue to shift into the hands of travellers themselves, businesses can foster greater internal policy-compliance, leveraging on the right technological tools to manage travel and expenses.
Businesses can attract and retain the best millennial talent by being more flexible and considering their needs and preferences when it comes to business travel – especially when it relates to the millennial desire for experiences.
Travel providers in their approach to this group of business travellers would foster deeper customer loyalty in the long-run, by tailoring their offerings to suit the highly-mobile, fast-paced and aspirational lifestyle that these young professionals lead.
Nick Evered is the senior vice president and general manager for Concur across Asia Pacific. He leads the sales and operations team in delivering innovative software technology solutions to meet customers’ needs.
Concur, a SAP company, is the global leader in travel and expense management. By connecting data, applications and people, Concur delivers an effortless experience for organisations providing total transparency into discretionary spend.
Members of the Sarawak Convention Bureau continue its CSR legacy at the 56th International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress 2017. The SOS Children’s Village in Czech Republic is the recipient for this year’s ICCA’s Gift of Love CSR Project.
The Competitive Edge expands offerings to other UK locations
The Competitive Edge (TCE), which runs both London.DMC and Manchester.DMC, has expanded its incentive and events activities to other key UK destinations including Oxford, Bath and Liverpool.
“In the South we are expanding our London-based operation up to Oxford and across the Cotswolds to Bath, while our Manchester team is developing their offering in Liverpool. We have chosen these particular areas for growth as they are particularly popular with groups looking to combine London or Manchester with other contrasting yet nearby destinations,” said Bill Prosser, TCE’s managing director.
Waldorf Astoria Chicago’s reveals new outdoor venue
The Waldorf Astoria Chicago has added a 557m2 Parisian-style outdoor courtyard to the hotel’s collection of meeting and event spaces.
Designed by renowned French architect Lucien Lagrange, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago courtyard can accommodate up to 250 guests for receptions and dinners. Guests will have the option to book a full buy-out or a portion of the space depending on the size of the event.
Within the courtyard also lies the patio of Petit Margeaux, a classic French patisserie from James Beard award-winning chef Michael Mina, which can accommodate more intimate events.
In addition to the courtyard, the property also has meeting and event spaces on the third and fifth floors.
UNICEO announces dates for next year’s European Congress
The United Networks of International Corporate Event Organizers (UNICEO) has announced that its 2018 European Congress will take place in Budapest from June 28 to 29 at the Kempinski Corvinus Hotel.
Members of the association – from more than 20 countries will come together – and focus on the congress theme, Leading Events to the Future.
Conferences and debates will focus on three major elements: technological innovations and digital, the KPIs that help evaluate ROI, and the keys to motivating and engaging participants.
Sabah will have its own unit for business events by end-2017, with staff seconded from Sabah Tourism Board.
The new unit will function as a full fledged state convention bureau to attract more business events to the state.
Yap: Sabah gets own dedicated MICE unit
“Duties will include bidding for regional and international conferences,” revealed Gordon Yapp, general manager of Sabah Tourism Board.
For a start, it will be located within Sabah Tourism Board and will have a small staff force of less than 10 people. The unit head was not named at press time.
The establishment of the business events unit bodes well for the state which is currently constructing its first dedicated convention centre, slated for operations in 2019. Located within Kota Kinabalu Central Business District, the convention centre has facilities spanning across five levels with a total built-up area of 92,000m2. It is developed by Yayasan Sabah Group, a state government statutory body.
“The convention centre will be able to hold events with up to 5,000 delegates,” revealed Yapp.
The ICCA Board of Directors has selected Kaohsiung, Taiwan as the host destination for the 2020 Congress, following what was said to be the most competitive bidding exercise in the association’s history.
Eight ICCA destination teams submitted first round bids, and three were shortlisted just before IMEX in May 2017: Kaohsiung, Yokohama (Japan) and Cartagena de Indias (Colombia).
View of Kaohsiung’s financial district
The final presentations were made to the board on November 11, and the winner was announced by ICCA president Nina Freysen-Pretorius at the ICCA General Assembly during the 56th ICCA Congress in Prague, Czech Republic the following day.
Freysen-Pretorius said in a press statement: “All three presentations were creative, passionate, but also strongly business-focused, each with their own personality, and in any other year, any one of the three could easily have been a worthy winner.”
On why the Taiwanese destination won the bid, she said: “Kaohsiung told a compelling story of a city that is re-inventing itself through the power of meetings, their team designed creative concepts that will help ICCA engage more effectively with Asia-Pacific based associations, and they demonstrated great team cohesion and offered tremendous value for money.
“I have no doubt that 2020 will be a wonderful Congress experience for our entire global community. Yokohama and Cartagena should also be congratulated on their extremely professional, impressive bids”.
ICCA Congress head to Sydney in 2018 and Houston in 2019.
The Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) has developed a traineeship programme that delivers fit-for-purpose training and skill development for new entrants to the business events industry, aimed at alleviating the ongoing skills shortages across Australia.
Jointly developed with TAFE NSW, Australia’s provider of vocational education and training courses, and Apprenticeships Support Australia, the programme combines nationally accredited qualifications with on-the-job experience.
The working group with TAFE NSW and Apprenticeship Support Australia includes Jim Delahunty from ExpoNet, Eden Fridman from Expo Direct, Libbie Ray from AV 24/7, Elke Rintel from Reed Exhibitions Australia, and Michael Stubbs from Agility Fairs & Events as well as other industry representatives
EEAA chief executive, Joyce DiMascio, said the new tailored industry traineeships would target at school leavers and people starting out in their careers. It aims to promote exhibitions and events as a dynamic and fulfilling career choice and to deliver a pipeline of skilled, industry-ready employees to businesses in the sector.
“Finding employees with the right skills for our sector is a challenge for many exhibition and event businesses,” DiMascio said.
“Through this new programme, we are providing a comprehensive framework that supports new entrants to our industry, ensures high standards for our sector, and delivers a potential new pipeline of candidates that companies can train into long-term employees with the specific skills required by their business,” she added.
In addition, TAFE NSW is offering a Pre-employment Program targeting 2017 school leavers – a two-week introduction to the exhibition and events industry that includes five days of industry placement. This programme can lead to employment or provide a pathway to the traineeships. The traineeships offered in 2018 will also be open to other suitable candidates.
To begin with, this opportunity will only be available in NSW.
The newly-opened Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok anchors the One Bangkok development with cosmopolitan elegance. Featuring the city's largest ballroom and a spectacular new penthouse suite, it delivers exceptional hardware and deeply authentic, soulful service for business and leisure travellers alike
Behind the imposing, Brutalist concrete that defines Zurich’s Oerlikon district lies a surprising secret. While its exterior honours the neighbourhood’s industrial roots, stepping inside Mama Shelter reveals a vibrant, neon-soaked world that is a far cry from its rigid shell
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
