The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) is expanding with the construction of a museum already started and the building of a new trade and exhibition hall beginning next year.

The museum will display historical artefacts and art currently curated at the existing museum of the Central Bank of the Philippines, revealed PICC general manager Renato Padilla on the sidelines of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) Associations Summit 4 gathering.

He said that the museum will be an added attraction for event delegates and will complement PICC as a MICE venue.

Meanwhile, the planned PICC Trade Exhibit Hall will replace the space currently known as The Forum, a tented 4,000m² multipurpose facility.

The new venue will be much bigger at 5,700m² and will be a permanent structure located separate from the existing PICC edifice and can be divided into three smaller halls. Facilities include pre-function lobbies, loading bays and service pantries.

Padilla added that the 40-year-old PICC is undergoing upgrading works by phases and will be replacing old bulbs with more efficient LED lighting and moving to inverter air conditioning systems.

Furnishing, equipment and faster internet speeds are also part of the enhancements to keep pace with competition.

The Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations (AFECA) celebrated its 11th anniversary and held its second AFECA Awards ceremony in Xiamen earlier this month in recognition of the best performers in the industry in Asia.

AFECA board members and advisory council members, including president Walter Yeh, honorary president Dilys Yong and president of Xiamen Convention & Exhibition Association (XMCEA) Zheng Zhi, awarded important members and individuals for their contributions over the past year during the event.

Awards handed out include the Outstanding Trade Exhibition, Outstanding Consumer Exhibition, Outstanding Convention/Congress Award, Outstanding Service Award, the Young Professional Award as well as the Outstanding Venue Award, the first time it is being presented.

“This year marks the 2^nd AFECA Awards, and after last year’s success, we received even more interest and nominations this year. All nominees represent excellence and outstanding performance in the Asian MICE industry and showcases how far the industry has advanced over the past years,” said Yeh.

In conjunction, starting this year, winners will be given a symbol of recognition by AFECA. These AFECA Recognized logos – split into AFECA Recognized Event, AFECA Recognized Venue and AFECA Recognized Service Provider categories – is an endorsement of quality, innovation and sustainability of organisers by the association.

MICE planners now have more reason to hold their events in Turkey’s most populous city with the launch of Istanbul CVB’s new Istanbul Event Planners’ Toolkit.

The free kit contains ready-to-use templates of print ads, flyers, banners, posters, standees, seasonal postcards, powerpoint presentations and social media posts as well as high-res photos, videos and logos of Istanbul.

The CVB stated that the kit is designed to provide associations with easy-to-use, comprehensive marketing tools for congresses and events held in Istanbul and can be customised according to their needs.

General manager of Istanbul CVB, Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz, said: “Istanbul continues to be one of the top places for meetings and conferences. We have been witnessing a busy congress calendar especially for October and November.

“With all the feedback gathered from the associations, organisers as well as our members, we have decided to release this marketing tool to put together different materials in one convenient package. We believe that this kit will help planners to promote their event in Istanbul more effectively and will boost the number of delegates for their meetings and events.”

The Do Edo programme by Japanese tour company Shin-Nichiya is tapping MICE demand for authentic local experiences with a new Tokyo-based dinner and entertainment package featuring geishas.

Time to Geisha is hosted in Kyoraku-tei, a traditional Japanese venue inside the Coredo shopping, dining, and cultural complex in Nihonbashi.

During the show, geishas perform a variety of dances accompanied by a trio of musicians on the shamisen, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. They then lead guests in interactive games such as Tora Tora Tora, a historic game once played by maikos and geishas at tea houses.

The performance is offered as a 60-minute evening show that runs twice a month at a cost of 5,500 yen (US$52), while the new dinner and entertainment package starts at 10,800 yen and builds on existing cultural activities for MICE groups in the building, including making sushi or sweets, calligraphy or flower arranging.

Groups of up to 30 people can be accommodated.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s 100^th hotel in South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim has opened in eastern Bali.

The 222-room Wyndham Tamansari Jivva Resort Bali, positioned as Wyndham’s newest flagship hotel in Indonesia, is located on the beachfront in Klungkung where rice paddies are abound.

Wyndham Tamansari Jivva Resort Bali, Suite Pool room

Away from the city’s hotspots and close to the heart of nature, the resort offers guests an environment that is designed with natural elements made of wood, stone and water that blend cohesively into its surroundings.

Besides rooms and private pool villas, Wyndham Tamansari Jivva Resort Bali also welcomes corporate groups with four meeting rooms – one with capacity for 20 delegates, and the other three can be combined to accommodate up to 30 delegates.

Other facilities at the hotel includes unique dining destinations such as Bumbu Restaurant by the beach and which offers gourmet lunchboxes for guests looking to venture out to sea or the nearby villages; and Tirta Spa which utilises ancient Balinese traditions in its treatments, delivered in eight beachside garden huts.

The hotel is a 10-minute drive to world-class surf break, Keramas.

Meanwhile, Wyndham Hotel Group is furthering its expansion in the region with a pipeline of more than 30 properties, the majority of which are new-builts, due to open by 2020. These new hotels will add a further 8,776 rooms to the Wyndham portfolio in the region, bringing the total number of rooms to 24,030.

The Banyan Tree Group is offering a range of scenic meeting spaces from its resorts across South-east Asia, touted to be unlike the usual bland and drab venues usually found.

At Banyan Tree Phuket for instance, the daylit Cassia Room is designed to provide room for creativity and exploration. Quest, a corporate training centre, also now operates in Laguna Phuket and is on hand to assist with team-building needs.

Angsana Lang Co

Meanwhile, the boardroom at Banyan Tree Ungasan, Bali, seats up to 12 pax and offers views of the surrounding greenery. The resort’s Presidential Three-Bedroom Villa looking out to the ocean also makes for a unique meeting venue for groups of up to 15 people. Team-building activities at the resort include surfing, paintball and yoga, all which can be capped off with a cliff-top team dinner.

And at Banyan Tree Lang Co in Vietnam, boardrooms come complete with views of the gardens or coastline. Team bonding activities such as visits to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, mountain biking, hiking and group cooking classes can also be arranged flexibly with half- and full-day meeting packages, among other offers for planners, available.

The Seoul MICE Alliance (SMA) gained 36 members in October, bringing its membership strength up to 230 ahead of the SMA Annual Meeting and as it continues to strive towards boosting the city’s MICE competitiveness.

The new members come from a range of industries and include the recently opened Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Namdaemun, food tour operator O’ngo Food Communications, Sejong University Convention Center and numerous new duty-free shopping malls.

National Folk Museum located within the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds

The association also welcomed 11 unique venues, among which are the National Folk Museum, Seoul Grand Park, Han River cruise ship operator Eland Cruise and hotel rooftop bars within the city centre.

The full alliance will gather at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul – also an alliance member – for the SMA Annual Meeting on November 24. Scheduled events include workshops, presentations and discussions on the past and future of SMA, official induction of new members, and entertainment. The meeting also coincides with Seoul MICE Week.

Major upcoming events in 2016 held at SMA venues include the World Engineering Education Forum 2016 (Coex, 2000 participants), Meeting of the Internet Engineering Taskforce (Conrad Seoul, 1,200 participants), and the 5^th Biennial Scientific Meeting Asia Cornea Society (Grand Hilton Seoul, 700 participants).