THE Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) will start conducting short training courses for junior executives and those keen on entering a career in the conference and exhibition industry from this November.

Held in conjunction with the ASEAN Economic Community + Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions Expo from November 11 to 13, the trainings will be conducted by MACEOS members who are industry professionals with at least 10 years of experience.

Participants will receive Certified Meeting Planner and Certified Exhibition Management credentials upon completion, which are both globally recognised.

Kenneth Fong, chairman, education & training committee, MACEOS, said: “Both introductory programmes offered by MACEOS are meant to enhance the knowledge and performance of meeting and exhibition professionals; promote professionalism and advance uniform standards of practice in the industry.”

The courses are a follow-up to the MoU signed on May 7 between MACEOS and SACEOS. Twelve MACEOS professionals received their ‘train-the-trainer’ certificates from SACEOS after attending a one-day programme.

MACEOS president, Vincent Tan, said he was confident the partnership with SACEOS will further improve the professional and competency levels of the human resources needed in Malaysia’s business events industry.

Last year, Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau, together with industry partners, secured 152 bid wins and a 15 per cent increase in delegate numbers compared with 2013.

MACEOS plans to hold two similar courses in 2016.

ALTHOUGH the Indonesian government has issued a clarification in late-March on its guidelines for the hosting of official events, which spelled out a need for greater accountability instead of an outright ban on events held in privately owned venues, hoteliers in the country are lamenting that the damage has been done to their business.

Hoteliers told TTGmice e-Weekly that government agencies had already cut their meeting and travel budgets for the year and it would take some time to apply for a revised budget.However some hoteliers are expecting to see a turnaround in government business by 3Q2015.

Meanwhile, hoteliers are devising ways to keep their meeting facilities filled.

JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya, for example, has come up with short-term offers for event and conference organisers who confirm a minimum of 10 guestrooms at Rp990,000 (US$75.60) per deluxe room.

Satriya Tanuwidjaja, the hotel’s director of sales, said such prices were unprecedented. “It is a challenging time. Apart from government regulations, the economic situation in general is also affecting corporate spending.”

Suprapti Suprobo, general manager of Dyandra Convention Center Surabaya, pointed out that the new regulation have hit companies involved in government projects, which also meant fewer meetings in commercial venues.

To ride out the poor situation, Linda Muhlis, board member of Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association Jakarta Chapter, suggested that hotels focus on drawing more domestic and regional business events that could be timed to coincide with Jakarta’s festivals such as the Jakarta Great Sale.

However, some trade experts are saying that Indonesia’s business events sector is not all gloom and doom.

Bank Danamon Indonesia’s senior vice president – card business head, Lukas Djoesianto, said: “Looking at our corporate card transaction, we have not seen any decline in corporate spending for the year. In fact, we are expecting a growth of 25 per cent in sales this year.”

Djoesianto added that Indonesia was still seen as an attractive business destination by international companies.

“Besides, companies usually have more meetings to strategise, plan and consolidate when the economy is slowing down,” he opined.

Fajri Roesman, director of sales at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali agreed, pointing out while spending by oil companies was down, bookings from pharmaceutical and insurance companies were still doing well.

THE world’s top five cities for meetings have held their ground in 2014’s ICCA ranking.

Paris remains champion with 214 meetings conducted in 2014. Vienna and Madrid traded places with a two-meeting difference between them – Vienna with 202 meetings and Madrid with 200. Likewise, Berlin came ahead of Barcelona this year with 193 meetings, while the latter scored 182 meetings.

Singapore was Asia’s highest-ranked city and came in seventh with 142 meetings, right behind London’s 166.

Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong came in consecutively at 14, 15, and 16 for hosting 104 ,99 and 98 meetings respectively, while Taipei wrapped up the top 20 list with 92 events.

The same results were reflected in the international list where there was little change. The US (831 meetings), Germany (659) and Spain (578) remained top scorers in 2014, while the UK (543) and France (533) swapped into fourth and fifth place respectively.

From Asia-Pacific, Japan held seventh place for its 337 meetings and was followed by China with 332. South Korea hosted 222 meetings in 2014 and thus came in 17^th place.

According to an ICCA press release, the association relooked its historical data over the last one year to weed out all meetings that did not meet its three-country rotation criterion as well as single meetings that appeared to be multiple, separate meetings before.

While this dampened growth levels, ICCA said it believes growth remains robust.

However, CEO Martin Sirk, commented: “Most commentators are naturally focusing on the new 2014 rankings, but the nature of this business means that we always continue to identify many qualifying meetings long after each annual announcement. We can’t stress this point strongly enough: ICCA’s rankings are a snapshot of a moment in time of a database designed for sales and marketing purposes, for a very specific segment of the market, a segment moreover where decisions are made three to six years in advance.

“Any destination wishing to accurately present its true performance in the international meetings field needs to complement the ICCA statistics and rankings with its own robust measurement of all meetings business won for the future and hosted in the past year.”

WESTERN Australia today announced a shocking 28 per cent cut in funding for the Perth Convention Bureau (PCB), despite the CVB having surpassed its annual target for the last financial year and being on track to do the same for 2014-2015.

The reduction is specifically for the Business Events Marketing and Promotional Services Agreement with Tourism Western Australia for the financial years of 2016/2017 to 2018/2019.

“This substantial reduction of funding is discouraging, particularly in the context of PCB being one of the highest performing convention bureaus in Australia with an ROI to the Western Australian state government investment of 31:1 – double that of its east coast capital city bureau competitors,” said PCB’s CEO, Paul Beeson in a statement.

“Further, PCB has almost doubled its cooperative funding and activities with the tourism industry over the last four years.”

PCB delivered A$107.9 million (US$87.2 million) in direct delegate expenditure in the last financial year, reaching and surpassing the targeted A$104 million. This year, the CVB is expected to again exceed the annual target and secure A$106 million for the state.

Ian Laurence, chairman, PCB, expressed concern in a media statement that the state government’s move is counterproductive – business event delegates generate five times the economic benefits of a regular leisure tourist – also because of the ongoing growth in venue space and accommodation options in Perth.

“While we understand the straitened circumstances facing the state government at this time, a lower level of funding for PCB in future years will make the task of increasing our market share extremely difficult,” he added.

A PCB statement said that the CVB “looks forward to working with the state government over the next months to ensure the current level of funding is reinstated for its future contract period”.

MICE organisers can benefit from Regal Hotels’ Book More, Enjoy More promotion; the more rooms booked, the more privileges offered.

From now until December 31, planners who book at least 15 guestrooms for any meeting and conference event at Regal Hotels in Hong Kong and China can pick at least three privileges.

For bookings of 15 to 35 rooms, event attendees can choose from Option A:
– one room upgrade to the next category
– in-room local phone calls
– coffee, tea and soft drinks throughout the meeting
– 10 per cent discount on rental of in-house audiovisual equipment

Groups that reserve up to 54 rooms can choose four privileges from Option A and the following perks, Option B:
– one room upgrade to Suite with Executive Club Floor privileges
– upgrade to themed break
– Internet access in general session meeting room
– 10 per cent discount on F&B consumption in the hotel’s restaurants and bar for in-house guests

Delegations that take up more than 55 rooms may select from Option A, B and C.

Option C entails
– use of one secretariat room
– one evening cocktail reception for one hour
– one free guestroom for the event
– 10 per cent discount on event master bill.

Terms and conditions apply.

For enquiries, visit www.Regalhotel.com.

DESIGNED to give guests an opportunity for work and play in South Korea, Grand Hyatt Incheon is offering a new Grand Value Meeting Package until June 30, 2016.

Available for groups with at least 20 pax, the package provides half- and full-day meeting options, which include rental of meeting rooms for five hours and nine hours respectively, and coffee breaks and lunch.

Wi-Fi access, conference amenities as well as free rental of LCD projectors and flip charts will also be offered. A dedicated event planning personnel will handle all meeting arrangements from start to end.

The half- and full-day packages cost 77,000 won (US$71) and 99,000 won per pax respectively.

For planners with longer events in mind, meeting and stay options include a one-night stay plus breakfast. The full-day meeting package with stay is available for 285,000 won per pax, while the half-day meeting package including stay costs 263,000 won per person.

Package guests also enjoy a special discount at Inha International Medical Centre and can choose between a Seoul or Incheon day tour, a gala dinner or transportation to and from wherever they want to visit.

All prices stated include 10 per cent VAT.

For reservations, call (82) 32-745-1234 or visit www.incheon.grand.hyatt.com.

THE A$100 million (US$79 million) beachfront resort and conference centre, Elements of Byron, opens in December on Belongil Beach in Byron Bay, New South Wales as part of Accor’s MGallery brand.

The new build with its “1987 beach shack” aesthetic will feature 193 one- and two-bedroom villas, 94 of which will be completed by Christmas.

A large lagoon pool will weave its way throughout the resort, which will also be home to a signature restaurant and lobby bar, pool bar, gym and a five-suite garden spa.

Elements of Byron will also be equipped with a dedicated conference wing with capacity for 400 delegates in one room or across four spaces.

Accor vice president franchise hotels, Dino Mezzatesta, said the resort’s beachfront location made it a perfect fit with the MGallery’s Serenity category and that the resort would appeal to key Asian markets including China, India, Singapore and Malaysia.

“Accor has identified that our luxury and upscale growth sits comfortably within the Asia-Pacific region and we have an increased focus on elevating our luxury product via a number of channels, including tradeshows at which Elements of Byron will be showcased,” said Mezzatesta.

“There are few true resort venue options in the Byron Bay market, so Elements of Byron will certainly be a distinct and sought-out option for leisure and business travellers.”

BRINGING the cook-and-chill method of food preparation to the buffet line next month is the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), which hopes that this will ensure consistency in the quality of food served.

Already deployed for off-site catering and western set menus, the cook-and-chill method also does away with the need for the food to be kept at high temperatures for long periods of time.

The decision was announced in a BCCK media statement. Commenting on the effectiveness of this method for western set menus, executive chef Thomas Schmid said in the release: “A set menu for 1,500 guests can be served in less than 20 minutes with food being at its absolute peak of freshness. The flavour and appearance are retained as well.”

He added that BCCK intends to develop new menus and revise current popular menus to benefit from the cook-and-chill process.

“Our focus is on careful and thorough experimentation to bring out the best that food can deliver, especially in large event settings where time is of the essence,” said Schmid.

THE Victorian state government has cemented the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre’s (MCEC) growth plans with the announcement of up to A$210 million (US$167.6 million) as part of the 2015-2016 state budget.

MCEC has turned away at least 20 per cent of business opportunities over the last three years due to the lack of available space, and the news has been soundly welcome by the team.

Chief executive Peter King said in a press release: “Melbourne has led the growth of the business events industry globally for the last decade and it’s wonderful to see the government investing in this lucrative and important sector.

“MCEC’s expansion will significantly expand the South Wharf precinct footprint to offer a range of flexible spaces to meet the changing needs of the business events industry, address global competition and ensure we retain our position as Australia’s number one business events destination.”

Victoria had last October proposed an expansion of the venue including new retail space, additional car parks, hotel accommodation and multi-purpose convention and exhibition facilities.

The second phase of the facility’s planned development will ensure MCEC remains Australia’s largest convention and exhibition space.

According to King, about A$580 million of economic contribution is generated by MCEC annually.

When expansion works are completed, MCEC is anticipated to bring in A$175 million more each year, welcome 74,000 more international visitors and create hundreds of jobs.

USING real-time data analytics to streamline business matching, local start-up company Jublia has created a multi-functional solution for modern meetings.

The tailor-made app platform allows event attendees to schedule meetings with potential business partners weeks before the event in order to maximise their handshake count on the day itself.

“We act as event consultants as part of our solution offering. We’re not just providing a tech solution… we work closely with (the organisers) throughout the whole life cycle (of the event) and advise them on what networking objectives they should have,” Jublia’s chief technology officer, Chinab Chugh, told TTGmice e-Weekly.

According to COO Errol Lim, Jublia provides an “all-in-one solution”, running and tracking the performance of the engagement strategy, while breaking down data collected so that organisers can evaluate the networking success of their event.

Although 40 per cent of Jublia’s clients hail from abroad, there is no need to send a team overseas to manage events, as its software solution is cloud-based.

“That makes it very easily scalable to as many events as we can have,” Chugh said.

However, Lim told TTGmice e-Weekly that the company does provide on-site support upon request, using its software to discover hidden opportunities for customers and directing them to the right booths or people at the event.

In the last year alone, the young firm worked with over 50 events, including big names like Unilever and Messe Düsseldorf Asia, and is striving to grow its business further.

“We’re looking at expanding the team; maybe opening an office in Hong Kong, another MICE hub, as well as a place with a very similar business environment to Singapore,” Lim revealed. “What we’ve done here, we hope to replicate and do better in Hong Kong.”

 Established in 2014, the Singaporean company specialises in business matching and offers free prints of its book, Jublia’s Designing Business Matching, for TTGmice e-Weekly readers who make a request here.