The ICCA Business Intelligence (BI) platform is a game-changer for destinations looking to secure key conference wins and elevate their strategic approach to business development. At the 2024 ICCA BI Coopetition, finalist Revin Samuel from Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) showcased how ICCA BI can be leveraged to identify opportunities, refine bidding strategies, and drive destination growth.
In this interview, Revin shares his hands-on experience using ICCA BI—from harnessing its ‘Potential Meeting Destination’ and ‘Meeting Organisation’ features to securing high-potential leads and enhancing productivity. He also reflects on his journey through the BI Coopetition, highlighting what motivated him to participate and the key lessons learned along the way.
Read on to discover how data-driven insights can give destinations a competitive edge, and why Revin believes every ICCA member should tap into the full potential of ICCA BI.
What features of the ICCA BI database were most useful in your project?
For a beginner, I find the ‘Potential Meeting Destination” and “Meeting Organisation” is the most useful feature in searching for all the database. The best way to research on the potential lead to be brought into destination is to simply key in the destination that you wanted to host your event, followed by the choices of local host that can host the event. The ICCA-BI is fully equipped with analysis that have been done using the old datasets that have been collected/keyed-in by researchers or ICCA-BI users.
Can you share examples of how you have leveraged ICCA BI to secure key wins and drive growth?
First and foremost, I chose Penang as the “Potential Meeting Destination” in the meeting destination. The main goal here is to search as many leads as possible in one search, thus using the destination diversify the search comparing to search for the country.
With leads being widely searched, I needed to refine my search to focus on those with the highest potential for bringing events to Penang. To do this, I selected a specific market sector where I identified a potential local organizer interested in hosting events. Most importantly, I ensured that the “Decision URL” box was checked to access the event’s bidding guidelines, allowing for better preparation and an initial review of the hosting requirements.
What aspects of ICCA BI do you use most frequently? How have these tools helped to boost productivity and generate insights?
The ICCA Business Intelligence Tool provides users with an intuitive interface that allows for efficient data filtering and extensive customization. This makes it easier to refine searches or initiate them based on filtered leads. In the "Meeting Destination" section, users can quickly identify leads relevant to their location, enabling researchers and BI users to discover potential opportunities for hosting events. As a result, this functionality is a significant advancement for BI users.
Tell us about your experience participating in the BI Coopetition. What motivated you to submit an entry?
The BI Coopetition came as an exciting and entirely new opportunity, discovered through an email. The only hurdle to joining was securing approval from a supervisor. The strategy developed for the competition leaned heavily on PCEB’s capabilities to identify potential leads, sparking a strong desire to showcase this approach to the esteemed ICCA community. This drive led to the submission of an entry for PCEB, motivated by the passion to share innovative ideas rather than the expectation of winning. To the surprise of many, and as an independent researcher, being named one of the finalists was an unexpected and gratifying achievement.
We understand you strategically applied ICCA BI to gain a competitive edge and achieve business wins; could you elaborate?
Indeed. Business wins does not only bring economic impact to our destination, it also boosts the destination legacy in the global platform. Securing business leads in ICCA-BI is in a form or a competition between ICCA-BI users around the world where destinations need to bid for the event and eventually there will be only one winner.
What is your key message to ICCA members who are currently using (and not using) the ICCA BI tool?
The ICCA BI tool is a collaborative effort between researchers from ICCA community in maintaining and updating potential leads into the platform. The BI tool is a super-reliant tool to search on potential leads based on association. Therefore, please do explore and make use of it efficiently.