“Winning stronger and bigger”, Chinese Taipei

Organised by MEETTaiwan, partnering with ICCA AP,  The 10th “Master Camp” took place on 12 August 2022, Taipei.  Waikin, the Regional Director, ICCA AP was leading the workshop, onsite. This is a bid strategy roundtable and ICCA as the content and workshop designer. Some key milestones have achieved on this 10 years anniversary of the partnership.   During this one day programme, The Deputy Director General, Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic, Guan-Jyh Lee and Simon Wang, President & CEO, TAITRA together with international and local experts, work together with the industry experts and professionals at all levels to win stronger and bigger in attracting international events. In 2022, we gathered the greater numbers of industry experts namely Matt Pearce, Bert van Walbeek, Gary Grimmer, Lesley Williams, , Amber Chen, Rene Chang and ICCA Regional Directors across the regions to share thoughts and knowledge.  Participants increased to 30% compared to the previous years with more than 70% young professionals/ future leaders participated at this workshop. The design of this interactive workshop allows participants at all levels to provide their ideas and approach at a real case scenario; and appreciate their contribution could make an impact to community development as well as to change the world.

 

 

“There are no losers”, Goyang

The first Asia Pacific BE Youth Challenge, collaboration between Goyang Convention & Visitors Bureau, Korea MICE Association and ICCA, and supported by Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau, took place in Goyang, South Korea on 23 Aug2022. Submissions were received from student teams in Korea, China and Malaysia. Six finalists presented their “creative marketing solution for an emerging destination” to a panel of the judges:  Sandra Lady, CMP, Darwin Convention Centre (AUS), Jane Vong Holmes, GainingEdge (AUS), Dr. Keiko Nishimoto, CMP, Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Management (JPN), Hyo-In Son (KOR), Prof. Eunjoo Yoon, Hallym University (KOR) and Prof. Hyejin Yoon, Baewha University (KOR). The final presentation is hosted by Waikin Wong, Regional Director-Asia Pacific, ICCA.

 

All finalist entries were impressive and leveraged on the selected destination’s strengths and assets and employed the use of IT in their marketing proposal. Thoughtful research efforts were apparent.

 

In the end, the judges awarded the first prize to Team Future Gems comprising Miss Ting Sze Yie and Miss Lau Jie Xi from Taylors University Malaysia. They, and the runner up from Chung-ang University and Sejong University from Team Young Boss, win a hosted trip to Penang to attend BE Penang 2022, courtesy of Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau.

 

“In every competition, there are winners and losers, but all of you finalists are winners from this experience. I hope you will take away many lessons from this competition whose goal is to identify and groom future talent”, said Peter Lee, MD of Goyang CVB.

 

The Asia Pacific BE Youth Challenge was part of the Goyang Destination Week 2022.

 

Global Associations endorse Malaysia’s Business Events Week (MBEW) 2022, Kuala Lumpur

After the pandemic years (2020-2019), there was little doubt that this year’s MBEW, organized by the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) was going to be special. Besides the endorsement by national and regional trade associations, MBEW 2022 welcomed the participation – in person or virtually – of the world’s thought leaders in the meetings industry, including ICCA.

 

Commenting on this year’s theme, Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture the honourable Nancy Shukri said that “Reshaping Business Events” is very timely because sticking to the status quo is insufficient in a world that’s becoming increasingly different. Technology is a key enabler, and collaboration will be essential to accelerate recovery and build a more resilient and sustainable industry.

 

ICCA Roundtable at Malaysia Business Events Week (MBEW) 2022, Kuala Lumpur

ICCA Asia Pacific Regional Office organized a Rountable discussion on the importance of research and data application for business as part of MBEW 2022.  Together with more than 50 industry experts and professionals in Malaysia, the Roundtable discussion was led and moderated by Waikin Wong, ICCA AP Regional Director.  Dato’ Sri Abdul Khani bin Daud, CEO, Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau, member of ICCA Board of Directors opened the ICCA Roundtable and invited panelists inclusive of Daniel Chong, Sunway University, and Kelvin Tong, Eurodrug  to talk about “The Importance of Research and Data Application” in business development setting.  Jean Hendry, Tourism New Zealand also joined virtually to share her take on changes in business leads research as a result of the global pandemic.  

 

Reshape the World of MICE, Asian MICE Forum 2022

The 17th Asian MICE Forum took place digitally this year on 6 September, Waikin Wong, Regional Director, ICCA AP joined Nichapa Yoswee, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau

(TCEB) and Ian Wu, Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (SACEOS) to discuss and share perspectives on the MICE Megatrends. The session was moderated by Jerchin Lee, Co-leader, MeetTaiwan.

 

ICCA AP Chapter Digital Knowledge Exchange “Human Resources in a Disrupted Meetings Industry Landscape"

This online session on 15 Sept saw 51 participants. The session ran for 2 hours with presentations from ICCA Members - Houston First Corporation (USA); KINTEX (Republic of Korea), and Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Malaysia) with case studies on outsourcing to external experts; leveraging on employees to influence organisation’s image and value; and a glimpse into HR and Talent options our industry is about to embrace.

A discussion moderated by ICCA Regional Director Waikin Wong had PACTO Convex (Indonesia); PACIFICO Yokohama (Japan) and GL Events (France) on the panel, with questions and lively discussions from the floor. We are pleased to report that our random ‘poll’ indicated participants are looking forward to more of the same.

 

The next Chapter get together will be in Krakow, Poland however we will continue to look for ways to include and engage the region’s vast membership in discussions, introductions and networking. This is the Chapter’s third meeting in 2022, of which two were online to cater to members who could not join IMEX Frankfurt or ICCA Congress Krakow.  

 

 

“Organizational Changes and its Impact on Talent Management”, Bangkok

Talent management is the key area dedicated to recruiting, managing, creating, and maintaining the best and brightest workers in the industry. Talent management is critical to an organization's corporate plan because it oversees one of the organization's most valuable assets: its employees. The pandemic has brought about significant organizational changes which was critical for its sustenance in times of crisis. During the ICCA Education session at ITCMA, Bangkok, the first in person and digital event after 2 years,

Waikin Wong, Regional Director, ICCA AP together with  Kyuree Kim, Korea MICE Association, Kate Sarasin, Lecturer,  Kasetsart University and joined by Sumate Sudasna, president of Thailand Incentive and Convention Association (TICA) shared why changes were necessary for the organization and how it catalysed towards the organization’s competitiveness and overcome the current resource gap in Business Events industry as we embark the road to economic recovery.