Picking up the pieces....

I will be reducing the frequency of my posts over the next 6-8 weeks. The frequency level should pick up again in late April.

Tourism in Singapore got a shot in the arm on Monday when the government announced a S$90 mn injection of funding for the industry. At the top of the list for how this money will be spent is the "aggressive" marketing of Singapore (as a tourism destination) to countries in the region. This makes sense given the economic climate and the target markets are seemingly correct - capitalisiing on shorter travel times; cheaper airfares; and hopefully offering tourists good value for money (please note that good value for money does not mean cheap.....it simply means good value for money).

The other area of focus is the M.I.C.E. sector - convincing MICE event owners and organisers to hold their events in Singapore. Such events include tradeshows/expositions, conventions and conferences, sporting events, festivals and the like.

So this is great and should give our industry a filip. However, dark clouds loom. Companies in the US are reportedly cutting back on organising corporate conferences and events. They are also cutting back on the number of such events their employees attend. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is expecting a 12% fall in the number of conference attendees in 2009; plus a 9% drop in off-site meetings and corporate events. Leading the move in these reductions are banks and financial institutions - some of the strongest supports of the MICE industry over the years. These corporations are cutting back on the number of conferences and events they get involved in - adding to the domino effect. Their counterparts in Singapore should follow suit - so the S$90mn boost announced by the government is really timely.

I look forward to greater things for M.I.C.E!!!!

Destination Marketing - Do or Die!

The sudden and fast-paced transformation of the global economic landscape in the past 10 months has resulted in increased government intervention in business, not just the financial sector but other key sectors. One segment that has been sidelined (for now) is the tourism/MICE sector. Many countries and regions are seeing falls in the number of incoming visitors and are forecasting lower numbers and tourism receipts for the current year. People are travelling less - whether for business or pleasure.

This is precisely the time when government agencies responsible for promoting tourism need to step up.......its a lot of marketing of a destination; shouting out loud and being heard; being seen at all relevant tradeshows; frequently updating the destination website. The agency responsible for marketing the city as a destination for business-related events is more often than not a Convention Visitors Bureau (CVB). It can be quite a challenge for the CVB in times like these. Marketing and promotional efforts require money and the eyes of the general public, spending on marketing campaigns, advertisements etc is sometimes misread as being wasteful.

In tight economic times, government agencies are being cautioned against unnecessary spending (that means cut out the bells, whistles and frills). Unfortunately, destination marketing is made up of a lot of bells, whistles and frills and the more the better. I think full-on efforts are needed, in times like these, to promote destinations as M.I.C.E. ready.

Wondering about the "I" in M.I.C.E.

Ever wondered what the "I" in M.I.C.E. stands for? Its something of a mystery to those who are not part of our industry. The Incentives business is a big one.....actually a huge one. I daresay most or all organisations/companies use some form of incentives to motivate staff to exceed performance expectations. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book.....er..I mean management tools. The introduction of a travel package or holiday as the incentive is, however, somewhat recent.

In order for a travel package or holiday to function as a "incentive", it has to have a very strong appeal to the employees participating in the incentive programme. The programme will not work if the prize at the end of the race is not perceived as attractive. So how does one characterise an "attractive" incentive travel award? I would look at a few things:
- the travel itinerary has to be unique, customised to a point that it is not something that a holiday maker can buy off the shelf;
- the overall perception of the award has to be one of "high value", "luxury" and the elements of the award needs to deliver on this perception via the treatment of the award winners, the type and quality of the accommodations, the food & beverage etc;
- at the end of the day, the award winners should walk away one of the most memorable experiences of their lifetime;
-details of the travel award - destination, accommodation, activities - need to be made known to employees at the start of the incentive programme so that they have a clear picture of the prize that awaits them.

With the aim of making every award winner feel like royalty, incentive travel programmes put great demands on the organisers. But that is the fun part - the challenge to be creative, to come up with unique itineraries, to put special touches into simple day-to-day activities etc......I leave this with you for now.

CLOSED to members of the Press!

I have been contemplating the on-site aspects of running a conference/convention the past couple of weeks. On-site event management is one of those areas that more often than not test the nerves of event managers. You have a bagful of variables that are not in your control and that seem to have a life and will of their own. These variables always pop up at the most inconvenient of times.

For the large conventions and conferences, or those which run for 2 days or more, organisers and event managers like to have a room set aside as the Event Secretariat or Organiser's Office. This room has multiple functions - its a meeting room for the organiser and event manager to sit down and review ops plans; its a storage place for event staff to keep their handbags and other personal belongings; its a resting place for event staff during break times....and so on.

To keep it short.....keep the Press/Media out of the Event Secretariat/Organiser's Office. In fact I never let the Press/Media know that such a room exists. Do not get me wrong.....this is in no way a negative reflection of the Press/Media. I believe that the Press/Media is great for the MICE industry and for the specific conference/convention. Its just that the Event Secretariat/Organiser's Office is mostly manned by temporary staff and confidential event operations documents are kept in the office for easy reference (by working staff). Hence the danger of "wrong information", "mis-information" or "misleading information" being picked up by the Press/Media and splashed out for all to see the next day.......so the moral here is keep the Press/Media out of the Event Secretariat/Organiser's Office.

Sponsorships - making it meaningful!

An article I recently read in one of the local business dailies got me thinking about sponsorships. Sponsors are a key stakeholder in any MICE event and their contributions (financial and otherwise) go a long way in aiding event organisers/hosts to cover event costs. With the increased scope of media coverage afforded to MICE events and the pervasive use of search engines to pull up news clips and photographs, the life-span of sponsorship branding has extended into years. This provides a very strong selling point for purveyors of sponsorship packages.

However, it is not enough for organisations to simple sponsor a MICE event. The real and high incremental value of sponsorship participation comes when a sponsor capitalises on opportunities to leverage on the sponsorship:
- gaining direct access to a group of potential clientele (in a single event), who under normal circumstances would required multiple efforts spread across an extended time frame to reach
- gaining VIP treatment for its own group of top customers during the course of the event (scoring brownie points)
- dovetailing its marketing activities to add on to what the organiser is already doing to promote, brand and market the event
- ensuring that its participating staff are adequately and properly briefed on its sponsorship objectives and are proactive in ensuring these objectives are fulfilled (if not exceeded)

Organisations which actively sponsor major sporting events have become quite adept at leveraging on the sponsorship. This same level and intensity should be applied to MICE events. No event is too small that it cannot help improve a relationship the sponsor has with at least one of its existing customers or potential customer.

Sponsors need to move away from viewing MICE events sponsorships as branding exercises, to exploring how they can better connect with their customers (or potential customers) during the course of the event. Treat sponsorships as opportunities to carry out one-to-one marketing; networking; customer relationship building.......this will go a long way in increasing the return on investment for any kind of MICE event sponsorship.

Benjamin Cassim
Temasek Poly

The EXperiential Factor

Meetings and conferences can be very monochrome in nature - colourless, officious and dare I say, boring. Two factors that stand out (in a conventional way), when refering to the attractiveness of a meeting/conference, are content and attendee profile. I am not going to address these here. Given the very competitive environment with meeting/conference organisers clamouring for the attention of potential attendees, the X Factor or Experiential Factor is now a "buzz" word when defining the attractiveness of one meeting/conference over another.

Meetings/Conference organisers need to pay close and careful attention to the overall experience of they attendees. Attendees are the best mouthpieces and their judgements (positive or negative take away from attending a meeting/conference) carry a lot of weight among their peers.

Some areas where EXperiential Factors come into play - the interface with frontline service staff (friendliness, efficiency, knowledgable etc); timeliness (sessions starting and ending on time); the ancillary activities like cocktail sessions, dinners, basically the fun stuff (with particular efforts made to showcase the uniqueness of the destination); friendliness of venue staff (something that organisers often forget to emphasise to the venue managers); and efforts made to accommodate special needs attendees.

Positive attendee experience leads to positive publicity. It is important to note that such publicity is not a one-time thing. People enjoy recalling positive experiences.....people enjoy reminiscing. So......as organisers we are in the position to create and delivery legendary memorable experiences to attendees!

Benjamin Cassim
Temasek Polytechnic

Meetings, corporate events need to flourish

I shared a short video clip featuring Dr Patrick Dixon, author of Futurewise, with my students this past week. Dr Dixon was speaking on the topic, "Future of Corporate Events, Travel and Conferences". With the advent of advanced telecommunications technologies and the current great need to trim and manage costs, real-time communications across the globe via fibre-optic cables seem to be replacing the good old "let's meet tomorrow" route. However, Dr Dixon's view is that even with such advances, the need for face-to-face meetings will not disappear. There will be times when companies will need to gather people (staff or business partners or customers) together for such events.

This is something I believe in. As much as we talk of corporations and organisations, we must not forget that such entities are run and managed by people. People are not machines; people are beings with souls and spirits. We thrive on emotional and physical contact - the need to trust and be trusted; the need to convince others of our point of view; the need to shake the hand of a customer as a means of "sealing the deal"; the need to converse with a "real" person vs across communication cables. So......companies will continue to organise and host meetings; business executives will continue to attend seminars, conferences, talks etc.

Given the current downturn in most economies today and the failure of institutions which were meant to be foundation stones on which economies were built on, TRUST will come to the forefront when companies deal with each other or deal with their customers. The "face-to-face" encounter is an important element of this trust-building process.

Meetings will live on!

Benjamin Cassim
Temasek Polytechnic