Article actual event: Aug 24, 2021

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Earlier in July, the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) held their annual conference through a hybrid format; a
myriad of interesting discussions were held online on two separate days which led up to a two-day onsite conference at the Swiss Tech Convention Center in Lausanne.

Amongst the fruitful sessions held, one had placed Asia in the spotlight. Business Report: Asia is a segment that featured MICE industry leaders in the Asian region and their thoughts on the recent developments. This year, the panel consisted of:

• Aloysius Arlando (Immediate Past President, AIPC)
• Richard Ireland (Managing Director, Asia, Clarion Events)
• Ong Wee Min (Vice President, MICE, Marina Bay Sands)
• Errol Lim (COO and Co-founder, Jublia)

With the impacts and disruptions caused by COVID-19, the panel proceeded to discuss their perspectives on maximising their opportunities in a post-pandemic industry.

Key Insights from the Session

“What do you think is the current state of events in Asia?”

Richard: One of the complexities about Southeast Asia in particular is that our economies are intertwined and as a result, our events require a lot of country-to-country travel. That still remains a little bit complex. I suppose we are going to have to be a bit patient, start with lots of trials and understand that the bridge for recovery is taking a bit longer than we have hoped, but if we start and focus on safe recovery that continues with our hybrid efforts, we will soon have events of scale as we are used to doing so.

Wee Min: It’s been a very challenging 15 months for us venue providers as a lot of our venues have been repurposed for public health purposes. But as we transition away from a pandemic to, probably and hopefully, an endemic, it will be about how we could work together with our key stakeholders like clients, peers and technology partners to position the industry to be stronger than before. That is probably the greatest impeding challenge but also the great opportunity there is for all of us.

“How about the current state of digital events?”

Errol: I think that the state of the industry is very mixed. Digital has indeed flourished with a 400% increase in competitors. Just in 2021 alone, there has been 770 million USD of investments in event technology and I do not just mean virtual or AV production platforms, but also badgeless and contactless technologies that will probably be a staple for a post-pandemic and even the endemic era that we have.

Regardless, there is a lot of excitement and innovation right now. Some organisers who have gotten a headstart in the digital curve are enjoying themselves by being able to prove ROIs to their customers thanks to the new technologies, but at the same time, things are relatively bleak for some industries that are going through a third and a fourth resurgence.

I think countries in Southeast Asia, Singapore included, have to be vigilant about the biggest takeaway: it is very rare for us to have an opportunity to be right smack in a disruptive sector. Instead of fiddling with our thumbs and trying to wish for something we cannot control, we should seize and capitalise these exciting opportunities.

“What do you think recovery looks like, and when do you see it happening?”

Richard: I think it’s really important to understand that recovery is driven by three key pieces:

1. Safe measures. As a very critical piece, we have to make our customers feel very safe about any environment that they step into.
2. Digital technologies. During this pause in a live environment, we have never had better insight about our customers that are telling us that:

• people thrive on live experiences. It is something to look forward to, but at the moment,;
• We need to use that insight to plan experiences and completely understand, listen and act upon what customers are telling us.

It’s all about what is safe, what is possible and what insights are we getting from our customers & whether we’re acting upon it. When we make sure we have fulfilled these criteria, we will take this through a live experience.

“What would the future of digital events look like once we’ve recovered back to live events?”

Errol: We first need to define what recovery is. For the events industry, especially for event organisers, I would think it means going back to the basics. Essentially, you would be serving up two main value propositions to your attendees, which include:

1. Being able to meet the right people through networking, and;
2. The value of content.

I also believe that the recovery of the industry would be one way or another, hybrid-related, but the definition of ‘hybrid’ is still debatable. Many other B2C industries like sports and gaming are taking the lead on hybrid initiatives, so I feel that recovery should have already started earlier in 2020, where we should see this not as a shortcoming, but as a pivot to seize the opportunities with the current resources that we have.

Virtual, however, will never replace physical contexts: there is no comparison as live events just give a much more phenomenal experience for the attendees. Rather, virtual complements them with supporting digital activation strategies that lead up to the live events themselves. This is happening in the U.S. with Emerald X’s upcoming shows for the year end — but when will it happen here? Singapore, much like a lot of the other countries in Southeast Asia, would do very well with a global visitorship. The future would definitely involve a lot of experimentation, as our part of the world defines what hybrid means to us and the events here.

“What would new business models resemble in a post-pandemic world?”

Wee Min: I can see two phases of recovery: the first phase that targets domestic markets, followed by a longer phase that is contingent entirely on travel relations between safe countries.

We are an industry that is founded on the need for people to meet and transact knowledge or networks. In the immediate months or years that we have hopefully transited to an endemic situation, it will depend entirely on how willing people would want to meet after knowing that we can still communicate through the use of technology.

So as our region progresses towards the second phase, I firmly believe that it will be an ‘O2O2O world’: an offline-to-online-to-offline process where virtual bridges our communities to connect with each other during the months that we are not meeting. Gone are the days of meeting once every few years, as we would meet more frequently within our smaller communities by leveraging on the technologies we have invested during this period.

Closing Thoughts: “What was the one thing that you have learned over the past 15 months?”

Errol: Looking back now, I think a quote from Charles Darwin would perfectly sum it up: “It is not the strongest or fittest that survives, it is the one most adaptable to change.” I do see that a lot in our current climate, where bad companies collapse and good companies survive, but great companies thrive. History has shown other pandemic situations where companies had successfully adapted, like Alibaba during the SARS outbreak, so I think the tenacity to adapt and make the tough decisions is crucial.

Another thing that is specific to the events industry is stamina: we are one of the worst industries with all our postponements and uncertainties, yet we need to have the stamina to wait and run the race to make the best out of this pandemic.

Wee Min: Resilience. I think this is the key word that came across to me for the whole industry. The ability to not just ‘roll over and die’, but rather to come together in small groups and brainstorm on how we could redefine and reimagine the future.

Richard: For me, listen to your customer. While our industry is having some trouble returning to live, some of the other industries that we serve are actually doing very well from understanding what their customers want. At the end of the day, both live and virtual platforms are only just channels, so we must really look at what our businesses and customers need. Focus on that, and we will live to fight another day.