Programme Day 1

No industry has been left untouched by the pandemic, and needless to say, our travel industry took the biggest pie of the hit. Businesses have been driven by necessity to operate in new and creative ways, to remarkable effect. The way the business events community has come together so rapidly to achieve extraordinary things is definitely through collaboration. Come listen to our notable keynote speaker Mr. Senthil Gopinath, an industry leader to learn more on the benefits of exchanging information, networks and expertise among the industry peers to steer towards a better future.

These days, sustainability is much more than a buzzword, and wise business leaders have realised that you don't have to choose between what's good for business and what's good for the planet. Business and environmental objectives can, and should work together. Making events sustainable has become essential for success in today’s events industry. This topic grows increasingly more important as an evaluation criterion for meeting planners, and venues and destinations are often asked about their implementation of specific green initiatives as part of a bid.

Our special keynote session of this year will also include presentations and an overview about this key topic.

People these days are actively researching ways to make more environmental friendly choices in their lives. Even in our very own business events industry, potential conference attendees will evaluate all the options and make a conscious choice to spend their time and money on more sustainable events. By choosing a more sustainable conference, attendees feel more comfortable and confident throughout the whole experience.

This session will uncover how organisers, venues and destinations can gain more support, publicity, and advocacy from their target audience before, during, and after the event – all of which contributes to greater profits and success by adapting trending sustainable practices.

Technology has always been an odd partner in the world of events. Often it was an afterthought, and the industry never really got serious about using technology to reach an audience better as it wasn’t a real need. Paradoxically, it took the pandemic to push technology to the forefront and force the community to rethink and redefine the future of the events industry.

This tech-filled session will generously share on how the future will challenge the paradigm of event concept and rejuvenated automation of the events industry.

Let’s talk about one of the most dreaded subjects in the events industry: the hybrid event budget. As an amalgamation of in-person and virtual events, hybrid events are complex, versatile, and sometimes hard to budget for. While they are typically more expensive than in-person events, there are also many ways event planners can save money with a hybrid event and see a higher event ROI. In this session, our industry experts will share tips and tricks for reducing your costs and increasing your returns when planning your next hybrid event.

The pandemic has definitely left a huge footprint on the travel patterns,where new trends have emerged and has seen a surge in domestic tourism and changing travel preferences among various demographics. No one size fits all, and it's the same for different markets. In this session, we will explore the shift of changes that affected the travel trends in key markets such as China, India, the United Kingdom and Europe.

It's quite a competitive venue world right now. There are so many new venues that seem to be springing up like mushrooms. This simply means that clients, organisers, and meeting planners have an abundance of different options and get to pick and choose the venue that fits their exact needs for a particular event. It's high time for venues to distinguish themselves on the market, making sure that they stand out. They need to keep abreast with trends and understand what are the factors that drive the clients, what holds them back, and what gets them from NO to YES. Come and discover the trends our venue experts ought to share!