To bring out the event "Convening Leaders from PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) from its American home turf - an historic first in six decades - it needed a context as unprecedented as the health crisis. Above all, it needed to identify a destination that would embody the near future of the MICEAll the while offering state-of-the-art health guarantees. This is a specification that too few destinations can claim to meet today, with the majority of players still far too fragile to begin a real recovery, especially as the trend is towards border closure…
Of course, the holding of the TravelRevive à Singapore at the end of November - within the Marina Bay Sandshad already given signs of confidence. It was now time to take the next step on the road to recovery and a return to a certain normality. Or rather a new normality, given how much the guest experience has evolved in recent months. Starting with the international traveller's journey, obviously subject to unprecedented constraints at the airport, in the hotel and then in the conference centre. This is the price you have to pay to be one of the privileged few who still take their seats on long-haul flights, and who can avoid the fourteen provided they comply with an extremely demanding protocol. Repeated tests (PCR and antigenic), systematic temperature checks, a strictly controlled and geolocated itinerary: the traveller and the destination must make sacrifices to rediscover yourself in complete safety.
The route through the conference centre has also changed. The traditional more or less formal interactions with other participants have given way to a system of hermetically sealed "bubbles", within which social distance is strictly respected. This is a logistical headache when it comes to managing the flow of visitors, which is expected to increase as the regulations are relaxed.
So much for the constraints. But as the saying goes, out of every crisis comes an opportunity. And it's clear that PCMA, the Singapore Tourism Board and Marina Bay Sands have worked together to imagine post-Covid MICE and pave the way for a new events era. In the image of this new "Hybrid Broadcast StudioThe technological potential of this recently inaugurated conference centre opens up new horizons for the 'MICE of the future'.
From the very first conference, the tone was set. On stage at the Sand Expo and Convention Center, Sherrif Karamatthe head of PCMA, appears as a hologram. To his right, Keith Tanhis counterpart from the Singapore Tourism Board - physically present - and on the other side Laura CitronCEO of London & Partners, in a videoconference on a human-sized screen. A Toronto-Singapore-London triangle that immediately sets the tone for this 2021 edition of Convening Leaders.hybrid and global events. For two days, the various speakers converged more or less virtually on Singapore, from footballer Megan Rapinoe to former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and editorialist Thomas Friedman. The aim was to come up with concrete answers to the many questions posed by professionals in the sector, and to identify sources of growth, or at least optimism. What is the right business model for organisers, conference centres and destinations? What are the location criteria for a 'phygital' event? What can we expect from the vaccine for the MICE sector, and for business travel in general? These are just some of the questions that the panel of speakers will have been able to answer, with a view to revitalising the 'meetings & events' machine.
This ground-breaking edition of Convening Leaders will undoubtedly go down in history. Not only for reaching an audience of some 3000 spectators worldwide on its online format, but also for meeting the health standards ad hoc 300 participants on site, including some fifteen 'long-haul' guests including a French contingent. Having been deprived of international meetings for a long year, the local and foreign participants were delighted to come together for this joint reflection on the future of the sector, confirming the need for face-to-face meetings. Buoyed by the success of this PCMA event, Singapore should be able to continue on the road to recovery, gradually increasing the number of participants. We already have our sights set on a major new challenge: the organisation of the World Economic Forumwill be transferred from Davos to the Asian hub in May.
