Association Day at ITB Asia - 20 Oct 2011

I had the opportunity to attend the ITB Asia trade show on Thursday, 20 October 2011.  The event was held at the Suntec Singapore Exhibition & Convention Centre. I spent most of the day attending the Association Day sessions, which featured the Center for Association Leadership (ASAE). The primary focus of the sessions was association meetings/conventions and how these events have presented platforms for associations to grow their membership bases and add value to members.

Current trends indicate that the associations meetings sector will continue to grow over the next few years and be a critical contributor to the MICE sector. This is good news! Here are some interesting infobites I picked up during the course of the day:

1. For technical-based associations, the most compelling component of an association meeting/conference would be the scientific programme.  The programme content - topics or research areas discussed and who the presenters are - is the major draw factor for attendees.
2. There is a general trending towards holding regional-based association meetings and conferences instead of the common practice of a global-based meeting or conference.
3. Many associations engage the services of a professional conference organizer (PCO) to help in the managing of their meetings and conferences.  In order for this relationship to work (and therefore the event succeed), it is important that it is built on a collaborative platform rather than a customer-service provider platform.
4. The issue of keeping delegates engaged during conference sessions was discussed.  It is interesting to note that as much as they are multiple techniques and practices to build engagement - facilitated conversations, deep dive sessions, ignite sessions, experiential learning, speed learning, and others - feedback from some association members and PCOs was that association delegates prefer the traditional methods of delivering conferences and technical sessions.  Attempting to change format could result in mutinies.

I took some photos of the event.  I do want to issue a caveat on the quality of the pictures - I am in no way good at photography.

This was the Registration Area for the ITB Asia event. The location was the ground floor of the convention centre, facing the entrance  The registration area for Association Day was one level up and located in the ballroom foyer.

These 2 photos were taken during the Association Day sessions. The seating style for the floor was based on the half-rounds format where 5-6 delegates sat around a table, but positioned in such a way as to be facing the stage.  This seating style facilitates discussion among delegates. The top photo shows a panel discussion going on, with the panelist currently speaking projected onto the screen - it becomes easier for delegates to see the facial expressions of the speaker.

The ITB Asia tradeshow area was located in the exhibition halls on the 6th level of the convention centre. This photo shows the entrance arch that was purpose-built for the show.

The day ended of with a guided tour of the convention facilities offered by Marina Bay Sands.  I will share my thoughts and photos of that tour in a later post.

Overall, one of the messages that seemed to resound - based on feedback from association meetings organisers, PCOs and even corporate travel executives - is that face-to-face meetings and conferences are here to stay. It will be very difficult to replace the intrinsic value that such events offer for business executives and professionals.