Northstar

JUL-AUG 2018 17 MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS MCMAG-ASIA.COM Is This Trip Really Necessary? Information and content distributed at a meeting held in a remote location can just as easily be disseminated in a venue around the corner from a company's corporate headquarters. But there are several reasons that can help make the case to upper management for moving a meeting halfway around the world. It creates a global context. It's easy to say an organisation is global, but demonstrating that means interacting with the rest of the world on its own terms. "International meetings connect people, communities, and ideas, and the opportunity to gather together is a memorable experience that stays with the attendee long after the conference has ended," says Michelle Ocampo, CMP, conference planner for IEEE Computer Society, a membership organisation dedicated to computer science and technology. "Meetings in international destinations oer the opportunity to connect communities from all over the world." It takes advantage of local expertise. Speaking about a recent conference that IEEE held in Reutlingen, Germany, Ocampo says that, "Within that region, there is a growing community of researchers, and the conference experienced record-breaking numbers, attracting talent from industrial and academic communities worldwide." As part of the conference programme, attendees were shuttled to research facilities in the area for institute visits. That's what attracts many groups to international destinations: unique areas of expertise that can be tapped into, be they in the elds of "Meetings in international destinations oer the opportunity to connect communities from all over the world." MICHELLE OCAMPO, CMP, CONFERENCE PLANNER IEEE COMPUTER SOCIETY PHOTO CREDITS: GETTY IMAGES

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