Northstar

NEWSLINE | ON THE GROUND 6 JAN-FEB 2018 meetings & conventions • mcmag-asia.com S arawak welcomed a strong year for business events in 2017, which saw Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) and industry partners securing 89 more events, which will be disbursed statewide from 2018 to 2022. The industry injected a further RM107 million (US$27.2 million) to the economy from a total of 47 conventions, which included the 13th World Islamic Economic Forum and the International Summit on Peace. This year, Sarawak will welcome at least 27 high profile business events including the 5th International Marine Conservation Congress, 17th Continuing Professional Development Series: Diabetes Asia Conference, the 10th Clean Air Asia Better Air Quality Conference and the 9th Anak Sarawak Awards. Sarawak streaks ahead in M&E Janet Tan-Collis wins top honours Singaporean Janet Tan-Collis, president of the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) and chief executive of East West Planners Singapore, was announced the winner of the 2017 Chairman's Award at the recent Convening Leaders event in Nashville. The award recognised Tan-Collis for her achievements in the business events industry, especially with her work in driving education for emerging events professionals in Asia Pacific. To mentor the next generation of business events professionals, she launched the Singapore MICE Challenge. Last July, the third edition of the annual challenge saw the winning and second placed team of students going on a fully sponsored trip to present their proposals at PCMA's Convening Leaders forum. Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak Datuk Karim Rahman Hamzah (third from left) receives an award given to SCB for the MICE and Destination Branding categories at the BrandLaureate Industry Champion Icon Brand Icon 2017. Janet Tan-Collis, president of the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) and chief executive of East West Planners Singapore. Education gets a big push from PCMA Future talents of the MICE industry now face valuable opportunities to be heard and to be recognised. PCMA wants to strengthen its presence in Asia and that bodes well for students and professionals keen to pursue this career and relevant certifications. Speaking at the opening conference of 2018 PCMA Convening Leaders forum, outgoing President & CEO Deborah Sexton said that a major part of PCMA's global vision centers on education, and that it is their goal to align with the respective regions to develop educational programmes. PCMA's new CEO Sherrif Karamat echoes this view, "One thing was evident to me when I attended ICESAP's Leaders Forum – none of the issues discussed were any different from what would be discussed in the US, but the way in which they addressed those issues was so different. Therefore, it is crucial for PCMA to recognise that we need local experts to address local issues." Last year's convening leaders comprised about 20 percent in Asian representation, making it an important market for PCMA's expansion. PCMA expanded its educational thrust by acquiring ICESAP last year, which has almost 700 members in over 15 countries.

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