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Leeds Metropolitan University, Conferences and hospitality

Fortune favours the brave

16 February· 0 Comments ·

Thinking of holding an event in China? It certainly makes sense commercially, but isn’t it a little – well – daunting? Deanna Holmes speaks to Robin Lokerman, CEO of the institutional division of MCI; and Philippe Fournier, managing director of the company’s Paris office, about their experiences of event organising in Shanghai. MCI is a world-leading global association, communications and event management group.

China is the big industrial market that everyone is talking about, and consequently there is a lot of interest in holding an event in that country. What are your thoughts on this?

Robin: China is a fascinating market to work in, and to give you some idea of scale, in China and India they are currently training more engineers and more doctors than in the US and Europe put together. So the future of science is really going to be in that part of the world.

Robin, you have overseen the opening of the MCI office in China. Why did the company feel that was necessary?

Robin: We saw it as a tremendous opportunity. Firstly, in order to build corporate links in terms of facilitating the attendance of Chinese physicians and the like, in their participation of international meetings throughout the rest of the world. Secondly, we have already organised a number of international conferences in China and we wanted to have our own team on the ground to support those meetings. Thirdly, we have a very large association management side to our business, where we, in effect, become the office of an international association and are thereby used to engage and communicate with the professional scientific community in China.

Some people may find the thought of forging these closer links somewhat overwhelming though. Philippe, as someone who has been directly involved in organising a major event in China, how would you describe the experience?

Philippe: We organised the Liquid Petroleum (LP) Gas Forum in Shanghai, China, in October 2005, as we are their core PCO. The event went to China partly because of the importance of the market there, but also because of the interest shown by the local authorities in hosting the event. LP Gas is a less pollutant energy and very secure, and as China has an interest in diversifying its energy sources, the importance of LP gas was something particularly pertinent to the nation.

What can you tell us about the Forum and how it went?

Philippe: Both the conference and exhibition were extremely successful, not only due to the presence of the international crowd, but also because of the Chinese people themselves. Whereas we usually have 400 to 500 participants, on that occasion, we reached 700. In addition to that, we had 80 exhibition booths, and a huge crowd were in attendance at our social events. These included a private welcome cocktail in the TV Tower, with delicious Chinese finger food. We then had a private dinner for 140 VIPs on an outside terrace in the oldest hotel in Shanghai. And finally, and we had a great evening gala dinner at the opera house. Our delegates and visitors worked very hard throughout and had many fruitful lobbying and networking exchanges.

What in your opinion are the major difficulties that an organiser is likely to face, and how can they best be overcome? For example what about the language barrier, and are the hotels and facilities available of an internationally high standard?

Philippe: The forum was held in the Shangri-La hotel and I must say, I was amazed by the extremely high standard of facilities I found in Shanghai; the hotel services, transportation and the local services that we hired, were all of an exceptional quality. The exhibition company we used, the audio-visual equipment and other related services (such as IT, hostess, etc.) were great too. Admittedly, we were initially a bit afraid of the language barrier. But the Chinese people were not only willing to help and understand our needs, they were also willing to learn our language. And we for our part learnt a bit of Chinese too! The cost of interpretation is high, but considering the lower cost of other services, the overall budget was no more than it would have been in another country.

Robin: In essence, success comes down to having strong local partners on the ground. That’s a necessity in my opinion. It is hard to operate in China using English, which makes local partners even more crucial.

Would you consider holding an event in China again?

Philippe: Certainly, I predict increasing interest in China in the coming years, and we have already received a number of requests for conferences, meetings and incentives.

Robin: I would highly recommend organisers looking more closely at China. It will be an incredible power in the future, so all companies in my opinion need to develop a ‘China strategy’. I don’t believe it is that hard. You can do business in China; it is very sophisticated – although admittedly the first time may be difficult!

Philippe: Finally, I would like to add that my team and I enjoyed it very much.