July 2012

Welcome to GainingEdge Insights. As our valued colleague, we would like to keep you informed about industry developments and news from our company.

GainingEdge wins MyCEB account for representation

The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) recently announced the appointment of GainingEdge as its representative for the Australian and New Zealand business events market. GainingEdge will assist MyCEB with business development, sales promotions, media relations and marketing programs in the Australasian market, as well as providing market support for meeting and incentive planners considering Malaysia for their upcoming events.

EdgyThinking: Lessons from Japan

Gary Grimmer was in Sendai, Japan just ahead of the first anniversary of the tragic East Japan Earthquake. What he experienced inspired him to share his thoughts on How To Come Back from Disaster. Read about this, and our other EdgyThinking articles by visiting our GainingEdge Resources section on our website.

Wild Cards support for Sendai and El Salvador

Thanks to IMEX, two organisations who have not participated in an international meetings and events trade show previously, were present at IMEX Frankfurt this year. As an IMEX Wild Card Winner, the International Exhibition and Convention Center of El Salvador and Sendai Tourism & Convention Bureau enjoyed free space and marketing support for the 3-day event. GainingEdge offered free advice to both Winners which includes pre-show preparation, on-site sales and post IMEX show follow-up advice.

Study Tour to Singapore

Recently a group of 25 delegates from the Macau Convention & Exhibition Association – MCEA visited Singapore on a study tour. Their programme included a seminar, interactive workshops, site inspections, and group discussions and assignments. The programme, hosted by the Economic Services Department of Macau SAR was organised jointly by MCEA, the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Association – AFECA, and GainingEdge. Singapore was the choice for this study tour as Asia's Top Convention City for the 10th consecutive year (International Congress & Convention - ICCA) and for being Number 1 on UIA's (Union of International Association) statistics for the number of meetings held in 2011.

"Throughout this workshop I got general idea of what is happening in MICE industry in Singapore as well as in Macau. We have done a lot of brainstorming while doing the bid presentation which is a really valuable experience and we learned how to bid/present in a real situation."

ISSCR meeting in Yokohama

Recently, some 3,000 delegates converged in Yokohama for the 10th annual meeting of the International Society of Stem Cell Research – ISSCR. The meeting, the first to take place in Asia, allowed basic and clinical researchers to collaborate and facilitate the development of safe, science-based applications of discoveries in the field of stem cell research. This call for cooperation was echoed by the president of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, Michiharu Nakamura, who encouraged global collaboration.

Associations who will be holding their meetings in Japan will be happy to know that Japan ranks second in Asia for the highest number of attendance, according to the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA). When ranked with other countries, Japan is 12th in the world in 2010 in terms of number of convention delegates. Yokohama was in the Top 2 rankings of Japanese cities in 2010, after Tokyo, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) statistics on number of convention delegates.

GainingEdge provides leads development and sales support to Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau.

GainingLeads at IMEX Frankfurt

As always, there was a GainingLeads session during IMEX which was opened to GainingEdge clients and contacts. The participants swapped bid intelligence information on 12 association meetings which they have either recently hosted or won.

"Participating in GainingLeads has given me more leads to take home."