ICCA Intelligence Volume 11 - March 2006

Competition heats up amongst venues to host ITU Telecom

World 2009, Americas 2007 & Europe 2007

Geneva, 9 March 2006 — Paris, Geneva, Dubai and Birmingham are vying to host ITU Telecom World 2009, considered to be the most important meeting place for the global telecommunications industry.

Until 2003, the event, which provides a high-level global networking platform, took place in Geneva, attracting over 900 exhibitors from across the spectrum of the ICT industry and representing 51 countries. Over 375 industry CEOs, 148 government ministers and regulators and 1'500 journalists also participated in the event. Following a competitive bid process in 2004, Hong Kong was selected to be the venue of ITU Telecom World 2006. Held for the first time at Hong Kong's Asia World Expo after being held nine times in Geneva, the world event will take place from 4 to 8 December and is expected to attract 2'000 VIPs and 800-900 exhibiting companies. Hong Kong's Financial Secretary is expecting direct economic benefits to the local economy of HKD1.2bn (approximately USD155m).

The review of bids received for future ITU Telecom events will top the agenda of the next ITU Telecom Board meeting to take place on 20 March in Hong Kong. The Board — a body whose role is to provide strategic advice to the Secretary-General on ITU T ELECOM events and who represent the views of all stakeholders to the events —will consider the offers along with the results of technical visits to tendering venues and last minute updates of the bids, taking into account the level of support from the governments of the candidates' countries. The Board is expected to make a recommendation to the Secretary-General who will announce his decision soon after.

“The host nation will gain significant attention from the global ICT sector and international media” said Yoshio Utsumi, ITU Secretary-General. It will also have the opportunity to play a leadership role in setting the agenda of the industry” he added.

Competition to host ITU Telecom World 2009 is fierce between Birmingham (National Exhibition Centre), Paris (le Parc des Expositions), Geneva (Palexpo), and Dubai (Jebel Ali Exhibition City).

At its March meeting, the ITU Telecom Board will also make recommendations to the Secretary-General about the venue selection for the ITU Telecom Americas 2007 and ITU Telecom Europe 2007 regional events. Buenos Aires, Argentina, Montego Bay, Jamaica and San Salvador, El Salvador have submitted bids for the upcoming Americas event. Candidates to host the Europe event include Sofia, Bulgaria, Bucharest, Romania and Geneva, Switzerland. Both Bulgaria and Romania are candidates to join the European Union the same year. The decision on the venue for these two events will be made at the same time as the World event.

“The bidding process encourages healthy competition amongst venues and provides the opportunity for open discussion and the display of state-of-the-art technology on all continents,” said Fernando Lagraña, Executive Manager, ITU Telecom .

For further information please contact:

John Jacobs

ITU Telecom

Tel: +41 22 730 5401

Email: John.Jacobs@itu.int

ICCA Intelligence Volume 11 - March 2006

Convention centres identify seven topical trends

toipiEven though international associations today are expecting more quality for less money, the major meeting centres across the globe are rising to the challenge.

In a survey, a select group of international convention centres drawn from the broad membership base of the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) (Ed-who are also members of ICCA) were able to identify Seven Deadly trends that they now have to confront.

1  Relationship shifts:

Pressures over the past few years have meant many organisations have downsized, outsourced or restructured their meeting planner function. Some turned to third-party association management companies; others shifted their internal staff around.

Several took on the contracted functions themselves. “More and more associations are willing to allocate permanent in-house resources”, says Cliff Wallace, managing director of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre . “A PCO may be deployed but often at a later stage and for specific parts of the pre-event planning or on-site cooperation.”

This has meant significant effects on traditional relationships, on marketing, client liaison and even how bidding for a particular event is carried out.

2 Skills hike:

Planning is becoming increasingly professional.

“There have been significant increases in the event management skills and expertise of association executives”, says Geoff Donaghy, managing director of the Cairns Convention Centre . “International headquarters are not always content to leave all aspects of their meetings to the respective host national committees”.

“ In the past, many association planners were volunteers,” points out Isabel Bardinet, executive director of sales and development at the Palais des Congrès de Paris . “ This has completely changed, and now most are full time professionals who know what they want, how they want it and how much they are prepared to pay for it.”

3 Buyers' market:

With a growing number of facilities contending for limited business, competition has become more intense. This has meant a greater use of incentives in some areas and higher expectations for facility operational standards. At the same time, there has been a shortening of decision periods, with many clients wanting to avoid contracting as long as possible.

“The competition between many regional and national convention centres in Europe has led to centres being sold under the real price and many receiving subsidies from the local or regional government,” says Edgar Hirt, head of ICM - Internationales Congress Center München . “This is now happening within the new EU-countries as well.”

For associations, there's a positive side to this. Geoff Donaghy: “ Of course the opportunity for associations to be more discerning and to drive for better city and centre deals has been greatly enhanced by the rapid increase in new destinations and venues chasing their important business”.

4  Security concerns:

Many clients have elevated security issues to one of their top priorities.

Legal and regulatory issues have arisen from the new concern about global security. “In light of recent and significant world events, association conference organisers scrutinise force majeur and cancellation clauses in their contracts even more than before,” says Cliff Wallace. “At the same time, some destinations have imposed stricter visa requirements in recent years which created even more challenges for organisers.”

5  Changing needs:

An increasing emphasis on the “business” aspect of an event has changed space requirements. Clients now have different demands, ranging from the need for larger numbers of breakout rooms to increased hopes of “value-added” benefits.

Technology expectations are an issue in themselves. “Audiovisual requirements are getting more sophisticated all the time, as multi-media equipment becomes more advanced and more affordable,” says Cliff Wallace.

6  Quality standards demands:

With an ever-increasing array of facilities to choose from, congress centre clients are becoming very demanding about the level of facilities and services they are prepared to accept.

This is seen as a very positive development by most centres. “If we as suppliers can offer "a state of the art" facility, with superb infrastructure, accessibility, hotels and well trained and friendly staff, we can look very optimistically to the future,” says Edgar Hirt.

7  Delegate experience:

Delegates are increasingly demanding value from the events they attend, not just educational content but a positive social and destination experience. At the same time, many associations are more dependent than ever on a good delegate turnout to generate revenue for the organization.

This has opened up opportunities for lesser-known facilities that can offer a unique kind of experience. Many planners seem increasingly interested in looking at smaller and newer centres.

Change is the new reality and must be addressed as an ongoing part of business, say the centres. Geoff Donaghy: “We live in an environment of rapid change and global evolution and neither convention centres nor the meetings industry itself is immune from this”.