IACCs September Roadshow in Australia Asia Pacific Takes in 5 Countries

IACC’s CEO, Mark Cooper, embarked on a comprehensive tour of Asia and Australia Pacific this September, taking in 5 Countries and 6 major cities in the space of just over 2 weeks.

The tour began in Beijing, China, where Mark used the annual CIBTM Trade Show as the backdrop to understand more about the potential for IACC to participate in China in future and the best approach to participating in this major economy which has recently opened its doors to global meetings trade. The importance of this market was evident from the involvement of other global industry players such as MPI and IEEE, with both associations CEO’s leading educational sessions aimed at Chinese Meeting Professionals. Furthermore, the US Department of Commerce has officially certified CIBTM, the only tradeshow they have certified outside of the US and the number of US exhibitors in attendance highlighted further the importance put upon being part of China’s developing meetings industry.

In a visit to Tokyo, the opportunity for growth of the IACC Meetings Concept was also highlighted, with training and meetings being an important part of Japanese corporate culture. Hosted by Benchmark Japan and Joined by IACC’s Global President Peter Stewart, IACC’s two current member properties and other potential member conference centres were visited and leaders met and introduced to IACC.

The next leg of the trip included a visit to the Philippines capital Manila, to inspect IACC’s first member property, First Pacific Leadership Academy and to meet with their leadership team. Peter and Mark were impressed with the global benchmarking that FPLA undertake, including recent trips to GE’s Crotonville and to the IACC-Americas Conference earlier in the year to seek out new innovative ideas to set the academy further apart from its national completion. IACC’s visit to FPLA was later featured in the national press, which it is hoped will raise the profile of IACC in the region.  

Mark Cooper then travelled on to Singapore where he conducted an in-depth induction of the new staff and officially opened IACC’s office, which will support the activity in the Australia Asia Pacific Chapter.

The next stop was Sydney Australia, where Mark Cooper and Peter Stewart conducted a roadshow of potential members in the Hunter Valley region, a popular conference destination and where there is a collection of venues focused on meetings. The visit included a meeting with the leadership at Chateaux Elan, who have since become the latest new member of IACC in the Chapter.

The final stop was Melbourne, where Chapter board members had staged a current and new potential members meeting at Bellinzona Grange Conference Centre as well as a new member luncheon in Central Melbourne where Mark Cooper and board members spoke of the benefits of IACC membership and future aspirations for the region. Discussions with new prospect members are ongoing and it is expected that new members will join in the coming months following this visit.

Mark Cooper commented on the trip “The trip to Asia and Australia was extremely beneficial and allowed me to understand these very different markets much better and to start to build a presence and relations further. Doing business in Asia requires an understanding of the region and it is important that we have opened an IACC office in the region to support our future projects and activities”.