Business as Usual: Innovation Leads MICE Recovery

The buzz and energy of conversations among the world’s most influential leaders, innovators and game-changers. The meeting of minds – in person. What might sound like a post-pandemic scenario was a four-day reality for over 300 global leaders from 51 countries at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum (BNEF) in Singapore in November 2021.

As one of Singapore’s key MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) event pilots, BNEF charts a new way forward for an industry that has been among the worst hit by the pandemic.

An agile, long-term approach to MICE innovation has enabled Singapore’s strong pipeline of business events to stand out as an exception. In 2021, the city-state hosted more than 200 MICE event pilots and welcomed close to 50,000 attendees under the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s Safe Business Events Framework, a series of risk management protocols enabling the safe resumption of business events.

And as border restrictions progressively ease, Singapore’s business events calendar is set to further pick up pace. Upcoming high-profile MICE events span a gamut of industries, including design (FIND – Design Fair Asia 2022–2024), energy (Gastech 2023), food (Seafood Expo Asia 2022), fashion (SILMO Singapore 2023), public health (Global Health Security Conference 2022; World One Health Congress 2022) and logistics (transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia 2023).

The Human Factor

Rebounding demand from businesses of all trades and sizes underlines the importance of MICE events in building enduring business relationships and meaningful political dialogue. “Business events reflect our purpose to help communities network, collaborate and innovate together. They invigorate us when we meet and learn from our peers all around the world,” as jointly noted in Reimagining Business Events – Through COVID-19 and Beyond, a white paper by the STB, Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and UFI (The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry).

While virtual events have proliferated during the pandemic, hybrid and live events still have strong mid- to long-term potential. Live events, in particular, deliver irreplaceable outcomes in terms of the value and quality of interactions, as well as return on investment. Visitors and exhibitors alike agree that existing digital capabilities are unable to replicate the dynamic engagement that is a hallmark of physical events.

This sentiment is shared by Bloomberg Forum attendees. “Seeing people – there’s no substitute for that. That’s how relationships are built,” notes Dan Schulman, CEO of financial technology company PayPal, who traveled to Singapore from the U.S. “This is where serendipity happens, and I think that's what's most meaningful,” adds Ian Bremmer, President of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. “I bumped into a guy who started a rocket company. He told me about just how fast we’re seeing disruptions in space from the private sector, from national security to data to climate, global surveillance, you name it. That's a conversation that you won’t have in your own bubble on Zoom.”

The Singapore Model

When modeling a blueprint for future physical business meetings, a track record of balancing pragmatism with agility, innovation and bold ideas has enabled Singapore to continue its lead. Strong government leadership, a high vaccination rate of 91% of its total population and robust testing capabilities have not only placed Singapore consistently among the top in Asia on Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking, but also set a foundation for ensuring the safety of MICE organizers, delegates and the local community.

“If you're operating in a very chaotic and difficult and unpredictable environment like Covid-19 and trying to pull off the first live event in two years in this part of the world, doing it in a place where your local partners are so efficient, so on top of it, so professional is frankly a critical factor for our success. It's been like clockwork, from the COVID testing protocols to the F&B to the gatherings to the conversations,” says Justin Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg.

As the top Asia-Pacific meeting city for 18 consecutive years, Singapore’s resilience, ambition and spirit of reinvention has defined the city’s position as a global node for MICE events. The same impetus for innovation will carry the Singapore MICE industry beyond the pandemic, and is especially essential across three key pillars: reimagining business models, reshaping the delegate experience, and reequipping talent and capabilities.

The Way Forward

“Business events companies need to start behaving more like start-ups,” notes Veemal Gungadin, CEO of Singapore-based business technology company GEVME. “This means being ready to prototype, iterate and even abandon ideas that do not turn out to be viable,” including, in GEVME’s case, initial iterations of digital breakout rooms intended to replicate the natural serendipity of live events.

When reimagining delegate experience, “vital to generating solutions in a constantly changing environment is to be unafraid to test them in the field,” asserts Poh Chi Chuan, Executive Director of Exhibitions & Conferences at STB. New public-private partnerships such as the “Alliance for Action on Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences” were launched during the pandemic to pilot new ways of delivering visitor experiences, including touch-free and immersive technologies.

In reequipping talent for a transformed, multichannel business landscape, the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) leads the way. Besides being the first MICE industry association in the world to launch formal standards of practice for the exhibition industry, it has also brought together local institutions and schools to develop training programs and blueprints for refreshed career paths.

“Training business events professionals needs to go beyond technology,” says Richard Ireland, President at SACEOS. “Business events staff also need to cultivate skills in broadcasting, strategic narrative building, content production, data management, and cyber security.”

The industry’s resilience and forward focus are paying off: as optimism among companies continues to grow, the number of events that exhibitors in Asia are planning to participate in by the second quarter of 2022 has also recovered to pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, the industry’s global revenues were an estimated 106% higher than 2020 figures, and business decision-makers still view overseas travel as very important.

As Keith Tan, Chief Executive of STB, sums up, “with MICE events continuing to enable trusted dialogue between governments, businesses and industries, we remain confident in the long-term prospects of Singapore’s, and the global, tourism and MICE sectors. Innovation has brought us this far – and will continue bringing us forward. As we look ahead, whoever meets customers’ needs in the most effective and economical way will recover fastest and serve as a beacon for the rest of the sector.”