GLOBAL events marketing specialist, Ian Wainwright, has been appointed event director for the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME).

Armed with over 13 years of experience, Wainwright possesses a vast understanding of the industry and is capable of offering rich perspectives to AIME. He will lead the AIME team in preparing for the trade show from February 23 to 24, 2016 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.

“With strong relationships with numerous industry stakeholders, including convention bureaux and tourism, government and private bodies, Ian is well positioned to drive Asia-Pacific’s leading business events trade show,” said Sally Coventry, ibtm events portfolio director, Reed Travel Exhibitions.

BRAND experience specialist Freeman has acquired global event services company Staging Connections Group Limited (SCGL), giving it an immediate presence across Asia-Pacific through the latter’s network of 15 offices.

SCGL is now part of Freeman’s audiovisual division and will retain its brand.

“As our clients are expanding globally, they want the same level of Freeman quality, service, technology and support in markets around the world. This acquisition provides us with an immediate presence in ANZPAC and connects us with an organisation and team that shares our values and our design-driven, customer-centric approach to business,” said Joe Popolo, CEO of Freeman, in a press release.

“There are tremendous growth opportunities by combining these two great companies. (SCGL) has strong relationships with the leading brands in ANZPAC and a reputation for superior production design. Together, we will continue to deliver an unparalleled suite of services to our clients around the world,” continued Popolo.

SCGL, which has offices in Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore and Fiji, is aligned with Freeman’s value system and culture, and brings a customer-centric approach focused on innovation, partnerships, employee development and customer success, noted the press release.

Tony Chamberlain, SCGL managing director, commented:  “There are a lot of synergies between the (SCGL) culture and that of Freeman, particularly our customer-centric approach to event delivery. We’re confident that we will fit together seamlessly.”

AUSTRALIA’S first aerial playground, MegaAdventure Aerial Park, has its eyes firmly set on the local and international MICE market ahead of opening in November.

Located in Adelaide, MegaAdventure is the second park under the MegaAdventure Group umbrella, which also owns and operates MegaZip Adventure Park on Sentosa Island in Singapore and a mobile adventure attractions business in South-east Asia.

MegaAdventure’s main attraction will be the SkyMate – a purpose-built, 26-metre-high structure crafted by the company’s subsidiary, Touch Cloud Global, which specialises in adventure constructions. The SkyMate will launch with 50 ‘crossings’ comprising of scramble nets, rope bridges, beams, swings, log steps, aerial surfboards and even Adelaide wine barrel steps.

“No one can bring a team together like MegaAdventure,” according to CEO and founder Alex Blyth, who is also a former instructor of the British Army who used aerial assault courses to train recruits.

“We provide a range of teambuilding and bonding activities that enable organisations to come together for the benefit of the individual, their workplace and the group.”

MegaAdventure have employed former Australian netballer, Jane Altschwager, to attract corporate groups from the local market.

“She has a great understanding of how businesses can achieve new heights with a strong and dynamic team,” said Blyth, “She is spending a lot of time talking to different companies about the way MegaAdventure can help build their company through teamwork.”

MegaAdventure is now taking bookings for corporate groups.

THE Incentive, Conference & Event Society Asia-Pacific (ICESAP) has formed a joint-venture partnership with Angliss International Singapore, part of William Angliss Australia, to offer professional development courses.

ICESAP president Nigel Gaunt said the programmes will start in December with a six-part online introductory course and followed by intermediate courses in 2016.

Gaunt added: “The majority of content will be delivered online and in late-2017 ICESAP will offer a degree course in IC&E management.

“ICESAP is further committed to growing the IC&E sector by implementing a universal accreditation scheme for the intermediary agency businesses operating in the sector across Asia-Pacific.”

Established in January 2014 and headquartered in Hong Kong, ICESAP is still the only association in the region to represent the IC&E segments.

Gaunt said: “Being by nature a cross-border industry there needs to be a consistent approach in key areas, such as industry standards, education and accreditation.”

Gaunt also said there were many customer examples where all incentive, conference and event components, and not just one, were required to meet different business needs.

He gave the example of Tupperware where several thousands of top achievers were rewarded with an incentive to Macau, and where a conference and an exhibition were also organised.

In 2014, the estimated IC&E sector in Asia-Pacific was valued at over US$120 billion, Gaunt said, adding: “Eighty per cent of this spend came from within Asia-Pacific. Despite the scale of the industry there has been no peak body until the formation of ICESAP.

To professionalise and “up-skill” practitioners in the industry, ICESAP will form an accreditation scheme early 2016. Applicants must abide by a code of conduct, demonstrate financial security and participate in a guarantee fund to “de-risk” customers and suppliers.

Although accreditation cannot be mandated, Gaunt said the scheme will be made attractive and be a “game changer” for the industry.

A JOINT study by ACTE and American Express Global Business Travel has found a majority of travel managers intending to tackle traveller behaviour to achieve savings.

The Evolution of Travel Policy: A Global View on the Future, which surveyed 350 corporate travel managers around the world, reported that 52 per cent of respondents said savings was the primary driver of their managed travel programme over the last one to two years, followed by duty of care (23 per cent) and traveller service (16 per cent).

However, the balance between savings and service is expected to change as corporate travel managers are looking to traveller behaviour, rather than supplier cost reductions, to drive savings.

Eighty-four per cent of respondents said savings would be achieved through demand management and compliance in the next one to two years. Yet, communications tools to drive compliance were often missing: 44 per cent of respondents have no formal systems for gathering traveller feedback.

While 75 per cent of respondents see improved traveller service as a route to savings, few organisations have measures to justify these improvements to procurement or finance leaders.  Twenty-one per cent of them use traveller productivity metrics, nine per cent use work-life balance metrics and just five per cent use stress reduction metrics.

However, 12 per cent of corporate travel managers plan to introduce stress reduction metrics in the next one to two years.

Commenting on the findings, Caroline Strachan, vice president of global business consulting at American Express Global Business Travel, said: “Demand management is the bedrock of a strong managed programme so it’s significant to see that travel managers are embracing the traveller and traveller service. Clearly, they understand the future’s going to be traveller-centric. What’s less clear, is whether travel managers feel they have the right technology and tools needed to deliver this future.

“Communication is critical for building relationships, engagement and compliance. The research suggests there’s scope for travel managers to upgrade their communications systems and practice.”

Greeley Koch, ACTE executive director, said, “The report’s findings are consistent with ACTE’s Traveller Centricity education pillar, which puts the traveller and the traveller’s needs at the heart of policy.”

Koch pointed out that influencing traveller behavior and supporting the traveller in the field is far more conducive to meeting the primary objective – raising corporate revenue – than savings alone. “While savings remain a key driver, profitability is the objective of business travel.”

A copy of the study is available at www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/acte.