TWENTY association executives from around Asia-Pacific have benefitted from the inaugural PCMA Asia-Pacific Scholarship which funded their trip to Singapore in July for the PCMA Meetings Forum.
Created by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, the scholarship also drew interest and funding support from Tourism New Zealand, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, Korea Tourism Organization.
Usa Thisyakorn, president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society of Thailand and congress chair of the 8th Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Disease 2016, was one of the scholarship recipients. She told TTGmice e-Weekly that the scholarship provided her with a “valuable learning experience” at the Forum.
“The discussions here are in-depth and the perspectives are global – not something association executives can easily access in Thailand,” Usa remarked, adding that she found the education focus on sponsorship issues especially beneficial.
Haesook Ma, assistant manager, convention team with the Korea MICE Bureau, said her organisation was motivated to field three local association executives for the scholarship as it recognised the educational value of the Forum.
Ma said: “The international speakers at the Forum provided our scholars with a precious opportunity to learn from the more experienced Western associations. While we have the annual Korea MICE Expo, we do not have anything that focuses heavily on association education.”
“Furthermore, our scholars act as ambassadors of South Korea when they converse with fellow association executives,” she added.
Commenting on the outcome of the scholarship, Jeannie Lim, executive director, conventions, meetings & incentive travel with the Singapore Tourism Board, said: “We are heartened by the interest and response to the inaugural PCMA Asia-Pacific Scholarship. The positive feedback received from the scholarship recipients underscores the need to champion and cultivate association executives and meeting planners. With our partners, we hope to grow the scholarship and further support association executives in the region next year.”
