MANDARIN Oriental, Macau has rolled out a Meetings with More package, priced from HK$1,900 (US$245) per room per night, and a full-day meeting package supplement at HK$730 per pax per day.

Meeting planners who take up the offer for events hosted by December 31 this year will enjoy complimentary room upgrade for the entire group, Internet access within the hotel, tailor-made coffee break items and a pre-meeting breakfast which can be upgraded to daily buffet breakfast at an additional HK$100.

Call (852) 3690 9888 or email momac-sales@mohg.com for more details.

A DISCOUNT of five per cent is being dangled by Grand Hyatt Singapore to encourage meeting clients to go green with their events at the city hotel.

The offer is only valid when clients adhere to a five-step green programme that requires clients to plan ahead by providing the hotel’s event team with all information and event orders 10 days in advance to reduce the use of last minute resources; order only from the hotel’s sustainable menu; distribute meeting materials from a single, central location so that attendees can take only what they need; set meeting roooms at reasonable temperatures; and ban the use of water bottles.

Indrani Bit, spokesperson of the hotel, told TTGmice e-Weekly that event specialists from the hotel would be on hand to assist clients in achieving these green goals.

“We are excited to have launched this (Meet and Be Green) package as it blends in perfectly with our overall philosophy of doing good for the environment, the communities and our guests. With our food philosophy of sourcing sustainable ingredients when possible and the removal of shark’s fin from our menus, I believe that this package gets us closer to the next level of looking after our environment,” said Julie Goleman, director of events in a press release.

Meeting deals at Grand Hyatt Singapore are now priced from S$115++ (US$91++) per person and include a welcome break, two coffee breaks and lunch, suitable for groups of 10 to 350 guests.

Call (65) 6416 7073 or email singapore.grand@hyatt.com for more information on this offer.

TTG Events has rekindled its relationship with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), which is coming on board as education partner for IT&CM China in Shanghai, and IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific in Bangkok this year.

ACTE was TTG’s education partner when CTW Asia-Pacific was launched in the 1990s following the publication of BTN Asia-Pacific in 1995, and which ceased publication in mid-2000.

The collaboration with ACTE will kick off in April in Shanghai with the proposal that Benson Tang, ACTE regional director, facilitate a panel discussion comprising corporate travel managers from three MNCs looking at travel policy, compliance and adapting a global corporate travel programme in the Chinese context.

Tang said: “ACTE’s aim in China is to raise the corporate travel industry to a new level through further education and knowledge sharing, and the cooperation between ACTE and TTG should be a win-win for the industry.”

In 2013, TTG held corporate travel roundtable discussions targeting local professionals representing MNCs and Chinese companies across China in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.

Until recently the Global Business Travel Association was TTG’s education partner at IT&CM China and CTW Asia-Pacific since early-2000.

THE Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCAAE) has been formed to raise the professionalism of association executives through activities such as seminars and workshops.

Emy Chavez, president of PCAAE, told TTGmice e-Weekly that through these training opportunities the new association wants to eventually make the association executive a recognised profession by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC).

Skills that needed upgrading include governance and ethics, besides daily operation and planning, according to Octavio Peralta, chair of the PCAAE board of trustees.

Peralta said: “In most associations that I know of in this country, there’s no distinction or delineation between governance and management. The board of directors or board of trustees runs the associations (and the individuals) come and go, so there’s no continuity.”

“If the members were well governed and well managed, wouldn’t they be bankable?” Chavez said, adding that PCAAE would give association executives “a louder voice”.

PCAAE has 104 founding members and wants to raise membership to 500 in the next one to two years’ time.

While the focus is currently on Metro Manila, the goal is to form chapters in Visayas and Mindanao, for instance, and eventually establish a federation of national societies of association executives in Asia-Pacific.

By : Marianne Carandang

PERTH Convention Bureau (PCB) has secured hosting rights for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress (RACS ASC 2015) for 2015, an event that will see the attendance of up to 3,500 surgeons from Australia, New Zealand, South-east Asia, India and the Middle East.

According to a press release by the PCB, the RACS ASC 2015 will be the largest, highest yielding medical congress staged in Perth to date, and has the potential to expand to 4,500 international surgeons through an invitation to Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.

PCB’s long standing relationship with RACS, supported by the bureau’s Aspire scholarship, has helped to expand the event’s attendance by potentially 1,000 more international delegates.

“The benefits to Western Australia’s economy and surgical knowledge base will be substantial. The Perth Annual Scientific Congress will be one of the largest conferences in the state since CHOGM 2011, and the highest yielding ever,” said PCB CEO, Paul Beeson.

As part of the event, RACS will offer attendees customised pre and post touring packages to both the north-west and south-west of Western Australia. The tours will include a visit to Albany which coincides with a commemorative event for the Anzac Centenary.

RENOVATIONS at the Philippine International Convention Centre (PICC) are slated for completion before the start of the APEC Summit ministerial meetings in 2015, as the venue fights to stay ahead of the competition.

PICC is reconstructing the 1,687m2 Meeting Room 1, which burned down in 2001, and will reopen it in October or November.

Roberto Garcia, deputy general manager and director for marketing and events management said the room will be suitable for events for between 800 to 1,200 people.

“We have huge venues like the plenary hall (4,000 pax in theatre style) and reception hall (2,500 pax banquet style), and then we go down to rooms at 800m2, so there’s nothing in between,” Garcia commented.

He shared that the venue is also enhancing and modernising its security equipment to meet the requirements of the APAC meetings. Other aspects of the venue upgrade include structural retrofitting for earthquake tolerance and improvements to lighting, flooring and carpeting, among others.

PICC recently unveiled its new brand identity, Home to the (greatest/grandest/brightest/classiest), intended to attract events and reach markets beyond its “staple” conferences and regional congresses.

PICC is also making a more active pitch for association business by hosting quarterly meetings and special events organised by the recently formed Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCAAE), Garcia remarked.

PICC is still the largest events venue in the country but faces increased competition, including the three upcoming integrated resorts in Manila, a convention centre rising at the Marriott Manila, and a number of independent venue operators, said Garcia.