Singapore
What’s trending at MBS?
The Singapore Tourism Board
(STB) explains how it is enabling
organisers to take advantage of
disruptive technology trends to effect
change in the exhibition landscape
echnological disruption is probably
the biggest game-changer for
the industry. Some, like artificial
intelligence (AI), robotics, virtual
and augmented reality (VR and AR), have
immense potential to radically change the way
we work. For example, AI could make event
management more efficient and strengthen
participant engagement. Perfect price
differentiation is now possible through data
analytics and venues could even dynamically
price per square metre sales depending on
hall location, customer profile and real time
demand. Augmented and virtual reality
applications like Oculus Rift and Microsoft
Hololens could change the way we convene and
share ideas.
Over the years STB has been working
with industry to gear up for technological
innovations. The board co-organised MICE
coLAB back in 2014, a hackathon aimed at
creating solutions to enhance connectivity and
improve visitor experience through technology.
To encourage the industry and its players to
take advantage of new technology and trends,
STB now offers the Business Improvement
Fund (BIF) Scheme to encourage technology
innovation and adoption, redesign of business
models and processes in the tourism sector to
improve productivity and competitiveness.
One of our grant recipients, MICEApps by Ace:
Daytons Direct (International) Pte Ltd, offers a
mobile solution that incorporates innovative
technologies which cut across MICE events’
value chain, to enhance visitor experience and
operational efficiencies at both conferences and
exhibitions.
STB also offers the Training Industry
Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT) scheme, which
supports companies in employee upgrading and
talent development to ensure their employees
are trained in new and specialised skills, as well
as multi-skilling in the new environment.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Mike Lee, Vice-President of Sales, Marina Bay Sands explains how
the complex is not resting on its laurels, but investing for its future
At Marina Bay Sands, we host an
average of 3,500 events a year –
drawing millions of delegates to our
integrated resort annually. Last year
alone, we hosted more than 1.4m
visitors across those events.
Marina Bay Sands continues to host
a mix of new and repeat events in
2019 across all sectors and industries.
This includes the return of key
shows such as Art Stage Singapore in
January, Tax Free World Association
(TFWA) in May, ConnecTechAsia in
June as well as ITB Asia in October.
This year, we will also welcome
back leading events in the FinTech
and Luxury Travel sector –
namely Money 20/20 Asia and the
International Luxury Travel Market
(ILTM) Asia Pacific.
The highly-regarded International
Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS) will
also make its debut at Marina Bay
Sands, 9-12 March 2019, along with
new-to-Singapore events such as
ART SG (launched by the organisers
of renowned art fair Art Basel) in
November 2019 and the International
Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress in
June/July 2019.
Looking ahead, we can expect a
greater emphasis on sustainability
and environmental consciousness
as well as deeper integration of
technology in 2019. These key trends
will continue to impact the industry,
and we expect to see a growing
number of green events taking place
at our integrated resort. We are also
increasingly seeing business event
organisers incorporating technology
in their events and, as a venue host,
we need to continue innovating and
building on our capabilities in event
technology to meet our clients’ needs.
In terms of new developments
or investments in our exhibition
facilities at MBS as we enter our
ninth year of operations, we remain
committed to our ongoing property-
wide reinvestment strategy. This
includes retraining and recertification
of our people, innovating our
processes and ensuring we remain
a leader in every aspect of our
operations.
Marina Bay Sands is the single
largest owner of first-to-market
equipment in lighting, video, sound
and logistics equipment within Asia.
Last year, we upgraded this inventory
to add new laser projectors, media
servers, speakers, LED video walls
and lighting equipment to better
support the AV requirements for
events of all sizes.
Issue 1 2019
43