Many of your organisation’s best and brightest may soon be flying out to a destination of choice within Asia for a series of incentive and recognition events.

Business events carry a huge degree of strategic importance to the hosting organisation and in turn can attract a considerable amount of stakeholder input and competing budget demands.

You will need to call upon a broad array of specialist disciplines as you tackle concurrent challenges including travel, venues, catering, pre and post-tours, team-building, gifts, program collateral, and entertainment, AV production, set designs, signage, branding guidelines and messaging objectives and so on.

By their very nature, events have lots of moving parts that constantly evolve. They require a huge amount of planning, thought, and applied expertise to ensure it all comes together as a seamless and powerfully engaging event experience.

Expectations are high and the pressure is on for people charged with this strategic, creative, and tactical responsibility. So extra careful consideration needs to be given to who will help you deliver. It’s okay if at this point you need to let out a deep sigh. I am.

Now add to this mix a whole host of regional variables that are at constant play within the business of delivering events throughout Asia.

South Korea is one of the few places where English is not the universal language of business – common elsewhere across global event practices. Neighbouring Japan presents an added challenge with many layers of communication protocol needing to be addressed and worked through to make simple things happen… simply.

Although hugely improved, the Philippines is still sadly beset by implied ‘corruption’ practices, and when working within Indonesia and Malaysia one needs to keep front of mind religious sensitivities in everything you do.

The island city of Singapore remains a great introduction to Asia for many western corporate event clients but rarely sustains a second or third visit. With the opening this year of Marina Bay Sands and Universal at Sentosa, the city will refresh itself as a MICE destination of choice.

Hong Kong, gateway to China, still labours under former past MICE glories as it continues to confront challenges in terms of offering diverse event space that doesn’t look like another exhibition hall while outdoor events are on the extinction list due to unreasonable government noise ordinances.

Bangkok, despite current political instability, still remains MICE attractive although the provision of event services often reminds me of Bangkok traffic - slow and convoluted despite always appearing to be incredibly busy.




The emerging MICE destinations of Vietnam, Nepal and Cambodia offer great potential for the brave and well resourced who are not easily spooked by little pre-existing infrastructure.

And China. Sometimes producing events in China feels to me like walking a movie set of an infamous ‘spaghetti western’ as an unarmed extra who’s been given poor street directions.

It is not so much the Wild West as it is the Wild East with plenty of people willing to ‘help’. As your on the ground event experience deepens, the more you value having a reputable ‘Sheriff’ at your side to better help with the safe navigation of your event.

Of course this is not to say that all these sites don’t offer massively attractive attributes for MICE projects. They, in fact, present as fabulous settings for the delivery of some truly amazing and memorable event experiences. It is more a question of approach.

You could tackle the challenge by jumping straight into the deep end with all guns blazing as you spend an immense amount of time hunting out and engaging vendors. Haggle endlessly and issue deposits to companies you suspect may not really exist in this dimension. Combat the challenges of working remotely with different time zones and fall foul of unexpected cultural nuances while wondering what exactly is going to happen (and for the matter not happen) on event day.

It comes as no surprise that the entire experience of delivering events within Asia can wear many down very quickly. Like constant water against stone. Nice lemongrass smelling water… and a very polished stone.
Based on close to two decades of producing events of scale within Asia, the team at FACTOR168 | Creative Event Company recommends to anyone considering an event within the Asian region to make it a mission critical priority to seek out and engage a reputable and seasoned events professional; an events expert experienced within Asia who will work with you as a partner invested in a mutually positive outcome rather than just trawling through endless vendors or waving the proverbial white flag and handing the entire process from start to finish to the nice people in the catering department at the hotel who seemed okay in return for a more generic outcome.

Engaging a strong events professional is the most assured way of achieving your event goals on the ground regardless of the nation and city you visit.

So how do you assess who this outfit should be? Who will serve as your China sheriff? Well don’t go looking for a tiny little tin cowboy badge… look instead for four little letters – ISES.

This represents credibility and a service promise bound by a professional code of ethics. An expert not only within the events profession but an expert in getting the best results on your behalf within a region that is often complex, always evolving and very mercurial in temperament.

Seek out a shortlist of partner candidates from the ISES membership directory, or if you’re engaged within a specific region, query your potential partner and vendors on their professional affiliations and red flag those that fall short.

Your ISES partner will be able help you best navigate successfully through the region, provide informed advice and recommendations, and ultimately add value and diminish your exposure to risks. In my mind I always regard working with fellow ISES members who are well positioned to reduce my exposure to risk as a smart form of event insurance. But without the premiums.

It really is this simple: engage a professional to do a professional job.

So from Hong Kong it is cheers for now… or if you prefer, Yung Sing or even Kong Chien.

Darren Kerr is a founding partner of FACTOR168 | Creative Event Company, www.factor168.com. He is a proud member of the Queensland chapter and Hong Kong board member of the International Special Events Society www.ises.com.

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