Malaysia’s ascent in the MICE industry can be greatly attributed to key bodies that are instrumental in playing a crucial supportive role to support the industry’s aspirations. Among them are Tourism Malaysia, the Malaysia Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) and the newly set up Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB).
1. TOURISM MALAYSIA
The local government is fully supportive of the industry and has introduced conducive policies to encourage more regional and global conferences to be held here.
The Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) or more popularly known as Tourism Malaysia, is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia. Its principle role is to promote Malaysia as an outstanding tourist and MICE destination. Tourism Malaysia has a dedicated MICE unit to assist conference organisers and planners and also non-profi t professionals and associations in all matter related to MICE. An ongoing programme created for this purpose is the Meet and Experience campaign.
2. MALAYSIA ASSOCIATION OF CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION ORGANISERS AND SUPPLIERS (MACEOS)
If you are a convention and exhibition organiser in Malaysia, you can consider joining the Malaysia Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS). The Association was established with a view to provide a platform for discussion amongst exhibition and convention organisers. It was offi cially registered with the Registrar of Societies on 17 December 1990. YB Dato’ Sabbaruddin Chik, who was at that time the Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism became the first patron of the Association.
At its infancy stage, the members of the Association were quite small and limited. It comprised primarily of exhibition stand designers and builders, convention organisers and managers, venue providers, freight forwarders and suppliers. With the boom in the industry and particularly with opportunities abounding in the globalised market, many changes have been implemented to make the Association more in tune with the needs of the times.
MACEOS’s vision is to acquire opportunities for Malaysian convention, exhibition, events and incentive organisers and managers to work together in the interest of the industry.
The Association welcomes membership from a wide range of industry players, both infrastructure and service providers as well as upstream and downstream activity participants. Among those who qualify to become members in the Association are venue providers, hotels with convention and meeting facilities, airlines, theme parks, shopping centres and equipment and service providers, such as those dealing with stage lighting and audio visual companies.
Today, MACEOS’s membership comprises conference and meeting organisers, exhibition organisers, convention and exhibition centres, logistic companies, conference and exhibition suppliers and event managers. MACEOS is a member of two international organisations, namely AFECA (Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations) which has its headquarters in Singapore, and UFI (The Global Association of Exhibition Organisers), which has its headquarters in Paris, France.
Objectives Of The Association
MACEOS’s objectives are geared toward achieving its vision in the long term. The prime objectives are listed as:
• To promote and encourage an orderly growth of the industry of convention and exhibition organising;
• To encourage and maintain high ethical standard of business conduct and professionalism generally by those directly or indirectly engaged inconvention and exhibition organising and supplies;
• To promote and advance the interests of members of the Association;
• To promote and encourage fair and equitable trading, conduct and conditions within the convention and exhibition organising and supplying industry and cooperation of members in all matters of mutual interest;
• To represent the industry generally in relation to or dealings with any governmental or quasi governmental bodies or association, federation or agency, press or other media of communication and others having dealings with or interest in the convention and exhibition industry;
• To provide information and professional advice to members and others free of cost or on such terms as may be thought fit regarding matters relating to conduct and rights and obligations of all kinds; and
• To collect information and statistics on subjects of the industry which are likely to prove useful to members of the Association in the conduct of its affairs and to develop within the industry means of technical education.
Membership Criteria
How do you qualify to become a member of MACEOS? The criteria are relatively simple. You should ideally have been operating, within the industry, continuously, for at least a year. You should also have previously organised or collaborated in the organisation of at least three (3) conferences and/or exhibitions or events and have more than one conference and/or exhibition scheduled for the next twelve months. An important consideration for membership is that the management team should have creditable track records in the MICE industry. MACEOS has two categories of members; Ordinary Members and Associate Members.
Membership Benefits
MACEOS prides itself on being an Association by the members for the members. Its motto of sorts is “Ask not what the association can do for you but rather what you can do for the Association”. Membership within the Association opens up a wide range of opportunities and benefits catering to the varied interests and needs of the multi-disciplinary membership base.
Common benefits which are applicable to all members are listed as follows:
• Enhancement of professionalism
• Increase exposure and opportunities for business networking
• Access to market information and MACEOS’s database
• Opportunities for advertisement in MACEOS’s own publication
• Participation in MACEOS’s social activities
• Updates on Government policies and regulations relating to the exhibition and convention industry
• Provide channel of communication between the industry and the government
• Touch base with private sector and government in the event, exhibition and meeting industry
Members of MACEOS
· Professional Conference Organisers (PCO)
· Professional Exhibition Organisers (PEO)
· Stand Designers and Builders
· Convention & Exhibition Centres
· Event Managers
· Freight Forwarders
· Other Suppliers for the Convention and Exhibition Activities
The Way Forward
As a member of MACEOS, you can look forward towards numerous activities and projects that the Association has identified to move forward with the times. These include the establishment of a permanent secretariat, expansion in its membership base, conducting of professional training workshops and the creation of more opportunities for business networking. Towards this end, the Association has established small and well-organised working sub-committees.
MACEOS constantly reviews and revises its activities and projects in line with the needs of its members and the industry. This is necessary for it to be more effective and to better serve its members and industry players. Efforts will be directed to enhance professionalism through training workshops, increase in membership and forging comradeship amongst its members. Its continuing priority remains the consolidation of its strength and development of strategic alliances with the public and private sectors to make Malaysia a premier MICE destination.
3. MALAYSIA CONVENTION & EXHIBITION BUREAU (MYCEB)
On 3rd December 2008, Malaysia’s then Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak (now Prime Minister) made an important announcement that would change the local MICE industry forever. It was the establishment of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Malaysia’s very own dedicated bureau for MICE.
The birth of MyCEB is testament to the government’s unwavering support to the industry. MyCEB acts as Malaysia’s one-stop centre for MICE activities and operates as the country’s official Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO). It aims to be the leader in the development of Asia’s highest performance business events industry as well as establishing Malaysia as the premier and preferred MICE destination worldwide.
Set up with an initial budget of RM5 million, MyCEB is now seen as an important body among association members and is in an influential position to offer direct assistance to associations to bid for their respective trade events. Many of the associations in Malaysia are run by volunteers and they may find it a great challenge to bid for global association meetings. Now, they can go to MyCEB to seek assistance in their bidding process. MyCEB’s support and assistance extends beyond the local associations. The Bureau will also offer special assistance to foreign event organisers.
WHAT’S NEXT
There’s no doubt that Malaysia is well-positioned to make further progress in MICE. What’s needed to give a further boost to the industry is perhaps a formal training structure to provide sufficient qualified and skilled manpower to support the already impressive infrastructure. This is after all, a people-oriented industry.
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