提高靈活性是我們的長期首要挑戰

今日，會議中心最重要的挑戰是什么？在近日的一場主題為“重新運作，重新構建，重新詮釋”的業內交流論壇上，業內人士被鼓勵要努力創新，突破傳統的會議籌辦模式。而這正是當前整個會展行業最長遠最重大的挑戰。

的確，雖然應對競爭和增加收入一直都是，以后也會是會議中心關注的議題，但長期來看，會議中心要成功應對商業挑戰，站在行業前沿，首要的就是增加自身的靈活性。在諸多商業領域，變化發生的范圍和速度都在加大。因此，會議中心也需要快速應對這些變化，也就是說，場館必須更具靈活性，以創新應對挑戰。變化、危機和其他因素的介入已經發生，很多場館已經做好應對的準備，而有一些場館還需要更多時間。 例如，在會展活動中，一個重要的趨勢就是會議和展覽這兩種形式的交融：越來越多的會議活動增加了貿易對接機會和展覽版塊，而很多展覽活動也開設了教育論壇。鑒于此，會展中心要做好準備，提升同期接待不同類型活動的能力——在場地設施和場館服務方面都要如此。

Being asked to identify the top challenge facing convention centres today a tough task at the best of times – but when its in a forum of more than 400 local， regional and international Meetings and Events professionals， as it was at the Global Industry Thought Leaders Panel during Singapore MICE Forum， it takes on an added urgency.

Under the overall theme of “Re-work， Re-conceptualise， Reinterpret”， the Forum was intended to challenge attendees to embrace innovation and break out from traditional ways of planning events. And that， as it turns out is exactly the issue of greatest long term concern to our entire industry.

Yes， challenges around competition and revenue generation are and always will be the attention-grabbers for convention centres – they directly impact the measures we generally use to report performance. But in terms of sheer， long term implications， the growing demands for successful adaptation， on a wide range of fronts， has to take the number one spot.

As in so many areas of business these days， change is vast and accelerating in our world. Event planners need to be more agile to meet the changing needs of event attendees – and that， in turn， means venues must be able to respond – to stay flexible， embrace innovation and be ready for change. Change， crisis and disruption are the new status quo - and while many venues are ready for such change， others will take more time.

One reason is that many have hardware limitations like fixed ceilings and walls that simply dont lend themselves to new expectations very easily. But in other cases， it involves re-thinking how business will be carried out in the future， in effect， creating an ongoing， adaptive environment. As an example， more and more these days we are seeing the convergence of exhibitions and conventions： many conventions are adding trade opportunities and exhibitions to their models while at the same time a significant number of exhibitions are adding more educational programming into their programs. To a centre， this means the need to provide for the effective and successful hosting of a number of concurrent components – and that means both spaces and services.

There is no turning back from this. Events will continue to evolve and we as centres need to be able to respond with the right products. Success will increasingly depend on our ability to do this， both efficiently and cost-effectively.