Conference & Meetings World Issue 102 | Page 3

How about going down a gold mine, conferencing in an MMA cage or meeting in a World Cup arena? Leader The power of meetings Managing editor, Paul Colston f you were to think of some destination business success stories, you would likely have Hong Kong on your list, possibly alongside the likes of New York, Geneva, Singapore and London. The city has long been a beacon of best practice in the events industry, and has faithfully served as a trading bridge between China and the rest of the world. Hong Kong’s leading industry sectors, ingenuity, innovation and dynamism have helped drive its events business, much the same as has been the case in Singapore - Asia’s No.1 meetings destination in the ICCA rankings. Three months of street protests in Hong Kong have shredded that reputation, to the extent that planners and delegates are now reluctantly looking MANAGING EDITOR PAUL COLSTON [email protected] GLOBAL ACCOUNT DIRECTOR IAIN STIRLING [email protected] JOURNALIST STUART WOOD [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS SIMON GEORGE RAMY SALAMEH PRODUCTION MANAGER ELIZABETH NIXON GRAPHIC DESIGNER KATERYNA SMIRNOVA [email protected] elsewhere, at least while the demonstrations continue. Let us hope that peace prevails for the sake of all in the Hong Kong SAR and the wider events global family. Hopefully we can once again look to Hong Kong for events and business inspiration. A different kind of battle for hearts and minds in the incentives world is highlighted by international association SITE in this issue. CEO Didier Scaillet sets out the case for authentic experiences being the new ‘luxury’. A state of the heart rather than of the mind. We profile many destinations that claim to tug at the authentic heart strings, including hotels in Florence and Monaco in this issue, but there are disruptors around, such as Ekaterinburg, as our report from CIRCULATION MATTHEW WILLIAMS PRINTED BY PENSORD MASH MEDIA GROUP LTD 2ND FLOOR APPLEMARKET HOUSE, 17 UNION STREET, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES KT1 1RP TEL: [phone] FAX: [phone] EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.C-MW.NET @CM_WORLD the Urals MICE conference also illustrates. How about going down a gold mine, conferencing in an MMA cage or meeting in a World Cup football arena? Our cover feature imagines a MICE solution to the division of Korea. Fantasy? Perhaps, but meetings have laid some firm foundations for peaceful solutions around the globe, including at Potsdam, Yalta, Paris, Vienna, Geneva, The Hague and Kyoto. Maybe it is also time to meet in Nanjing again… © COPYRIGHT CONFERENCE + MEETINGS WORLD ALL MATERIAL PUBLISHED IN CONFERENCE + MEETINGS WORLD IS COPYRIGHT AND REMAINS THE PROPERTY OF THE PUBLISHERS. NO MATERIAL MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHERS. THE PUBLISHERS DO NOT NECESSARILY AGREE WITH THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS, NOR DO THEY ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ERRORS OR INTERPRETATION IN THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS PUBLICATION. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR BE TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM BY ANY MEANS ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHERS. ISSUE 102 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 3