ISES Hong Kong Leadership Dinner

ISES Hong Kong gathered industry leaders for a roundtable discussion and dinner entitled “Creativity in Thought and Leadership”. In attendance were thought leaders from Jack Morton, Uniplan, WRG, MCI, Mega Events Fund, Creative Technologies, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, TEDx Wanchai, Teambuilding Asia as well as creative independent planners and designers Factor 168 and Eventsman. The conversation was led by visiting ISES International President Kevin White.  Photos courtesy of Piet Defossez 

 

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club provided an amazing setting and fantastic menu. ISES provided the questions. Each course had a different topic based creativity and how as industry leaders we can help nurture the creative side of the event industry in Hong Kong.

The Agenda

Appetizer

With Creativity in mind, what are the gaps in the industry right now?

Scottish Salmon Confit, Grilled Langoustines, Arugula and Fennel Salad, Spiced Mango and Citrus Salsa

Soup

What are you doing to close these gaps now?

Cèpe Mushroom Soup, Truffle Oil

Mains

What do you think will be the gaps/challenges as we move forward?

Char-grilled US Prime Rib Eye Steak, Eggplant Compote, Port Jus

Dessert

Recap & Closing

Caramelised Banana Cheese Cake with Berries, Passion Fruit Sabayon

Freshly Brewed Coffee or Gourmet Tea

The conversation quickly blossomed and as good conversation goes it took many twists and turns. A few of the more controversial statements included:

“Creativity is feared by clients”

“Current Asian industry Awards are not legitimate, most are simply popularity contest or pats on the back for advertising”

“Most clients (direct person in charge) have no engagement in the event or the guests experience, their only worry is ‘Does their boss like it’, ‘are they on budget?’, and keeping their jobs.”

It was generally agreed some of the main issues facing creativity in the Asian events market is the ability to charge for it. Most clients don’t see the direct value in the creative side so the costs get transferred to more tangible items and lumped in as ‘management fees’.  It is very difficult to charge for ‘the invisible’ and more so in a culture that doesn’t value creativity. Meanwhile we are seeing more often clients relying on the agencies to provide content for the event in the way of speech writing, power points and show craft. So hopefully clients will begin to understand that art direction and show craft take years to master and have intrinsic value in the event sphere.

Another reoccurring element of the conversation was the importance of trust. Creativity can only thrive in an atmosphere of trust whether between client and agency, agency and vendor or freelancer and in-house staff. Building trust is time consuming yet is one of the strongest influences on outcome.

 

The group also discussed how we could work together to take the industry forward.  Some suggestions included getting an agreement on best practices for lead times and somehow get that information to clients to make then understand the time required to research and create an effective proposal. There was also a call for more advocacy for the event industry. There is a need to help government to understand the benefit the event industry brings to the city in both revenue and culture and hopefully cut the red tape to allow some truly spectacular and creative event to thrive in Hong Kong.

The dinner gave the ISES Hong Kong board a deeper insight into what the association needs to do to truly represent its’ industry. Since the event the board has gone to work planning for the coming year putting together educational programs and showcase events that will highlight the brightest and best of our industry. We look forward to more discussions in the future.