Ten Trends in the Meetings Industry 2012, by Liu Haiying, General Manager of China National Convention Center (CNCC)

The development of China’s meetings industry has presented the following 10 trends in 2012:
1. Governments of all levels have begun to attach importance to the roles of the conference industry;
2. The methods adopted for conference management have become increasingly standard;
3. Conference hosting organizations have become growingly professional;
4. Meeting themes have become more and more novel than before;
5. The comprehensive management of various venues are getting more and more proficient;
6. Services offered by multiple MICE service suppliers are more creative;
7. The lack of professionals in the meetings industry have presented a wider and wider gap;
8. Competitions among conference venues are becoming increasingly severe;
9. A more and more strong preference is shown for international meetings to be held in second-tier cities;
10. Last but not least, the concept of green and energy conversation has gained wider and deeper consensus.

The meetings industry is an important part of modern service sector, with wide-ranging influence, a high degree of correlation, as well as a huge potential for development. To a large extent, the development of the conference industry demonstrates the all-around advancement level of a certain nation’s culture, economy and society. This plenary session is themed Meetings Industry---Fusion, Transformation, and New Combinations, which is well chosen. The conference industry, as we know, is a crucial part of MICE industry, with an outstanding cross-fields trait. The close relations between conferences and exhibitions bring the conference & exhibition industry into a reality. By closely connecting with tourism, conferences have given birth to conference tourism, conference & Exhibition tourism, and meetings & incentives. Still, as a significant platform for information creation, conferences have become an integral part of means taken by nations, cities, regions, and organizations to boost the influence and communicate information. It’s my sincere hope that this convention could further inspire people’s recognition of the meetings industry and its values so as to bolster the whole society to actively build conference platforms and raise the social influence of the conference industry, thereby enabling the industry to make more quality contributions to China’s socioeconomic development.