Bangkok's integrated options

When Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu sought a conference destination, the Thai capital offered organisers a full range of facilities and activities. By Mark Armsden Bangkok is increasingly becoming the destination of choice for regional conferences because of the city's ability to integrate conference facilities, accommodation for a range of budgets and off-site activity options. Global professional services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) chose the city and the Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok for their annual conference in July. The five-day event was host to more than 300 delegates from around the region with some staff coming from Europe and the US for the "DTT Asia Pacific Leadership Conference". The event was positioned at motivating staff, sharing knowledge and setting new targets for the upcoming year. Conference manager EventClicks was given a brief by DTT management to: l Successfully integrate delegates' meetings with extra-curricular activities for attendees, including a spouse programme for 50 and a specially constructed tradeshow exhibition showcasing the firm's best practices and services in Asia Pacific. l Co-ordinate the activities of the client, various suppliers and event organiser's team to help produce a multi-faceted event within a specific timeframe. l Co-ordinate the logistics of arrivals, departures, accommodation, transportation and extracurricular itineraries for attendees. The conference involved a series of parallel delegates' meetings and a plenary all-day session. The all-day event required overnight preparations as many speakers did not arrive until the evening before. The EventClicks IT team had to reformat presentations to the design slides and templates and add graphic animations. They also had to co-ordinate special sound and lighting effects for some of the presenters and source various technological tools and equipment to support the many presentations. EventClicks IT team-leader Mr Patrick Yuen stressed the importance of a quick response from organisers as it is common for presentations to be changed and amended until right before the speaker presents. "It is not rare for organisers to work around the clock and sometimes overnight in order to prepare everything in time for the speaker," he says. "For this event, we only had one chance to get everything absolutely right as we only had one opportunity for troubleshooting and rehearsal before the speakers went on stage." There was also a trade show held in the hotel to coincide with the conference. There were 13 booths, each showcasing service facilities and best practices within the firm. "Since there were several parties involved in the setting up of the tradeshow, we had to maintain constant communication between them all, including local production crews, our own team members, the design firm as well as the clients themselves," EventClicks' vice-president operations Ms Liza Sheung says. "Through co-operation and teamwork, we were able to pull together and solve all of the challenges we were faced with. It was important to depend on each other to be actively involved in discussions, troubleshooting and problem solving." Another important aspect of the event was the spouse programme for 50 partners who accompanied delegates. They were offered six specific tours. "In order to reflect the vibrancy and cultural ethnicity of a city such as Bangkok, we had to offer spouses something memorable and enjoyable," says EventClicks director of events Mr Joshua Lam. "We did our homework and determined that many were first-time visitors to Bangkok. As such, we proposed an 'Experience Thailand' theme, which included Thai cooking classes, lessons on Thai cultural behaviour, spa treatments as well as local tours around Bangkok." Delegates also participated in a number of off-site events in the evening around Bangkok, including a final evening boat ride across the Chao Phraya River to the renowned Oriental Hotel, where delegates enjoyed a traditional Thai-style banquet. At the end of the night, delegates gathered on the terrace of the Oriental Hotel for a fireworks display.