APAC 2017 Hong Kong Business Awards

6 APAC / Hong Kong Business Awards 2017 , HKB17005 we make sure we hire people who are customer oriented and have good communication skills. Mission and company goals are clearly communicated with staff members of all levels. Business development and management directions are shared at regular staff meetings and other internal communication channels. Identified talents are offered development opportunities. Above all, customer feedback is constantly attended and followed up to meet the changing requirements. We record feedbacks received from all channels and relevant Departments have to go through them regularly to identify services gap for improvement.” Operating in such a competitive market, HML has worked hard to target the luxury end of the market in order to differentiate itself from its competitors, as Monica discusses. “Strategically, we target upmarket events and niche topics, like art exhibitions and luxury product shows. Understanding of the market trends as well as organisers’ needs, sensitivity to global and regional economy, up-to-date analysis, future projections, and in depth market research are all keys to secure sustainable new exhibitions. For example, a few top art exhibitions and related events have already become regular items on the HKCEC’s event calendar, namely, Art Basel, Affordable Art Fair, Fine Art Asia, Ink Asia, Sotheby’s Spring Auctions and Exhibitions, Christie’s Hong Kong Spring Auctions, and International Antiques Fair. Art appreciation and collection are flourishing in Asia with growing spending power and investment interest and collection. “Organisers and event attendees of these high end exhibitions look for a total experience and quality, such as food and beverage, technology and logistics management etc. Hospitality for exhibitors and visitors with high spending power of Art Basel in March plays an important part of their overall experience. Visitors to Art Basel in Hong Kong are from around the world. It became a big challenge for the HML’s food & beverage team to accommodate the needs of the visitors with so diverse backgrounds. “To achieve this, HML’s F&B team made extraordinary efforts in providing tailor made menus and services for the attendees of this fair. HML’s event managers, chefs and catering service staff worked closely with Art Basel Hong Kong’s team and F&B consultant to offer a range of Asian and Western cuisines across 11 eateries. Among which, 10 were tailored and temporarily built inside the exhibition halls and in the concourse areas. There were also four champagne trolleys serving on the fair ground. “In addition, HML’s F&B team and Art Basel Hong Kong’s team started to discuss the concept and develop the menus as early as August 2016. In view of the portfolios of the exhibitors and visitors, the teams worked very hard on the food styling and presentation, focusing on fresh and healthy offerings, as well as the logistics. The teams had conducted five whole-day workshops before seven rounds of menu tastings and meetings. Each round of menu tasting took three to five hours to review the taste, portion, presentation, utensils, etc of each food item.” In her concluding comments, Monica talks us through the various developments in the market and how her firm will work around them to ensure its continued success. “The current business environment is competitive, with uncertainties in the global economy. We expect that some of the events, e.g. conferences and corporate meetings, will be shorter in the number of event days. Fortunately, the number of exhibitions, remained stable at the HKCEC as most of the exhibitions are recurrent. However, the number of attendees in the event may be affected because of the budget concern of overseas exhibitors, buyers and attendees on business travel and consumption. “Looking ahead, we see more organisers, international conferences or corporate events in particular, have included ‘Sustainability’ as one of the items on the venue selection check list. More organisers are aware of or are taking advantages of the HKCEC’s sustainability offerings. HML will continue to take the initiative to provide green meeting experience “LoveGreen meeting package” to event organisers and visitors to demonstrate its commitment in environmental protection and community care. “Ultimately, HML was the first organisation in Hong Kong to achieve the ISO 20121 Event Sustainability Management System certification – a significant milestone for HML team in recognition of our balanced efforts in economic, social and environmental sustainability. These achievements resulted from concerted effort of the entire HML team to support the company’s sustainability direction. HML has established a clear event sustainability policy. Our event sustainability management system, operation procedures and guidelines ensure the concept of ‘sustainability’ is fully incorporated into the entire event management cycle from booking, event planning, food & beverage services, procurement, waste management, staff training, on-site delivery and billing, as well as customer feedback handling. It also encompasses capital investments for reducing energy and water consumption, workplace health and safety as well as community service. Overall, HML will continue to work closely with event organisers to offer creative solutions and provide good experience for event attendees.”