I kept receiving emails from WB, including agenda, topics, news, etc. after I registered for the forum. One day before the event date, it sent notification email to remind me to bring a government issued picture ID and leave enough time to go through the security. It was so nice.
I was told that the event is oversubscibed. The Preston Auditorium was full of people when I entered at 9:20 am and I quietly found a seat in the back row. Sadly there's no usher to show people the seats which can easily lead to a mess. I also felt uncomfortable that apparently people were intended to sit on the sides first, and during the first panel, people were coming in from time to time, and I've seen the people in front of me standing up and making spaces for the new coming attendees and then sitting down for many times. Such a huge event like this definitely needs some ushers to guide attendees to sit. And I think ushers need to guide early arrived attendees to sit in the middle area first and then lead the later arrived person to sit on the back and sides much conveniently. In this way, they don't have to bother other attendees during the meeting. I think the organizer needs to focus on the arrival issues from a meeting attendee's perspective.
The forum panelists include Mr. Christopher J. Nassetta, President & CEO of Hilton Worldwide, Ms. Aireen Omar, the CEO of AirAsia Berhad, Mr. Mauricio Ventura Aragon, Minister for Tourism of Costa Rica, etc.
For every one or two sessions, there is a coffee break for attendees to have a rest. It's good to have this because the long hours panel discussion can be exhausted. And I noticed that catering staff only refill food and drinks for the nearest area to the door, and bring food from other areas to there during the panel for the people who need to get out during the panel. It's a smart act that can provide convenience to a small group of people and don't cause large waste of food.
I knew this event from a university email. And I chatted with different persons with various positions during the coffee break. Seems like WB did a great job on marketing. It reaches out a variety of attendees from university students to tourism specialists. After the event, when I checked internet, I saw the event everywhere from emails, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The official website keeps readers posted with the latest news and photos and what's going on on site.
This forum is considered the first association event that I've ever participate. I found it's awesome and I saw both advantages and some small areas need improvements from the perspective of event management.
No comments:
Post a Comment