The world’s first roadmap for the MICE & Events industry – Event Industry Resilience Roadmap – includes best practice guidelines for conferences and exhibitions, tips for hybrid events, and long-term plans to bolster capabilities development in the MICE workforce and enterprises.

SINGAPORE 08 October 2020

 — The Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS), together with Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG), has launched the world’s first roadmap for the MICE & Events industry, the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap (IRR) which provides guidance on safety measures and best practices in line with the gradual resumption of business events.
The Event Industry Resilience Roadmap presents three strategic objectives : Helping the industry to implement best-in-class standards under STB’s Safe Business Events Framework; creating agile business models with a focus on hybridisation; and developing pathways for professional development in the new way forward.

Apart from providing advice for event organisers, venues and suppliers on the safe management of events in Singapore, the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap also includes best-in-class practices, a long-term plan for business models to pivot into, innovative solutions for hybrid events and a capabilities development plan to support the enterprises and workforce to survive, thrive, and emerge stronger from the pandemic. This will be underpinned by SG SafeEvent Standard, an industry-led national accreditation programme, which will be launched later this year. Similar to initiatives such as SG Clean, the SG SafeEvent Standard certification will be awarded as a mark of assurance that Singapore is a world-leading destination for safe, trusted and innovative business events. The “living” IRR document will continuously be updated to stay current with the evolving situation and prevailing safety, health standards. The Event Industry Resilience Roadmap’s first release (IRR 1.0) will focus on SG SafeEvent Standard and hybridisation. IRR 2.0 is in development and will expand on the business models innovation and the core capabilities that are necessary for event enterprises and professionals to pivot successfully.

Ms Dilys Boey, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Singapore, said: “The development of the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap is a significant step as Singapore resumes MICE events. Enterprise Singapore would like to congratulate SACEOS on this milestone and thank the association for leading the industry in building resilience and new capabilities. Together with SACEOS, STB and industry partners, we look forward to strengthening our enterprises through innovation and capability development so as to emerge stronger from the pandemic.”

Mr Yap Chin Siang, Deputy Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board, said: “As we gradually resume MICE events safely, we are heartened that SACEOS has taken the lead to work with STB and ESG on the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap. This roadmap will be a valuable guide to our industry during this period, to help them build new capabilities and emerge stronger. We look forward to working closely with our industry partners to rebuild and recover, and set Singapore apart as the world’s leading destination for safe, trusted and innovative business events.”

Building Capabilities for the Future

To ensure Singapore’s MICE industry continues to be an important economic driver, the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap will also map new educational pathways for MICE professionals to acquire the skills needed for future success, as well as identify opportunities in emerging industries. To prepare MICE professionals for the demands of the future economy, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed today between SACEOS and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) to establish the MICE & Events Capability Building Network (Network).

The tripartite effort, supported by Singapore Tourism Board, Enterprise Singapore, Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore, will see public and private sector partners come together to facilitate the capability development of MICE professionals, including freelancers and self-employed individuals. The Network will partner with educational institutions across Singapore to develop blueprints of new and refreshed career paths, and create, curate training programmes to support industry recovery.

Mr Hassan Bin Abdullah, Representative, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Hospitality and Consumer, said : “The NTUC Hospitality Cluster is glad to be part of this network to support the capability development of the workforce in the industry. Working in partnership with SACEOS and industry stakeholders as a network focused on enterprise and workforce capability building, we look forward to multiplying efforts to enable and support companies, as well as freelancers and self-employed professionals in the industry get ready to ride the wave of new and future trends and move ahead with new business plans. In the longer term, we hope to map out training needs and relevant courses for the workers and work with training providers to bring across such training for them. We could also leverage on our network of companies and partners to curate learning journeys and facilitate cross sharing of experiences and best practices across industries.”

Mr Aloysius Arlando, President, SACEOS, said: “The MICE & Events industry may be down, but we are not out. We have taken a whole-of-industry approach to establish safe operating standards, and best practices for hybrid models ; to work on making hybrid events viable commercially; to re-skill & up-skill our workforce and transform our enterprises into competitive and resilient businesses. As the Covid-19 situation evolves, the resumption of business events and, later live events, in Singapore is dependent on the industry’s ability and readiness to implement newly-mandated Safe Management Measures and equally important, new competencies for our workers and enterprises to be hybrid-ready and remain competitive in a post-Covid world. The Event Industry Resilience Roadmap serves as a valuable “operational guide” to strengthen our industry, enhance the skillsets of our worker and curate impactful hybrid events, making Singapore a safe, trusted and innovative MICE destination.”