Sunday, September 13, 2009

Week 1 - Aug 24 - 28th - Conference Management Organization


I'm with the Public Sector subteam -- 3 members -- Rajani (IBM India), Layne (IBM Washington DC) and myself. Our focus is on three distinct activities: a) to produce a report for our client the Foreign Affairs office on 'Internationalization of Chengdu', b) to share experience & insights on event marketing, planning & execution and c) to build and deliver an english language program for school children in Dujiangyan City (quake zone).

Week 1 & 2 are largely dedicated to interviews to support our efforts associated with the report on Internationalization of Chengdu, and also on meeting and sharing experiences with a Conference logistics organization looking to expand their conference & tradeshow business (also in support of internationalization). Given my recent experience with events, the team agrees to divide and conquer - with Layne & Rajani spending time at the Tourism Board and other related Tourism offices while I meet with the Conference Management organization to understand their business & challenges, and then share my experiences, and brainstorm how they might further enhance their event marketing.

Based on the interview process, I pull together a recommendation document, and share some of my experience (IOD was showcased) with event planning & execution to give them more insight on management of complex events (their focus today is largely on tradeshows). The presentation was delivered to about 30 individuals -- translated into Chinese -- IOD team - check out the view of the WAAG translated to chinese! It seemed to go over very well - with a follow-up invitation to dinner hosted by the client for our entire team.

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