(Front row, from third left) Abdul Khani and Khairul Firdaus with the MyCEB conference members who received tokens of appreciation during the Association Day. — RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star
Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) celebrated its second Association Day by presenting tokens of appreciation to its conference members, who are called “Kesatrias”.
The event honoured five new Kesatria appointments, in addition to 40 existing members.
The Kesatrias represent pioneers in the growth and development of Malaysia’s business events scene, equipped with the expertise and knowledge of key economic sectors.
Woods: “Always look at ways to innovate, how to do the business in a new way and to ensure that you’re looking at your mission.”
MyCEB’s Association Day also allows the industry’s association executives to mingle and network.
Held at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL), it was launched by Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan.
MyCEB hosted its first Association Day last year as a platform to share cutting-edge space of continued education, advocacy and professionalism in association management.
This year, the bureau co-organised the event with the Malaysia Society of Association Executive (MSAE) with a renewed goal to elevate professionalism within the industry.
“Since the inception of the programme, our Kesatrias have contributed 95 successful international business events with an economic impact of RM1.5bil and attracted more than 100,000 delegates,” said MyCEB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Khani Daud.
He explained that MyCEB was established 12 years ago to enhance Malaysia’s business event industry.
“Our main role is to bring international events, conferences, exhibitions as well as international sporting events to Malaysia.”
He said MyCEB had a long-term strategic marketing plan, which was laid out in 2021 and would run until 2030.
“We are looking at 4.9 million delegates to come to Malaysia by 2030.
“This plan is important as it involves the collaboration of local stakeholders and international partners such as the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
“We are taking part in several trade shows around the world to continue networking with our international partners,” Abdul Khani added.
Meanwhile, Khairul Firdaus said: “Our common goal is to make Malaysia renowned as a key destination for international corporations to conduct business.”
He mentioned that there had been a significant uptake since the transition to Covid-19 endemicity and that, “not only are international arrivals increasing, we are also seeing a rise in domestic tourism.”
MyCEB, he said, would play a major role in increasing the influx of business travellers to Malaysia.
“Business travellers have a significantly larger spillover effect into the economy and we’re hoping to increase our business event competitiveness.
“The demand for ecotourism is also seeing a rise among international travellers, so we are going to capitalise on that for sure,” he said.
This year, the Association Day marked an important milestone as keynote speaker from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) – Lakisha Ann Woods, who shared how effective association management operated in the United States.
Woods, who is also chair on the board of directors, said, “Always look at ways to innovate, how to do the business in a new way and to ensure that you’re looking at your mission.”
She said associations could achieve what was best for their members by helping them be more successful.
The event also hosted two panel discussions -- one on “Harnessing the power of associations” moderated by Malaysian Gas Association (MGA) secretary-general and MSAE honorary treasurer Rosman Hamzah.
The panellists were MSAE president and National Heart Association of Malaysia general manager Sunny Chee, Malaysia Association of Applied Linguistics president Prof Dr Shameem Rafik-Galea and Woods.
The second session titled “From zero to hero” explored the fundamentals behind what associations needed to do to secure bid opportunities to host international conferences.
This was moderated by Altis Business Solutions Sdn Bhd, independent industry consultant and MSAE member Angeline van den Broecke.
Panellists included MyCEB chief operating officer Noor Ahmad Hamid, International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) board of director member Dr Yu Kee Su as well as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Malaysia Section honorary secretary and the Institution of Engineers Malaysia chair, IEEE admission and advancement committee member Prof Dr Zuhaina Haji Zakaria.
In addition, there was an MSAE workshop on managing challenges.
