International Conference Management
Introduction
As of now, international conferences are considered as one of the most essential and significant aspects in globalization as it bridge the gaps of various industries from one nation to another and it is helping many economies of various nations to be recognized all over the world. Accordingly, one of the most essential international conferences such as world expos is the World Expo conferences which are regarded as a large scale, non-commercial international expo. Since it is an essential and significant international conference such as world expo, the hosting for this must be applied for by a nation and approved by the international committee. The main goal of this event is to promote transfer and exchange of ideas as well as development of the global economy, science and technology, customs and culture and to allow exhibitors to promote as well as show off their achievements and enhance international relationship.
For the World Expo 2010, Shanghai was chosen to be the host of this international conference such as world expo, hence it is essential to analyze the present economic situation of the city and investigate the size and the nature of the conference as well as the exhibition industry. In addition, this paper will also analyze the key supply and demand issues as well as trends within the city.
Size and Nature of World Expo
The World Expo is considered to be a major international event which has been noted as a prime tourist attraction for the host city. In Shanghai, the government of China has already considered preparations for the upcoming World Expo 2012. With the expertise of China in global international conference such as world expos like the recent Olympic, it can be noted that the international conference will bring about major investments, Shanghai Expo 2010 and economic benefits.
Based from previous World Expo international conference, increased Shanghai Expo 2010 has been the most essential and significant opportunity brought about by such major international conferencing such as world expo. To be able to optimize the effect of this opportunity, hosts typically make major preparations to meet the satisfaction of their participants and foreign visitors who will participate in this international conference such as world expo. Hosts also consider its transportation systems as well as other tourist attractions near the World Expo site; the preparation of these visitor attractions will be done along with the construction of the World Expo facilities. In general, it is intended to deliver the best that a city has to offer through major World Expo developments for the participants (Harris et al 2006).
According to Fleuron (2009), the 2010 World Expo can be considered as a fantastic international conference of scientific and cultural exchanges and a great opportunity for Shanghai to display its current transition as one of the leading and responsible players in the sustainable development as well as a leading financial center by 2020.
Nature of Supply and Demand: Shanghai City
In this type of international conference, it can be said that the different type of demands for conference facilities include the demand for visitor attractions. Accordingly, as organizations, or in this case the international conference become increasingly competitive, choosing venues is one of the most important aspect to be consider. In this regard, the organizers of the World Expo should be able to look for venues which will fit the entire theme and motif of the event. Such demand for the conference facilities or venue, specifically, should consider the attraction of the visitor.
For instance, in the case of World expo, it can be said that Shanghai is the most strategically demanded venue because of its being competitive. Accordingly, Shanghai has been considered to be one of the vital gateways to the world’s most populous nation, and long enjoyed having its neoteric image. Shanghai is now considered to be one of the largest as well as fastest growing and developing cities which enable the city to attract both domestic and international investors who have been enjoying considerable commercial success. As part of this, Shanghai has been able to transform to become an urban landscape from the dense, ageing and relatively low-rise setting into a complex, modern and multifaceted high-rise conglomerate city for almost 2 decades (Denison, 2008).
It can be said that with the current image and reputation of Shanghai, it can be considered to provide great conference facilities to host large numbers of delegates and participants. It can be said that Shanghai can be a good venue for conferences because of its great connection and transports. Accordingly, Shanghai is also noted to be the biggest port in Chinese market and it is a centre for trade, technique, finance, culture and information.
The Shanghai City has been active in terms of trading and relationship with various investors which indicates high supply and demands for trade, needed by the World Expo. This pertains on the process of conferences and other international conference such as world expos which is considered as one of the most essential and significant strategy that is being used by various cities and countries to attract target investor and visitors. In addition, Shanghai is considered to have a high demand in terms of conference facilities because of the new building and other architectural projects for the city which include the development of green areas among the apartment complexes to be able to enhance the quality of live in the city which adheres to the theme of the World Expo 2010 which is “Better City-Better Life” (Shanghai, 2009).
It can be said that the planning for the demands for conference facilities is highly implicated by the local considerations and an assumed demand based on the city experiences. For instance in Shanghai, it can be said that there are over 2,048 Hotels & Accommodations that can accommodate visitors of the World Expo. In addition, the Shanghai is also known to have good transportation access for the convenience of the participants of the conference. In fact, Shanghai has been able to build an exclusive expo site with a total area of 5.28 square kilometers, which include the enclosed region and outside region of the support conference facilities. The venue which is the Expo Site that spans both sides of the Hangout River, nd 1.35 sq km in Puxi with 3.93 sq km in Pudong to accommodate all the participants. Buildings that are included in the venue consist of the China pavilions, theme pavilions, Expo Boulevard and the World Expo centre which are exclusively made to accommodate the entire participants. It can be said that the support conference facilities and the venue are all set up for the World Expo in Shanghai.
Advantages of World Expo in Shanghai’s Image
International conferencing has been one of the growing events all over the world since it is considered to bridge the gap of geographical boundaries among nations. International conferencing such as the World Expo should consider conceptualizing of the plan, executing the planned actions as well as monitoring of the international conference until such time that the goals and objectives of the international conferencing were carried out.
Managing an international conference consists of steps and guidelines that should be observed so as to ensure as well as guarantee the success of the even that will take place. One of the perceived advantages of the World Expo to the image of Shanghai is it will enable Shanghai to be exposed in the global market as a city that provides state of the art conference facilities. In this regard, Shanghai is being exposed as a conference venue that can provide efficient facilities to host any other events in the future. It is said that international conferences post various advantages and disadvantages for the host city.
In addition, the advantage of considering World expo in Shanghai is that it enables the company to have a good reputation in terms of financial and economic status. Accordingly, to be able to handle or facilitate a conference, specifically as big as World Expo, the city’s financial resources should be examined to allocate sufficient funds for the purchases and other expenses that they will need to organize the entire events. In addition, equipments and facilities should be made available for the full function and purposes they will provide. There should also be announcements or invitations and other international conference promotion activities to inform the attendees of the international conference such as world expo. In this regard, if Shanghai will be able to do this efficiently, it will leave a good reputation for the entire public to conduct other conference and events in the city. In addition, another advantage is it will be able to help the organizations of the event to have more experience that they will use for the up and coming events to be held in Shanghai. The organizers of the event will be able to handle emergencies through proper risk management while rules are observed and there are available people to officiate all throughout the international conference such as world expo. In addition, the event organizers will also help Shanghai in providing other experiences to handle the event efficiently.
Accordingly, major international expositions have held in various cities such as Hanover, Aichi, Zaragoza, Spain and the latest would be the Shanghai Expo. Accordingly world expos may come into two sizes: the Small size which can be attributed to the Zaragoza, Spain World Expo with a theme of Water and Sustainable Development and the second is the Universal Expo which is the main highlight of this report, that is, Shanghai Expo which will run for 6-month period and will address the theme mentioned above. The organisers of the event is anticipating some 70 million visitors (Linden, 2007) to see the exhibits which will cover 200 participants who are being encouraged to explore the topic of the urban development, cities and urban life in this generation. Accordingly, World Expo is considered to be an idealistic event which takes a snapshot of the world at various points while trying to comprehend and enhance the future. In this regard, World expo will enable Shanghai 2010 to be considered as a venue that enables interaction and innovation which will be of great use in the future events. . It can be noted that innovation is considered to be an important aspect in this technologically advanced global market, and cultural interaction is an essential mission. Expo 2010 is aiming to contribute to human centered development, scientific and information technology innovation, diversity management and win-win collaboration for having a better future.
Being a participant in international conference is an important privilege and an honor for various industries and countries. Moreover, this provides major advantages to each participate. Accordingly, participants of this international conferencing even fall into five basic categories: host region/city (Shanghai), participating countries, nongovernment organizations, industries and regional stakeholders. These categories of participants need exhibition design as well as related services to enable them to attain their specific objectives. Being a participant in the world expo is a major expense and those stakeholders are driven to make the most of the opportunities within the limited timeframe of such international conferencing event. In addition, Shanghai seeks will also attain boosts of global awareness of Shanghai, increasing Shanghai Expo 2010 as well as investment and establishing a catalyst for needed civic enhancement which include restructuring or upgrading of a given district or specific area. While influences will differ in line with the situation, it is essential to say that that past host of expos such as Lisbon, Hanover, Aichi and Montreal has been able to achieve specific success for this event.
Accordingly, Shanghai’s hosting to the Expo 2010 is poise to represent the entire China, which includes its rich history, customs, but more essentially its huge future as an economic as well as world power. Hence, this is a great way for the Chinese (Vincent, 2000) people to gain future investors and partners that can help them in the future.
Accordingly, various people have been able to show their interest in accordance with the nature of their academic subjects and such of the events accepts within the international conferencing. As mentioned above, international conferences tend to include the nature and the objective of having more participants that will visit the city in which Shanghai expects about 70 million visitors which can also be considered as participants. Accordingly, modeling of Shanghai Expo 2010 effect on the cultural heritage and social aspects as well as the environment remains popular, and the framework of Smith has been able to simplify a complex event, although, with a strong economic bias. This is understandable given the quantifiable nature of economic data, but it denies anthropology’s talent to reveal social and cultural subtleties and hence generate rounded picture of transformation (Globe Innovator, 2009).
In the Shanghai 2010, it is the context of Expo 2010 which became the primary concern in this international conferencing for those interested in the socioeconomic impacts of international conferencing such as World Expo. Shanghai Expo 2010 industry has been able to continue as a core theme and diversified into related aspects, which include policymaking, politics as well as practice in rural communities (Bouquet & Winter 1987), economics and environment in countries like Asia (Choi & chu, 2000) while regional development (Fsadni & Selwyn 1996) has also been considered. In Shanghai 2010, it can be said that World expo will eventually have effect on how the socio-cultural aspect of the city will be widened and affect the way they give value to their customs as individuals as it became one of the greatest source of living for these city.
One areas of Shanghai Expo 2010 which will experience tremendous boost after this international conferencing event is in terms f the cultural Shanghai Expo 2010. Arts, theatre and also the cultural heritage tourist hub are all clustered under the umbrella of this type of cultural Shanghai Expo 2010. On one hand, the socio-cultural aspects includes all movements of individuals might be included in the definition because they satisfy the human need for diversity, which tends to enhance and raise the cultural level of the individual giving rise to new knowledge, experiences and encounters with the participants. Accordingly, the unique and distinctive cultural heritage of the city will also help in the development of the socially-based as well as culturally based Expo 2010. Moreover, there are also growing selection of such sustainable international conferencing event operation as well as organisation to promote responsible travel among local and visitors and participants of such event.
Disadvantages of World Expo to Shanghai
Although, international conferencing has a numerous advantages for Shanghai it also encompasses some disadvantages. One of which is idea that there will be some participants which may cause pollution as well as can destroy the natural environment such as noise pollution and visual pollution from various infrastructure built for enhancing the city. In addition, reengineering of a certain place to build other buildings which will l contribute to be one of the central attractions for Shanghai will be considered costly and that the funds that have been spent may have been better used for other needs of the place or the regions such as educational needs. Moreover, there are some participants who do not respect traditions, customs as well as cultures, hence, will result conflict among participants and residence. Another disadvantage of Shanghai Expo 2010 is it may destroy the natural beauty of a specific place and it may provide the loss of open spaces for future needs. Crowding as well as congestion are also some pointed disadvantage that Shanghai may experience due to the rapid growth of Shanghai Expo 2010. The summary of advantages and disadvantages of the international conferencing event in Shanghai is shown in the following table (See Appendix)
In recent years, industries and companies within and participating in different international events are striving to deliver and provide not only their products and services but also high or even world class quality as well as satisfaction that will lead to increased participants loyalty and market share for the Shanghai economy. The significance as well as value of participants satisfaction as well as relationship with the quality of the events, specifically in terms of the Shanghai Expo 2010 industry (Callan 1995 and Gundersen, Heide, & Olsson 1996). The positioning in the Shanghai’s industry has been able to propel Expo 2010 authorities to build branded reputation and image for their names to be able to establish loyalty among participants and not to become reliant to Shanghai’s regulations and policy. Nonetheless, n line with this boosted brand-building initiative as well as efforts, Shanghai Expo 2010 and the entire expo organizations has also been able to address many issues to establish good relationship among participants and improve its position.
In this situation, Shanghai expo 2010 authorities and participants requires a massive amount of skills and capabilities in specialized marketing which will consider establishing and maintaining and sustaining relationships with visitors/tourists (Gao, 2007), local agents, corporate tour as well as travel departments of major exhibitors like hotels and amusement parks as well as resorts, and more. In addition, other external issues affect the Expo 2010 operations such the emergence of the dreaded disease known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or even the AH1N1. It is noted that the sudden onset of this disease (SARS) among the countries caused significant effects and destructions to the economic environment, specifically affecting the visitors of Shanghai Expo 2010.
Being considered as the largest cities in China, the active and very important obligations and role of Shanghai as one of the economic drivers has been given emphasis. With the existence of various issues and problems like the unexpected incident of SARS and other virus and diseases, the operations and market status specifically on the participant’s aspect is affected. To address such, the Shanghai expo management designs strategic plans which aim to bring back the prestige and ‘normal’ exposition processes.
Conclusion
Incoming Shanghai expo 2010, posed so much anticipation for both the participants and the host city. Herein, it can be said that Expo 2010 play significant role as well as effect to the progress of the Shanghai Expo 2010 industry and economic position of Shanghai and also their entire nation. With this consideration, Shanghai Expo 2010 in the city as a tool to counter the declining number of tourist visits due to the effect of factors such as SARS and other virus and terrorism. Basically, Shanghai Expo 2010 aims on increasing the number of participants and exhibitors in Shanghai. nevertheless, the increase of tourists as well as immigrants in Shanghai created not only positive results but also some drawbacks for the city. Given the possible disadvantages of Shanghai Expo 2010 such as the increasing number of crimes committed by both locals and tourists, Shanghai officials still continue to encourage the entry of tourist mainly because of several reasons.
First, the potential for Shanghai Expo 2010 it generate foreign currency is essential, all the more so in states which have artificial or controlled exchange rates, or which are, often as resulted, suffering balance of payments problems. Second is the fact that Shanghai Expo 2010 industry and participants and exhibitors are also considered as labor intensive, and creates employment throughout the entire economy; participants and exhibitors spend money on hotels, transport, and meals, but also on a wide variety of goods and services. Third is the fact that the Shanghai Expo 2010 industry and participants and exhibitors does not, in general require expensive or complex technology or a highly skilled labor markets. With the exception of a small number of complex projects such as operating an airline, investment in Shanghai Expo 2010, though considered comparatively expensive, it will generate profit reasonably quickly. Finally, many nations already have in place the basic and most important requirements for the development of the Shanghai Expo 2010; a pleasant climate, attractive scenery, historical sites, as well as friendly people. In other words, governments often feel that their state possesses an untapped economic resource, and decide to take advantage of it.
Reference
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Appendix
Summary of Advantages and Disadvantages of Expo 2010
Advantages of Expo 2010
Disadvantages of Expo 2010
Economic benefit (more income, more jobs,
increased business, etc.)
Congestion/crowding
Getting to know people from all over the
world
Environmental impact/strain on environment
Promotes cultural diversity
Increased cost of living
Increase in service industries
Increased pollution
Increased support for preservation of
wilderness
Increase in crime/loss of safety
Supports art/culture development
Strain on infrastructure
Attracts businesses to area
Increased number of low-income jobs
Potential for reduced taxes for residents
Increased taxes to provide new services
Community pride
Disturbs community intimacy/atmosphere
Development of public parks, services
Disrespect for the Shanghai way of life
Promotion of communities
Strain on state services
Benefits tourist/travel agencies
Excessive development
Better than extractive industries
Disruptive visitors
Sharing Parks and recreation areas
Loss of open space
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