The iEvents Plus Summit, an incentive and event conference held in Shanghai from July 7-8, welcomed around 300 attendees and delegates.
Buyers from Fortune 500 companies across the pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics and other sectors were also present.
The third of its kind, the event was previously branded China Conference, Meeting & Incentive Travel Forums (CCMIT) and China Corporate Travel Management Summit (CCTM).
Merisis Consulting hosted both summits last year in Hangzhou and Suzhou, in March and September respectively. Both cities are about two hours away from Shanghai by high-speed train.
The iEvents Plus Summit featured an event management and incentive travel management summit with content directed at planners, PR companies, corporate marketing departments and buyers.
Content included conference planning case studies, a round table discussion, one-on-one interviews and an on-site inspection.
Industry giants were invited to speak about trends and share company success stories.
Speaker Tracy Stuckrath, founder and chief connecting officer of Thrive! Meetings & Events, stressed that planners should show cultural awareness when co-ordinating international delegations.
Another speaker, Kitty Wong, president of World PCO Alliance Taiwan and vice president of K&A International, said that technology and personalisation are trending across industries.
Forums for corporate travellers covered a range of topics including travel management, legal and tax compliance, travel management cost control, expenditure control, digital marketing and event management.
During the round table meeting, Russell Huang, procurement director of MSD China, emphasised the importance of brand reputation.
Liu Xin, deputy manager of Grand China Mice, gave updates on the incentive industry in China. She said that planners in China often work over budget, as a result of not organising far enough in advance.
A key topic of discussion throughout the summit was how value-added tax has affected China’s incentive industry.
