提高灵活性是我们的长期首要挑战

今日，议中心最重要的挑战是什么？在近日的一场主题为“重新运作，重新构建，重新诠释”的业内交流论坛上，业内人士被鼓励要努力创新，突破传统的会议筹办模式。而这正是当前整个会展行业最长远最重大的挑战。

的确，虽然应对竞争和增加收入一直都是，以后也会是会议中心关注的议题，但长期来看，会议中心要成功应对商业挑战，站在行业前沿，首要的就是增加自身的灵活性。在诸多商业领域，变化发生的范围和速度都在加大。因此，会议中心也需要快速应对这些变化，也就是说，场馆必须更具灵活性，以创新应对挑战。变化、危机和其他因素的介入已经发生，很多场馆已经做好应对的准备，而有一些场馆还需要更多时间。 例如，在会展活动中，一个重要的趋势就是会议和展览这两种形式的交融：越来越多的会议活动增加了贸易对接机会和展览版块，而很多展览活动也开设了教育论坛。鉴于此，会展中心要做好准备，提升同期接待不同类型活动的能力――在场地设施和场馆服务方面都要如此。

Being asked to identify the top challenge facing convention centres today a tough task at the best of times C but when it’s in a forum of more than 400 local， regional and international Meetings and Events professionals， as it was at the Global Industry Thought Leaders Panel during Singapore MICE Forum， it takes on an added urgency.

Under the overall theme of “Re-work， Re-conceptualise， Reinterpret”， the Forum was intended to challenge attendees to embrace innovation and break out from traditional ways of planning events. And that， as it turns out is exactly the issue of greatest long term concern to our entire industry.

Yes， challenges around competition and revenue generation are and always will be the attention-grabbers for convention centres C they directly impact the measures we generally use to report performance. But in terms of sheer， long term implications， the growing demands for successful adaptation， on a wide range of fronts， has to take the number one spot.

As in so many areas of business these days， change is vast and accelerating in our world. Event planners need to be more agile to meet the changing needs of event attendees C and that， in turn， means venues must be able to respond C to stay flexible， embrace innovation and be ready for change. Change， crisis and disruption are the new status quo - and while many venues are ready for such change， others will take more time.

One reason is that many have hardware limitations like fixed ceilings and walls that simply don’t lend themselves to new expectations very easily. But in other cases， it involves re-thinking how business will be carried out in the future， in effect， creating an ongoing， adaptive environment. As an example， more and more these days we are seeing the convergence of exhibitions and conventions： many conventions are adding trade opportunities and exhibitions to their models while at the same time a significant number of exhibitions are adding more educational programming into their programs. To a centre， this means the need to provide for the effective and successful hosting of a number of concurrent components C and that means both spaces and services.

There is no turning back from this. Events will continue to evolve and we as centres need to be able to respond with the right products. Success will increasingly depend on our ability to do this， both efficiently and cost-effectively.