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The ninth edition of BE @ Penang drew to a spectacular conclusion on Friday, 12th December, at the Setia SPICE Convention Centre in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
The conference served as an excellent sounding board upon which a variety of game-changing ideas were presented to both currently-practising business events professionals and the next generation to poised to enter the industry within the next decade.
Ranging from a need for greater inclusivity and accessibility when it comes to both events and event venues, to training a new generation of professionals for the industry, to a need to ensure the wellbeing of practitioners, there was much to think about with regard to the future of MICE and business events.
As such, we at Travel Daily Media are grateful to the Penang Convention and Exhibitions Bureau (PCEB) for giving us a ringside seat, so to speak, for these presentations; it is both an honour and a privilege for us to share the insights we gained from them with you.
Training is key both for the current generation and the next one
We’d like to cite Adrian Praveen’s talk on The Future of Tourism here: he spoke about how it is necessary for hotels and hoteliers to train up staff in terms of people skills to ensure total guest satisfaction.
Unfortunately, most organisations see training as mere upskilling or putting their people through the paces of learning how to use new software as opposed to giving refresher courses on courtesy, customer service, and public relations.
That said, Praveen’s talk touched a chord among those of the academic community, both professors and students, in attendance: putting a greater emphasis on people skills in their education will lead to the development of industry professionals with greater empathy and a more sincere desire to serve others in their work.
Training may also mean gaining a greater understanding of the differently abled and their specific needs; which brings us to…
Accessibility is good for business
Attending BE @ Penang gave us the opportunity to listen to the insights of Malaysian accessibility advocate Beatrice Leong who was the resource person / speaker for the fireside chat Accessibility: It is Good Business.
Leong is, herself, on the autism spectrum but struggled through life as a proper diagnosis wasn’t made until she was an adult.
Today, she serves as a gender and accessibility advocate through her work as a documentary filmmaker, her non-profit organisation Autism Inclusiveness Direct Action Group, as well as the health technology startup Gather.
At BE @ Penang, she remarked: “We live in a world that is built on businesses. But if businesses are not accessible, how can my community or even myself participate?”
Leong pointed out the diverse nature of the very concept of disability which spans from the physical to the psycho-emotional: for events and event venues to become more inclusive is to take into consideration the specific needs of these people whether they are visually impaired, affected by mobility issues, or require quiet spaces in which they can take the time to collect themselves or prevent a panic attack.
For this reason, measures like the quiet room offered at Setia SPICE for the conference make all the difference, enabling those who would not normally be able to join in to become a part of a major event.
And, of course, more participants is always a good thing in the context of business events and MICE.
Use technologies to your advantage
BE @ Penang 2025 also featured the talk The AI-powered Future of Business Events helmed by best-selling South Korean author and tech evangelist Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, chief executive of business tech consultancy BornTiger.
During her session, Lee pointed out that innovations like artificial intelligence can take the tedium of administrative work out of the hands of business events professionals, giving them more time to let their imagination run free to develop more unique ways of staging events for maximum impact.
Lee’s presentation also showed how events professionals can use AI beyond automating routine tasks, demonstrating its use in crafting event agendas, venue layouts, and even event playbooks that showrunners can use throughout the staging process.
It’s time to safeguard the mental and physical health of events professionals
Let’s be blunt about it: MICE, especially business events handling and management, is one of the most stressful industries in the world.
A report from the South African organisation NGO Connects points out how MICE professionals worldwide often end up burnt out as there is great pressure to ensure high attendance numbers, economic impact, and returns on investment for organisers and sponsoring firms.
Likewise, another report published by Bizzabo in 2023 lists event coordinators among the most stressful occupations of the current era, as many people in the profession sacrifice their own mental and physical health to ensure the desired outcomes.
Neuropsychiatrist Dr Prem Kumar Chandrasekaran of the Penang Adventist Hospital decried the trend, sternly advising participants to safeguard both their mental and physical health by ensuring a proper work-life balance, learning how to say no if it means protecting themselves from unnecessary burnout, and knowing when to properly clock off from their responsibilities at a reasonable hour.
Chandrasekaran further admonished event management companies to take proper care of their people by enabling them to avail of medical, psychological, and even spiritual assistance whenever necessary; after all, happy workers in the best of health deliver the best results.
The future is collaborative
One particular session we appreciated at BE @ Penang 2025 was the interactive session The Voice of Business Events: Co-creating Solutions for 2026 and Beyond.
Guided by coach, facilitator, and tranor Daniel Gonzaga, the interactive session made participants get out of their seats as they huddled with peers to develop solutions for recruitment and talent retention, sustainability, and operations management within the business events sector that could be shared with others well after the end of the conference.
The collaborative nature of the session served as a keen reminder that, business and professionalism notwithstanding, this is a sector that needs, even demands, collaboration to come up with fresh ideas to boost engagement, profitability, awareness of key issues, and greater understanding among industrial peers.
The fact that it called for teamwork rather than competition was also notable: it helped participants see common ground with their peers, thereby enabling them to come up with mutually beneficial solutions that would help build a better MICE industry on national, regional, and even global levels in the long run.
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Source: traveldailymedia