SACEOS president Janet Tan-Collis wins the PCMA Chairman’s Award for her contributions to the business events industry.Singapore shone brightly on the global business events stage at the recently concluded Convening Leaders event in Nashville organised by The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA).
Singaporean Janet Tan-Collis, president of the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) and chief executive of East West Planners Singapore was announced the winner of the 2017 Chairman's Award.
The award recognised Tan-Collis for her achievements in the business events industry, especially with her work in driving education for emerging events professionals in the Asia Pacific region.
She launched the Singapore MICE Challenge as a platform to mentor the next generation of business events professionals.
Last July, the third edition of the annual challenge attracted teams of students across Singapore who were majoring in business and events to produce a realistic and competitive event proposal.
"The quality of projects presented by the students were quite phenomenal, even for those teams that did not end up being finalists at SMF...there were 11 groups selected," commented Tan-Collis.
The winning and second placed teams both won the chance to go on a fully sponsored trip and present their event proposals in front of an industry audience and media at PCMA's Convening Leaders Forum this year.
A proposal on public and corporate education for people with learning disabilities (dyslexia) took the top honours. The winning team had the chance to presenting their proposal at the Global Studio.
The presentations have met with positive response, with delegates already approaching the students on questions sponsorship and partnership.
Kasi Troll from Best Buddies International, a non-profit 501 organisation which creates opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has already expressed keen interest to help with sponsorship.
Alaina Schulner from Tableau was keen to see if her partners in Singapore could be involved in any way.
Tan-Collis is looking to build on the current raft of opportunities for young talent in Singapore's business events industry.
"We will be looking seriously at incorporating more corporate sponsors and organisations that would be interested in funding the projects. We will also be working closely with Singapore Tourism Board to hone in on the areas we feel would generate sponsorship interest," Tan-Collis added.