Welcome to our new series AIME Insiders where we get to know leading industry voices. Up first we have Waikin Wong, who has just joined ICCA as their Asia Pacific Regional Director!

What top three words best describe you?
• Endurance
• Agile
• Caring

What made you so excited to join ICCA?
• To be part of the ICCA community and be able to contribute, to team up and partner with passionate stakeholders to inspire and share knowledge
• To be able to play a leading role, motivating and providing support through thick and thin in the face of adversity

Who are your strongest influences in the industry right now?
I strongly believe everyone can play a role and be influencers. I must say I have many mentors in the industry and outside of the industry who are very passionate about the work they do and are enthusiastic to make a positive impacts in their respective industries.

What do you see as the biggest changes to the events landscape right now?
It’s much richer and can be accelerated by advancing the use of technology. The current landscape provides greater opportunity:
• to be more creative and be bolder, to explore different possibilities and to overcome challenges
• to provide more options, to be connected digitally or in-person, to obtain information and knowledge and make learning easier (e.g. hub and spoke, hybrid, digital, on-demand facilities)
• to enable greater program and content designs, meeting different learning needs and formats
• to re-invent, re-skill, team up and be more united than ever to deliver shared goals

What makes you excited about in-person events coming back?
• Real life, face-to-face discussions and information exchange during sessions
• The in-person NETWORKING!
• The social elements! I miss the fun talking to the one sitting next to me
• Exploring the city and trying out local food
• More importantly ICCA as the THE global association always advocate face-to-face events

Why do you see events such as AIME as being important to the industry recovery?
AIME promotes knowledge exchange and serves as a platform to connect the community, to transfer knowledge and foster learning; creating many business opportunities. ICCA is always glad to partner with AIME.

When travel restrictions are a thing of the past, what are the top three places you can’t wait to visit?
There are too many places I want to go for business and leisure! I can’t cherry pick. I think I will be overly excited to be able to travel again and of course shake hands with loyal ICCA members!