Successful Meetings - September 2007 - (Page 22)

Planner’s Workshop > Pre-Event Nine Strategies for Planning A Meeting in China By Peter Hauser Just when it seemed that interest in China as a meeting location couldn’t get any higher, along come the 2008 Olympics. If you’re among the thousands of meeting planners whose CEO or client has tasked you with putting together an event in the world’s most dynamic emerging market, you’re probably wondering just how different, and how difficult, it’s going to be. What will you need to know to pull off a successful event in a country so different from ours? Having produced more than a dozen corporate and organizational meetings in China since 2001, I can offer several strategies that have made my recent experiences much smoother than the earlier ones. You could call it my learning curve for getting the best results from vendors and venues. RELATIONSHIPS MATTER—CAN YOU SAY GUANXI? Your money is important, of course, but investing in face time is essential to success when doing business in China. Their word for the concept is guanxi, meaning personal relationships. It’s best if the relationships are established before business needs are even discussed, which means the organizations and individuals need to make themselves known to the Chinese they wish to work with well in advance. A social event, such as dinner, which would typically follow business negotiations here in America, might come before any business discussions in China. Developing good guanxi involves personal touches, such as a modestly priced gift, and the qualities you would expect in any effective relationship: courtesy, fairness, and dependability. Chinese people feel obliged to do business with friends first. COMMUNICATE CLEARLY, AND ACCURATELY It’s very important to express yourself as clearly as possible, whether speaking or writing. Use metric measurements—meters and kilos, not feet and pounds—in all plans and specifications. Learning and using a few Chinese phrases and written characters can help build those important relationships (see #1 above), but take great care to be accurate. In the United States if you give a vendor an incorrect measurement, they will most likely raise a question and save your bacon. But the Chinese businessperson will not want to insult you by mentioning a problem with size or scale; they will do what you ask. UNDERSTAND AND WORK WITHIN THE PECKING ORDER Chinese society and business are organized hierarchically, and Chinese people seem more oriented to the group than the individual. They may not wish to take responsibility or even express opinions before their peers if they feel it may cause loss of face. You need to work with your supplier to identify a point person with decision-making power who can effectively relay your requests down the line. 2 1 3 PHOTO: LANDOV 4 THE DETAILS CAN BEDEVIL YOU Be as specific as possible in all your requests. If anything is open SEPTEMBER 2007 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 22 mimegasite.com http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - September 2007

Successful Meetings - September 2007 Contents Editor's Note Research Calendar Suppliers Planner Spotlight Websites of the Month Management Matters Meetings Law Personal Success Pre-Event Tools of the Trade The Social Revolution Long Beach Insert State of the Art A Better Banquet The Seven Wonders of the Gaming World On the List Places & Spaces Caribbean Trinidad & Tobago Insert Monaco Greater Los Angeles Hilton Head/Myrtle Beach Gurus Nevada Planners Guide 2007 This Just In Las Vegas The Big Picture The Benefits of Being Small Let's Get Together Let Us Entertain You This Just in Reno Tahoe Perfect Complements Hotel Stats & Contact Info Hawaii Incentive Handbook 2007

Successful Meetings - September 2007

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