Conferences In China Should Run Like Clockwork

Zhang Hua, a professional in the watch industry says the Watch Manufacturers Association holds the China Watch & Clock Fair annually with approximately 500 participants.

The whole event includes a forum, discussions, an exhibition, and dinner, and usually lasts for three days. Retailers, agents, service providers, and brands from all over China gather here to exchange information and experience.

The Watch Manufacturers Association has held two conferences in New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou in 2009 and 2010. Zhang said he would inspect four aspects of a conference hotel. First is the hotel's reputation. Most attendees are retailers of luxury watches and top management from leading watch sellers of different areas. They usually have higher requirements for hotels. Second is the size of the hotel. Considering the size of the conference there should be enough double rooms to accommodate the attendees. Hence the hotel should have abundant meeting space and guestrooms. Third aspect is a hotel's meeting facilities. There are different discussions, evaluation meetings, product displays and many other events held during each conference, therefore the hotel should have different types of venues to meet different requirements. For example, there will be usually about 40 or 50 exhibitors displaying their products in the product display. Fourth is service. Besides suitable venues, quality service is also very important, such as food and beverage service.

Zhang said a watch is a commodity of luxury, technology, harmony, and lifestyle. It has the essence of technology in it, and hundreds of parts working together harmoniously have created the accuracy of watches. The conference should be held in five-star hotel that can match the level of the event. New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou has held the conference twice for several reasons, according to Zhang Hua. The hotel is managed by a famous domestic hotel management company who advocate humanistic management, provides all-round service and well furnished guestrooms. In food and beverage, a five-star hotel usually provides high-quality, upscale dining service, while New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou has provided quality dining service and a competitive price. This hotel can quickly and properly respond to organizer's requests during the whole event. For instance the organizer of 2010 conference had only got over 400 receipts while 580 people have registered when the conference actually started. The hotel quickly re-arranged its plan for accommodation and other things. This is the very reason that Zhang has chosen this hotel. Besides, the management of the group and hotel will ask in person about the details of hotel's arrangement and express their desire to get feedback from organizers to further improve service levels.