Online conference fee bidding has yet to catch on in Asia, even though Conference Bay’s C2B platform has been on the market for more than two years.

Arnout Mostert, Conference Bay founder and CEO, acknowledges that old habits are hard to change. He says: “The direct model has not had the success we expected. Changing the way large corporations book conference tickets is very difficult.”

It’s little wonder the online conference booking company has teamed up with Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) to allow CWT clients to book conference tickets through its portal.

“The process we have developed builds on the strengths of both our organisations,” says Mostert. “CWT clients experience a seamless and more convenient transaction while our relationships with conference organisers help them make significant savings.”

Conference attendance
CWT’s Asia Pacific corporate clients indicate which conferences they want to attend and the Conference Bay team get the best price, book the conference tickets and make all the travel arrangements.

Rachael Peedom, CWT’s director of meetings and events Asia Pacific, says: “Our clients attend worldwide conferences relevant to their business or industry. With this new value-added service, they can avoid the hassle of faxed booking forms, delays in processing, and paying full prices for conference tickets.”

Because the individual or company can book listed conference seats online, process all conference registrations together and pay one monthly invoice, the take-up rate should be much higher. It appears awareness is still low among organisers and users like HR managers and secretaries as well as delegates.

Good reports
However, those who have tried C2B speak in its favour. Renate Ang, secretary, Cargill Ocean Transportation, likes the personalised service. “I have worked with Conference Bay on seminar registrations and I’ve never had bad service.”

Internet entrepreneur Laurent Roux says: “I used Conference Bay to book several key senior-level industry events I needed to attend at short notice in Singapore. I particularly appreciated the significant price discount, easy online booking process and customer service.”

But other conference participants say they prefer to obtain information through trade and professional journals or direct mail. One executive says that because employees can pick events they want to attend as part of staff training and development, they are more likely to surf websites or read HR e-mailers.

Free opportunities
Conference organisers have also failed to grab the free-listing opportunity. Big players have their own databases and mailing lists, as do those covering niche and specialised areas.

A number of PCOs appear to be unaware of online booking facilities while others are non-committal. IQPC and Terrapinn have both listed events on Conference Bay. Several association conferences are also listed. But one PCO says it stopped using the facility because of technical difficulties. Another limitation is the lack of registration and pricing information available, even for upcoming events.

Candice Kang, conference marketing executive with Pacific Conferences, says: “Conference booking portals are certainly a viable way to allow individuals and HR managers to source relevant events. But it would help if event listings were easier to search and conference-booking portals were easier to navigate. They also need to be marketed to the relevant audiences.”

For now, conference search and bidding portals seem to be innovative and useful tools for buyers and sellers, but conventional marketing and sales practices look set to hold sway.