Money was the biggest challenge, as the mega meeting sought to support 30 speakers and a low registration fee to attract young researchers
The IEEE Photonics Society Singapore Chapter, which has been attending leading photonics conferences to woo associations to host one of their prestigious meetings in Singapore, finally succeeded in 2012.
Five years later, the chapter hosted not one, but a four-in-one mega meeting. For the first time, members of three of the world’s biggest photonics societies were gathered together, and the first student-led conference was organised.
Event chair professor Perry Shum told TTGassociations the goal was to be innovative and to deliver a number of firsts at the event. Apart from the four conferences, the organisers had to ensure that registration for at least 1,000 delegates on the first day ran smoothly.
To complement the world-class conference, the organiser also had to deliver a Singapore showcase that would impress the world’s leading academics, top industry speakers and VIPs in the field.
Shum said: “It was the first time that Singapore was hosting a global photonics conference, which also had an exhibition component. It was also the first time Singapore was hosting CLEO-PR; the first time after 20 years it was hosting OECC; and it was hosting the first student-led photonics conference.”
He added it was not easy convincing the world’s three largest photonics societies to co-locate their events and share the limelight.
Having to register about 1,000 people on the first day of the event was also unique in photonics association history.
Another challenge was having to commit to 2,000 guestrooms and complete payment before the event. “It was a lot of money,” Shum recalled.
In addition, a total of 30 technical tracks were being planned and the conference committee size grew to some 200 people from 20 countries.
Many sub-committees had to be formed to take charge of various aspects. A sub-committee was formed for the technical tracks; a local sub-committee for organising a VIP event in the Flower Dome of Gardens by the Bay, another delegate event at S.E.A. Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa and a gala banquet at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore; others included a finance-related committee and a publicity committee.
The Singapore chapter picked a PCO it had worked with before, but Shum said he personally had to “squeeze in a few thousand hours in the three years leading up to the event to take care of so many things”, down to sourcing for gifts for the delegate bags.
The chapter reached out to about 60 student volunteers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) who did a lot of the work online to source for giveaways in the delegates bag.
To drum up attendance, the Singapore chapter produced a creative marketing tool – a “fan” brochure to publicise and market the mega conference – and they were given out at events to be used to keep delegates cool in Singapore’s heat.
With its marketing and communication efforts, the event managed to secure 1,000 attendees early. The committee also brought in a number of alumni and media sponsors.
Shum said the only way to maintain technical quality at the three plenary and 10 keynote sessions – where speakers included one Nobel Laureate and an Leon Musk industry equivalent – was to have a large conference committee and many sub-committees to accomplish the many things on the checklist.
With multidisciplinary conference sessions, a joint effort with international academic institutes like MIT, Stanford and Hong Kong University was established.
To tackle the large numbers registering on the first day of the event, a two-hour breakfast for 1,000 people was staged, a first for a photonics event.
Shum noted that support from the Singapore Tourism Board from start to end also played a critical in helping the mega meeting achieve what it did.
Event CLEO-PR (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim); OECC (OptoElectronics and Communications Conference); PGS (Photonics Global Conference); PGSC (Photonics Global Student Conference) 2017
Organiser IEEE Photonics Society Singapore Chapter
Date July 31 to August 4, 2017
Venue Sands Expo and Convention Centre Singapore
No. of attendees 1,700 from 55 countries
Challenges Four events were being organised together; the selected hotel required full payment in advance and it was a large sum; an efficient way was needed to register 1,700 delegates on the first day
