Conducting Effective Trade Events

18 – 22 June 2012

Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand

 

The Mekong Institute (MI) is organizing a Training on Conducting Effective Trade Events that offers a unique opportunity for participants to understand the need and importance of export trade for business growth and expansion; develop skills on different tools for organizing trade events; and develop skills to plan, conduct effective trade events and monitor the success of the event.

In the context of promoting trade, Trade Promotion Agencies both in the Government and Private Sector has been playing the key role in catalyzing trade, investment and technology transfer through organizing fairs and exhibitions. With the changing competitive market environment, improving performance is the buzz word and trade events are one of the key instruments in Business to Business (B2B) communication, allowing existing contacts to be refreshed and new alliances forged.

With this background, the Training on Conducting Effective Trade Events aims to introduce different tools that Trade Promotion Agencies or enterprises owners can employ for enterprise promotion.

Overview:

The different agencies that support SME development efforts, whether they be Chambers of Commerce, SME associations, trade promotion agencies or the country\'s commercial representatives abroad, play a significant role in helping SMEs launch their export operations. However, given their relatively small scale of operations, most SMEs undertake "niche" marketing, that is, selling to a small, well defined section of the market. Thus, market entry is one of the weakest areas wherein SMEs face major problems to conduct trade.

More SMEs could be efficient exporters if they were given the right kind of advice and assistance. In a number of cases, SMEs have shown themselves equal to large companies in their ability to enter and operate in international markets, when appropriate support is provided. One of the first steps in approaching export markets is to obtain reliable information on market opportunities, which is a major problem for many SMEs.

In the context of promoting trade, Trade Promotion Agencies both in the Government and Private Sector have been playing the key role in catalysing trade, investment and technology transfer through organizing fairs and exhibitions. With the changing competitive market environment, improving performance is the buzz word and trade events are one of the key instruments in B2B communication, allowing existing contacts to be refreshed and new alliances forged. With this background, the Training on Conducting Effective Trade Events aims to introduce different tools to enable SME’s to enter the export market.

Mode of Delivery

The course methodology is designed to foster greater understanding of the course content, as well as stimulate sharing and networking among the participants. Interactive experiential learning will be employed and two structured learning visits to Trade Events will be organized. A team of experts in the field of Trade Events and program moderators will deliver the training which will be conducted in English and will adopt the following methods:

 Lectures and presentation  Case Studies and Group exercise  Role plays and simulation games  Visits to trade events This course divides its contents into three interrelated modules.

Module 1 : Need and Importance of trade events for business development

Module 2 : Events for trade and business promotion

Module 3 : Planning and management of effective events for trade and business development

Course Participants

 

This course is tailored for officials of Trade Promotion agencies in the Government and Private Sector namely Chambers of Commerce, Industry Associations and Individual Business Owners. Participants should:

Be mid-level officials from Ministry of Commerce, Trade Promotion Agencies, Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Business Associations and enterprise owners who are directly involved in trade and investment and trade and investment promotion activities.

have a basic diploma/ degree or an equivalent educational background with minimum of  3 to 5 years of experience in business sector;

be able to communicate (speak, understand, read and write) at professional level in English;

have sufficient professional capacity to actively participate cross-culturally at an international  level;

be able to attend the entire course;

In addition MI encourages:

 a gender balance in participant composition 

How to Apply & Contact

This training course is open to candidates with grants or with their own sources of funding.  The candidates should apply directly to the Trade and Investment Facilitation Department of Mekong Institute for registration.

The course fee for this training program is USD 500 which covers all training expenses including airport assistance and transfer, course kits and training materials, resource person, twenty-four hour internet and GMS Learning Resource Center accesses, travel insurance, field research visits and other extra-curricular activities to be organized as part of the learning program.

The fee does not include air tickets, visas, terminal charge, accommodation, food, incidental expenses. The Normal Daily Subsistence Allowance for Khon Kaen is around USD 65. All participants are encouraged to stay at the MI accommodation facility at the rate of BHT 1,200 or USD 33 per night.

* Application must be submitted not later than May 18, 2012.

The application procedure enables us to match the needs of the applicant to the course and to ensure maximum benefit from the investment. It is therefore important to specify applicant’s language skills, job experience and/or academic background in the application. To apply for a course, the applicant must:

Download and fill in the Application Form 

Send the form to the Trade and Investment Facilitation Department: - by e-mail: haowen@mekonginstitute.org, with cc. to sa-nga@mekonginstitute.org - by fax: +66 (0) 43 343 131

Upon receiving the complete application, our financial department will contact back for registration fee

For further information, please see the brochure or visit MI website www.mekonginstitute.org.