Letter from London|Business Face-to-Face
One outcome of the Covid lockdown has been the necessary use of online meetings. Those of us who had previously never heard of Microsoft Teams or Zoom or the other meetings software packages on the market, now fancy ourselves as dab hands in sharing screens, choosing exotic backgrounds, organising breakout sessions and muting unruly participants. In the future, when the dreaded virus has been reduced to manageable levels, this should continue to bring some benefits, such as a reduction in environmentally damaging travel and manic commuting – especially in London. More home working and less journey time has proved to be as productive – in some cases more productive – than the regular drudgery of nine-to-five office life.
Nevertheless, I am far from convinced of a permanent mass conversion to business life online. I hope there will be a less stringent office routine, but suspect many companies will return to the old ways. My simple reason is that people much prefer to interact face-to-face, both in the office with colleagues and in meetings with others; to enjoy the spontaneity and intimacy of meeting in the flesh; to the nuance of conversation, to be able to read facial expression and body language. Throughout my business career I always found physical networking desirable, fun and effective. It’s about building relationships, not dry transaction making.
This was never more the case than in Hong Kong, which established itself as a truly global trade and meetings convention hub in 1989, with the opening of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre in Wanchai North. I was lucky enough to be involved in the opening and operation of the facility in its early years, and saw how business people from around the world flocked to attend the events it hosted.
Hong Kong’s trade was already booming in the 1980s on the back of its successful manufacturing industries, its entrepot throughput and financial success, but the lack of a sufficient trade event centre was beginning to hold back further growth. With its spectacular setting on the Harbour and integrated facilities for visitors, the new HKCEC was a roaring success. The Hong Kong Government was convinced of the case, granting the reclaimed land to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which was to manage the place.
Prince Charles and the wildly glamorous Princess Diana opened the building officially in 1989. I remember the lines of Hong Kong VIPs being so desperate to get a photo with Diana that a whole team of photographers was needed to make sure every angle of the reception line was covered and no one was missed out.
As well as enjoying a prime location, the Centre was unique in design. No one had ever seen a multi-floor exhibition centre before, and one which incorporated hi-rise hotels, quality restaurants and an office block. The exhibition halls could comfortably house 8000 visitors and the convention centre cater for over 2,500 guests. This was a huge logistical jump forward for Hong Kong’s trading potential. In true Hong Kong style, the building sprang up in just over a year.
As soon as it opened it was hosting major international trade fairs, some of which I was lucky enough to work on. A Toys and Games Fair, which quickly established Hong Kong as the global toy provider, and Hong Kong’s own Fashion Week, immediately drew ten thousand visitors each. Within a year or two, there were equivalent successes for the local houseware industry, gifts and premiums, watches and clocks, jewellery, electronics and leather.
The Leather Fair was quickly established as the world’s largest for that industry, which proved the point that the location itself for a trade gathering was as important as the source of the materials. Hong Kong Fashion Week also drew in buyers and journalists from around the world, enabling Hong Kong to showcase its own designers as well as manufacturers.
Ironically, for several years I played a publicity role in Fashion Week. I say ironically because I was the least fashionable person (although I claim presentable) to deal with the chic lady journalists who flew in from New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. What I lacked in the fashion sense of course I could make up for in introducing them to Hong Kong itself and even showing them around.
Visitors simply loved coming to Hong Kong, and the HKCEC was a magnet for business people. For them, it meant a highly efficient way of doing business, of making friends and enjoying a unique city. Such was the early success that by 1995 it was already undergoing expansion and adopting its famous “flowing wave” roof, leading to the “turtle” nickname. Hong Kong trade has flourished ever since.
The experience of those years certainly demonstrated to me the value of face-to-face business networking and of relationship building. It was a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my latter, post-Hong Kong career. You can be quite sure that if anyone invites me to attend a similar trade fair event in Hong Kong, and offers me the option of attending online, I will only be using my PC to buy an air ticket.
(The writer lived in Hong Kong for more than twenty years, arriving soon after the death of Mao and leaving after the handover of the territory to China. He experienced the seismic transformation of Hong Kong on its journey from plastic flowers and T-shirts to global front runner in trade and high finance.)
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app:
bit.ly/2yMMfQETo download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play