International Meetings: Asia Rising By Barbara Palmer

Take Away

Milling Around

A century-old manufacturing association finds a new—and eager— audience in Asia

When the International Association of Opera- tive Millers (IAOM) met for the first time—in Chicago in 1896—the organization was called the FraternityofOperativeMillersofAmerica.Over the years, changes to the Overland Park, Kan.–based association, which provides technical education, safety training, and other services to operators of flour and cereal mills, have mirrored larger cultural shifts, including globalization. Today, in addition to a dozen North American

districts (comparable to chapters), IAOM has districts in Eurasia, Latin America, and Mideast- Africa, with members in more than 90 countries. Mideast-Africa and LatinAmerica, wheredemand for education is very high, are home to IAOM’s fastest-growing districts, according to Shannon Henson, directorofmeetings and events.And, this past summer, the likely expansion ofIAOM into

Phuket, an island resort, in part “because it is a tourist area,” she said.Hensonalso kept things sim- ple for the first meetingbylimiting conference activ- ities to a single hotel, the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, on the island’swest coast. Attendees were 95 percent male — nearly

identical to the percentage of men who attend IAOMmeetings in the United States and Canada, Henson said. From there, however, differences emerged. Henson has come to expect that a certain number ofNorth American attendees will skip ses- sions in order to work, make phone calls, or net- work. But the Asia-Pacific group “really stuck to the agenda,”she said.Hensonhadadded time after lunchonthe secondday ofthemeeting so attendees could duck outside to the resort’s sandy beach. But “right after lunch,” Henson said, “they wanted to start back up.”

“They did everything to ensure we had a good experience.” Amongthe challenges Henson faced was nav-

the Asia-Pacific region took Henson to Phuket, Thailand, a place where neither she norIAOMhad conducted a meeting before. Although some ofthe world’s largest mills are

found there, fromthe standpoint of training,“the Asia-Pacific region has been neglected,” Henson said.“There hasn’t been a lot oftechnical[milling] education.” The Inaugural IAOM Asia-Pacific District Meeting, held on Aug. 9–10, was an unqualified success. “We went in hoping for 50 attendees,” Henson said, “and were prepared to growto 100.” Actual attendancewascloser to 120, with participants from 20 different countries. IAOMchoseThailand for its firstmeetingin the

region for several reasons, Henson said, including the fact thatEnglishis widely spoken andvisas are easy to obtain. Although therewaspolitical violence inBangkok earlier this year, the association chose

igating a 12-hour time difference between Thailand and the United States. And even though her main contact at Le Meridien Phuket spoke flawless English, there were some communication break- downs as Henson specified her requirements. “What I would call a ‘chevron’ [room set-up],” Henson said, “they call a ‘fishbowl set.’ I had to think very carefully about what I said.” But, still, the hotel staff proved to be her

biggest asset. As soon as the first session started, Henson sat down with the director of catering, who asked, “How can we do this better the next time?” and tooknotes.TheThai peoplewere “just amazing,” Henson said. “They did everything they could to ensurewehad a good experience— and that our attendees did, too. It helped me as a planner, knowing that the staff was so open.”

ON_THE_WEB: For more information about the Inaugural IAOM Asia-Pacific District Meeting, visit www.iaom.info/conferences/asia/asia_conf.htm.

36 pcma convene October 2010 ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL OAKLEY

Eating and Not Drinking For IAOM’s Shannon Henson, one of the points along the learning curve for meeting in Asia was learning how to adjust food-and-bev- erage orders when many meeting atten- dees are likely to be Muslim. The amount of alcohol she nor- mally would order for North American meetings, she said, needed to be dialed back, “with more sodas and fruit juices at the bar,” while the number of vegetarian meals needed to be increased. Henson scheduled

the meeting in August because it was off- peak at the resort, but narrowly missed overlapping the meet- ing with Ramadan, which this year began onAug. 11. Next year, Henson plans to schedule the meeting well away from the Muslim religious holiday month.

Barbara Palmer is a senior editor of Convene.

International Meetings: Asia Rising is sponsored by the Japan National Tourism Organization, www.jnto.go.jp.