Deborah Leung, General Manager – Greater China
After 13 years of rotating the annual Asian Regional Conference from Hong Kong to Singapore to Malaysia, I have been really looking forward to the CPA Congress, which was to be CPA Australia’s flagship event of the year.
CPA Congress in Hong Kong had an encouraging start with 27 sponsors, supporting organisations and promotional partners, the most supporters we have ever had. The event website, marketing collaterals and backdrops – not to mention the new CPA Virtual Congress website – were all superbly done to convey a global event with consistent branding across all locations. I was also pleased that the new President & Chairman of the Board, Low Weng Keong, agreed to officiate the event for us by traveling to Hong Kong.
Small glitches appeared as the event drew near, such as last-minute speaker replacements and a speaker informing us he might miss his session due to a missed flight. But this was just a small prelude to a hugely successful event. This year’s CPA Congress theme ‘Navigate the New’ generated strong resonance among 18 eminent speakers and a successful turnout of over 250 delegates, who fully enjoyed the learning and networking opportunities the event offered.
CPA Congress was kicked off by two powerful opening addresses from our guests of honor from the government – Les Luck, Australian Consul General of Hong Kong and Macau and Tim Lui, Deputy of the National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China. By reinforcing the Australian government’s support to the accounting industry and placing China’s evolving economic situation to the fore, the speeches provided a solid basis for other speakers to elaborate on the theme.
The Hong Kong team also came up with a fantastic idea for the official opening ceremony – which, as anyone who’s been to our Asian Regional Conference knows, is a cultural highlight of the event. The opening ceremony featured a transparent, high tech looking control station with small screens symbolising business integrity, strategic development and new technology – components for success in a global economy. Our two guests of honor and global and divisional presidents were then asked to place one hand on the screens like the CPA Congress hero. At the touch of their palms, the screens lighted up and a video clip was launched showing an arrow navigating the world map until it ended up as the small triangle in the ‘Navigate the New’ logo.
From the positive comments we received, the morning keynote speeches were definitely the highlights of the CPA Congress. Prof Sydney Finkelstein, our international speaker and author of ‘Why Smart Executives Fail’, gave a thought-provoking presentation on why even experienced people can sometimes make irrevocably wrong decisions. Former Chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific, David Eldon, taught delegates to think outside of the box in his presentation ‘The Tripping Points’. Drawing from his personal experience, Eldon highlighted three potential blind spots organisations face today as they are adjusting to new power shifts in the global economy.
Besides discussing pertinent industry issues in the Economy and Investment Forum, we added a CSR element into the CPA Congress by inviting Dr George Woodman, Founding Director of Teng Hoi Conservation Organization, to deliver a short presentation during the networking lunch. ‘The importance of being carbon literate’ pointed to the cost of inaction against climatic changes and encouraged delegates to change their wasteful habits.
Following a well-debated Corporate Governance Forum session in the afternoon, Managing Director of Stepworks, Stephen Barry, shared his company’s success stories in ‘Steps to successful brand building’. Barry highlighted the importance of consistency in branding and reminded delegates of the need to capitalise on the latest communications technologies.
The CPA Congress ended on a high note with a celebration toast and a blast of confetti, followed by a post-event cocktail reception at a posh bar courtesy of our sponsor. I thought the CPA Congress this year was an outstanding event, especially with the addition of the CPA Virtual Congress which gives delegates access to inspirational speeches by thought leaders across the globe. By providing delegates with consistent value under a unified global brand and theme, the CPA Congress has achieved remarkable synergy and strengthened the CPA Australia brand everywhere.
