In an effort to face the current challenges of the sector, Malaysian associations have participated in a survey, conducted in August 2020, with the objective to stand together during these difficult times. Most of the 108 associations from various sectors have reported that their organisation’s activities such as council meetings, membership, community, stakeholders and government engagements have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
These findings were presented at a virtual webinar recently organised by the Malaysian Society of Association Executives (MSAE), supported by Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre). The survey also reported on the expected membership attrition, membership generation as a result of the pandemic, and associations’ adoption rate of the new normal.
Despite the difficulties, Malaysian associations have managed to stay strong and adopt online platforms for conducting virtual council meetings, AGMs and webinars.
Edward Lim, Sales Manager, MyCEB said that, “Since the Meet in Malaysia campaign was launched in July, with over 90 industry partners coming forward with new meeting packages, there have been up to 20 applications with over 24,000 delegates being approved. We are thrilled for such a tremendous support from our industry players and their keenness to get back to business. There are variety of packages available under the Let’s Meet Locally Programme, to encourage local meetings and events and the Let’s Meet Tomorrow Programme offers attractive deals for home-grown regional and international events, in an industry recovery effort. We look forward to working with all of you to bolster the damage our industry has taken on this year.”