The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre 's (the Centre) 2016 focus was on its partnership approach and customised solutions that have resulted in a strong retention of its client base. In the first 10 months of last year (between 1 January and 31 October), the Centre hosted 644 events, of which 59% or 377 were recurrent clients. These events have attracted over 1.01 million delegates and visitors and generated RM382 million in economic impact to Malaysia.

Speaking on the sidelines of IBTM World 2016 (The Global Meetings & Events Expo), the Centre's director of Sales & Marketing, Angeline van den Broecke explained, of the 377 repeat events held in the first 10 months, the Exhibitions segment was the venue's strongest performer with 84% recurrent exhibitions. This was followed by the Corporate segment (made up of Meetings and Events, Banquets and Functions, and Entertainment events) with 327 repeat events. The Conferences, Congresses and Conventions segment recorded 47% recurrent events .

"We have found that adopting a customised, partnership approach builds better collaboration and assists us to deliver more effectively to our client's objectives. This also assists us to help organisers maximise floor space, reduce build up and breakdown time and apply solutions to drive cost containment without negatively impacting on the content of the event," Angeline continued.

This commitment to a flexible and innovative mind-set resulted in numerous awards and accolades in 2016. This includes the "Best Convention Centre" at the Going Places Readers' Choice Awards 2015 and "Outstanding Venue Award" at the AFECA (Asian Federation of Exhibition & Convention Associations) Awards 2016. The Centre also received the AEG 1EARTH Greeny Award 2016 for its environmental sustainability efforts.

"While our partnership approach and customised solutions have been key to our success in 2016, we also placed great emphasis on investing in information technology (IT) and audio-visual (AV) upgrades this year to maintain our position as the most technologically-advanced venue in Malaysia and enhance our capability to meet the rapidly changing needs of our clients," explained Angeline.

Upgrades completed in 2016 include the installation of LAN (Local Area Network) ports with a bandwidth of 1Gbps and a 20Gbps distribution backbone utilising single mode fibre optic cables, as well as the RM3.1 million (€665,000) investment to enhance the AV capabilities in the venue's 21 meeting rooms - all designed to enrich the delegates and visitors experience.

Looking ahead, the Centre's 2017 calendar of events includes various high-profile events such as the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2017, 7^th Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) 2017, 19 ^th Asia Oil & Gas Conference (AOGC) 2017, Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference 2017, Breakbulk Southeast Asia 2017, SME Solutions Expo & ITX Asia 2017, Asia Pacific Retailers Convention & Exhibition (APRCE) 2017, International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC) 2017, Asia Petroleum Geoscience Conference & Exhibition (APGCE) 2017, 11 ^th Congress of The Asia-Pacific Vitreo-Retina Society 2017 and 17 ^th Asian Battery Conference 2017. These events are expected to attract over 500,000 delegates and visitors to the Centre.