HEX Talk Event Series 2021: Start-Up the Future Direction of Live Entertainment Event Industry

The School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE) organized the HEX Talk Event Series: Start-Up the Future Direction of Live Entertainment Events Industry on 18 November 2021. The event explored the future direction of the live entertainment event industry with the topic diving into the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and it's impact to the industry.

The HEX Talk was commenced with the Welcome Speech by Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management. The school was also honoured to have two keynote speeches from Dato’ Sri Abdul Khani Bin Daud, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Adjunct Professor & Industry Advisory Panel (IAP), Taylor’s University; and, Ms. Stephanie Kuan, Project Director of ESPL.com. The session was moderated by Munas van Boonstra, Founder of Nasty Inc. Management.

In addition to the insightful keynote speeches, the event covered an interesting forum with six panel speakers. The invited panel speakers were Shermaine Wong, Founder & Managing Director of Tish Events; Rizal Kamal, Chief Executive Officer of LOL Asia & Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Taylor’s University; Iqbal Ameer, Founder & Managing Director of Livescape Group; Nadeem A. Salam, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Skesh Entertainment; Karen Miranda-Fernandez, Vice President - South East Asia, Asia Pacific Institute for Events Management (APIEM); and, Caryn Lim, Module Leader for Events Technology, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Taylor's University.

The panel speakers shared their insights on the topic as experts in the live entertainment event industry during the discussion session. “Nothing beats a live event.” said Iqbal Ameer, one of the invited panel speakers of the event. During the event, the participants were engaged in the activities prepared which were the quiz and the Q&A session where the panel speakers responded to the participants questions. The main key takeaways of the event were learning about how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) can impact the live entertainment event industry and how live events are irreplaceable even in this era of technology.

Taylor's SHTE co-organized 2nd Asia Pacific Virtual Events Conference (AVEC2) 2021 with APIEM & UiTM

Taylor's School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE), Asia Pacific Institute for Event Management (APIEM) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) have co-organized the 2nd Asia Pacific Virtual Events Conference (AVEC2) on 24 November 2021.

The conference provided a valuable opportunity for researchers, event industry specialists and decision-makers to share experiences and grasp valuable knowledge in events management.

The organizing committee extended sincere gratitude to the Keynote Speakers Dato' Seri Dr. Irmohizam Ibrahim, Group Executive Director, World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur and Adjunct Professor of Taylor’s University; Dato’ Dr. Ammar Abd Ghapar, Senior Director, International Promotion Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board; Dr. Rob Harris, Principal, Event Training Australia and Adjunct Professor of Taylor’ University; and, Dr. Anukrati Sharma, Lecturer at University of Kota, Rajasthan, India for sharing their knowledge and experiences with the delegates. The conference consisted of four parallel sessions with 19 paper presentations that allowed the researchers to present their research to the delegates.

The presenters were given 10 minutes for their presentation, followed by questions from the moderators. There were interesting topics presented by the presenters from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. At the end of the conference, the winners of the best paper and presenters in the student and non-student categories were announced.

A total of 1000 views were garnered through Facebook and YouTube live. Apart from UiTM students, this conference was organized by a group of committed and passionate students from SHTE Events Management programme, they were Ting Sze Yie, Lim Lee Xuan, Tan Siao Hui, Aurelia Kezia Permata, Aishath Shaima, Mai Takahara, Nathan Joel, Priska Pangestu, Tan Kah Qi, Wee Xuan Ying, Zayn Muhriz and their advisors/lecturers Ms. Khairiah Ismail and Ms. Dhiya Hikmahana.

Dr. Sayyid Shafiee from SLAS Appointed as MQA Panel Assessor for Music and Performing Arts Programme

Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Bin Shafiee, Senior Lecturer from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS) is appointed as Panel Accessor by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) in November 2021. As for this appointment, Dr. Sayyid Shafiee who is currently holding a role as Programme Director for the Bachelor of Performing Arts at Taylor’s University is responsible to evaluate the accreditation application from public and private universities in Malaysia for Music and Performing Arts disciplines. This includes visitation, evaluation, as well as providing reports for accreditation processes.

Dr. Sayyid Shafiee started his musical journey as a saxophonist at Victoria Institution before he completed his Bachelor’s in Music Composition at Unversity Teknologi MARA. He also completed his Master and PhD in Music Composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory, United Kingdom. His music has been featured in various festivals throughout the UK, Europe, and Asia. He received performances from various festivals including Druskomanija (Lithuania), ChinaAsean Music Festival (China), Risuonanze Festival (Italy), Asian Composers League (Philippines), Soundbridge Festival (Malaysia), SNU New Music Festival (Korea) and many other music events.

Besides teaching, he was also appointed as Honorary Secretary for the Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers and hosted the 4th Soundbridge Festival as a festival co-director which involved more than 60 international musicians and composers that showcases more than 40 new musical works at Taylor’s University in 2019. Enthusiastic towards music education and performing arts, his future career also involves cross-media discipline and its contributions towards contemporary music development in general. From the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, we extend heartiest congratulations on this appointment and may this appointment be the perfect inspiration for all academicians to strive the greater heights and achievements.