Dear Members and Friends,
As the holidays approach, I wanted to share some of the highlights of 2016 and provide a recap on another major year for AustCham Shanghai.
As you may know following our mid-year Annual General Meeting the Chamber is under new leadership with Chairman Craig Aldous, CEO of Elders China and Deputy Chairman Craig Weightman, Managing Director of Asia Pacific Property Group. The new Board has an ambitious agenda for 2017 to continue along our path to being an engaging and effective Chamber. 2017 will see continued growth across our departments in membership, events, communications, and business engagement.
If you’ve been by the office recently you’ll notice that we’ve taken a down a wall and expanded our office space to make way for more members on our growing team of professionals.
Membership
Membership continues to be the core focus for AustCham Shanghai and I can proudly announce that our strong renewal rates of more than 90% have continued throughout the past few months. Having kept membership fees unchanged for 5 years (no mean feat in China) we have steadily expanded and are finishing the year in a strong position to offer increased value into 2017 for our broadening base of member companies. We have seen an increasing number of food and beverage linked operations join our community, as well as service companies, reflecting the maturity of the Australia-China relationship, a year since the signing of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA).
Our Industry Forums are currently planning their structures, activities and outputs for the new year, and we have recently announced our 2017 Mates Rates program, a win-win initiative for member companies to provide the best offers to fellow community members while bringing exposure to their wide range of goods and services. While the deadline for offering a rate in the first half of 2017 has passed, I would encourage you to participate in the next round and make an offer too good to refuse to be included in this exclusive basket of offers.
Communications
Another major achievement of the past year was the launch of our new mobile-friendly website, which now allows members to register for upcoming events, consult our membership directory and stay up-to-date with the latest Australia-China business news through our Media Centre on-the-go, anytime. The website is a great platform for all members to engage and promote their business via our various advertising spots. New functionalities are also coming in the first quarter of 2017, including the ability for members to access a downloadable directory file as well as the translation of key pages into Chinese. This is being combined with some new offline marketing collateral that members will see early in the new year and an increased focus on other formats including WeChat and Twitter.
Events
We’ve put on some terrific events this past quarter. To name a few, AustCham Shanghai’s first Graduate Career Fair in August with over 500 graduates in attendance, the Great Aussie Ball in September, never a disappointment, and most recently one of our biggest Aussie Drinks tipping the scales at 400+ guests thanks to the 220-strong TSBE AccessChina 2016 delegation in October.
While the year is wrapping up, we are already busy planning our major 2017 events, so make sure you put the following major event dates in your diary:
Delegations
Beyond events, AustCham Shanghai also facilitated a very successful e-commerce and retail delegation with the Australia China Business Council Queensland. The week saw 12 participants traverse Shanghai and Hangzhou for site visits, meetings, and introductions to help them understand the market and decide the next steps for their business in China.
These are just a few of the accomplishments we've achieved together this past year. We look forward to another terrific year in 2017, and wish you a happy holiday.
As always, please reach out to us if we can be of any assistance.
Regards,
Udo Doring
CEO and Executive Director
AustCham Shanghai
