International Conference:
The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7)
Kind of Event: International Conference
Attendees: over 4500 people, including heads of state and government, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, civil societies, NGOs, and the private sector.
Where: Pacifico Yokohama
When: 28 - 30 August 2019
On August 28-30, 2019,The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) was held at Conference Center Pacifico Yokohama. For this top-level international conference on African development, JCD managed all the meetings as well as various events.
Overall operation at the main summit meeting
Many VVIPs, including heads and leaders of Japan and African countries, participated in each meeting or conference of TICAD7. The biggest operational challenge at this conference was to make everything progress as smoothly as possible and in a timely matter.
Our main goal was that all the stakeholders and participants, who were mainly from African and Japanese governments, could experience the event in the most comfortable way possible. During the preparation stages, we spend a lot of time for planning this conference, and the staff involved in the overall management consisted of more than 500 members.
JCD coordinated closely with the many people involved and divided the staff onto different operations. We stayed flexible to deal with sudden changes and additional requests and made sure to be ready for any situation that could occurred, able to fulfill the clients' requests at the best of our capabilities.
We provided reliable, flexible and speedy operations, receiving high acclaim from our client, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Various related events
During 3 days of TICAD7 period, other than the main conference, various related events were held simultaneously. JCD gathered specialists from both inside and outside our company and arranged a wide variety of on-site events such as seminars, awards ceremonies, dinner parties, and exhibitions.
One of them took place on the 30th of August: the “Gavi ’s Replenishment Launch Meeting”, which was mainly organized by the Japanese government. The Gavi Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) is a public-private partnership that aims to save children's lives and protect people's health by achieving equitable access to vaccines in low-income countries. At the event, Gavi invited presidents from various African countries and the Japanese Foreign Ministry as speakers. As these speakers oversaw various important duties during TICAD7, and we made sure that all the schedules added up so they could join in between other important meetings they had to attend as well.
But even then, the program was not fixed in stone, even on the day, and many changes occurred during the production to which we responded accordingly, making sure everything progressed without too many delays.
Our staff was pleased to respond to any request and serve all our guests with the best of Japanese hospitality. As one of the largest meetings & events companies in Asia, we have much know-how, knowledge, manpower and sales channels to utilize our services to you. At this conference as well, we were able to respond quickly to any situation that occurred on-site thanks to prior planning and experience.
Comments from JCD staff in charge: Kayoko Nomura
Kayoko Nomura was one of our staff members in charge of the conference. See her staff page, here.
What were you in charge of at TICAD 7?
All of our team members were in charge of various operations at the conference which included the main conference, management of the international media center, identification issuance, the 3rd Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize award ceremony, among other duties.
What were some of the challenges when managing this conference?
A challenge was that the planned arrangements were very diverse. While communicating with many attendees on the client's side, it was necessary to make accurate decisions from an overall perspective. In addition, we responded to changes in the schedule, requests and inquiries, day and night during the conference days.
Could you share some of the feedback you received from the client?
We received great feedback on our experience-based proposals and advice, our speediness, and our reliable and flexible management. The foreign ministry, our client for this project, said that we delivered beyond their expectations.
What do you think is a JCD characteristic that other companies do not have?
We have many years of experience in managing international conferences, both in Japan and overseas. Thanks to our solid know-how and human resources backed up by successful experiences, we can achieve a quality that exceeds the imagination of our clients.
What JCD can do for you
We at JTB Communication Design have about 40 years of experience in managing international conferences (https://me.jtbcom.co.jp/about_us/history.html). Based on our know-how in preparation, administration, information dissemination and over-all managing, we can support you in creating a stage for success!
We are proud to be able to contribute to the development of Japan and the world by creating a place for new opportunities to solve various social issues through our operation of international conferences. Contact us today for any inquiries you might have!