Host City 2021, the world’s largest meeting of cities and sports business events, will take place on 7-8 December in Glasgow with a global, hybrid format that will maximise participation from all regions of the world.

Scotland and Glasgow will host the global event for the 7th consecutive year. Host City 2021 will build on the phenomenal success of last year’s first digital edition, combining face-to-face action at Glasgow’s Technology & Innovation Centre with online connectivity.

The global, hybrid Host City 2021 will be preceded by two regional, digital events: Host City Americas and Host City Asia, set for 30 June and 14 April respectively.

Host City 2021 will also feature online sessions timed for Asian and American participation. The combination of physical and digital elements over an expanded timeframe will take Host City to more of the world than ever before, while enabling the physical content and networking in Glasgow for which Host City is renowned.

Host City 2021 is supported by EventScotland, Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland Director of Events, said: "EventScotland has a strong connection with Host City, having been a supporter of the conference since its inception in 2014, and we are delighted to be welcoming it back to Scotland and Glasgow for the 7th consecutive year.

"Host City is always a great opportunity for the major events sector to come together and share best practice, and the global hybrid format for this year's conference will ensure attendees, whether they are there in person or online, are able to learn and share knowledge as we continue to navigate through the new normal.

"Events are a force for good and we look forward to working with the Host City team to deliver a conference that ensures a bright future for all events."

Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “As a proud supporter of Host City, we’re delighted to welcome the event back to Glasgow for the seventh year in a row.

“As a leading host city for festivals and events, Glasgow has keenly felt the impact of Covid-19, and seeing how well last year’s Host City event was delivered on a digital platform was hugely encouraging and the global feedback was fantastic.

“We look forward to working with the Host City team once again to ensure that 2021’s event is even bigger and better than previous iterations, and to share best practice with our colleagues across the world as we all work to create the best possible future for events.”

Ben Avison, Editorial and Conference Director of Host City said: “Since the first Host City event in 2014, we have staged continually growing physical events, two Asian editions, and last December we reached our biggest ever audience by going online for the first time.

“2021 represents a tremendous opportunity to combine all these elements and present the greatest platform for of cities and sports, business and cultural events to participate in a way that works best for them, whether that is meeting in person in Glasgow or participating online on the other side of the world.

“The digital regional events – the third Host City Asia and the first Host City Americas – will also play a huge part in bringing our community together, enabling stakeholders in major events the world over to share best practice and set the global agenda.”

For more information contact ben.avison@hostcity.com or adam.soroka@cavendishgroup.co.uk

Host City Asia kicked off with a series of VIP insights from the hosts of the next three Olympic Games: Tokyo, Beijing and Paris.

The number of cities attending Host City Asia has quadrupled since the launch event, with officials from major Chinese cities including Beijing, Zhangjiakou, Hangzhou, Anshan, Changzhou, Shanxi and Changchun. They were joined by many more hosts destinations from Japan, Australia and Oman to as far away as France, all sharing best practice.

The cities attending were also treated to finding out about how to host new urban events –like Nitro Circus, Red Bull Air Race and the FISE World Series – to esports and the immense AIPH World Horticultural Expo, which is attracting 16 million visitors to Beijing this year. Leading suppliers like Aggreko joined Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and other major event organising committees to examine how they can make event hosting more efficient together.

Yunchao GAO, Deputy Secretary General, Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA) said: "The Olympic legacy is rooted in the Olympic Movement and is not simply the wealth of the Olympic host cities, but also the achievements and wealth of the entire human civilisation. Let us join hands to set an example of the ‘Dual Olympics’ legacy, propel the Olympic Movement and the sustainable development of the Olympic spirit and create a better future for all!"

Xiaochun ZHAO, Director-General of Shanxi Provincial Sports Bureau said “By holding the Second National Youth Games, a socially significant event, we can unite people's hearts, boost morale, promote spiritual civilization and improve the humanistic quality of the people. We can further promote the adjustment of industrial structure in the province.”

Zhenhua ZONG, Executive Deputy Director, Zhangjiakou City Economic Development Zone said: “The ice and snow industry is an ecological industry, a low-carbon industry and a sunrise industry. The Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government have made the development of ice and snow industry and sports the key priority the province.”

Hiromi KAWAMURA, PR Secretary at the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games said: “The Tokyo 2020 Games will deliver the most innovative Games and a positive revolution; not only in sport but also throughout various aspects of society; not only during the Games but also during the preparation and after the Games; not only in Tokyo but also across Japan and around the world.”

Yasunobu NISHIMURA, Deputy Director General of Bureau of Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Preparation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government said: “The legacy of the Games must be one that befits a mature society and is appropriate for a world-leading megalopolis that continues to grow sustainably. The Tokyo government will seize the opportunity of the 2020 Games to enhance urban functions from both tangible and intangible aspects, so that we grow into an even more attractive city.”

Olympic Games organising committees, Asian cities, international rightsholders and experts are all lining up to speak at the second Host City Asia conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing on 11th April.

The conference will once again open with the Beijing Olympic welcome. Other great speakers confirmed so far include:

• Hiromi Kawamura, Public Relations Secretary, Tokyo Organising Committee of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• Laszlo Vajda, Senior Operations Advisor, Minsk 2019 European Games; Senior Expert, Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
• Zhao Xiaochun, Director-General of Shanxi Provincial Sports Bureau
• Kate Han, Producer, Riot Games
• Li Yidong, Director, Tanggangzi New Town Conference and Exhibition Centre, Anshan
• Tim Briercliffe, Secretary General, International Association of Horticultural Producers
  (The International Horticultural Expo is set to attract 16 million visitors to Beijing this year)
• Kelvin Fang, Senior Media & Marketing Manager, FIBA China
• David De Behr, Head of Global Events, Aggreko
• James Patterson, Director, MI Associates
• Li Jiang, Executive Director, Yutang Sports
• Hailiang Chen, Principal Architect, Wanda Cultural Tourism Planning & Research Institute
• Daniel Cordey, Chairman, Association of Global Event Suppliers
  ...and many more.

The first Host City Asia conference last May was hailed as a “complete success” and its return to Beijing in 2019 is set to surpass all expectations.

View the agenda and speakers' biographies and register your participation here.

Host City Asia returns to Beijing’s luxurious Four Seasons Hotel on 11^th April 2019 for an even greater gathering of stakeholders in hosting major sporting and cultural events.

Host City Asia is building on the “complete success” of its 2018 launch, with 200 event owners, hosts, organising committees and experts set to participate under the 2019 conference theme “Faster, Higher, Stronger: Growth through Event Hosting”.

Who attends?

• International event rights owners
• Asian event hosts
• Local Organising Committees
• Investors, sponsors, suppliers, marketers etc.

Agenda topics include:

• Impact of AI, big data and blockchain on the events sector
• Integrating event infrastructure planning into city plans
• Nurturing your city culture
• Growing engagement

• Creating healthier cities
• Growth through brands

View the full agenda and register your participation here.

I am very excited to be invited to participate in Host City Asia and have the opportunity to share the development of sports in China and Asia with fellow experts and industry peers.

I believe that everyone is very interested in the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022. Today, I address the theme of "Past, Present, and Future" to share the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attached great importance to the preparatory work for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games and pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the concept of green Olympics, shared Olympic Games, open Olympics, with honesty, and to strive to hold an exciting, extraordinary, and outstanding Olympic Games.

In 2008, Beijing hosted an unparalleled Olympic Games. In 2022, Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympic Games.

China has had an enduring bond with the ice and snow sports since ancient times. Firstly, I would like to take everyone back to the past and review one of the origins of the earliest ice and snow movements. Let’s look at two ancient paintings. The first one is “Altaian Rock Paintings”. The Altai region is located in the northern part of Xinjiang and is one of the earliest regions where ice and snow come each year. As early as 10,000 years ago, the ancient Altaians recorded their skis on rock. This is the earliest known ski. After research, the history of this rock painting has been dated to 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. It can be regarded as the most direct evidence of the origin of human skiing history.

In addition, the Palace Museum's "Ice Play" is a court painting that represents the history of ice sports in China, from the Qing Dynasty of China more than 300 years ago. From "Ice Play", we can see that each person performs various difficult moves like figure skating. From "Altay Rock Paintings" to "Ice Play", we can see that China had its own ice and snow movements long ago. We have a close relationship with ice and snow sports.

Now Beijing, as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, is making every effort to promote various preparatory work and is striving to organise and host the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. It will showcase the historical and cultural charm of China, the achievements of contemporary construction and development, and show the world an open and confident country image.

Venues and infrastructure construction

In terms of venues and infrastructure construction, the Beijing Winter Olympics upholds the concept of sustainable development and maximises the use of existing venues for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Winter Olympic Games includes the three competition areas of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

The Beijing competition area holds all ice events. Except for the construction of a new national speed skating hall, all other projects use existing and transformed venues.

Yanqing Alpine skiing and snowmobile sledding projects have started construction.

The masterplan for the core area of ​​the Zhangjiakou District has been determined. The national winter biathlon circuit and shooting range has started construction. The design for the deepening of the platform for the national ski jump centre has taken shape and the earthwork has been completed. The basic construction of the cross-country ski track has been completed.

The three divisions are being connected by the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail with an average speed of 350 km/h, taking only 20 minutes from Beijing to Yanqing and only 30 minutes from Yanqing to Zhangjiakou.

The Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee is now located in an industrial site in the west of Beijing and has become a successful case of the Olympics promoting sustainable urban development. It has won high praise from the international community.

Promotion and cultural activities

In terms of publicity and promotion and cultural activities, on December 15 last year, the “Winter Dream” logo of the Olympic Winter Games and the Winter Olympics Paralympic Games logo “The Leap” were formally released. It is widely believed at home and abroad that the ideas are novel, rich in meaning and strong in communicating China's style and cultural charm. More than 100 media at home and abroad participated in the launch ceremony and more than 1,500 articles were published around the logos. The Beijing Olympics Organising Committee's logo microblog readership exceeded 8.48 million, and the Weibo topic readership exceeded 330 million.

At the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on February 25 this year, Beijing took over the Olympic Flag as a host city and presented the world with a wonderful and captivating cultural performance. President Xi Jinping and hundreds of millions of people shared the video with the world. Issued as a sincere invitation to Beijing in 2022, this video was actively watched and discussed by Internet users at home and abroad. Within 24 hours, 720 million views were broadcast on the WeChat social network.

This event also became the most attended performance in the Olympic history. A total of 130 million Internet users sent invitations to the world via the "Winter Olympics, Me and Stars” voice interaction app and the "Winter Olympics Send Invitation" WeChat H5 page to reach the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics through the Internet.

We are also actively using new media to explore the Winter Olympics network promotion.

A series of micro-videos created by the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee has been formally launched under the brand “Winter Premiere”. 11 micro-videos have been released on the official website, microblog platform and related video websites related to the development of the competition area, sports work, market development and cultural events, with cumulative plays of nearly 10 million.

Public participation and Olympic education

While promoting the Beijing Olympic Winter Games with international events and major events, the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee also actively works on the goal of “300 million people participating in the ice and snow sports” proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

To promote ice and snow sports in the country and popularise the knowledge of ice and snow sports, we launched the "Share Winter Olympics" action plan jointly with central ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Education, the State General Administration of Sport, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. The national guidance documents such as educational plans, social civilisation plans, youth plans and image publishing plans have been released to the public one after another. We have vigorously promoted "ice and snow in the campus." As of now, Beijing and Zhangjiakou have named the first batch of 84 primary and secondary snow and ice sports schools, and have held training classes for primary and secondary school ski instructors. Beijing has held two consecutive sessions of middle school students in winter.

The Games held a series of ice and snow popularisation and promotion activities such as the “My Winter Olympic Dream” National English Junior Reporter Competition, which attracted the attention of young people from both places. We also organised a Beijing Winter Olympics delegation composed of Olympic champions, volunteers, small athletes, community sports enthusiasts and other representatives. We have organised Winter Olympics lectures in institutions, enterprises, communities and schools in Beijing, Zhangjiakou, Heilongjiang and other places. In 2017, the number of direct participation of the Youth Exchange Fun Olympics Experience Camp was 16,000.

Two snow and ice photo solicitations for professional photographers attracted nearly a thousand professional photographers to participate, recruiting 11,000 high quality images of ice and snow. In addition, in Beijing last year, 40 city-level ice and snow events were created, and 13 districts have created ice and snow activities with special characteristics. In 2017, 500 million people participated in these ice and snow activities.

In terms of market development work, five companies including Bank of China, Air China, Yili, Anta, and China Unicom have now been identified as official partners, and a trial program for licensed products has been launched. Commemorative stamps have been officially issued, and licensed merchandise sales have enjoyed a good momentum.

The Winter Olympics Beijing Cycle

After the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics concluded perfectly, we officially entered the Winter Olympics “Beijing Cycle”. In the future, the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee will strengthen cooperation with all sectors of the society and go all out to do a good job of various tasks.

The first is to systematically plan the construction and operational management of venues, to learn from the relevant experiences of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Tokyo Olympic Games, to adjust and optimise in time, to study the use of venues ahead of schedule and to promote sustainable development.

The second is to do a good job of organising the competition, to listen earnestly to the opinions of the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, and the individual sports federations, and learn from the experience of running the host city.

Third, it is necessary to detail the guaranteed service tasks during the competition and carefully prepare and coordinate efforts in areas such as transportation, medical care, accommodation, catering, and security to ensure that the standards of the three competition areas are consistent and linked.

The fourth is to promote foreign exchange and cooperation in an all-round manner, strengthen ties and cooperation with international organisations, snow and ice-sports powerhouses, and the host city of the previous Olympic Winter Games to promote exchanges in humanities, economics and non-governmental sports organisations. Soon, we will create the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games mascots and welcome everyone around the world to participate in the design exchange activities.

Fifth, we must plan the sustainable development of the Winter Olympic Games and integrate the concept of sustainable development into all aspects of preparatory work.

There are less than four years to 2022 and I hope that people from all walks of life will care for and support the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. The Beijing Olympics Organising Committee looks forward to working together with everyone to create a wonderful and extraordinary event for the world in 2022. Finally, I wish Host City Asia a complete success.

This transcript of Chang Yu’s keynote address at Host City Asia also appears in the Summer issue of Host City magazine

FISU is the IOC-recognised partner of the Olympic Movement responsible for delivering international sport to millions of students from more than 26,000 campuses around the world, with the help of member federations in 174 countries.

Our vision is to help shape the leaders of tomorrow through their experiences of international university sport: either as spectators, as volunteers or as spectators. And the nature of University life is that every four years or so, our audience is completely new.

In fact, the sports world often thinks of new audiences as only being those in new places, perhaps where a rights holder has not yet hosted competitions. But I would challenge this approach.

New audiences must also be thought of as those young people who, each year, are arriving at the age where they will make decisions for themselves, where they will develop affinities and loyalties independently. These people are not just the future of one sport, or two sports, but the future of every sport. And every year, the universities of the world have an intake of potential players and potential fans that is measured in the millions.

FISU’s showcase events, the ones where we reach the biggest number of students each year, are the Winter and Summer Universiades. And the most recent editions of these were here in Asia: last year we were in Almaty for winter and Taipei for summer.

In the last ten years, there has been a lot of talk about opening up new audiences in Asia and especially here in China.

I am proud to say that FISU has been at the front of successful hosting in Asia for twenty years. Many of our friends here are already old friends. Years before even Beijing’s Olympic bid was successful, FISU was here preparing for the Beijing 2001 Universiade: the first major global multisport Games in China.

Even if China and Asia are not new audiences for us, they are very successful audiences and we are always happy to come back and even to discover new cities!

Our lessons in developing new audiences here have been very valuable to us. For FISU, our work here in China and in Asia has been about long-term investment. And our biggest investment is the one we make in people.

I cannot understate how important it is to invest time in building relationships and developing people. That’s why things like volunteer training are so important to us at FISU. Ten, twenty or even thirty years from now, there will be a student whose experience of volunteering at one of our events led to a career as a leader in business or in politics. And that student will remember just how much hosting one of our events can do for people and communities.

Leaders who have happy memories of the Universiade go all the way up to the IOC President, Thomas Bach. And while it is great for us to have leaders with a positive experience of the Universiade, it is also a great asset for our hosts. Here in China alone, there have been more than 50,000 volunteers with experience of the Universiades and World University Championships. That’s more than 50,000 young people with massively multicultural experience, with experience of successfully delivering huge projects and from learning from the best in the world as they do so.

Of course, it is no longer possible just to use a single tool to reach audiences, whether new or old. Today’s audiences are more fragmented than ever. Advertisers know this very well. They used to be able to count on TV to reach the big majority of their audiences. But now they have to combine efforts across many different channels. They have to follow closely the interests of their audiences and we do the same with our World University Championships. These FISU events, and we will have organised more than 350 of them by the end of this year, can be a perfect vehicle for new sports to develop and find new audiences of their own.

A perfect example is the World University American Football Championship that will bring something new to the nearly 20,000 students who attend Harbin University of Commerce next month. Taking those 20,000 students to experience a new sport and new cultures would not be affordable. But taking a new sport and new cultures to the students in Harbin who are expecting international careers can be a huge part of their education.

I would like to say that hosting events here in China has been a vital part of the way FISU is working on new ways to deliver international University sport, and to bring it to new audiences.

The World University League for 3x3 basketball that has been hosted annually by Huaqiao University is a great example of this.

3x3 basketball has been a great success, especially in Asia. It was first trialled in Macao, it first came to global attention at the Singapore Youth Olympic Games and the first Olympic champions will be crowned in Tokyo.

For us, 3x3 has been an opportunity to bring in not just a new sport but to adapt the model of international university competition.

Traditionally, teams have competed on behalf of their national university sports federations.

Now, however, we are providing opportunities for teams to compete on behalf of their individual universities.

Today’s young people seem to identify less and less with nationalism. Instead they appear to engage more with brands.

So at a time when universities have been looking to establish themselves as global brands, it has made a lot of sense to allow athletes to compete with the names of their universities on their shirts whether they are playing new sports or traditional sports.

We can already see this with eSports too. In 2014, Robert Morris university, not far from Chicago, became the first university to offer scholarships to players of League of Legends.

Tencent held the first International College Cup for League of Legends here just last year and students competed for their universities.

It is here in Asia that we have discovered new audiences for more traditional sports too, and I would encourage all rights holders to show some flexibility out of respect for their hosts. This approach certainly worked for us last year, when we added rollersports to the programme for the Universiade.

While bringing new sports and events to new athletes and new hosts, we’ve also been looking of course at new ways to bring our events to new audiences.

Everyone in this room will be aware of the changes in the way young people consume sport.

While live TV continues to be very important, there are so many new ways to reach audiences. It is critical to take advantage of them.

Digital streaming is something I know the panellists in the next discussion will want to talk about.

But to give you some examples, FISU has found huge success in streaming competitions online via social media. For us, to have more than 100,000 watching a single game of basketball online is a great step forward.

This year’s 3x3 World University League finals is one where we will be developing this approach further, with our own production teams and online broadcasting.

And as of next year, FISU will be looking to apply all that it has learned about engaging students as players, as volunteers and as fans at the first FISU University World Cup Football, which will take place in September in Jinjiang.

The FISU University World Cup Football hosting arrangement is potentially for seven annual editions, which shows this kind of long-term investment FISU is prepared to make in places and people. And I should add that we are always looking for new hosts in which to invest, new places where we can engage students around both traditional and new sports.

It is clear there is a great opportunity for the old and the new to learn from each other. And what better place to do this than in a place that combines tradition and innovation as well as China!

This speech was delivered at Host City Asia in Beijing on 31 May

Host City Asia 2018 successfully concluded on May 31 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing under the theme of “Attracting new audiences through sports and entertainment events”.

More than 120 representatives of cities and destinations, the Olympic Games, the Chinese government, international sports federations, organising committees and experts shared their strategies and explored the opportunities around hosting major events in Asia.

In his welcome address, Host City’s Editorial and Conference Director Ben Avison said “Although this is the first Host City Asia, it does feel very much like a homecoming.

“We launched Host City in Beijing in 2003, as a magazine bringing foreign expertise to the organisers of the 2008 Olympic Games – for which our CEO, Matthew Astill, received the Great Wall Friendship award from the Deputy Mayor of Beijing.

“And now, with Beijing being the first city to host not only the Summer but also the Winter Olympic Games, Host City returns to China with this valuable conference for Asia.

“As the IOC President Thomas Bach pointed out in his opening speech at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, we are now in an ‘Asian Olympic Era’.

“I would like to add that this is also an ‘Asian Era of Event Hosting’, more generally. Mega events are clearly the biggest way to attract new visitors or fans – but cities are interested in hosting a whole range of sports, business and cultural events, both large and small. Many Asian cities are developing extremely rapidly and using sports and culture to support their economic and social development.”

Chang Yu, Director General of Media and Communication Department of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games, delivered an opening keynote address on the theme of “past, present and future”.

“I am very excited to be invited to participate in Host City Asia and have the opportunity to share the development of sports in China and Asia with fellow experts and industry peers,” he said.

“The Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games looks forward to working together with everyone to create a wonderful and extraordinary Winter Olympics for the world in 2022. I wish Host City Asia a complete success.”

In his presentation on “Stimulating the Vitality of Olympic Legacy; Building a Model for Summer and Winter Olympics Legacy,” Fu Xiaohui, Secretary General of Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA) outlined China’s goal of encouraging 300 million people to participate in winter sports.

He also explained how BODA is building links with the cultural sector through the Beijing International Sports Film Week and Beijing Olympic Music Festival, while strengthening cooperation with the Belt and Road cities, Olympic cities, and international sports organizations to share China’s story with the world.

Stephen Ellison, Minister-Counsellor, British Embassy Beijing said: “Having this event here greatly reflects China and Asia`s rapid growth in the sports economy. Asian cities are currently dominating the global sports events calendar.

“UK sports are extremely popular in China; the Premier League, Wimbledon, World Snooker and Formula One are watched by hundreds of millions of people on TV and digital platforms here. UK sports are also physically here; World Snooker has events in five cities across China, Formula One in Shanghai, Clipper Race in Qingdao and Sanya and we believe there is still more potential.

“The UK has been proactively working with China on Beijing 2022 Winter Sports. In December 2016, UK and China singed an MOU on Winter Sports cooperation. The British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association were the first national teams to visit Beijing 2022’s three competition zones. Additionally, British architects Populous UK won the bid for the China new national high-speed skating Oval.

“The legacy of Beijing 2008 on sports, infrastructure and society has been huge and this will dovetail into Beijing 2022 with the establishment of growing winter sports economy. International expertise can continue to develop sports infrastructure in Asia.”

Hiromi Kawamura, Public Relations Secretary of Tokyo 2020 gave insightful update on how Tokyo is using the Games to fulfil Tokyo and Japan’s wider development goals.

Laszlo Vajda, Senior Operations Manager, Minsk 2019 European Games and Senior Expert, Beijing 2022 also shared his great experience of staging the world’s biggest and most complex events.

Other event hosts represented at Host City included Zong Zhenhua, Executive Vice Director, Gaoxin district of Zhangjiakou; Bai Jianhai, Director of Winter Sports Promotion Office, Zhangjiakou Government; Tony Nagamaiah, General Manager, Malaysia Major Events; Michael Baird, Strategic Advisor to the Commissioner for Greater China, State Government of Victoria, Australia; Vusi Mazibuko, General Manager, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban and Li Yidong, Director, Tanggangzi New Town Conference and Exhibition Centre, Anshan.

Sports federations were well represented by IF leaders including Beng Choo Low, Secretary General, World Baseball Softball Confederation and Kobinata Toru, Vice President Sport/ Events, International Federation of Sport Climbing and many more.

Kelvin Fang, Senior Media and Marketing Manager at FIBA ​​China said: “Basketball is very popular in China, but FIBA ​​hopes to host the World Cup in China to bring a richer heritage to the host city. FIBA's goal is to allow basketball enthusiasts of all ages to participate in sports. Like 3×3 basketball, they will enter cities such as Beijing, Xi’an, and Chengdu. China is an important basketball market and more events will come in.

Luis Alexandre Pontes Rodrigues, Director of Asia and Oceania at FIVB said: “China is a market with great potential, and the FIVB can bring a lot of extra resources here. The FIVB is constantly looking to develop and to bring a wider audience participation. Nanjing will hold the finals of the World Women's Volleyball League for many years. The FIVB hopes to make it a flagship event. Volleyball has a very good future in China and the FIVB must understand this market in depth.”

Jason Ferguson, President of the World Professional Snooker Association said: “The Chinese market plays a pivotal role in promoting the development of the snooker movement. The potential of the Chinese market lies in the development of small cities, which can increase their international visibility.”

Oleg Matytsin, President of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) said: “The sports world often thinks of new audiences as only being those in new places, perhaps where a rights holder has not yet hosted competitions. But new audiences must also be thought of as those young people who, each year, are arriving at the age where they will make decisions for themselves, where they will develop affinities and loyalties independently. These people are not just the future of one sport, or two sports, but the future of every sport.”

Exciting presentations were also delivered by Erich Wolf, Managing Director of Red Bull Air Race; Victor Cui, Director and International CEO, ONE Championships; and Benedikt Brandmeier, Head of Locations & Strategy, Drone Champions.

Yutang Sports played a central role in Host City Asia with their Co-Founder and Executive Director Li Jiang and International Business Development Director Zhang Tingting moderating VIP panel discussions.

The contribution of the private sector to the hosting of major events was well recognised with valuable contributions from: David de Behr, Head of Global Events, Aggreko; Patrick Vajda, Senior Risk Advisor, Sports & Events Practice, Marsh; Wu Lei, CEO, Kingdomway Sports; Karl Hawkins, CEO/President, Kehua Sports; Hailiang Chen, Director of Sport and Recreation, Wanda Cultural Tourism Planning & Research Institute; Anne Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, Shankai Sports; Shoto Xiaodong Zhu, Founder & Chairman, OCEANS Sports & Entertainment Marketing; and Nikki Wang, Head of Sports Business China, Deloitte; Mark Dreyer, Founder, China Sports Insider and Yang Binyuan, Head of Communications Greater China, Google.

Yutang Sports is partnered with Host City to support Asia’s largest meeting of sports, business and cultural events.

Under the theme of “Attracting New Audiences through Sports and Entertainment”, Host City Asia will bring together international event owners with Asian host cities, brands and investors at the five-star Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing on 31 May.

High level speakers include senior representatives (presidents, CEOs, secretary generals, directors and experts) of organising committees, sports federations, entertainment events, cities and corporates.

As Media Partner, Yutang Sports will be providing editorial coverage, in addition to wider marketing and sales support.

About Host City

Host City was first launched as a magazine in Beijing in 2003 for the organisers of the Olympic 2008 Games. Since then it has hosted four rapidly growing international conferences in the UK serving the international community of event owners, hosts, organisers and suppliers.

Host City is delighted to return to Beijing for Host City Asia with the participation of the Beijing Olympic City Development and the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Phone +44 7876 682072 or visit www.hostcity.com

About Yutang Sports

Yutang Sports is a sports market intelligence and sports marketing company consisting of a sports industry media outlet and sports sponsorship agency. It provides editorial content, market analysis and sports marketing business services such as consultancy and sponsorship sales.

The media outlet provides the most up-to-date sports business news, media analysis and exclusive data reports on the Chinese sports industry in both Chinese and English languages. With millions of views in China per year, the company is considered one of the most important sports industry media outlets in China, one that provides regular services to corporate clients.

Yutang's sports sponsorship agency helps international and domestic sports rights holders/events to partner with Chinese brands. The company has successfully facilitated partnerships between many sports events and Chinese brands such as Stankovic Continental Cup and Sunshine Insurance Group, Snooker players & K-boxing, Beijing Half Marathon and Rarone, driving development for both sports and sponsors.

Phone: +86 10 6715 0501 ext. 808 or visit http://en.ytsports.cn

Host City Asia, taking place on 31 May in Beijing under the theme of “Investing in Events to Attract New Audiences”, is attracting rights holders of the world’s most popular major events, with a record number of Olympic International Federations (IFs) participating.

The leaders of Olympic IFs committed to attend include: Anders Besseberg, President, International Biathlon Union (IBU); Beng Choo Low, Secretary General, World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC); Luis Alexandre Pontes Rodrigues, Director for Asia and Oceania, Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).

Other IFs confirmed to participate at senior level include World Skate, International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) and Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM).

The leaders of other major sports events represented at Host City Asia include Erich Wolf, CEO, Red Bull Air Race and Victor Cui, International CEO, ONE Championship.

It’s not just sports events represented either; with a panel on “How cities can become hubs for entertainment and culture”, Host City Asia serves the diverse interests of event hosts from China, Asia and Oceania.

Delegates will also hear from and meet organisers of the biggest international mega events hosted in Asia between now and 2022.

China’s biggest corporations are also supporting Host City at senior level, with Dalian Wanda Group’s Chen Hailiang a recent addition to the agenda – and more Chinese brands set to follow.

Other international experts confirmed to speak at Host City Asia include David de Behr, Head of Global Events, Aggreko; Patrick Vadja, Senior Risk Advisor, Marsh and Jeff Ruffolo (Expert Advisor to Beijing 2008, Guangzhou 2010, Nanjing 2014 and Beijing 2022).

“The stage is set for our first conference in Asia to be a huge success,” said Ben Avison, Editorial and Conference Director at Host City.

“Host City conferences always attract fantastic speakers and after four years of growth in the UK it should be no surprise that our first conference in Asia is set to be another hit.

“We are particularly overwhelmed that our Beijing event is enjoying the greatest ever level of participation from International Federations and other major event rights holders and we are delighted to be able to present such a great opportunity to host cities across Asia.

“And given that the Host City brand started life as a magazine published in China in 2003, it is a great pleasure to bring Host City back to its origins in the great Olympic city of Beijing.”

The first Host City conference took place in London in 2014, followed by three successively greater conferences and exhibitions in Glasgow. Host City 2018 takes place in Glasgow on 20 and 21 November.

Host City Asia takes place in Beijing on 31 May. For more information about Host City Asia please visit http://www.hostcity.com/events/host-city-asia/

The owners, organisers and hosts of major events need to keep talking and Host City conferences are playing a crucial role in this process, according to Sir Craig Reedie CBE, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.

The fourth Host City conference and exhibition – Host City 2017 – takes place in Glasgow on 28 and 29 November. The first Host City Asia conference takes place in Beijing on 18 October.

Sir Craig Reedie said: “Host City is a really good conference involving cities that want to host events. Anything that can be done to put sport and cities together at an early stage is a good idea and I look forward to this happening in Glasgow and Beijing.

“The Glasgow event is getting bigger and bigger each year – that shows that there is a need for it.

“I expect Host City Asia in Beijing will show what a different market is like. China is full of large cities and there are lots of options within the country. For sports that are big in China – badminton for example – there is always a bidder for a major event.

“So, it will be interesting to see what lessons are learned from the Host City event in Beijing; because in the rest of the world it’s a question of encouraging cities to bid.

“Communication is vital in both the bidding phases and the delivery phase. The IOC appear to be looking at changing the Winter Games bidding process going forward, to make that process more comprehensive and start even earlier.

“On occasions costs ended up to be too high and that was the really limiting factor in terms of new bids. The IOC has to understand this and do something about it, to sit down with the cities who are interested well in advance and find out if we can work together.”

Event rights holders including international federations, national Olympic committees, bidding and organising committees comprise a substantial and growing part of the Host City audience.

Sir Craig Reedie has immense experience leading all these types of organisations, from bringing badminton into the Olympic Programme and presiding over the sport’s international federation to chairing the British Olympic Association and the London 2012 bidding and organising committees. Until 2016 he was Vice President of the International Olympic Committee and is currently President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

A full transcript of the interview with Sir Craig Reedie will be published in the Autumn issue of Host City magazine.

For more information about Host City visit www.hostcity.com