Methodology Draft 2

To gather information on the communication needs in the MICE industry, our team will be carrying out various primary and secondary research in this project. Our primary research will consist of an interview and a survey. Our secondary research involves web and library searches.

Our planned interview will be with Samantha Lee, Catering and Conference Manager of Marina Bay Sands. Samantha has years of experience in the MICE industry. In her current position, she communicates extensively with clients (organisers of MICE events) and with personnel from the Operations Division. Her input on the communication needs in this industry as well as her experience in working with fresh graduates could provide an insight into the communication skills that should be taught in a module.

A survey will also be conducted to substantiate our research, gather information on a wider scale and form an overall view of the common communication needs throughout the MICE industry. The target groups for this survey are the event organizers and the venue administrators related to the MICE industry. The survey aims to seek opinions on:-

• the communication skills that are important in the industry,
• the effectiveness of the curriculum in various tertiary education institutions in developing useful communication skills
• the activities that has helped in developing relevant communication skills
• the communication skills that can possibly be taught in the tertiary curriculum.

A limitation of the survey would be the incapacity of it to reach and gather views from all quarters. Thus, we hope to gather a representative number that is statistically significant. We hope to seek 200 responses for our survey failing which we will substantiate the information from the survey by interviews.

The team also proposes to conduct secondary research by reviewing the courses offered in other tertiary education institutions to gain more insight into the curriculum structure and communication skills taught. In addition, the information could serve as a guideline to the communication skills that could be offered in a module here in NUS. The research will be done by reviewing the websites of the institutions and also searches in the NUS library and website.