Almost three weeks ago...

...we held the annual ULI Hong Kong Conference. I’ve been struck by the number of good things I’ve heard from attendees since then - and in particular, those who told me how it changed their thinking. Good. That was the idea.

A few said “gosh, it must have been a lot of work!” And it was. We couldn’t have done it without all the people who put in so much time and effort:

We started back in February, developing ideas for the theme. By May there was consensus and we pulled together the main programming committee to design the outlines of the event. All of us are volunteers: my co-Vice Chair Ariel Shtarkman , and Dan Voellm and Hannah Jeong , working with our two staff members Jan L. and Yvonne Lui . This group made the whole thing happen, went over every detail, back and forth over ideas and problems…without the endless weekly meetings and calls, often several hours long, this event simply would not have taken place.

We were looking to create a different kind of event, not just more interactive but also far more wide-ranging than the usual. So we created five parallel streams that would allow attendees to explore different themes. The leaders of the ULI HK topical committees and affinity groups came on board to work on those breakout sessions - a huge thank you in particular to Ada Fung Chelsea Perino Ellie Tang Richard Wang Wendy Tsai Tiffany Lau Fay Li and everyone else (I'm sure I'm omitting names here) for all your amazing contributions. The work Ellie, Richard and the entire Decarbonisation and Resilience Committee did in developing a two-hour programme of talks, discussions and roundtables on climate retrofit was spectacular. Jayson Williams, MBA and the Communications Committee also went above and beyond…

We had incredible help from others too, not least our Chair Susheela Rivers and members of our ExCo with whom we regularly met, as well as our CEO Forum - enjoyed Sarah Cooper and Neil Anderson getting excited throwing ideas around over breakfast! - and so much assistance from our immediate past Chair Phil Kim too, as well as our eminence grise Raymond Chow whose advice and connections were invaluable to say the least.

We first saw the venue, 1880 Hong Kong as an un-air conditioned construction site in the baking summer heat and humidity with a promise that it would be finished on time - well, that promise was fulfilled and huge congratulations to their brand new team coming together to support us and ensure the event’s success in their beautiful new club. Thanks also to the team at 太古地产 for the background support.

As a result of all these efforts we built a stellar roster of speakers, from Bernard Charnwut Chan and Christine Loh to open the day - followed by Michael Smith , Ricky Lui , don taylor and Edwin Chan - via a number of fascinating sessions, through to John Witt and Raymond Chow to close it. I am proud to throw down the gauntlet to James Wong who will be chairing the programming committee for the Summit: he has a bit of a job to do in surpassing our line-up for our regional conference in May 2025!

Ultimately, though, there’s a reason all these incredible people came together: our theme, of ‘Hong Kong on the Global Stage’, through which we wanted to explore the city’s identity and remind us of its rather special place as the world city at the heart of Asia, resonated not just with the big team working on the event but also with all the speakers and participants. When I first proposed it so many months ago it felt ahead of its time: now it is completely of the moment.

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes in creating an event such as this. We had so many fascinating conversations with people who were eager to discuss the city for half an hour before getting round to talking about the conference itself. Once sessions were confirmed, preparatory calls were actually fun, because everyone felt passionately about the topics and had so much to say. We even updated our guide to moderating sessions and held an event during which Chelsea Perino and I demystified the process and shared the best practice we’ve developed over the years (if you missed it, don’t worry, the plan is to publish the paper and hold future training sessions).

The ULI Asia Pacific team were so much help; also we appreciate our APac Chair Scott Dunn having come (in fact, we had representation flying in from the US, UK, Poland, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and mainland China) and the welcome by regional CEO Alan Beebe .

One final note - I am so proud of the representation we achieved across genders, ability, ethnicity and perspectives. Doing so is a lot of work in itself and can be very challenging. Special thanks to everyone who helped us work towards that goal.

We’re now considering how we take forward the conversations and discussions from the day. This is just the beginning!