Asia Society offers a costly handshake ... with an American
We see that the Asia Society is continuing its policy of gouging those who turn up at its events.
It's charging HK$3,800 for non-members and HK$3,000 for members to attend its annual gala ball. The Asia Society's role, according to its literature, is to educate the world about the countries and cultures of Asia. So you have to wonder why they have invited former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin as a keynote speaker. He'll talk on 'Challenges to the US and Global Economies'.
If you're prepared to fork out HK$80,000 for a table of 12, then all of you get to attend the VIP reception, which presumably means getting to shake Rubin's hand and to chew the fat with Asia Society co-chairman Ronnie Chan Chichung, chairman of the Hang Lung Group. For HK$60,000, you get a table for 12, but only six can attend the VIP reception. For HK$40,000, only two out of the 12 can go to the reception.
The Asia Society is a non-profit organisation and says vaguely, as it always does when seeking to justify the high price of its events, that the proceeds from the event will contribute to supporting the Asia Society's 'mission of educating people about the countries and cultures of Asia and global issues that impact the region.'
In response to queries, the Asia Society said: 'The majority of our programmes are run on a break-even basis. For fund-raising events like this gala, all the proceeds raised after deducting the cost will contribute towards covering the [society's] operational costs.'
We maintain our view that it's become just another overpriced networking club.