Indonesia's Conference Industrial Complex: Where Business Leaders Talk (And Talk) But Never Do
Spend five minutes in Indonesia’s business scene, and you’ll notice a peculiar phenomenon: nobody seems to be working, yet everyone is incredibly busy. The secret? Conferences. An endless parade of summits, panels, and Very Important Gatherings where the same people discuss the same problems year after year; without actually solving them.
Execution? Impact? Those are secondary concerns. What truly matters is visibility. In Indonesia, appearing to be working is far more valuable than the messy, unglamorous business of actually getting things done. Why struggle with execution when you can simply sit on a panel and nod thoughtfully while saying “we need more collaboration” in different variations?
Every month, Jakarta’s luxury hotels transform into theaters of corporate pageantry, hosting yet another "groundbreaking, future-shaping" event. The theme? Some version of "Unlocking Indonesia’s Potential," as if the country is a locked treasure chest that just needs the right combination of PowerPoint slides to open.
And yet, 10 years later, here we are. No closer to Singapore, no easier bureaucracy, and sustainability that only seems to exist in keynote speeches. The number of summits has exploded, but the progress? Still seated comfortably at a fireside chat, sipping an overpriced latte.
The Conference Economy: If Talking Created GDP, Indonesia Would Be a Superpower
Indonesia doesn’t just have an economy. It has an entire parallel economy built around discussing the economy. A thriving industry where the primary output is panels, the key exports are thought leadership soundbites, and the only imports are foreign keynote speakers flown in to repeat what we already know.
Corporate leaders, government officials, startup founders, consultants, and academics dedicate an alarming portion of their professional lives to attending, speaking at, or LinkedIn-flexing about summits that will supposedly “shape the nation’s future.” But the actual shaping? Well, that’s for next year’s event, naturally.
If conferences were an official sector, they’d probably outperform manufacturing and agriculture combined. The event production industry alone is booming. Five-star hotels remain booked, catering businesses thrive off coffee breaks, and corporate PR teams work overtime to churn out post-event press releases filled with phrases like “key takeaways” and “meaningful dialogues.”
And the themes? They never change.
"The Future of Indonesia’s Digital Economy" – now in its ninth consecutive year, as if the future is running on Jakarta's infamous traffic schedule and will arrive eventually.
"Innovating for Growth" – which, translated, means a room full of executives nodding at the importance of innovation while dutifully continuing to copy-paste business models from Silicon Valley.
"Sustainability & ESG" – typically held in a room filled with people who all flew in on business class and were chauffeured in Alphards.
The cycle is so predictable it might as well be a national tradition:
An event is announced.
A bunch of Very Serious Men (and a token woman) in batik gather.
Buzzwords are exchanged.
Absolutely nothing happens.
And yet, this rinse-and-repeat cycle continues unabated. Why? Because conferences are the real economy. They’re a highly lucrative machine that rewards presence over productivity, applause over action, and PowerPoint slides over policies. And as long as there are audiences willing to listen, the show must go on.
The Panel Mafia: The Same 50 People on Rotation
If you’ve attended more than one Indonesian business conference, you’ve probably experienced an eerie sense of déjà vu. Same hotel ballroom. Same buffet. Same talking points. And, most importantly, the same speakers.
This is the elite world of Indonesia’s Panel Mafia, an exclusive club where the main qualification isn’t execution, but sheer endurance in repeating the same buzzwords for years without consequence. These people don’t merely attend conferences; they orbit them like celestial bodies, forever circling but never landing.
At any given event, you’re bound to find at least a few members of this distinguished society of professional panelists:
The Overbooked Corporate CEO – Appears on 15 panels a month, allegedly runs a company, but is more frequently spotted at a conference stage than an actual boardroom.
The Tech Bro Evangelist – Preaches the gospel of "disruption" while running yet another food delivery startup that disrupts absolutely nothing.
The Government Official Who Loves the Spotlight – Speaks passionately about cutting red tape, only to introduce five more licensing forms the following week.
The Professional Moderator – Adds nothing, but nods emphatically while asking the same three recycled questions.
The Consultant with a PowerPoint – Armed with a shiny McKinsey-style report filled with statistics nobody will remember, all presented as if this is the first time anyone has ever thought of digital transformation.
And what do they collectively conclude at the end of every event? "Indonesia has great potential."
Wow. Earth-shattering. Revolutionary. Completely new information. After 100 summits, a thousand PowerPoint slides, and enough jargon to fill a UN report, you’ve finally cracked the code?
At this rate, Indonesia’s “potential” will remain just that; potential, forever waiting for the next event to be “unlocked.”
Progress? What Progress? Measuring the Talk-to-Execution Ratio
Let’s attempt something radical and quantify just how much Indonesia’s endless parade of conferences has actually contributed to real-world progress. Surely, after thousands of panels, fireside chats, and keynotes, we must have moved the needle somewhere, right?
Wrong.
If we assign a "talk-to-execution ratio", it would look something like this: for every 500 conferences, there’s approximately one noticeable improvement. That’s an efficiency rate so low it makes government bureaucracy look streamlined in comparison.
A Look at Indonesia’s "Conference KPI" Results:
Ease of Doing Business – After 500+ discussions on “regulatory streamlining”, businesses are still filling out stacks of paperwork that somehow require both physical and digital copies. Why choose one when you can suffer through both?
Digital Economy – Indonesia is hyped as Southeast Asia’s next tech powerhouse, but a quick reality check reveals we’re still dependent on foreign investors, foreign platforms, and foreign expertise. Meanwhile, local startups keep reinventing the wheel, except the wheel is always another food delivery app.
Sustainability & Climate Action – If climate panels translated to real impact, Jakarta would be a green utopia by now. Instead, the city is sinking, air pollution is apocalyptic, and environmental pledges remain confined to glossy event brochures. But don’t worry, there’s a "Green Economy Summit" next week!
Startup Ecosystem – Hundreds of "Innovation & Disruption" summits later, Indonesia’s biggest startup breakthrough remains yet another online marketplace.
The verdict? Indonesia has become world-class at discussing problems but remains impressively average at solving them.
But don't worry! If you’re concerned about this glacial pace of execution, just wait... there’s a panel discussion on that very issue next week.
How to Fix This (Not That It Will Happen, But Let’s Pretend)
Can Indonesia’s business and policy community break free from its conference addiction? Probably not. The cycle is too profitable, too comfortable, and too much fun for the people who make a living off it.
But if we were serious about actually getting things done, here’s how we’d fix it:
1. Mandatory Progress Tracking: Let’s See What Was Actually Accomplished
Every conference must present a report card: What was promised last year? What was actually achieved?
If nothing was done, no new conference on the same topic is allowed. Imagine the panic. Half of Jakarta’s five-star hotels would go bankrupt overnight.
No more “Unlocking Indonesia’s Potential” Part 10 when Parts 1-9 didn’t even turn the key.
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2. Fewer Panels, More Execution Workshops
No more "fireside chats" where panelists nod sagely and agree that the future is bright, innovation is critical, and bureaucracy is bad. We get it.
Replace them with small, closed-door working groups where people actually commit to solutions with deadlines, deliverables, and accountability.
A wild concept, I know.
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3. Ban the Usual Suspects: New Voices Only
If you’ve spoken at more than five conferences in one year, you’re banned for two years. Time to take a break and actually do something worth talking about.
Only people who have actually built, fixed, or executed something in the last 12 months should be allowed to speak. No more career panelists living off recycled speeches.
We might finally hear something new.
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4. Measure KPIs, Not Just Attendance
If an event is about "Transforming Indonesia," prove that something (read: anything) was actually transformed.
No more “successful event” claims based on how many people showed up, how many LinkedIn posts were made, or how nice the venue looked.
Imagine if we measured execution instead of engagement. Now that would be disruptive.
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5. Less PR, More Doing
No more LinkedIn posts about being “honored to be on this panel,” unless it’s followed by a post about what was actually built, changed, or improved because of it.
Less “thought leadership,” more real leadership.
If this were implemented, Indonesia’s conference industry would collapse overnight. But on the bright side, actual work might finally get done.
Of course, nothing will change. Indonesia will continue to host more conferences per capita than executed initiatives, and the economy of endless discussion will keep thriving. The same faces will appear, the same buzzwords will be exchanged, and the same grand visions will be presented without ever making contact with reality.
Ten years from now, we will have “unlocked Indonesia’s potential” so many times that it should technically be wide open by now. Yet somehow, it remains stubbornly locked behind regulatory bottlenecks, investment hesitations, and that one piece of paperwork that still needs five different stamps.
So, mark your calendar! Next week, we have an exciting new event:
📢 “Why Indonesia Needs to Move Beyond Just Talking and Start Doing.”
And where is this being held? A five-star hotel, of course.
And who’s speaking? The same people who’ve been saying the exact same thing for the last decade.
Expect deep discussions, firm head nods, and zero measurable progress. Don’t miss it! (Or do. You won’t be missing anything.)