The ISES Sydney chapter staged their annual debate at ENTECH and appropriately the subject was “Technology is the most essential component of a great event”

Putting the case for the argument were…
::: Jo-Anne Kelleway, CEO, Info Salons 
::: Julius Grafton, Founder of ENTECH, Editor CX Magazine & Founder of Julius College
::: Tony Russo, Technical Director, Technical Audio Group Pty Ltd

and pitted against them were…
::: Merryn Hughes, Producer, Public Events-Arts Management-Corporate Communications  
::: Andrew Walsh AM, Executive Director, Accolade Event Management
::: Paul Kenny, Chief Creative Officer, Staging Connections Group Limited

Meri Took (MD Staging Rentals) took on the challenge of moderating the sometimes unruly combatants.

Self-confessed techno-geek Jo-Anne Kelleway opened the debate with a passionate plug for the technology used in her business.  Julius Grafton pointed out that the industry sees a 7-15% annual increase in the use of technology and pointed out that anything manmade involved technology to produce the item.

At the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony Andrew Walsh helped stage the “most technically sophisticated stunt ever pulled off” yet despite the massive technology employed he argued that the basis of any successful event is to connect and communicate via human emotions “without vision and creative endeavour the technology is nothing” he argued.

And so it was that humanity and passion won the argument on the day as the audience voted for the team opposing the motion.