There’s been a huge program reveal from the Australian Event Symposium, with most of the agenda announced this week ahead of the October 23 event.

The one-day Event Symposium will be held in conjunction the Australian Event Awards at Navarra Venues’ property Le Montage in Sydney’s inner-city Lilyfield.

Navarra Venues has partnered with the Australian Event Awards and Symposium this year to host the industry. The venue group has also sponsored the best corporate event category in the awards, which will be known as Navarra Best Corporate Event for 2024.

The Australian Event Symposium program brings together expertise from across the events landscape to discuss key industry issues, skills and opportunities from technology trends – including artificial intelligence – to safety and risk, event design, event engagement and marketing.

The opening plenary session will see Libbie Ray from Connected Event Group and Andrew Stone from Meshh on a panel discussing tech-driven trends revolutionising event planning and delivery. Hailey Mason from The Shift Corp will moderate the panel, with a third panellist to be announced soon.

Following the opening plenary, four interactive concurrent sessions include:

• Industry veteran Peter Jones exploring working with unconventional spaces to deliver unique experiences;
• CEO of The Perfect Events Group, Liliana Sanelli, setting out a framework to create engaging community events;
• Event safety expert Craig Sheridan delving into emerging event risk and security management considerations in the current threat environment;
• Co-founder of Rocket Agency, James Lawrence, discussing how to maximise event registrations and attendance through the latest digital marketing tools and channels.

There will also be a closing plenary with details of this session still to be announced.

Following the conclusion of the Australian Event Symposium, those staying on to attend the Australian Event Awards in the evening can enjoy a complimentary glass of bubbles while getting ready for the night ahead in a changing room at Le Montage.

“We’re delighted to be holding the Australian Event Awards and Symposium in Sydney in 2024 and to be showcasing Navarra’s hospitality to the Australian events industry at large,” said the Australian Event Awards and Symposium managing director, Ian Steigrad.

“As can be seen from the winners and nominees in previous years, this event really does bring the whole industry together – from those who are innovating in event cleaning and waste services, to those running festivals large and small and others organising major conferences, exhibitions or exclusive corporate or brand events.

“We’ve found the opportunity to network across different pockets of the events industry is powerful and important to the growth of our sector.

“Adding the Symposium back into the mix this year further boosts the potential for collaboration and to test out thoughts and ideas for the next era of our sector with industry colleagues with different areas of expertise.

“The agenda for the Symposium provides event organisers with insights into the latest best practice across several critical areas of the event management and marketing process,” said Steigrad.

Early Bird rates for Event Symposium registrations are available until September 11. There are two rates on offer – to attend the Symposium only or to attend both the Symposium and the Australian Event Awards.

Visit www.eventawards.com.au to register for the Australian Event Symposium.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday 23 October 2024

Venue: Le Montage, 38 Frazer St, Lilyfield NSW

Bookings: www.eventawards.com.au