On Saturday night I was at the Small Business Champions Awards at The Star Event Centre. It was fantastic to see close to 1,000 people in one room for an awards dinner and the excitement at getting dressed up and going out was palpable. As one winner said “How good is this, our first time out of Queensland in two years”. There were the stories of how these small businesses had survived COVID and the heartbreak and resilience of those who were then hit by flood. Two businesses related how they have all but been wiped out, but are determined to rebuild.
Then on Sunday morning it was off to Melbourne for AIME – so good to catch up with industry colleagues face to face again.
My first report is here and I’ll have a bunch of interviews to share next week.
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is excited to welcome the return of APAC’s largest business events gathering for the Asia Pacific Incentive and Meetings Event (AIME) this week (March 21-23).
AIME kicks off with knowledge program
Kicking off the three-day event, the Knowledge Exchange connected delegates from all over the world for a day of innovative education and community building.
Investment in Business Events Bid Fund underpins international recovery
Attending a business events leaders’ breakfast in Melbourne yesterday, hosted by the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, positioned the business events industry as the cornerstone in the recovery of the visitor economy and fundamental to promoting Australia’s credentials on the world stage.
Note that although the industry bodies have welcomed this announcement it has been greeted with some scepticism elsewhere – too little, and no such funding for local events.
A ‘Very Melbourne Welcome’ to international delegates at AIME 2022
Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) owners, the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) have fuelled the business event’s industry revival for Asia Pacific as the city concludes a massive Uncover Melbourne program at AIME. AIME 2022 is the first international tradeshow to be hosted in Melbourne since Australian international borders reopened.
New campaigns to fast track recovery of the business events sector
Tourism Australia’s specialist business unit, Business Events Australia, has launched two marketing campaigns to assist the business events industry in its recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Reduced restrictions welcomed by New Zealand business events sector
The New Zealand government’s announcement ending vaccine mandates from 4 April, and increasing indoor event capacity to 200 from this Friday, 25 March is a step forward for the business events sector.
Speaking of New Zealand, I was chatting to Business Events Industry Aotearoa Chief Executive Lisa Hopkins about the issues we have had in Australia dealing with state and federal governments and their lack of contactability and lack of understanding of the events industry. Lisa has contacts for New Zealand ministers in her phone and talks to them regularly – formally and informally.
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