Following the disruption of 2020 – 2021 (which is still being felt in 2022) is the Australian event industry back on track?

The formation of the Australian Business Events Association without MEA and the PCOA feels like a lost opportunity. Would a broader association that embraced the entire event industry be more successful, or even possible given the fractious nature of the industry associations?

The MEA Evolve conference felt like there is some sort of recovery happening for that association – but it has a long way to go. My feeling is that MEA has a huge challenge ahead along with a great opportunity.

The challenge is to rebuild membership and the state branches, followed by the networking and education programs.  There is also the challenge that the association is still perceived to be mainly for PCOs and business event managers.  The opportunity is to broaden the membership base beyond “business events” and embrace festivals and private functions. The established education programs provided by the RTO arm of MEA along with its accreditation program also provide a great opportunity to bring in new members and to highlight the skills of those members.

These issues were addressed at the Evolve conference and I took the opportunity to interview both the chair of MEA, Michael Firman and one of the board’s newest members, Thomas Staunton.

• Tackling the issues confronting MEA and the event industry

The ABEA is however promising to be inclusive

• Australian Business Events Association reveals industry-wide inclusivity with Membership Prospectus

I took the opportunity at the awards presentation to do some quick interviews with a few of the winners

• Meet some of the MEA Award winners

And here is the full list of winners

• 2021 – 2022 MEA National Awards Winners

Susan Harris shares some insights to her win

• Susan Harris scores Platinum at MEA Awards

Simon Baggs has shared his view on the state of the industry associations

• Observations about Event Industry Associations

Peter Jones shares a question he was asked when meeting with a Victorian minister during negations over support for the event industry during 2020

• What the x!?! is the events industry (real question)

ICMS Australasia on talking three large meetings on the same day

• ICMSA readies for three meeting events starting on the same day

Julius Grafton has been in the event space for a long time, with a couple of setbacks – now he has relaunched with new branding

• Julius Grafton fights back after ‘immoral victory’

Gary FitzRoy has been keeping is finger on the pulse of the exhibition sector in the USA and has come across some research that should be troubling to Australian operators.

• Has 2022 been too good to be true, and can it continue?

Some lessons on inclusivity from WorldPride

• Make Diversity and Inclusion a Part of Every Business Event

Finally, today I head to Wellington for New Zealand’s Meetings 2023 – reports to follow next week

• New Zealand’s business events capability on show at MEETINGS 2023