 The farming community is sometimes said to be expert at privatising its profits and socialising its losses. While the parallel with the meetings and events industry isn’t immediately obvious, there is something of a tendency in our sector to expect governments to provide solutions while staying out of our affairs at the same time.
The reality is that we do need a measure of government assistance in gaining the venues, transport systems and marketing expertise to win national and international conferences that generate income for all the suppliers to our sector.
The level of assistance can be a fine balance, as the more the flow of government money into our coffers, the less control we have over our destinies. This will inevitably lead to a lessening of talent coming into the industry. One needs only to look at the state of affairs in some of our northern neighbours who have been heavily bankrolled by their governments for the past few decades.
They may have superior facilities but the lack of flair and intellectual capital is evident when faced with the challenge of delivering world-class events. There are no dress rehearsals in our business and suppliers need to work harmoniously long before the moment the wheels of the delegates’ aircraft touch down. The professionalism required to deliver (and prosper) is not easily achieved when government is calling the shots.
The latest international delegate survey by the Sydney Convention & Visitors’ Bureau is due for release but preliminary results show again the great value that business events deliver to a city.
It provides the New South Wales government with proof aplenty that decisions need to be made sooner rather than later whether or not to extend the existing convention and exhibition centre or build a new one on a magnificent harbourfont location on the northern point of east Darling Harbour. It’s mooted in some quarters that this could - and should - be another iconic landmark like the Sydney Opera House.
The military has traditionally had the best vantage points on Sydney Harbour, so an impressive edifice devoted to the dissemination of ideas on a waterfront location would be proof positive that the nation’s taken a very big step forward.
 For more information, contact Bryan Holliday at ICMS Australasia
at 02 9254-5000. www.icmsaust.com.au
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