The Queensland Branch of Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) staged a successful inaugural Golf Challenge at Sanctuary Cove in mid March. More than 80 golfers participated in the 18 hole ambrose event which was held on The Palms course at Sanctuary Cove. The Golf Challenge was generously sponsored by Conrad Jupiters, Execugifts, Exhibition Hire, Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove, QX Australia Pty Ltd, Staging Connections, Staging Rentals & Construction Services, The WRX Experience, and Warner Village Theme Parks, who all themed various holes throughout the course. The Golf Challenge took place on the same day as the annual MEA Qld Awards & Gala Dinner. The award ceremony was held prior to the dinner and MEA Qld was delighted to welcome both MEA CEO Linda Gaunt and Chairman Rhona Walker to officiate. Award winners were Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Marketing, Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre and Off-Site Connections Event Management. The Golf Challenge event is expected to become an annual “must do” on the MEA Qld social calendar.
Finding out what to do and see while in Perth has never been easier with the release of a new City of Perth Visitor Kit, created specifically for conference organisers, delegates and business visitors. In 2007, the City of Perth provided tourism brochures and visitor information to more than 20,000 visiting conference delegates. The new visitor kits, which will be made available to conference delegates at no cost, improves upon the city’s commitment to providing tourist information by meeting the specific needs of visiting delegates. Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, said the visitor kits provide visiting delegates with greater opportunities to discover the lifestyle opportunities that exist for people doing business in Perth.
The Australian National Maritime Museum has welcomed Bayleaf Catering – The Fine Food Company as the new exclusive caterer to its award-winning harbourside venues. Well known for innovation, exceptional design and the quality of its menus, Bayleaf meets all individual catering requirements.
‘What’s cooking?’ was the question asked of 11 event planners who found themselves exploring their culinary boundaries during a recent conference familiarisation tour of Novotel Pacific Bay Resort on the shores of Charlesworth Bay at Coffs Harbour. The planners were split into three groups and under the direction of executive chef Tony Gills, prepared entrees, main courses and desserts. A gala dinner was served around a circus theme provided by the resort’s Zip Circus performers with a Belgian chocolate fountain and chef Gill’s signature handmade chocolate éclairs a highlight. Sea kayaking and surf rafting provided an opportunity to burn off excess calories for the planners who attended from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre is continuing to light the way in environmental initiatives, replacing all 800 lights in its five exhibition halls with new energy efficient fittings. The lights are now connected to a digital control system which provides four lighting levels – 25 per cent, 50 per cent, 75 per cent and 100 per cent for the hall space, which spans 25,000 square metres. Centre infrastructure manager, Ross Horlyck, said the new lights made the exhibition space more functional for the many different types of events held there. “Not every event requires full lighting. Now with the push of a button we can reduce the lighting level and cut our energy use dramatically,” Mr Horlyck said.
Accor recently announced an innovative towelre-use program that aims to reduce use of water, energy and chemicals across its 4000 hotels with the savings contributing to the planting of up to three million trees annually by 2012. The announcement was made on Accor’s Earth Guest Day, where staff at all of the group’s hotels, including 136 hotels in Australia, focus on environmental and community social responsibility projects. Funds raised by the towel re-use initiative will be donated to the “Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign” administered by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Dreamtime 2008 is being deferred in preference to an expanded high impact showcase in 2009. Tourism Australia said the 2009 showcase will be re-fashioned and therefore requires significant additional planning, investment and industry consultation. The showcase will deliver the message of the Business Events Australia brand, producing an event that emanates style, innovation, imagination and above all, a memorable high-calibre event for which Dreamtime is renowned. Dreamtime 2009 will be a joint Australian initiative spotlighting Australia’s premier incentive products and services. A partnership prospectus will be available over the coming months.
More than 4600 motorcyclists are expected to invade Western Australia in 2010 after members of the national Ulysses Motorcycle Club agreed to hold their AGM in Albany. The largest social club in the southern hemisphere, the Ulysses MC boasts more than 28,000 members throughout Australia representing male and female motorcycle enthusiasts over 40 years of age. Affiliated motorcyclists from clubs in New Zealand and South Africa are also expected to attend the Albany AGM. The AGM represents a major coup for the Perth Convention Bureau (PCB), which offered a $50,000 incentive to the Ulysses club to secure the national event for Albany. PCB managing director Ross MacCulloch said the AGM was the biggest event ever secured by the bureau in its 36 year history and would generate massive economic benefits for Albany and the south west. “The AGM is expected to inject around $14 million into the state’s economy, with Albany and its hinterland being the biggest beneficiaries of the spending bonanza,” he added.
The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre recently hosted some of the world’s leading professional conference organisers (PCOs) at a special site tour and dinner designed to highlight the professionalism and flexibility of the centre. The group of 18 European and UK organisers were visiting Sydney for a board of directors meeting and educational seminar of INCON Ltd - the worldwide partnership of PCOs and event producers. The PCOs inspected the centre’s multi-million dollar refurbishment and experienced a live demonstration of its in-house audio-visual skills before enjoying a gourmet dinner in the centre’s Bayside Terrace. INCON executive member and Australian PCO, Tour Hosts managing director, Ros McLeod, said visitors enjoyed the warm hospitality of the centre’s team, an extremely impressive live AV presentation, and a magnificent dinner. “It made me very proud of what we achieve in Sydney and my peers from around the world were very, very impressed,” she said.
The etm Star Ball Committee presented a cheque for just over $27,000 to the Starlight Children’s Foundation recently. The money was raised at “A Night Among Stars” fundraising dinner, designed and managed by etm staff. Kendra Overall from the Starlight Children’s Foundation said she was thrilled with etm’s ongoing support and the efforts of its staff. “The funds raised will to go towards granting wishes for sick children and improving the services and equipment at the Royal Children’s Hospital Starlight Express Room,” she said. Director of the etm group, Leon Burman, said the ball committee worked tirelessly in the lead-up to the gala dinner and secured 80 silent auction items, six live auction items and five great raffle prizes, along with numerous door and spot prizes throughout the night.
The Novotel hotel group has entered into an agreement with Green Globe to achieve worldwide certification of the network’s 400 hotels across 61 countries, including the 22 Novotel hotels and resorts in Australia, and five in New Zealand. The Green Globe program is managed by Brisbane based EC3 Global, the commercialisation and adaptation division of the Sustainable Tourism Co-Operative Research Centre, whose research program is overseen by 17 of Australia’s leading universities. Green Globe is the only international benchmarking and certification program based on “agenda 21” principles. It provides a framework for environmental and social performance improvement through independent third party verification. At present, Novotel has four Green Globe Certified hotels: Novotel Lyon Part Dieu, Novotel London Tower Bridge, Novotel Benoa Bali and Novotel Sharm El Sheikh. The Novotel Atlantis Shanghai is in the process of being awarded certification.
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) and Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) recently announced the audited figures for AIME 2008 and the results of independent research conducted with visitors, hosted buyers and exhibitors. Figures audited by the Circulations Audit Board in Australia verify a total attendance of 3260 at AIME 2008 - a 25.3 per cent increase on the AIME 2007 attendance of 2603. The audited figures do not include revisits to the show of 721, or exhibitor numbers. “The record attendance confirms AIME’s reputation as the premier event in Australia, a leader in the region and an event that delivers significant economic results for the meetings industry,” said event director, Rosemarie Sama.
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