he Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on Brisbane ’ s event industry , says Juliet Alabaster , general manager for business events in Brisbane . “ Seventy major international and national business events worth nearly AUD $ 80m were either postponed or cancelled in 2020 .”

However , by quickly adapting to the new environment , embracing new technology and thinking outside the square , Alabaster says Brisbane has been able to host 10 major international and national events since the easing of restrictions . “ This has given us a unique opportunity to showcase Brisbane as Australia ’ s leader in hosting Covid-Safe , world-class memorable events .”

“ Knowing how important events are to our city , we immediately began collaborating with our stakeholders in the early days of the pandemic to develop new event protocols that would safeguard the health and wellbeing of event attendees and staff ,” Alabaster says .” They have been invaluable in giving event organisers and attendees a high degree of confidence in Brisbane ’ s ability to host Covid-Safe events .”

A suite of initiatives were developed to allow delegates to attend and participate , no matter where they were .

Alabaster notes the organisers of last November ’ s World of Drones and Robotics Congress worked with the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre ( BCEC ) team on options that would allow delegates from across the world ( 20 countries ) to still participate .

“ A new event format resulted in 425 delegates attending in person and a further 350 taking part online from countries including Austria and Zimbabwe . Making one of our biggest annual international events even bigger ,

the revised format also provided a virtual forum for exhibitors from the United Kingdom to showcase their products and services ,” Alabaster says .

Over at the BCEC , which was used to hosting 1,100 events a year , the venue welcomed just 580 events in 2020 .

Management Company , ASM Global decided to use the period of closedown , however , to create two concepts at its managed venues ; the first being VenueShield and the second , Innovations +.

VenueShield was aimed at providing all the information venues would need to be able to open safely whenever that occurred in their region , while Innovations + looked into the future and is a project to reimagine venues of the future .

Locally , the BCEC liaised closely with the Queensland Government Health Authority in regard to reopening and took advantage of the opportunity given to them to draw up a Site Specific Covid Safe Plan . BCEC ’ s plan was approved by Queensland Health on 30 June 2020 . It

Above : BCEC , exterior

encompassed 96 pages and 40 attached policies and procedural documents and provided the roadmap for BCEC to reopen , encompassing all areas of interaction with clients and the delivery of all services .

BCEC was officially reopened by the Queensland Treasurer on 7 July 2020 and has been trading successfully since that date .

A full suite of technology solutions is available at BCEC including Broadcast Studios and Huddle Suites .

One of the first events affected by Covid in March , QODE Brisbane 2020 , had to pivot their on-site conference to a fully virtual platform in just a matter of days . BCEC was also the virtual event headquarters and hub for the 22nd Asia-Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology Virtual Congress 2020 .

In line with other Australian destinations and venues , the BCEC sees a gradual return of local and national business likely , but that the international market will stage a return only once the vaccine roll out starts to take effect and that it could be 2023 / 24 before a full recovery on the international scene is felt .

Meanwhile , BCEC has 83 national conferences booked this calendar year and is hopeful that too other Asia Pacific Conferences and two international conferences are planned at BCEC before the end of June .

The Covid Site Specific Plan has seen the centre open since last August , in which time 60,000 guests have come through the building , attending 160 events in a highly managed environment .

“ We find clients are hungry to hear examples of successful events whether they be conferences or exhibitions and we will continue to share those success stories ,” says BCEC marketing and communications manager Gail Sawyer .