EVENTS
CONVENTION AND CONFERENCE NEWS
Brisbane wins bid for
international tourism
conference
For the first time, Brisbane will host the Australian
Tourism Export Council’s (ATEC) Meeting Place, where more
than 400 export tourism leaders will head to Queensland in
late November.
Announcing the winning bid, ATEC Managing Director,
Peter Shelley, said “Meeting Place is the platform where the
people who sell Australia to the world come to hear about
the latest and most exciting new product available”. S
Destination Business
Events comes to
Melbourne in September
Destination Business Events, the Australian Association of
Convention Bureaux’s (AACB) annual conference, is set to
arrive in Melbourne from 18 to 20 September.
The conference is a place where the demand side
of the business events industry will come together
with the common goal of growing Australia’s business
events competitiveness. Values of the conference feature
collaboration, connection, growth and advocacy. S
KEY PLAYERS
New president of the
AACB announced
With the unanimous
support of its board, the
Association of Australian
Convention Bureaux
(AACB) has announced the
appointment of Michael
Matthews, CEO of the
Canberra Convention
Bureau, as its new president.
“I thank the Board for
their support and plan to
continue the great work that
has already been achieved,
noting a united vision for the future,” Michael said.
“AACB and the network that it represents has a powerful
voice in raising the profile of the business events industry
as a vital economic driver for Australia—a message that
must continue to be prosecuted in the lead up to the federal
election.” S
What’s a convention
bureau?
Andrew Hiebl, CEO of the Association of
Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB)
explains what a convention bureau is, and
how EAs can make the most out of them
From the 2018 Executive PA Corporate Event
Organiser Survey, we discovered that nearly 8 out
of 10 respondents stated that they had never used a
convention bureau before. Fortunately, those that
had, found their services to be extremely useful and,
luckily, most Australian cities and regional centres
have access to a convention bureau. And best of all,
you can access them free of charge.
The AACB brings together Australia’s leading
city and regional bureaux. It is then responsible for
promoting their specific region to business events
markets in Australia and overseas. They aim to attract
business events—meetings, incentives, conventions
and exhibitions—to their destinations, and often the
country, by preparing and submitting bid proposals
with the support of local businesses.
In 2018, AACB members secured approximately 300
corporate meetings and incentives for their respective
regions and assisted a further 130 with various support.
Convention bureau models vary across Australia,
but they typically rely on a mix of public funding from
state/territory and local governments, and private
investment through membership and co-operative
marketing programs. They provide a range of services
for event organisers aligning with their core purpose
and target markets.
The most common service provided by convention
bureaux across Australia is sourcing business event
suppliers—connecting you with the right local people,
products and places to ensure your event is planned
and executed with ease. For example:
w Venues for meetings or social functions
w Accommodation
w Transport providers
w Catering services
w Entertainment options
w Event organisers
Sourcing quotes from these suppliers can be managed
through personalised service, or an online request for
proposals. While nearly all EAs prefer to deal directly
when they can, it is clear from the 2018 survey results
that time-poor EAs need support with short-lead event
turnaround. Services offered by many of Australia’s
convention bureaux directly address this requirement. S
Issue 2 2019 | Chief of Staff 45