 Business in 2007 for my marketing consultancy and my clients looks very strong for 2007 with a selection of Queensland and interstate clients requesting strategic marketing and PR project assistance. With more destinations and product on offer than ever before, it is a buyer’s market and that fact will be keeping everyone on their toes in 2007. Most of my clients indicate that the corporate sector continues to provide strong growth potential linked to the current favourable economic conditions, with ongoing infrastructure development and business expansion also a sign of a positive year ahead.
One with a very positive story for 2007 is the Northern Territory Convention Bureau which reports that six new hotels and resorts will open or commence development in the Top End of the Northern Territory over the next 12 months. These are in addition to the 1500-seat Darwin Convention Centre currently under construction and due to open in 2008, and the exciting new $1 billion Darwin Waterfront Precinct Development.
Lynn Fairbrass of the Northern Territory Convention Bureau advises that Northern Territory figures for 2005/2006 showed an increase of eight per cent in business events expenditure over the previous year and that similar growth is anticipated for 2007 as NTCB and industry partner strategies for the business tourism sector bear fruit.
In Northern Queensland, the Townsville region expects to see a significant increase in destination awareness with a number of new business events facilities due to come online early in 2007. Of these, Magnetic Island’s brand new Peppers Blue on Blue will include a luxury conference centre. Billabong Sanctuary, North Queensland’s leading animal park recently received government funding for the construction of an outdoor conference facility, while the brand new Riverway on the banks of the Ross River boasts an outdoor amphitheatre, a large indoor conference area, and a number of meeting rooms.
The Hope Island Golf Club on the Gold Coast, which specialises in handling business events with a golfing component, advises that they have had a huge start to the year, with numerous corporates already locking away their dates for a record number of golf events. Loyal repeat customers such as Daimler Chrysler and Lexus have committed to a series of national and state events throughout 2007, confirming their confidence in the facilities and service at Hope Island and the importance of these events as an integral component of their business calendars. These corporate events frequently include meetings, presentations and formal dinners and/or are a social or team-building highlight of a conference or incentive program
 2007 for ICMS is looking to be as strong as 2006 but for different reasons. Last year we had several large international meetings that saw us manage more delegates than we have in our 37 year history. 2007 is strong because we are managing our business better; trying where possible to pitch for new business that works within our business model. Our clients are more nationally focused this year, however, we still have our stable of international meetings to manage.
Our business composition is 90 per cent professional association meetings. Our diverse industry sectors include: medical, pharmaceutical, educational, allied health, scientific, the arts, library, geospatial, government and engineering. We work with our clients to achieve the best possible result for their association to meet their goals and expectations. Whether it is to attract world renowned speakers or host the most fantastic conference dinner our aim is to work closely with our clients to achieve their goals. Our meetings’ delegate numbers are on the increase due to the implementation of new marketing strategies to grow and maintain their membership.
Most of our business for 2007 will be conducted on the eastern seaboard although we are managing meetings in Perth, Alice Springs, Cairns and Vienna, Austria
 2007 is going to be a boomer for OSC – our first events commenced on the ninth of January – which is very unusual for us, but is becoming more and more common over the years. We’re finding corporates are really making the most of the beginning of each year to reward and recognise their staff, so they are staging conference and incentive events in Jan/ Feb (which was traditionally a soft period), to really get their staff and corporations motivated for the year ahead and really get return on investment.
Offshore programs are certainly back on with our team working with a number of PCOs and corporates, staging events in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur over the next six months. The unfortunate circumstances of Fiji and Bangkok hasn’t had the perceived impact of the majority of corporates cancelling their programs. Rather they are more cautious of the circumstances and adopting a “let’s wait and see” approach, which shows how as a society we have had to adapt to global issues and are becoming less reactive. This simply was not the case three years ago.
International business in Australia is very strong with a number of high-profile incentive programs heading down under in the first six months of 2007 from the USA, China and SE Asia.
Short lead requests are now part of everyday life, and we are finding we are creating events from scratch with less than one month’s notice for large groups of 300 pax plus, which certainly keeps us challenged! Corporates are simply not confirming their event schedule out too far in case of internal or global unforeseen circumstances.
Whilst business is definitely stronger, unfortunately budgets have not increased and we are finding that we are working on budgets that were the same three years ago with increases in guests numbers. But we do enjoy a challenge!
Unique Australian destination experiences are popular this year, with our team creating special events in destinations like Central Australia and the outback, the Whitsunday islands, Cape Tribulation and Tasmania - which are providing a unique canvas for delegates to experience.
 Staging Dimensions finished off a big 2006 with a massive November and December which included the Dreamtime, Queensland Tourism Awards at the BCEC, straight into two events (a welcome reception and dinner) for 3500 pax in Wellington, New Zealand, for the Air New Zealand Golden Oldies Rugby Festival.
January has returned to a quiet month following two years of unusually busy Januarys. February and March have started to build with major events for us in Sydney and Brisbane for a construction company re-branding, and also a week-long event for a large software company. Like many of our peers it is very difficult to forecast our year with our average lead times being four weeks and less, but we continue to better our revenues each year, mainly thanks to our many repeat clients of up to 15 years.
We have witnessed a marked increase in corporate sports hospitality and our efforts in Indian outbound events to Australia have proved fruitful with a couple of events planned in the next 12 months.
 I thought it would be hard to beat 2006, which was a bumper year for events in Melbourne starting with the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, but 2007 is shaping up to be busier than ever.
Savvy clients are planning earlier and many have already locked in key dates for their events. We are seeing trends in increased requests for more healthy food options. Clean, unfussed presentations that will showcase food, not dominate, is also strongly sought after. Clients are prepared to pay for innovative food, beverage and styling concepts.
Epicure Catering manages an exclusive portfolio of Melbourne’s iconic venues, such as ZINC at Federation Square, Melbourne Town Hall, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Arts Centre as well as managing many high profile special events.
 2007 is shaping up to be a fabulous year! Our existing calendar around the country shows strong conference and events business already confirmed for this year. Conference lead times for national events continue to be shorter and shorter – many conferences averaging 600 delegates are just confirming for later this year and early in 2008. Melbourne is definitely the flavour of the year, and Adelaide appears to be attracting some major attention for association events.
Business for Event Planners is looking stronger in 2007 than 2006. We do, however, contribute that to our model, and the fact that clients are very interested in partnering with us on multi-year contracts as opposed to changing event management companies each year. We’ve seen increased interest for conferencing in regional areas such as the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland, and many clients considering off-shore locations (Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur).
Corporate roadshows, product launches and events travelling around the country are also showing strong signs for 2007 – again this reflects the Event Planners’ approach of offering local delivery around Australia. Budgets seem to be remaining about the same – doesn’t everyone want more for their dollars? We’re continually striving to be more creative and innovative and stretch that budget even further!
And the good news is that Australian business event practitioners can apply for hosted buyer status.
Tailored for the world’s most populous country, the IT&CM China trade show is a spin-off from IT&CM Asia, which has been operating for 14 years. It will be held from April 23 to 25, 2007 at the INTEX centre in Shanghai.
As everybody is well aware, China’s MICE industry has been experiencing dramatic growth. With the staging of the Beijing Olympics 2008, World Expo 2010 and many other events, the country’s travel and tourism industry will chalk up even bigger gains. The industry was expected to post some US$353.7 billion worth of economic activity in 2006 and reach a staggering US$1299.4 billion by 2016.
A special feature of IT&CM China will be the “matchmaking” of buyers and sellers before the event. Participants are invited to provide details of whom they would like to meet, and the organiser will try to pre-schedule the appointments. In this way, participants will be able to get right down to business, hold quality discussions with their selected exhibitors, and achieve greater ROI out of their attendance.
Every exhibition is not complete without a complementary educational component, and IT&CM China will have daily morning seminars before the exhibition starts. Participation is open to all registered delegates who will get to hear eminent speakers expounding on hot topics and debating on pertinent issues affecting the MICE industry in China and the region.
Visit www.itcmchina.com to see how you can get involved.
 I am looking at a full program of events. First up I have an Aerospace Conference in Melbourne (in conjunction with AirShow Downunder) and the usual 20 or so events spread unevenly throughout the year. I am looking forward to an international event in August on the subject of “Rainwater Harvesting” - very topical and, I hope, very helpful to our current water shortage dilemma. Yep... I have more business than you can poke a stick at and as soon as my rib gets better I’m going to get stuck in to it!
(Editor’s note: Peter May fractured a rib participating in the Sydney to Hobart).
 Perth is bursting at the seams in 2007. A far busier year than 2006. The resources boom is one of the reasons why Perth hotels and meeting facilities are heavily booked and this is clashing with a peak in the cycle of association business coming to Western Australia.
It was due to this heavier than usual boom particularly in the latter part of 2006 that Congress West and EventEdge joined forces in Perth to provide a stronger infrastructure to our clients in an effort to service this unusual demand. This has proven to be an extremely successful union.
Forward bookings for 2008 and 2009 are coming through and look to be good years for WA.
Political issues between the Western Australian government and the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre seem to be resolved with the government now making a significant investment in marketing to international associations and business. We expect to see the results of that increase in the international market sector in the next five to 10 years.
Even so, with the increase in meetings business (both association and corporate), the challenge now arises with accommodation. There are simply not enough five and four-star hotel rooms in Perth. A particular challenge is the lack of five star hotels at the PCEC end of the CBD. Developers are chasing high occupancy returns from the corporate market and there is a scarcity (in this bull market - reminiscent of the 1980s!) of office space. So their attention is not at all focused on the hospitality sector.
The other challenge - for everyone in Western Australia - is attracting staff. The story goes that when the bus drivers moved up to driving trucks in the North West (obviously for the high wages offered by the mining companies), the catering staff moved on to driving buses - leaving a gap of staff for the hospitality industry! Walk past many restaurant and shop windows here and you will see the “staff wanted, apply within” signs. Everywhere.
Want a job? Want to work for someone desperate to have you? Come to WA!
 Traditional destinations in the Asia Pacific need to be mindful that throughout the region numerous secondary destinations have recently, or are about to construct purpose-built convention and exhibition centres. Together with the necessary support infrastructure and service they are becoming more serious contenders as associations look for something new.
The reported plethora of new convention and exhibition facilities emerging within the People’s Republic of China is raising a few eyebrows as to whether there is the potential market to sustain such scale of development. Much of this facility development appears to be predicated on the exhibitions market, but given the relative lack of portability of international shows the question must be asked as to how much reliance is being placed on the exhibition element of the MICE equation?
With the recognised and acknowledged explosion and phenomenal growth of China’s economy particularly in the manufacturing sector, maybe these facilities will be more appropriate as permanent trade centres?
It is still my experience that practically all destinations are not recognising that event marketing takes a pragmatic and systematic sales approach and that notwithstanding the kudos gained from hosting international events, that rarely does the value of international MICE business exceed 20 per cent of total revenues.
One aspect of association meeting business enjoying substantial growth is the increase in recent years with associations staging trade shows as an integral part of their annual conference program. This holds down registration fees and provides a welcome profit centre.
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