New Zealand: Take your thinking somewhere new

The massive interruption to business caused by the pandemic begs the question – is sustainability still a priority?

Some companies have taken the lockdown as an opportunity to review their practices and accelerate implementation.

For some organisations, like the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), it is core to their DNA and the pandemic has not dulled its commitment. Quite the opposite. Read more

The Lancemore Group has quietly added another property to its growing family of boutique hotels and regional conference facilities.

In February they acquired Cleveland Winery, an historic property featuring an 1880s homestead, 50-room hotel and conference and events facilities close to their original Lancemore Hill conference centre.Lancemore Group was established in 1986 by management consultant Peter Clark who was disappointed with available meeting facilities for his clients so gathered some friends and built the first dedicated conference centre in regional Australia. Read more

In what seemed like more or less a foregone conclusion last night, coordinated celebrations took off in Brisbane as the city was announced as the host of the 2032 Olympic Games, by a vote of 72 to five.

There was footage of the Queensland Premier and entourage celebrating in Tokyo and of Prime Minister Scott Morrison pumping his fists in his office in Canberra.

If ever there was an advocacy opportunity for the events industry, this is it. Read more

While the Cairns and Port Dougas' blissful tropical climate and natural assets – the region is a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and home to the Daintree Rainforest, both World Heritage-listed – give the destination an incredible starting advantage, recent and current development of Cairns, particularly from a business events perspective, is elevating it to new heights for conferences and incentives. Read more

Singapore capitalised more on its potential to host international business events while case numbers were low, at one stage opening up the city-state to international business events of up to 750 delegates.

However, like Australia, Singapore is now struggling with yet another wave of COVID-19 infections which has suddenly resurged, even after the country spent weeks in a form of lockdown-lite in May and June, due to multiple outbreaks. Read more

Business Events Perth has announced the extension of its Events Here Now fund which encourages and supports intrastate businesses events.

The fund provides up to $15 a delegate to a maximum of $10,000 and can be put towards business event costs such as catering, audio visual equipment, venue hire and other approved costs. Read more

Victoria’s lockdown has been extended by a further week while South Australia and parts of the NSW Central West have also entered a seven-day lockdown after more cases in both those areas were linked to the Greater Sydney outbreak.

Victoria continues to record double digit case numbers as it works to control its outbreaks – a further 22 cases were reported this morning, bringing the total number of cases related to current outbreaks to 106. Read more