July 30, 2021 | By Joyce DiMascio
In its latest news to members and stakeholders, the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) has outlined a series of initiatives designed to support the industry through the pandemic and onwards to stability and growth.
Among them is its latest COVID Response survey designed to give the association the data and evidence to continue to advocate on behalf of the industry.
CEO Claudia Sagripanti says the responses of the association’s community to the short confidential survey will ensure the EEAA can continue to advocate and provide resources that are practical and useful to industry.
“It helps enormously in those conversations [with Government] to have actual case studies and data,” she says.
EEAA is currently making submissions on behalf of members who are having difficulties accessing government grants, in part due to the lack of a special events Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) code.
This code was jointly developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand in order to make it easier to compare statistics across various between the two countries and with the rest of the world. ANZSIC codes are four-digit numbers, and the events industry does not have a classification.
Sagripanti wants to ensure the business events and exhibition industry is understood and recognised across business, government, and community for its significant and positive economic and social impact.
She reconfirmed that the EEAA is also providing practical support to its members in the form of networking and knowledge sharing via webinars and seminars.
In August, the EEAA is holding Organiser and Supplier Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These will be run via Zoom and facilitated by an expert moderator Sagripanti says.
“The SIGs will provide a forum to air and share your concerns, learnings and solutions, to workshop common topics, which will assist in developing policy recommendations to Government and ultimately direct how the industry recovers.”
It’s also hosting a series of online expert sessions in conjunction with Connected Events Group. The first, in August, is on accessing government grants. Announcements on registrations will be made on EEAA’s LinkedIn page.