Lights, camera, action on MCEC careers

November 18, 2022 | By Joyce DiMascio

At a time when we need more people to choose careers in business events, venues and the hospitality industry, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) continues to showcase its career success stories.

This week it launched another two beautifully produced vignettes in its “Event Expert Docuseries” showing two staff members talking about the joy and satisfaction of working with clients and in events.

The two new episodes are part of a collection of interviews with people from across the business highlighting the diversity of roles and careers available in a major convention venue.

The latest videos feature event planner Maxine McIntyre and operations manager Amir Asady – the two bookend “handlers” of MCEC clients.

MCEC has confirmed that, like most organisations in the events sector, it has faced challenges in finding staff and is working creatively to attract and retain its workforce for the growing event pipeline.

Recently awarded venue professional of the year by the Venue Management Association, McIntyre’s story shows her enthusiasm for partnering with clients on their events and her skills at finding solutions to the most complex issues.

She’s been an MCEC event planner for over six years. Her work has included some of MCEC’s biggest events such as the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE), which is featured in the video.

From the event delivery team, the second vignette features Asady, showing the range of responsibilities of an event delivery manager at MCEC. His role is to work with organisers across a broad spectrum of events.

In his episode, he brings all the parts of the delivery teams together on the ground, working across catering, technology, operations and customer service. Since the video was recorded, he has been promoted to operations manager.

MCEC has been running a series of recruitment initiatives across LinkedIn and is providing more incentives for its pool of casual employees, designed to move them into permanent roles or guarantee them more shifts.

The venue’s head of marketing Liz Kozmevski says McIntyre and Asady’s videos give insight into the world-class customer service MCEC provides event organisers when planning and hosting events.

“It’s exciting to showcase the passion and thinking that takes place behind the scenes through storytelling and demonstrating the endless possibilities of hosting an event at MCEC.”

But the videos are more than promo pieces for MCEC – they are also excellent resources to show the diversity of roles in the world of business events.

Further episodes are due for release in 2023. The whole series can be viewed here.