As part of a strategic alliance between the two associations, the ABEA and AIPC ANZ Academy will provide an opportunity for middle management talent in the convention centre ecosystem around Australia and New Zealand to undertake an intensive five-day leadership program this June at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The academy has 35 places and will be open to the likes of AV suppliers, caterers and others who service the two countries’ convention centres, as well as those working directly for convention centres.
The leadership bootcamp will include lectures from global thought leaders, workshops and a team challenge in the evenings. Topics to be covered include crisis management, finance and leading and motivating others.
The partnership between ABEA and AIPC was announced at the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) last week, both within AIPC’s summit held at the show and separately to media.
“This is the first time that AIPC’s done an academy in this region, so we’re building on some of the success they’ve had elsewhere around the world,” ABEA’s chair, Peter King, told media at a press conference.
“As a former AIPC Board member, I’m thrilled we can bring this outstanding management program to the ANZ region, whilst removing a big part of the financial threshold for participation,” he said in a later media statement, referring to the need for Australians and New Zealanders to travel if they wished to participate in this kind of program with AIPC in the past.
“It will be the first, but definitely not last outcome of the partnership between these two great associations,” he said.
CEO of AIPC, Sven Bossu, said the inter-venue networking that the academy would facilitate was part of the value of the initiative.
“What we see happening each time after an academy is that [participants] stay in contact, they reach out to each other and that’s very important for a community-driven association, which both of our associations are.”
With the general manager of Te Pae Christchurch, Ross Steele, on the AIPC board, the ABEA-AIPC partnership is also connecting with New Zealand’s industry body Business Events Industry Aotearoa (ABEA) to make the academy accessible to those across the Tasman.
Interestingly, the dates of the program put the academy in direct conflict with Meetings and Events Australia’s (MEA) annual conference which will be held in Sydney in the same week.
Alongside the Professional Conference Organisers Association (PCOA), MEA was one of two associations which declined to wrap up operations to make way for the launch of ABEA last year.
Both the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) and the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) chose to fold their organisations and support the founding of ABEA, which also had the backing of Australia’s major convention centres.
Meanwhile AIPC has 200 member convention centres in 60 countries, including seven Australian convention centres and two in New Zealand.
