Produced in partnership with Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events
Part of the Auckland Council-controlled Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Auckland’s cultural, events and destination agency, Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events offers 13 unique venues across Auckland. These range from stadiums to theatres and statement venues including Aotea Centre, Auckland Town Hall, Viaduct Events Centre, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Cloud and Shed 10.
Aside from enabling extraordinary event experiences in architecturally impressive venues around the city for domestic and international audiences, Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events creates economic opportunities for other businesses in the city as well as diversifying the revenue mix for Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, reducing dependence on resident ratepayers.
Capacities within the venue group’s portfolio run from 16 for a boardroom meeting at Auckland Art Gallery to cocktail events for up 2,850 attendees at Viaduct Events Centre.
“Each of [our] venues has a very strong sense of place, so we come at it from very much a precinct orientation,” says Dodds.
“We think…who are the hotels in close proximity, how are we going to impact those hotels… and how can we partner with them to drive more business into that precinct, to benefit our city partners as well?”
The waterfront Viaduct Events Centre, with its expansive main space and soaring 12m ceilings, is Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events’ flagship venue. It hosts 45 per cent of business events secured by the business, servicing primarily gala dinners and cocktail events.
But Dodds says the overall venue mix provides a comprehensive offering for organisers hosting multi-site or multi-day events in Auckland.
“We’re the one-stop shop in the sense that the client can come to Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events and have a portfolio of 13 unique venues to choose from.
“We may say, if you conference with Aotea Centre or Viaduct Events Centre, why don’t you do your dinner offsite at Shed 10 or at MOTAT Aviation Hall?
“This means we can keep the client’s full business with us. But also, we’re enhancing visitation and economic impact to the city as well.”
A standout year
The current financial year is shaping up to be a big one for Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events.
“Year-on-year, we’ve seen a nine per cent lift in the number of events and a 74 per cent lift in the number of attendees. Last year, we hosted 269 events at our venues and this year we’ve hosted 293. That translates to more people in Tāmaki Makaurau and more economic impacts.
“It’s really about yielding appropriately, making sure that you’re putting the right type of business in the right venue at the right time and for the right financial return.
“We know our customers, we know the type of business that they place.”
Dodds believes after a tough time in New Zealand, corporates are “back in business again” as far as events are concerned.
“They were doing events, but we were getting some big corporates who said, ‘Look, we’re contracted with you, but we don’t want to place this year. We want to move it to another year’.
“We work with these organisations to do whatever it takes to keep the business with us.
“If we said, ‘Look, you’ve contracted, you have to do it’, everyone loses out. We don’t get the numbers that we need to, they feel negative about placing business with us in the future. So, we really are very flexible in the way that we deal with our clients’ business.
“If I look at the volume and diversity of enquiry that we’re getting at the moment, I think there’s much more enquiry and a wider variety than last year.”
While 80 per cent of Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events’ business is corporate events, Dodds says meeting the market is a priority when servicing domestic associations.
“You have to meet the market sometimes.
“We can sit with no utilisation of the Viaduct Events Centre if we want to charge full rack.
“We’ve got a catering panel to share business with as well and they’re not going to be very happy with us if we just hold out at rack rate the whole time.
“And that’s when I come back to day of the week: front end of the week, conferencing, back end of the week, gala dinner.
“It’s about what the week looks like as opposed to each individual day.”
Beyond a blank canvas
There are other important elements to the success of Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events. Going beyond just providing a blank canvas for clients is one element, says Dodds.
“It’s…about how do we achieve the objectives of the client? Is it to reward, excite? Is it to educate? Is it to transfer technical knowledge?
“What does success look like for the client and how are we going to make sure that we exceed their objectives?
“Then it’s our job across…our business…[to align] everyone around that common objective.
“Our technical capability is a key part of that – making sure we can support seamless delivery, from content and production through to the full event experience.”
Dodds says success is also about constant improvement.
“How do we get better at every touch point? How do we get better at the enquiry level? How do we get better at the way that we propose and put proposals together for the client, that transition between the client and the on-ground event coordinator, the payment, the post-event survey?”
He believes much of this comes back to the Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events team.
“We really want to make sure that we’ve got the right people, that we’ve got people who have that attitude, that mindset that they come in and they’re just really excited to be part of the brand and to deliver the customer outcome.
“I say to the team, we have to have a day one attitude every day.
“Day one is about holding on to that first spark – the belief you can make a difference when you step into a role.
“It’s not always easy when things are busy and constant, especially with so much happening. But keeping that day one energy, that sense of purpose, is what drives me every day.”
“I just know that every day is going to be different. I’ve got a great team. We’re all in this together, there is a commonality of vision and that’s what I really enjoy, that everyone’s there to do the business.”
An evolving landscape in Auckland
With the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) opening in February, 2026 is a big year for Auckland as a business events destination. Dodds believes his organisation is already reaping the benefits of the new purpose-built venue, even though it’s a competitor.
“The benefits flow everywhere,” he says.
“It’s like a mini Rugby World Cup coming in four to five times a year,” he says, noting that he’s already seeing leads for conference groups in the thousands looking to host offsite events with Auckland Conventions, Venues and Events, while running their main programs at the new convention centre.
“We love to see the city full of smart people, exchanging ideas, creating jobs, harnessing talent. The IQ of Auckland goes up a bit!
“The other thing is that increased visibility of Auckland as a business events destination.
“We’re getting more enquiry from Australia. We’re getting more enquiry from some Asian countries.
“Our audience is changing, with a new generation of talented professionals coming through. We need to stay relevant to them.
“That means being visible, easy to work with, and making every interaction seamless.
“We have to be the best we can be – and that’s an aspiration worth striving for.”
