Melbourne expands conference ambassador programme

CLUB Melbourne Ambassador Program, which has won more than 70 international conferences for the Australian city through leaders of multiple industries since 2005, was relaunched on August 27 with a fresh direction and six new ambassadors.

The new direction will addresses increasing international competition to create an even stronger, focused and more supportive network to secure and host international conferences in Melbourne.

The governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov, who is the patron-in-chief of the programme, said: “Club Melbourne provides a unique opportunity to connect prominent thinkers and leaders in the promotion of Melbourne as one of the world’s premier conference and event destinations. Its influence is global and the way it drives knowledge is pivotal to all our future as a forward thinking, smart economy.”

According to a press statement from the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), where the programme’s relaunch was celebrated, business events contribute over A$1.2 billion (US$1.1 billion) annually to the local marketplace.

Over the last 12 months, Melbourne hosted 10 international conferences that were secured by CLUB Melbourne Ambassador Program over the last eight years. These events brought in almost 10,000 visitors from 49 countries, and contributed A$41 million in economic impact to Victoria.

MCEC chief executive, Peter King, said: “Through our ambassadors’ hard work, MCEC regularly hosts some of the largest and prestigious conferences in the world.

The six new faces that will join the programme in promoting Melbourne as a destination for conferences include Cathy Foley, chief of CSIRO’s Materials Science and Engineering Division; Milton Hearn, director of the Victorian Centre for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing and deputy director of the Green Chemical Futures Centre at Monash University; Christina Mitchell, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University; Ingrid Scheffer, chair of Paediatric Neurology at The University of Melbourne and The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health; Hugh Taylor, chief of the Indigenous Eye Health Unit at The University of Melbourne; and Jan Tennent, CEO of the Bio 21 Cluster.

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