ADELAIDE is topping off a “massively successful” 2014 with news that it has secured hosting rights to trade-marketing event Dreamtime 2015.

To be held in December this year, the event will see buyers spending five days in the city.

Tourism Australia managing director, John O’Sullivan, said that as well as being key to promoting Australia as a business events destination internationally, Dreamtime is vital to the broader industry Tourism 2020 targets to grow the business events sector to A$16 billion (US$12.6 billion) annually.

“Dreamtime is Australia’s largest business events showcase, which allows us to connect with qualified buyers from key markets including Greater China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, the US and UK.”

The good news follows a year in which the destination bagged A$144.2 million worth of future events, up from A$126.1 million in 2013. Events held last year had an estimated economic impact of A$210 million, with events booked to-date for this year set to bring in about A$166 million.

Bid wins for 2H2014 were valued at A$94.7 million, including significant wins in the last quarter, boosting the on par first half to achieve the most successful year to-date.

These wins include the International Astronautical Congress 2017, the APPEA National Conference & Exhibition 2018, and the AMP Financial Services Conference 2016.

Infrastructure upgrades to keep pace with the city’s MICE calendar are also on track – the A$350 million redevelopment of the Adelaide Convention Centre is nearing completion of stage one, Adelaide Casino has received A$350 million in investments, and the A$535m renovation of the iconic Adelaide Oval boosts capacity by over 14,000 pax.

Adelaide had not been able to compete due to venue capacity and bid-funding constraints, according to the Adelaide Convention Bureau (ACB).

Damien Kitto, CEO of ACB, said: “These events, in selecting Adelaide as their host city, create around 1,400 jobs – from the businesses supplying the food to the conference delegates at their convention venues and local restaurants to the commercial laundries, the waiters, taxi drivers, and audiovisual company employees.”

CRUISE operator P&O Cruises is aiming to boost its corporate bookings by almost three-fold with the launch of a conferences division.

P&O Cruises director of sales, Ryan Taibel, said the move to set up a dedicated conference team comes as it prepares to expand its fleet from three to five ships, with the addition of Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden in November this year.

The cruise line saw a surge in meeting bookings in 2015, particularly from the retail and pharmaceutical sectors and associations, he commented.

While bookings to date from corporates stand at 4,000, Taibel said P&O is targeting 12,000 meeting delegates in 2016, with meetings of 100-200 delegates as its prime target.

Forty per cent of the overall ship itineraries offer short breaks of two to five nights, he shared, adding: “This shows that we are serious about having meetings or incentives on board our ships because we know that duration is one of the key considerations for this group of people.

“The current trend in MICE is that incentive groups will reward their top achievers with seven-night cruises, but generally for conferencing on cruises, meeting planners go for three to four nights.”

Taibel said the expanded fleet would also enable P&O to offer cruises from Australian ports including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle and Cairns, as well as regional ones like Singapore and Auckland.

Highlighting that cruises are more affordable than land tours, Taibel said a price comparison between a three-night meeting on land including all group extras would cost an estimated minimum of A$1,059 (US$822) per delegate compared with A$906 for a cruise.

P&O cruises has produced a conference brochure highlighting the features of its meetings at sea and the facilities on its ships, the new Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria.

MOBILE apps are becoming increasingly critical to large events and conferences but meeting planners have not learnt how to maximise the full potential of such technology for better communication, according to a report on the subject.

American Express (AMEX) Meetings & Events’ report Great Expectations: The Evolving Landscape of Technology in Meetings, communication and scheduling ranked among the most important features within a meeting app for approximately 80 per cent of meeting planners and attendees.

Sharing the findings of the report, Danielle Puceta, director, AMEX Meetings and Events, said: “Everyone is in the mobile app game now and it is more about what needs to be included in the app and how to make it work, rather than whether you have it or not.”

However, Puceta pointed out that event planners have yet to fully utilise the ability of mobile apps. Citing an example, she said: “Let’s just say if there is a sudden change in the conference schedule, it would be so easy for planners to simply shoot a message out via the app but they are not at that stage yet.

“Mobile apps are still in its early days. There is so much potential that planners can tap on but now there is still a lot of discussion on what needs to be included in an app and what is not necessary.”

As it “takes two hands to clap”, delegates also have to be motivated to download the app.

Puceta said the study showed that instant mobile access to the event schedule is the “killer app”  feature that will ensure delegates download the meeting app.

However, she cautioned that planners must ensure ample Wi-Fi access for attendees or the app can backfire and lead to dissatisfaction.

ENGAGEMENT is the keyword in AIME’s new strategic direction, which will be executed across the show’s three pillars of networking, business and education.

The MICE tradeshow kicks off today at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre with a new direction, and will transform the AIME experience for both exhibitors and buyers.

Karen Bolinger, CEO of Melbourne Convention Bureau, said that as the traditional exhibitions model is being challenged, AIME is redefining its business and evolving from a two-day event to year-round engagement with its community to deliver increased levels of expertise, knowledge and exchange of ideas among before, during and after the event.

AIME’s new direction is supported by a new logo and the tagline Where inspiration begins, to show that the AIME community is driven by collaboration and developed by the industry.

New initiatives in development include pop-up networking and education events, and regular focus groups throughout the year. New on-site experiences include a central community hub area and a wide range of business development coaching workshops.

“These changes to AIME have been done firmly with our customers in mind. It is about remaining relevant and implementing new ways to continually increase the value to exhibitors, buyers and visitors,” Bolinger said.

“The value of face-to-face networking is consistently reinforced by business and industry professionals and the desire to meet is human nature,” she said.

“However, due to technological innovations and new digital media the way we now conduct business has shifted to a hybrid of face-to-face and digital touch-points to connect and converse.”

A NEW report has revealed that business events contributed A$23.1 billion (US$18 billion) to the Australian economy in the last financial year, but industry insiders say the country can still do better.

According to The Value of Business Events to Australia, 37 million people attended more than 412,000 business events held across Australia, generating 179,357 jobs.

Released by the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) at AIME, the report provided “compelling evidence” of the direct and indirect impacts of business events on the Australian economy, said BECA chairman Matt Hingerty.

Sharing the study findings during a press conference, Karen Bolinger, CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, said: “Business events is a quiet achiever but this new report from BECA, with support from the business events industry, presents a very strong business case to government and industry stakeholders to continue to increase its support and investment in the sector.”

Elaborating on BECA’s next actions following this report, Hingerty said: “Going forward, we will take this report and go to the government to ask for money. We are targeting two sectors that we will be concentrating on for the next few years – health and medical, food and agribusiness.

“For example, we have the new medical research fund announced last year. It could be massive for our sector when you think of the spin-offs we can have, like exhibitions and conventions…and that is an insight on where we are heading for (when we approach the government),” he said.

Yet, Australia has slipped from 13^th in 2012 to 16^th in 2013 according to ICCA’s yearly rankings.

“The report gives strong evidence of the power of our industry, however, on a world stage, we are losing market share. We believe that business events sector is the ‘sleeping giant’ of the Australian economy. With an end to the mining boom and the decline in manufacturing, the sector has the ability to be a leading force for Australia’s future prosperity,” said Hingerty.

Emphasising the need for government support, he added: “(This further shows) that the business events industry and governments must work together to leverage this great opportunity before us.”