UPDATE FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
We continue to witness the resurgence of our Business Events industry, evidenced by strong bookings into the foreseeable future at BCEC.
BCEC is set to report a record 2022/23 Financial Year, having regularly experienced its best-ever months in the first half of 2023. As we head into a new Financial Year, I would like to take this opportunity to shout out to our many event partners for their continuing support and to our amazing resourceful and talented team, for their contribution to this achievement.
A busy and exciting first half of the year, saw the Centre putting out the Full House sign on a number of occasions. There was a great buzz about the building, with events exceeding attendance expectations including conferences, exhibitions and sell-out concerts.
In June we were honoured to host the 26th World Mining Congress, the leading international forum for the global mining and resources sectors, and just one of 131 conventions held during the 2022/23 Financial Year.
2023/24 will see the Centre welcome a strong line-up of 28 international conventions, further highlighting Brisbane’s appeal to the international market as a destination of choice.
The calibre of these conferences reflects Brisbane’s science and research strengths. The hosting of the world’s largest and most influential HIV Sciences conference, The International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science, in-house this month, presents a global focus for our science excellence particularly within the immunology and infectious diseases space.
Also this month we were honoured to have Brisbane’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Adrian Schrinner deliver a special briefing to the Centre’s Convention Advocates on his vision for Brisbane on the journey to the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Lord Mayor highlighted the importance of opportunity and legacy created by Brisbane’s Olympic city status to the group of Queensland’s top scientists, innovators and business leaders.
Best regards,
KYM GUESDON
General Manager, BCEC
our latest stories
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BCEC brings the very best of Queensland produce to its 2023/24 Menu collection.
The Centre has a long history of advocacy for Queensland produce, having established relationships with many local and regional award-winning farmers, fishers and producers, who feature in the new Menu.
Developed in-house by Executive Chef, Matthew Arnold and his team of talented chefs, the Menu celebrates the abundance, diversity and uniqueness of our regional produce.
Chef Matthew says quality and sustainability were a key focus for the 2023 Menu, in creating expertly crafted and inventive menus, helping organisers make delicious, healthy and sustainable choices. Native Australian ingredients are featured throughout the menu, with the addition of all Native Australian Flavours buffet and degustation menu options.
Our famous seafood is sourced from the pristine waters of the Sunshine Coast, the coastal areas of Hervey Bay, as well as tropical Far North Queensland, while our fresh fruit and vegetables are foraged from Queensland’s Scenic Rim and the Lockyer Valley, one of the 10 most fertile areas in the world, known as the Salad Bowl of Australia – showcasing the best of our fresh seasonal produce.
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BCEC was proud to be the host venue for the 2023 National NAIDOC Awards – the biggest National NAIDOC Week Award ceremony in the event’s history.
The National NAIDOC Awards is the signature event on the annual NAIDOC Week of celebrations.
Some 1,600 guests gathered in the Centre’s Great Hall to recognise the outstanding contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make to improve the lives of those in their communities and beyond.
Organisers said this year’s finalists and winners embodied the essence of the 2023 NAIDOC week theme – For Our Elders, with many of the winners Elders themselves or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples coming from the strong grounding, teachings and advocacy of their own Elders.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, The Hon Linda Burney attended the event which was hosted by the ABC and broadcast Australia-wide.
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The Brisbane Truck Show attracted almost 43,000 industry leaders, truckies and enthusiasts from across Australia and further afield, smashing opening day attendance records by a whopping 37%.
Commenting on the success of the show on what is the seventh occasion it has been held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia CEO, Todd Hacking congratulated those involved. “The team at BCEC are invaluable partners in delivering an event of this scale, working with us every step of the way to ensure the experience is seamless for everyone involved.”
The star of this year’s show was undoubtedly the parade of zero-emissions vehicles, the largest display ever assembled under the one roof in Australia. Occupying more than 45,000 sqm of the Centre’s space, the exhibition showcased the biggest names in international transport, worth an eye-watering hundreds of millions of dollars.
Due to the continuing popularity and success of the event, the show is now a week-long Brisbane festival of all things trucking, extending into the South Bank Parklands and other locations around the city, with the many hundreds of business visitors taking over the city of Brisbane, soaking up the local hospitality.
The prized event delivered 70,000 room nights to city hotels, generating $40 million in direct expenditure to the Queensland economy.
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The first six months of the year saw the Centre host 52 conventions, including nine international events.
The Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting 2023, a major international environmental event, chose Brisbane, with its strong freshwater science community, as the destination for its first event outside of America.
Asia-Pacific Vaccine and Immunotherapy Congress (APVIC 2023) was an inaugural conference, curated by leading Australian conference professional, ASN’s Mike Pickford, combining three smaller conferences in the vaccine and immunotherapies field, to create a new event.
BCEC Advocate, Professor Rajiv Khanna AO, from QIMR Berghofer was one of the Australian leaders who worked with ASN Events to incorporate his former Immunotherapy@ Brisbane event, into the new Asia Pacific Vaccine and Immunotherapy Congress that will now rotate between Brisbane and Melbourne.
The 26th World Mining Congress, hosted by Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, is a first-time event for Australia.
In his opening speech, Chair of the Australian Organising Committee and BCEC Advocate, CSIRO’s Dr Hua Goa welcomed the more than 3,000 mining experts from 73 countries around the globe, in Brisbane to share the latest research and technological developments in the mining and resources sector and discuss the industry’s future.
The four-day event was a great success with Chairman of the International Organising Committee of the Congress, Professor Marek Cala, describing the Brisbane Congress as ‘one of the best conferences, maybe the best conference ever’ in the organisation’s 65-year history.
ANZSOG 2023 First Nations Public Administration Conference was a stand-out among the National Conference line-up, doubling the expected number of delegates in the lead-up to the event.
Sharon Nelson-Kelly, ANZSOG Senior Advisor, First Nations Program and Strategy, and conference organiser, said the event program together with the support offered by the Centre and Brisbane, gave delegates the opportunity to connect and network after a long break.
Based on strong positive feedback from delegates, both during and after the event, Sharon says ANZSOG would have no hesitation in returning to Brisbane and BCEC. “What the Centre offered was a complete ‘customer experience’ across the board, and we received exceptional support from all departments.”
One of the highpoints of the event was the local Meanjin Marketplace, organised by Quandamooka artist and designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, which provided the opportunity for First Nations businesses and artists to offer their products and artworks for sale.
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The exciting news was taking delivery of our new dehydrator, named ‘Herbie’, bigger and better than our previous model, reducing organic waste from the Centre’s busy kitchens by up to 80%, turning it into a high-concentrate fertiliser with plans to bring our neighbourhood restaurants on board, helping to reduce waste across the entire South Bank Precinct.
Executive Chef Matthew Arnold and his kitchen crew lead the way, not only in implementing sustainable practices in the kitchens, but also lending a helping hand to our local community.
While our amazingly dedicated chefs have been busy in the kitchens trialling and taste testing new culinary experiences, they have also been out and about in the local neighbourhood offering a helping hand to those who need it most.
The chefs have been working with locally based Emmanuel City Mission, a daytime sanctuary for those most vulnerable in our community, providing care and a safe space for the Mission’s patrons. Senior Chef de Partie, Wallace Macdonald is the driver behind the team’s initiative which has seen our kitchens supporting the Mission’s work providing care and hot meals for those in need.
Our friends and partners from Tangalooma EcoMarines, who help to save our waterways and the pristine marine habitat of Moreton Bay, paid us a visit to experience first-hand the Centre’s back-of-house Sustainability Tour, going behind the scenes to see exactly how we strive to meet our sustainability goals. The tour, which is included in the Centre’s orientation program was also a highlight for our more than 100 new enthusiastic BCEC family team members.
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Brisbane is officially one of the world’s greatest places!
Host of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Australia’s fastest growing capital city, Brisbane was recognised by the influential Time Magazine’s Annual Travel Guide as one of the world’s greatest places to visit in 2023.
Chosen by Time Magazine’s travel editor and industry experts from around the world, Brisbane was recognised for the excitement and optimism of the city and its sense of unstoppable momentum, highlighting its urban precincts and culinary offerings, with Brisbane’s restaurant scene hitting the headlines.
This news, along with the fact that Brisbane also happens to be one of the world’s greenest cities and Australia’s most biodiverse capital city, is arousing interest at global trade shows.
Combined with a $19 billion pipeline for city-transforming projects, which are underway, enhancing the city experience, this is good news for delegates and visitors.
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Earlier this year, the Centre achieved EarthCheck Platinum status, joining an elite group of worldwide venues all operating at the very highest levels of environmental standards.
The accreditation is the result of 10 years of rigorously audited best practice sustainability and the Centre’s strong leadership and innovation in several key areas of social and environmental actions.
We believe sustainability is essential for success in today’s meetings and events industries, so much so, we have produced our first environmental video with the working title, ‘A Sustainable Day at BCEC’, now at the editing stage.
The video tells the story of the Centre’s sustainable journey, highlighting our most successful initiatives including: the installation of solar panels on our Grey Street Building with plans for additional panels in the future; the installation of new LED lighting within the Centre’s Exhibition Halls with daylight harvesting resulting in a 50% reduction in energy demand for the Exhibition Centre; and the installation of LED sensor controlled lighting in the Centre’s Car Parks producing an energy saving in excess of 75%.
The video features our team led by Ian Chalmers, Facilities Director, known as Captain Greenpeace for his tireless efforts to make the Centre’s operations as sustainable as possible.
We look forward to sharing the video with you early in the New Year.
