BESydney ready to deliver future vision

Despite a third financial year impacted by the pandemic, the optimism at the Annual General Meeting of Business Events Sydney (BESydney) is apparent. Chair of the BESydney Board, The Hon Bruce Baird AM and BESydney CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith, reported a positive year of achievement and a strong return of business events to Sydney and delivered a future vision that incorporates key learnings from the pandemic. BESydney’s Financial Report for the financial year 2021-2022, showed the company secured 31 meetings, attracting 47,000 delegates. That business will generate an estimated AU$132m (US$89.4m) in direct expenditure to the New South Wales economy. Baird told the AGM the past financial year had allowed the organisation to reflect on its work and strategically consider the future it wants for Sydney, Australia and global communities. “In the final quarter of 2021-2022, BESydney saw a return of global business events to Sydney heralding an exciting new era. Throughout the last financial year, BESydney continued its bidding activities, retained secured business impacted by the pandemic; and administered two industry support programmes on behalf of the NSW government. Cumulatively this work secured 192 meetings which we expect will attract 95,600 delegates, staying 258,000 delegate days; and generate an estimated $159m in direct expenditure for the state,” Baird added. BESydney CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith said: “In FY 2021-2022 our rally call was ‘dare to rise, to build back best’. For all its challenges, the pandemic moved us to reconsider what we do and how we do it. This spurred us to embrace change and reimagine the role of business events as we rebuild, to showcase our industries, innovation, and visitor experiences to the world. We know that business events contribute to economic strategy and attract talent and capital that empower cities to lead globally.” She added that the forward pipeline of events is strong with future business to 2029 comprising 85 global and national events that will generate an estimated $483min direct expenditure and attract 111,000 delegates to the city. Over the reporting year, the organisation successfully oversaw Sydney Business Event Fund programmes – Kickstart and Accelerate – in conjunction with Destination NSW, as part of the NSW Government’s Covid-19 response and Economic Recovery Strategy. For more details go to BESydney’s Year in Review and its Annual Financial Report here.