Both Brisbane and the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) are readying themselves for the onslaught that will be the G20 conference in November, hoping to build a long-term legacy from the opportunity.
The G20 brings together world leaders and finance ministers from the 20 most advanced and emerging economies. It’s the world’s premier forum for global economic cooperation and collaboration, and includes representation from delegates managing 85 per cent of the world’s economic output.
This means that come 15 and 16 November there will be around 4,000 delegates and 3,000 members of the national and international press converging on Brisbane for the event, alongside numerous business, financial, trade and political advisors.
Attendees include world leaders such as US President Barack Obama, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose presence at the event will ensure limelight on the Queensland capital, and in the centre of this circus, the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.
“Brisbane will become a household name around the world,” says Professor John Kirton, whose G20 Research Group has tracked and monitored previous G20 events. “People will realise Brisbane is a great place to visit, to trade with, to invest in, to set up offices and even to move to. In fact I think Brisbane is destined to do better than some previous host destinations,” he says.
One of the ideas suggested to create ‘a living legacy’ for Brisbane from the G20 was to name an international achievement or outcome from the G20 as a Brisbane-named initiative with education, medicine and research the hot favourites, made all the more appropriate by Brisbane‘s pedigree in science and research.
Advocacy
This all chimes very well with the Brisbane Convention Advocates Partnership, a new initiative led by the BCEC itself, rather than the city. This involves a group of eminent Australian scientists, academics and business leaders – playing a pivotal role in promoting Brisbane’s science and research credentials as well as its reputation as an international business destination.
Included among its advocates is Professor Ian Frazer, who gave the world its first cancer vaccine. A key strategy of this partnership is to grow its conventions through the ‘inaugural meetings’ strategy, which driven by advocates.” As BCEC spokeswoman Gail Sawyer puts it, who better to pitch for a venue than a respected pillar of the community you are trying to attract.
The advocates have, at time of writing, secured 36 new international meetings for the centre and Brisbane with an estimated value to the city of AUD$58.5m.
“These inaugurals area all about high level cutting-edge science, and become must-attend events,” comments Sawyer. The BCEC sits on the steering committee of these meetings – Brisbane and the centre become the home base but the meetings may rotate and become a win-win for the centre, the city and the local science community.
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre general manager, Bob O’Keeffe says the Centre is well advanced in its preparation and planning for the Summit. “The G20 presents an extraordinary opportunity for us. It will benefit Brisbane and the business events industry for years into the future and we intend to leverage this to secure a flow on of international events for the Centre and for Brisbane.”
“We need to ensure our city is ready to capture the lasting benefits of this event,” adds Brisbane’s lord mayor Graham Quirk. When Australia was officially handed the presidency of the 2014 G20, Quirk said he intended ‘to make every post a winner’ for Brisbane, capitalising on establishing international identification and recognition for the city.
This was first published in issue 76 of CMW. Any comments? Email Annie Byrne
