Organisers

Producers, Managers
and Convenors

Auckland delivers smashing global avocado congress

CASE STUDY:- The 10th World Avocado Congress was a smash hit in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. New Zealand’s strong agritech industry, horticulture sector and destination appeal attracted a delegation far exceeding expectations, with 1160 attendees including 750 international delegates from as far afield as Mexico, Peru and South Africa.

PCOA Webinar Series: Power of Synergy: Unveiling the Cross-Collaboration Secrets behind Cybercon’s Success

Join us for, “The Power of Synergy: Unveiling CyberCon’s Cross-Collaboration Secrets,” as we explore the captivating case study of one of Australia’s largest conferences, CyberCon. Discover how three teams, representing key aspects of event management and production, seamlessly merged their expertise to create an unforgettable conference experience. Hosted by PCOA, this insightful session unravels the story behind CyberCon’s success, shedding light on the remarkable power of teamwork and collective expertise. Our panel of industry experts, Karen Sainsbury, Cornerstone Events, Chris Buckley, Touch Point & Libbie Ray, Connected Event Group will share firsthand experiences and engage in lively discussions.

PCOA23 Speaker Highlight – Rebecca Wessels

PCOA is excited to announce that Rebecca will present ‘Reconciliation in Action: Ancient Cultures Unleashed Through Future Innovations’ at PCOA23 in Adelaide. Rebecca is the founder and CEO of Ochre Dawn Pty Ltd a specialist marketing and branding business. With years of experience in community services and youth work, combined with skills obtained from over a decade working in corporate IT, Rebecca’s unique skill set and background offers a great foundation for creative solutions for clients’ needs.

Business Events Australia appoints two to its US team

Tourism Australia’s specialist business events unit, Business Events Australia, has taken on a new director of business events for North America and welcomed back a familiar face to its team. Based out of Tourism Australia’s Los Angeles office, Eric Edmunds has been appointed director of business events for North America. He has worked extensively in the hotel and business events market, including as senior manager of sales and marketing for The DMC Group.

Strategic change at Business Events Victoria

Business Events Victoria (BEV) is pleased to announce a strategic change to the organisation’s structure. Chris Porter will step into the role of General Manager Business Events with Adeline Keh taking on the position of Executive Officer. Adeline has over eight (8) years’ experience with BEV and is a familiar face to industry since 2014.

MEDIA RELEASE: International Mining Congress in Brisbane, Australia marks critical transition

PCO ICMS Australasia has been embedded into the organising committee since Brisbane won the bid in 2016, helping to deliver this benchmark event, achieving record global participation, sponsorship and government buy-in. The high security event is highly complex – security, stakeholder management, 13 concurrent sessions, satellite meetings, a huge exhibition component, and accredited media.

Adelaide Convention Centre’s executive chef on large scale use of indigenous foods

In Adelaide, where the late chef Jock Zonfrillo forged his award-winning restaurant Orana using hundreds of edible Australian native foods, Adelaide Convention Centre is taking a similar approach, but doing it on a much larger scale, serving up to 3,000 diners at a time. Gavin Robertson – like Zonfrillo, also a Scot – is executive chef of the largest kitchen in the city at the convention centre. When offered some of the thousands of edible native ingredients by a First Nations enterprise, his first question was about their supply chain.

PCOA attend the highly successful Meetings 2023

Fostering meaningful connections and opening doors to exciting new collaborations. Barry Neame, CEM, PCOA President, and Maxine Tod, Director Business Partnerships, were proud to represent PCOA at the highly successful Meetings 2023 held at Tākina – Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre last week.

Cairns Convention Centre expansion gets ready to welcome delegates

The Cairns Convention Centre is getting ready to open its $176 million expansion, cementing Tropical North Queensland as a premiere business destination. Janet Hamilton, General Manager at Cairns Convention Centre, says the expansion adds a rooftop banquet area, outdoor terrace, three flexible meeting rooms, an exhibition and plenary space in the 10,500sqm of new floor space now available. This gives Cairns Convention Centre the ability to host multiple or larger events, with conventions and exhibitions of up to 2,500 guests now able to be accommodated in the entire venue.

The winter 2023 issue of Spice magazine is out now

The winter 2023 issue of Spice magazine is now out! Gracing this season’s cover is the talented team from the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) – Narciso Terrenal, sous chef; Michael Hevey, first year apprentice; Akashdeep Kaur, chef de partie; Stefano Perugini, chef de partie; William Beasley, first year apprentice; and Hentry Augustin, sous chef. Blending fresh local ingredients with Melbourne’s multicultural flavours, and driven by a passion for food, this iconic venue’s modus operandi is ‘Victoria’s best, flavoured by Melbourne.’