Conventions

[Shahkar]

RIVERBANK PRECINCT PARTNERS BRING MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS TO ADELAIDE

The Adelaide Convention Centre and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) have partnered to bring the 2014 Annual Scientific Congress of the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (ISCP) to Adelaide.

The Congress, which is being held in Rome this year, is expected to attract more than 1000 delegates from across the world and inject around $1.7 million into the South Australian economy when it comes to Adelaide in September 2014.

This is the first time the Congress has been held in Australia, and the partnership between SAHMRI and the Convention Centre, and support by the Adelaide Convention Bureau, played a vital role in bringing the Congress to the region.

News release: http://www.sahmri.com/wp-content/upload ... elease.pdf

Space industry growing in services, says Dr Kimberley Clayfield, CSIRO's head of Space Science and Technology

ADELAIDE is vying for the world's leading annual space industry conference to be held here in 2017 - with the event likely to attract 3000 delegates.

Leading the push is Adelaide-based Michael Davis - a founding partner of Adelta Legal - who was elected chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia earlier this year.

"It will be the biggest conference, if we win, that we've ever held in Adelaide," Mr Davis said from the 12th Australian Space Development Conference being held at the Adelaide Hilton Hotel this week.

Mr Davis believed Adelaide was a frontrunner to win its bid when government, Engineers Australia, the space industry association and university representatives put their case in Toronto, Canada, next year.

"I think we are the leading contender at this stage," Mr Davis said.

The news comes as Adelaide hosts a series of events this week focused on the space industry.

Chair of the United Nations Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS), Dr Yasushi Horikawa, has flown to Adelaide to deliver a lecture tomorrow night at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

The lecture, which is sponsored by the University of South Australia, will see the senior official of the Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) talk on world trends in the industrialisation of space activities.

"International co-operation is essential for conducting the peaceful use of space," said Dr Horikawa.

"Since 1961 COPUOS has worked with member states, and passed treaties and resolutions creating a framework for the regulation of the peaceful use of space.

"There has been much collaboration between Japan and Australia over the past seven years, particularly related to remote sensing satellites and Australia's focus on researching trends in climate change is of ben-efit across the Asia Pacific region."

The annual SA Space School, a three-day live-in experience for high-school students also starts tomorrow.

Dr Kimberley Clayfield, the CSIRO's head of Space Science and Technology, has been program director of the SA Space School and National Space Camp for the past 10 years. She told this week's space development conference that opportunities in the space industry were focused on the value-added services such as Earth observation and positioning.

Dr Clayfield, whose space industry career started in Adelaide, said there was a broad industry need from undergraduate level onwards and various tertiary qualifications were being developed to address skills shortages.

Dr Clayfield was this year named one of five Young Space Leaders of 2013 by the International Astronautical Federation.

The state's space industry was growing, she believed - "but not in the traditional sense of building rockets and satellites".

"It's really growing in the delivery of services that rely on space assets," she said.

The Aerospace Futures Conference is also being held this week for students to network and hear from industry experts at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from today until Friday.

[Waewick]

yay us! great news for all the new hotels going up too.

[Shahkar]

Adelaide Convention Bureau calls for more functions in city to cash in on Adelaide Oval revamp and new hotels

THE expanded Adelaide Convention Centre, function rooms in the revamped Adelaide Oval and new city hotels risk becoming white elephants unless the state invests more to attract major conventions, hospitality industry leaders say.

The not-for-profit Adelaide Convention Bureau, which secures conventions and conferences, believes the city's growing event capacity presents the chance for huge economic pay-off.

But the bureau, hoteliers and restaurants have warned there is also the risk of idle venues and an oversupply of accommodation.

"We require more resources to leverage that great infrastructure investment," the bureau's chief executive Damien Kitto said.

"We're still getting good support but it's about the opportunity," he said.

"There's all this extra supply coming on but where's the demand?"

"We're trying to raise that flag in a diligent way."

Cities around the world make offers running into hundreds of thousands of dollars to attract conferences.

Mr Kitto said funding to lure events was a "fail proof" because "the key thing about a bid fund is the money is only spent when the event is won", while the return was guaranteed.

The bureau said:

THE $3 million in government funds for bids over the past five years secured events worth $150 million in economic activity;

CONFERENCE delegates spend $632 a day on hotels, restaurants, shopping, tours and delegate fees, compared with $179 for leisure tourists;

MOST of the benefit is in the CBD, where half of all delegates shop in Rundle Mall and a third in the Central Market; and

ADELAIDE attracted 139 conventions worth $103 million in economic activity in 2012-13, up from $90 million the previous year.

That rise in economic return came despite government cutbacks to the bureau's operating budget, which is separate to bid funding, from $1?million to $800,000 in the past three years.

It receives $300,000 from the City Council and raises $700,000 from members, 83 per cent of which comes from 138 CBD businesses including the Convention Centre, hotels and restaurants.

"It runs off the sniff of an oily rag," Mr Kitto said.

"We've worked more creatively and efficiently and that's why the result is still high.

"We've fine tuned the business that much, we can't do any more."

Hilton Adelaide general manager Peer Norsell said hosting conferences was "a key part of our business and important for the city and the state at large".

"There's no doubt the funds available to the Convention Bureau are very slim," he said.

"The potential business you would get from an increase in the bid funding is pivotal to the success of the Convention Centre and the rest of the city needs that business as well," he said.

Restaurant and Catering SA chief executive Sally Neville said: "We need to bring events to the state and other states have bid funds that buy their way into events and leave us way behind."

Mr Kitto said it was up to the bureau's board to decide how much money to seek from the government, but he said it would take "significant" amounts to secure major targets of world astronautic and Chinese entrepreneurs conferences in 2017.

Each would bring more than 3000 delegates with a combined spin-off of $31 million.

The State Government is spending $350 million expanding the Convention Centre, while the new Adelaide Oval will have function spaces catering for up to 1200 people and 600 new hotel rooms are set to open over the coming year.

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell is overseas and was unavailable for comment.

[Shahkar]

Massive anime and video games convention AVCon to attract 20,000 visitors to Adelaide Convention Centre

AN army of more than 20,000 Mario Brothers, Pikachus and other outlandish characters will descend on Adelaide this weekend for the largest anime and video games convention in the southern hemisphere.

The original brainchild of a fanatical band of University of Adelaide and UniSA students, AVCon has grown from a hardcore group of 200 costumed obsessives at its first outing in 2002 to now fill the Adelaide Convention Centre and attract major sponsors such as internet service provider Internode.

The three-day convention, which begins tomorrow - will be one of the city's largest this year. Of the 20,000 expected visitors, 2500 are due from interstate.

Patrons will participate in elaborate costume role-plays, try new games and meet some of the industry's biggest stars, such as Jessica Nigri, the face of video game Lollipop Chainsaw.

The nonprofit convention acts as a launch pad for independent game developers, with 54 of their games on display.

Local businesses will also be well represented, with 50 stalls expected to turnover $250,000 in games and merchandise.

Mark Rosser, who runs AVCon exhibitor Gametraders Marion, said when he first attended AVCon in 2008, he brought enough merchandise to fill one car and a trailer.

This year he will bring three trucks and expects to do about two weeks worth of trade in games, costumes and accessories such as replica swords over the weekend.

"There are more exhibitors and more competition, but sales haven't dropped off so it shows how AVCon has grown,'' Mr Rosser said.

Amy Milburn, who will attend the convention as Pokemon character Arceus, said she enjoyed the opportunity to get into character and hangout with other gamers and anime fans.

"There's definitely a community feeling,'' she said. "Even if they're not dressed up, you can tell everybody is really into what's around them."

[Shahkar]

Adelaide wines and dines for $30 million spin-off

A $30 MILLION spin-off is expected from a group of 50 convention organisers and journalists from overseas and interstate, who arrived today to be wined and dined across Adelaide.

The Adelaide Convention Bureau is hosting the group, including representatives from South East Asia and New Zealand, in its annual Destination SA tour aimed at securing business tourism events for SA.

They have started today with afternoon tea at the Hilton, followed by a Central Market tour and inspections of other major city hotels, then dinner at Shiki, Rigoni's or Jolley's Boathouse restaurants.

On Saturday, some of the visitors will head to the Barossa to taste wines including century-old Seppeltsfield port, before an early Sunday morning flying fox ride across the Jacob's Creek property.

Others will tour McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills over the weekend, enjoying a degustation dinner at Mt Lofty House and a Sunday cruise through the Hills in Ford Mustangs.

The Destination SA tour follows calls from the convention bureau and hospitality industry leaders for more government funding to bid for major conventions and conferences.

The City Messenger last month reported their concerns that new hotels and event spaces at the expanded Convention Centre and Adelaide Oval risked becoming white elephants.

"This single weekend provides a massive opportunity at both a state and local business level," Adelaide Convention Bureau chief executive Damien Kitto said.

"In this, its tenth year, we know for a fact that the return on the investment to those involved is massive.

"The opportunity for local businesses meet with event organisers who have the direct ability to spend a lot of money with them, let alone the value to the state of being able to showcase what we have to offer to the calibre of these visitors, is priceless."

There will be a Sunday night reception on the Torrens riverbank where the visitors will be briefed on developments such as the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and medical precinct, the Convention Centre expansion, Adelaide Oval upgrade and footbridge, and plans for a bigger casino.

Local companies in the business tourism industry will set up an expo at the Convention Centre on Monday and hold one-on-one meetings with the visitors to make deals for future business.

[Ho Really]

All good stuff Shahkar. Thanks for posting. Besides filling hotel rooms and putting bums in restaurant seats, conventions and expos give Adelaide good international exposure. With the Aussie dollar falling it will get even better for the MICE and inbound tourism industry.

Cheers