Sandra Chipchase has resigned as CEO of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) in Australia and will take a position as CEO of Destination NSW.

“Sandra has given us five years of exceptional service, and we should all be pleased for her as she takes the next big step in her career,” said Chris Barlow, MCVB chairman. “During her tenure, Sandra has achieved some outstanding results for Melbourne, the most recent of which were recognized in April with two national Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) Hall of Fame inductions for ‘Destination Marketing Organisation’ and ‘Exhibition of the Year’ for the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME). Sandra was also acknowledged with the National MEA Outstanding Contribution to Industry Award at the same event. On behalf of the Board, I thank Sandra for her tremendous contribution to Melbourne and Victoria and her assistance in effecting a smooth transition.”

Destination NSW is the state government's new events and tourism marketing authority for New South Wales. 

Following a major AUD$53 million redevelopment, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney recently announced it will reopen in March 2012.

The redevelopment will create an additional 4,500 square meters, increasing the MCA’s total size by almost 50 percent. In addition to building three spacious new galleries, the building program will involve a complete refurbishment of existing facilities. 

The museum also announced the opening of the first phase of its $53 million redevelopment--two new harbor-side venues will be available for corporate and private hire from October 2011 and bookings are now being taken. Situated on the rooftop of the existing MCA, the venues boast spectacular views across Sydney Harbour.

The Harbourside Room has a capacity of 250 guests and the Quayside Room a capacity of 150 guests. Contemporary in their design, the rooms are ideal for a wide variety of events from private dinners to weddings, cocktail parties and conferences. Both spaces feature floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto partly covered private terraces featuring uninterrupted views from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Opera House. 

(Photo: Daniel Ngu, creative commons)

The Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) has released the findings from an interim report on "The Holistic Value of Business Events."

The longitudinal study, conducted by the Centre for Tourism and Service Research at Victoria University, was commissioned by MCVB in February 2009 to identify and quantify the additional benefits associated with selected business events over a two-year period. 

The study covers four conventions, and their associated exhibitions, held in Melbourne in 2009, ranging in size from 400 to 800 delegates in the medical, scientific and environmental/sustainability fields, and will track the benefits pre, during and post event.

A year into the study, the interim report has revealed that there is strong evidence of the additional benefits arising from staging a business event. Results include

• 50 percent of respondents gained immediate information that enhanced their personal or business performance;
• 54 percent of respondents developed new business contacts and relationships;
• 63 percent of respondents found their industry sector profile was enhanced because of the event; and
• 82 percent of respondents built relationships with speakers, delegates, exhibitors and/or organizers on site.

Furthermore, more than half the recipients indicated they had

• Experienced additional “expressions of interest” from potential customers or investors;
• Gained increased investor and/or competitor knowledge; and
• Experienced innovation or opened business potential.

Sandra Chipchase, CEO of MCVB, explained that although previous industry studies had acknowledged the value of business events "beyond tourism," until now there had not been an attempt to quantify their additional benefits over a series of years.

“It has long been recognized that conventions create new and repeat visitors, attract accompanying persons, drive regional tourism and generate economic wealth and export orders for host cities,” Chipchase said. “The ongoing challenge has been in attempting to quantify the additional benefits derived from business events, such as the development of new business relationships, innovation, changing perceptions of a country, city or industry, increased market intelligence and/or improved performance.

“MCVB commissioned Professor Leo Jago and his team from Victoria University to address this research gap, and after the first year there is clear evidence to support a wider range of benefits," she continued. "Well in excess of 50 percent of respondents from all four conferences stated they had personally experienced some of these key benefits as a result of their involvement in the conference."

Professor Jago says that evidence gathered from self-complete questionnaires at the conventions, in addition to Web-based and telephone interviews 11 months after the conferences, had shown significant, positive results. 

“We will continue to work with MCVB on this study over the next year to see how we can further quantify this information and ultimately deliver robust, ground-breaking data for the business events industry,” he said.