On 29 May 2019, the show doors opened at the ASB Showgrounds for Conferences and Incentives New Zealand’s (CINZ) Meetings.
This year, exhibitors from every corner of New Zealand have come together to showcase their regions, products and services. Executive PA Media walked the show floor to discover how EAs can benefit from the variety of offerings.
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre
Ross Steele, General Manager of Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre gave us the low-down on what to expect when the centre opens next year.
After the devastating Christchurch earthquake in 2011, the city is experiencing a revitalisation with new and refurbished venues, hotels and event spaces popping up across the city. Te Pae is at the centre of this wave of development, and according to Ross, the venue will bring an economic and cultural boost to the city.
“The economic impact of a venue like this in a city can’t be underestimated,” Ross said.
“But there’s a huge social impact as well. For example, the events it will bring to the city — bringing world leaders and establishing a knowledge exchange — I think Te Pae can bring that to Christchurch.”
Te Pae Christchurch convention centre is set to service events from 20 to 2000, with flexible and divisible spaces throughout.
Northland Inc & Footprints Waipoua
Sarah Archer from Northland Inc (the Northland’s Regional Economic Development Agency), and Koro Carman from Footprints Waipoua put the Northland’s region on display.
Koro steps onto the stage in the media briefing room, “Let me begin with a story.”
“In the beginning, our parents of creation and the sky father were cuddled together in an eternal embrace. In the middle of that embrace were their many children — our gods. Some of whom were sick and tired of living in the middle of that darkness. These some discussed and decided that they would try to separate their parents, some tried and failed, except for one.”
“His name Tāne-mahuta, the god of the forest. With his shoulders pressed against his mother he used his strong thick legs to force his father skywards, and ignoring their cries he continued until light entered into that world of darkness — creating life.”
Koro explains that he started with that story because it in a way represents Nortland’s story. Northland represents the very beginnings of New Zealand, it’s where the first Maori discoverer called home over 1000 years ago, and it’s where the modern nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
Koro’s product, Footprints of Waipoua performs spiritual guided tours of the ancient Waipoua forest, by both day and night.
Sarah Archer outlines the variety of options that the Northland region has on offer.
“Northland is New Zealand’s most northern region, a two hour drive north of Auckland. Northland has ancient living forests. It has contrasting coastlines; the rugged, unspoilt West coast which is only an hour away from the marine playground on the East coast, which is home to some of the world’s best fishing and diving,” said Sarah.
Destination Rotorua
Michelle Templar is Chief Executive of Destination Rotorua, which is a Regional Economic Development Agency (like Northland Inc). Their job is to improve Rotorua’s economy, and bring business events to their region.
According to Michelle, Rotorua offers “activity-rich” business events. It’s all about the destination, leveraging natural strengths of the region.
“Connections to culture and first nations peoples is incredibly important. We’re a real hub for forestry and forest-based sciencines and wellness,” Michelle said.
“I think one of the best things about Rotorua is that we’ve got huge experience in hosting people. It’s something that the whole community prides itself on. We’re big enough to deliver large scale events, but we’re small enough that we care, and the whole community tends to wrap around events that are happening.”
Transport World, Invercargill
Adam Reinsfield, Events Manager at Transport World showcased his unique event spaces, activities and accommodation offerings.
Transport World offer events in their privately owned motoring museums, Classic Motorcycle Mecca and Bill Richardson Transport World, which are filled with vintage and rare motorcycles and cars. Transport World also offers interactive events at Dig This — New Zealand’s first heavy equipment playground, where delegates can drive heavy machinery, and accomodation at six new boutique apartments.
GCH Aviation, New Zealand
Caroline Blanchfield, Group Marketing Manager at GCH Aviation outlined her organisation’s private jet and helicopter experiences.
With a fleet of 15 privately-owned helicopters and three jets, the GCH Aviation offers scenic flights, incentive transport, and chartered flights across New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu.
Vidcom, New Zealand
Luc Jorieux, General Manager at Vidcom New Zealand is bringing something new to the AV industry at Meetings, with the stand featuring their ‘production set’ offering.
“We wanted to bring something new to the industry. We’ve all seen the screens, the mapping, the projectors, and all these kinds of things. Here, we’ve got what we call the ‘production set’. It gives you depth and permanent branding around the screen. The framing gives the audience a feeling that they can walk ‘into’ the picture.”
Checkin Rotorua
Tony Moore, General Manager of Checkin Rotorua brought a brand new online booking tool to the show floor this year. The digital system allows EAs to organise an end-to-end activity or event (take a team building day for example) in Rotorua, all from one site.
“It’s an exciting and innovative online booking platform. We take the hassle out of organising an event, right through from transport to the operators themselves,” Tony said.
The platform sends emails and SMS notifications leading up to the event, to keep delegates informed of updates and notifications.
Vbase, Christchurch
Vbase manages a diverse portfolio of venues in Christchurch. Chris Wallace, General Manager of Vbase presented the variety of options that have now become available after the city’s reconstruction.
They are responsible for the management of five iconic Auckland venues, Hornecastle Arena, Hagely Oval, Airforce Museum, Christchurch Stadium, and the recently refurbished and reinvented Christchurch Town Hall.
Venture Taranaki
Located on New Zealand’s North Island, and a 40 minute flight from Auckland, Taranaki was judged the world’s number two region to visit by The Lonely Plant in 2017.
Vicki Farley, Marketing Manager at Venture Taranaki is responsible for promoting the region, and says it has many unmissable experiences, alongside very capable event infrastructure.
“We’re affordable, and accessible. Everything is a very close CBD area in New Plymouth, delegates can move around easily and quickly.”
Alexandra Park, Auckland
Kim Walsh, Sales and Marketing Manager at Alexandra Park laid out the various offerings of her unique harness racing venue. Alexandra Park, otherwise known as the Auckland Trotting Club), has 10 function spaces and catering options for all events.
“Anything from a boardroom that can hold 10 or 12 people, up into our largest room which can do 900 theatre-style,” said Kim.
“We have quite a bit of scope within those ten spaces, we can accommodate a broad variety of events. In addition to that we have our stables. The Stables is quite a creative space because it’s really a ‘make-it-your-own’. It’s open air, and it’s worked for exhibitions, car shows, launches — it’s really a novel experience.”
Check in tomorrow for another update from the final day of CINZ Meetings 2019, where we’ll be hearing from industry leaders, event suppliers and more.
