The conference, held at Fly Palmy Arena, took place over two days and featured a packed agenda of 30 expert speakers. A wide range of topics was explored – from cutting-edge technology trends to meaningful iwi engagement and effective crowd management. “Pulling together an event for the events industry is no mean feat, and it takes a lot of suppliers coming on board and helping out,” says Elaine Linnell, general manager, NZEA. “We put expressions of interest out for where this year's event should be hosted, and the team at Palmerston North came out on top and have been amazing to deal with,” she says. Opening the conference was Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith, who says that while Palmerston North doesn’t have the most obvious natural amenities, such as geysers, mountains, lakes or beaches, or features such as bungies, gondolas or Sky Towers, its appeal is much more subtle. “What we do have is well-connected centrality, great amenities and a raft of local organisations and associations that add the muscle and volunteer input to multiple successful events,” he says. “For us it is about making the most of our strengths and advantages. We use our event funding across a wide spectrum supporting expos, conventions, conferences, concerts, sporting and cultural events – large and not so large – to drive the activities and vibrancy that stimulate our retail, accommodation and visitor sectors, all of which bolster the city and the wider region’s economy.” Jessica Papple. marketing manager at Palmerston North City Council, says holding ETF at Palmerston North was a major milestone for the city. “We're trying to showcase that Palmy can hold great events,” she says. “Our primary visitor market is business events, and our city wants more community events and more major events – the people here want to go to more events. “We've got a history of hosting great events and we want to encourage people to bring more of them to our city.” NZEA chair Loren Aberhart says ETF’s programme of speakers and workshops was designed to add value and give additional tools and practical advice to event professionals. “It's particularly great to see all of you as we face another challenging period off the back of our post-Covid high,” she says. “It is remarkable to reflect on the swing that has taken place since our last conference, when the top challenge indicated by our members was a skill shortage and being too busy to keep up in the enthusiastic post-Covid event resurgence, to now when the impacts of the recession are resulting in event cancellations and postponements.” Aberhart says that while many significant events are understandably opting to take a year off to return in the ‘hopefully brighter times’ of 2025 and 2026, the phrase ‘survive to ‘25’ is already starting to feel a bit trite. “It continues to be imperative that we are able to tell the value of our industry to central and local government,” she says. [NZ EA - ETF N Z E A ~ T H E N E W Z E A L A N D E V E N T S A S S O C I A T I O N More than 230 event professionals converged in Palmerston North recently for Eventing the Future 2024 Conference. FUTURE EVENTINGTHE The 2024 NZEA event awards were held at the Fly Palmy Arena NZEA Chair, Loren Aberhart [24] meeting newz [september october] 2024
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