Business Event Sydney (BESydney) and International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) have been leading the way in business events with 65 years of combined experience.
BESydney builds on its 10 years of research, with contributions including knowledge transfer, talent attraction and direct foreign investment. Likewise, ICC Sydney expands its Legacy Program year on year, allowing its clients to deliver meaningful events that consider sustainability; diversity, equity and inclusion, and focus on First Nations Peoples.
BESydney CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith said, “There is a global responsibility to delivering business events. As Sydney’s DMO and its leading venue, we work with Associations to deliver impact and deliver it well. We see our role as two-fold by facilitating an event with purpose, social impact and knowledge exchange while also creating an impact foundation that can be built upon at the next meeting—wherever that may be held. We want the change we spark in Sydney to grow globally—hence our Change Starts Here Agenda.”
Geoff Donaghy, ICC Sydney CEO and group director – convention centres, ASM Global (APAC) said: “Reflecting on a decade-long milestone, some of ICC Sydney’s greatest achievements have been in connecting our community to the world. We welcome diverse delegates and offer world-class services to accommodate the needs of all. Beyond room nights and job creation, our proudest moments have been making a difference to visitors and businesses. Sharing Australia’s First Nations story, our newly launched Disability Inclusion Action Plan, our leadership in prioritizing the planet through sustainability initiatives and giving back to our local and global community.”
The Agenda also extends to playing an active role in advancing the industry globally. In 2023, BESydney, in partnership with PCMA Foundation, undertook research on Advancing Women in Business Events to set a global baseline for change to the hypothesis that the global events industry workforce is 70 percent powered by women while only 30 percent led by women.
“We are challenging our industry to step up and create ‘seats at the leadership table’ that reflect the workforce. Research helps us to understand the problems and highlight what’s required for real change, but we can only solve those problems by working together as a global business events industry. We know real impact is not about working in isolation. Business events are all about working together to solve the greatest challenges in the world today,” Lewis-Smith said.
In 2023, BESydney trialed a new framework for impact with FDI Dental Association during its conference at ICC Sydney and the results were discussed at the IMEX Association Power Hour session with Laetitia Reymond from FDI World Dental Federation. Impact details can be found in FDI Dental Association results and case study. This is one of a number of major events the two organizations were involved in that had significant impact implications.
BESydney and ICC Sydney as business event partners are tapping into the destination in a positive way on a joint quest to use business events to solve some of the biggest challenges our planet faces. BESydney’s Impact Strategy will be released in Q3 2024.
Through ICC Sydney’s international brand equity, strong relationships with BESydney, state and national destination marketing agencies and directly with corporate, government and association event organizers, the venue already has 1,126 events in the calendar through 2034 for 4.7 million attendees.
For more information, visit BESydney.com.au and ICCSydney.com.au.
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