In an effort to expand its business events bids and impact, Business Events Wellington has launched the Wellington Advocate Network, a membership network featuring the city’s thought leaders and academics across various sectors.
With strong and long-standing relationships with its many key stakeholders, Business Events Wellington will tap into the knowledge of its advocate network members which currently represent the local Arts/Music, Engineering/Computer Science, and Health sectors, as well as national association representatives from the National Council for Women (NCWNZ) and Volunteering New Zealand.
Business Events Wellington manager Irette Ferreira said their knowledge, work and connection in their respective fields play a crucial role in securing international events and creating new opportunities to represent Wellington globally.
“By formalising our relationship, we aim to recognise the positive benefits they bring to Wellington’s economy and society through their conferences and to increase the impact of those events. We also encourage others to join them and bid for events that will strengthen Wellington,” Ferreira said.
Since the full reopening of New Zealand’s borders and the anticipated opening of the capital city’s new convention centre, Tākina, in June 2023, Ferreira said the number of international bids has dramatically increased since the start of 2022.
“We’ve already got more than 80 conferences on the books at Tākina, and we’re proactively engaging our local network of experts and thought leaders to continue building that pipeline of international conferences for New Zealand’s capital city.”
NCWNZ is working with Business Events Wellington as host of the International Council of Women’s Executive Committee Meeting and Asia-Pacific Region Council Meeting in 2023, with the long-term hope to bring the International Congress of the International Council of Women to Wellington.
“Bringing the conference to Wellington will allow our members to connect with the work that our sisters are doing around the world, and particularly strengthen our connections with Pacific nations. It will provide opportunities for mutual support and exchange of ideas and solutions to common problems,” NCWNZ president and Wellington Advocate Network member Suzanna Manning said.
Fellow advocate Brian Diettrich, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Music, is also working with Business Events Wellington to bid for the International Conference on Traditional Music in 2025, which he said would bring together scholars, performers, and students from across New Zealand and globally in an inclusive and interactive meeting.
“As only the third time in Oceania since its inception in 1947, the conference in 2025 offers a chance to bring together participants in a world-facing event and showcase the best of New Zealand and Wellington. For Victoria University of Wellington and the NZ School of Music, this is an opportunity to extend our networks and collaborations globally,” Diettrich said.
