Sandra Passaro from Tourism and Events Queensland tells us how.

Speaking at Convene Q at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday, business and strategic events director Sandra Passaro told delegates about the key things they need to apply for – and get – bid funding from the state government.

Must-haves

1. The state government international bid fund is there to assist convention bureaus and centres win business events bids. In the case of Queensland, this applies to Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Townsville and Whitsundays.
2. To be considered for funding, the project has to be in bid stage and not confirmed for Australia yet.
3. The event has to be for 400 people or more, with at least 50 per cent inbound international visitors.
4. The event has to be for an association.

Nice to haves

1. The event has to have some link to the destination through universities or business leaders who are based within the destination.
2. It is a known destination for an international clientele.
3. It has a strong program.
4. There is a history of the event coming to the destination so there’s existing trust, relationships and history.

Since its inception in the 2011/2012 financial year, the Tourism and Events Queensland bid fund has granted $4 million in funding that resulted in 56 events valued at $144 million in economic impact.

The benefit of working with the state government, beyond bid funding, is that they can commission and access detailed amounts of research to support the bid.

Passaro was involved with the bid fundin Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, G20 and Destination Q.