The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Queensland – Australia, has become the latest AIPC member centre to secure AIPC Quality Standards certification with the successful completion of their external audit this month. They are now one of only eight AIPC centres to have successfully achieved this certification, with another 6 centres in various stages of the certification process.The AIPC Quality Standards program has been developed as a way of delivering an industry-specific form of certification for documenting a centre’s accomplishments in key areas of convention centre performance. Program standards address ten key areas, including Customer Service, Quality of Facilities and Operations, Employee Relations, Health, Safety, Security and Emergency Response, Financial Integrity, Community Relations, Environmental Responsibility, Industry Relations and Supplier Relations.
The procedure includes a requirement for participating centres to assemble and submit documentation as to how they are addressing each standards area and what measures they have in place to both gauge success and act on any shortcomings. The audit identifies areas where centres have opportunities to develop more specific activities to address key areas and rates centres according to how well they have acted on these. Participating centres can move up through a series of stages based on how well they address any identifies shortcomings.
“With more centres and destinations coming into the market every year, the question of how a client can assess the capabilities of any given product is becoming more and more important”, says AIPC President Edgar Hirt. “At the same time, we are being confronted with other standards developed by groups outside our industry that do not necessarily reflect the realities or priorities we face as managers. The AIPC Quality Standards program is one that entirely reflects our own needs and can truly deliver an accurate assessment of how well a centre is addressing the demands of both clients and owners, and I congratulate the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre for its achievement”.
The External Auditor for the AIPC Quality Standards Certification program is Mr. Rick Knowlan, President, Knowlan Consulting Group Inc. of North Vancouver, Canada, which specializes in strategic management consulting. He holds a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering (1974) from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an MBA (1985), also from UBC.
