Sydney has shone brightly once more, with Australia’s leading convention bureau, Business Events Sydney (BESydney), taking out the national Metropolitan Destination Marketing Organisation Award at last night’s Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) Awards.
Held at the Darwin Convention Centre, the annual awards were among the highlights of MEA’s 26th National Conference, which ran from 4-7 May. The Metropolitan Destination Marketing Organisation category celebrates innovative and sound marketing practices within organisations that are charged with showcasing and profiling destinations, both nationally and globally.
Accepting the award on behalf of BESydney, CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith said she was honoured that the team had been recognised by industry peers and thanked the bureau’s public and private sector partners for their support.
“Winning international and national business events for our state requires a whole-of-city approach. I’m proud that BESydney has built valuable and strong relationships with the NSW Government, our Strategic Partners and our Members, and the wider business community. Coordination and collaboration are the keys to BESydney’s success and ensure Sydney delivers a world-class event experience every time,” Ms Lewis-Smith said.
Ms Lewis-Smith noted that BESydney had also won the state and national titles in the same category at last year’s awards.
She explained that BESydney was eager to demonstrate that it had continued to innovate and develop new strategies in this year’s submission. The bureau’s plans to capitalise on the burgeoning Asian market; the expansion of its Ambassador Program; the creation of its Future Leaders program; and a major internal restructure that was designed to reflect the event lifecycle more accurately, and therefore provide greater service to its clients and partners are just some of the winning strategies that helped the company leap to victory last night.
“Winning this award is a credit to our hard-working global team, who tirelessly promote Sydney and NSW to the world. We look forward to competing to retain the state and national titles again next year,” she said.
“Sydney is well and truly established as a global meeting place. But to stay at the top of our game, we always need to be thinking about how to do things better. Our city is constantly evolving and we have to move with it! We’ll be welcoming a new convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct, home to the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), before too long. This is exciting for our industry and it illustrates the value this city places on business events for the state’s overall health and prosperity.”
