News November 09

Celebrating 15 Years

2009 marks the celebration of WALDRONSMITH Management’s 15th year of operation.

The business and industry has changed dramatically since those early days of 1994 when the original founding partners, Kate Smith and Fiona Waldron, opened the doors with a vision to provide personalised, cost effective conference management services.

Kate Smith is now the sole Managing Director and has overseen the growth of the business together with fellow Director, Gerard Halpin.

The WALDRONSMITH Management Team now includes 21 members across our Melbourne and Sydney offices and it is through our commitment, expertise and passion, that outstanding conferences are produced for our clients.

When WALDRONSMITH Management commenced business, essentially Melbourne Organisers only organised Melbourne based conferences and business then went to competitors in other states as the Association conducted their conferences throughout Australia.

In recent years, clients have seen and enjoyed the benefit of establishing long term relationships with WALDRONSMITH Management to manage their Conferences throughout the country. In 2009 WALDRONSMITH Management is working in almost every state of the country, if not multiple times, on behalf of our national and international clients.

“Whilst there has been significant change in the technology, the products and services offerings we present to our clients, what remains constant over the 15 years are the tangible and intangible benefits that business events bring to their organisation. We are proud of the role we play on behalf of our clients in this vibrant and dynamic industry that contributes over $17.3 billion per annum to the Australian economy and importantly employs over 220,000 people,” commented Kate Smith.

‘We thank our past clients, our current clients and those who are considering us in the future, for entrusting us to work alongside them to create their success now and in the future. Key to this success is the relationship we develop and manage – with our clients, their major stakeholders and of course our valued suppliers within the industry. All major contributors to achieving outstanding results. We are proud of the accomplishments of WALDRONSMITH Management over the past 15 years and look forward with great excitement and enthusiasm to the next 15,” said Kate Smith.

Industry News

WALDRONSMITH Management congratulates Business Events Sydney who celebrated their 40th year of operation with the succesful launch of their Ambassador Program at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in September.

The Business Events Sydney Ambassador Program brings together a group of prominent Sydney people from a range of fields that are passionate about promoting their city to the rest of the world.

“The Program marks Business Events Sydney’s 40th year in business and will serve to bring even greater benefits to our members and the NSW economy. Our high profile Ambassadors will represent Sydney in their professional networks around the world and we hope this will bring increased business events to our shore” said Jon Hutchison, Chief Executive Officer, Business Events Sydney. Click here for more information.

WALDRONSMITH Management looks forward to continuing our long term working relationship, as a PCO Gold Member, with Business Events Sydney and their new Ambassador Program.

Conference Wrap Up & Feedback

Since our last newsletter in April 2009 we have worked on a wide range of Conferences alongside a stimulating and varied group of Organising Committees.

With assistance from our key suppliers we have been able to meet the many logistical, infrastructure and resource challenges required to deliver the level of service and care that not only meets our clients’ expectations, but ideally, exceeds them.

Feedback includes:

With a theme of “Living in interesting times”, The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2009 Congress at the Adelaide Convention Centre in May brought together over 1000 delegates, 260 speakers and 173 presentations over five days to consider the current challenges faced by psychiatry. A high quality scientific program featuring an impressive line-up of international and local keynote speakers covered clinical, scientific, literary and historical issues.

The Congress was officially opened on 24 May 2009 by the South Australian Minister for Mental Health Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, followed by an engaging opening keynote presentation by Professor Glen Gabbard and welcome reception in the exhibition hall. During the week the College Ceremony for newly qualified Fellows and advanced trainees was held, along with the annual general meeting.

“The Congress went very smoothly at the Adelaide Convention Centre which proved to be an ideal venue for our Congress,” said Mr Andrew Peters, Director of Corporate Development at The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

“We are very pleased with the professionalism and work of WALDRONSMITH Management, in particular their flexibility in working with the College. In view of this we have appointed WALDRONSMITH Management to mange the College’s 2011 and 2012 Congresses,” said Mr Peters.

Click here for more information.

The Energy 21C Conference and Exhibition in Melbourne from 6-9 September 2009 was a great success in bringing together more than 2,100 industry delegates, speakers and exhibitors to discuss future networks and key issues of climate change, customers and competencies in the new era of electricity and gas transmission and distribution.

Conference Chairman, Bob Smith, said a compelling program, quality speakers and a vast, interactive exhibition and demonstration area provided unique insights into future networks as the energy industry works to meet new guidelines in a carbon reduced economy.

"We warmly thank WALDRONSMITHManagement for their professional and responsive approach to the development of the conference and exhibition.”

“WALDRONSMITH Management effectively coordinated a team of industry representatives from the electricity and gas networks industry to develop and operate the conference and exhibition from very early planning to successfully staging the event at the new Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre.”

“Conference owners the Australian Industry Group and the Energy Networks Association, host energy network companies; SP AusNet, Jemena, United / Multinet Energy and CitiPower and Powercor Australia, Gold and Silver sponsors, exhibitors and international guests contributed to the success of the event under WALDRONSMITH Management’s readily available assistance.”

Key issues addressed at the conference – including the climate change challenge, new technologies, industry responses to adverse weather and emergency events and the impact of electric vehicles on networks were reported in mainstream media including The Australian, The Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Mr Smith said as one of the world’s premier electricity and gas transmission and distribution conferences, Energy 21C kept delegates abreast of change and able to make informed choices about the future.

“We look forward to coming together again for Energy 21C in 2011 and welcoming new industry representatives and exhibitors yet to participate in Energy 21C,” he said.

Click here for more information.

The Energy21C conference was a hugely successful and well-organised event utilising a range of spaces at the new Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The conference demonstrated how the exhibition and convention centre can be integrated to deliver a varied and engaging event. The MCEC was delighted to work alongside WALDRONSMITHManagement and host the conference, welcoming to Melbourne energy industry experts from across the Asia Pacific Region.

With over 1,000 Delegates and 50 Exhibiting companies the 27th National Insurance Brokers Annual Convention at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, incorporating the facilities at Luna Park, has been referred to as one of the most successful ever.

“For the past 26 years the National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia (NIBA) has held its annual convention almost everywhere in Australia except Sydney. Why? Because delegates have preferred out of town locations that provided add-on attractions associated with the ever-popular Gold Coast in Queensland. This year we held our breaths to see if delegates would attend in Sydney, bearing in mind that the majority in the industry worked within easy distance of its CBD, thus denying them the out of town convention experience. Put simply, it worked big-time!

Working closely with WALDRONSMITH Management we devised a business, education and social programme that proved second to none, attracting more delegates than we’ve had in the past decade. It was a sensational team effort and when it comes to knowing what you want and how to achieve it there is no better team than at WALDRONSMITH Management” Mr Noel Pettersen CEO NIBA

Click here for more information.

WSM Office News

Our congratulations go to Vicki Lont who this year celebrated her 10th year as a key member of the WALDRONSMITH Management team.

Vicki is our Delegate Services & Registration Manager and is responsible for all aspects of conference and exhibition registration, reporting, accommodation and travel bookings. Vicki and her onsite Registration teams ensure that each delegate is assisted in a professional and welcoming manner which ensures a memorable experience for all delegates.

Congratulations again Vicki from all of us at WALDRONSMITH Management for the confident and welcoming manner you portray both internally and externally.

Our congratulations also go to Sonja Hentsch who in November of last year was promoted from Program Manager in Melbourne to Conference Manager in our Sydney office.

Sonja has certainly embraced this challenging new role and with the assistance of the WALDRONSMITH Management team has just successfully completed the Australian and New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgeons Annual Conference, in Sydney.

Sonja is also working alongside the Organising Committees for two International Conferences coming into Sydney over the next two years - ICONN 2010 and IQEC/CLEO Pacific Rim 2011.