NEW OFFERINGS FOR BUSINESS EVENTS AS SYDNEY REOPENS
Sydney is open and reactivating with enthusiasm, with double-dose COVID-19 vaccination coverage in New South Wales reaching over 92.6 per cent for those aged 16 and over.
BESydney caught up with several business events suppliers – from event venues to hotels and experience providers – and discovered that corporate groups have already started meeting face-to-face again with bookings and enquiries for larger events picking up in early 2022.
Many operators have also developed new offerings for business events over the two years, providing even more reasons for event managers to book their business meetings and events in Sydney.
Campbell’s Stores
Campbell’s Stores is a waterfront precinct at Campbell’s Cove in The Rocks, with views over Sydney Harbour including the Bridge and Opera House. It is revving up again after a multi-million-dollar building renovation that wrapped up in March 2019.
The three-storey Campbell’s Stores features:
– Several new restaurants including Ploos, headed up by Greek Australian chef Peter Conistis of Alpha fame, and Bay 9 Omakase, a boutique Japanese restaurant.
– Dedicated event space, comprising several interconnected smaller spaces; while the whole precinct – 6,000m2 of space – can be hired exclusively for events of up to 3,000 attendees.
– A further 1,000m2 of the public thoroughfare in Campbell’s Cove can be added to cater for events with 5,000 delegates.
BridgeClimb Sydney
BridgeClimb Sydney is one of Sydney’s most iconic experiences, and over the last two years, it has been in development mode.
In September 2020, the experience operators introduced the Ultimate Climb – the first new climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in almost two decades – which lets climbers traverse the entire span of the bridge, from south to north and back again for the first time in an epic climb, with epic views.
And in 2021, with help from the then-director of Sydney Festival, Wesley Enoch, the operators added another important climb to their repertoire, Burrawa, which is led by an Indigenous guide who explores Sydney’s First Nations history.
Australian Museum
“The enquiries are starting to flow through thick and fast for next year,” says Serafina Froio, Manager of Retail, Venues and Commercial at the Australian Museum.
The city museum has been busy of late with business events, although group sizes are on the smaller side this year – between 80 and 100 people – which fit neatly into a lot of the museum’s spaces.
The venue recently underwent a $57.5 million renovation, which saw it close to the public for 14 months and reopened in December 2020. The major works have added a new event space for the museum, its largest, most flexible space to date. This provides event managers with the best of both worlds: the intrigue and spectacle of event spaces within exhibition galleries– think dinner in a dinosaur shadow or a whale skeleton; and a blank canvas venue in the new Hintze Hall, a striking space surrounded by sandstone walls that lead off into gallery spaces.
And she says there is a strong appetite to get back to face-to-face business events and explore Sydney. “There’s a great desire and excitement. Everyone’s really keen to get back and do live events. The enthusiasm is there. Business is keen to get back to business and is excited about doing that in a face-to-face capacity,” she says.
“Our new Connect Outdoors packages have come at a time of renewed demand for in-person connection and experiences,” says ICC Sydney CEO, Geoff Donaghy. “ICC Sydney recommends not only extending the length of networking opportunities to meet this desire but enhancing them to elevate the attendee experience overall. The Connect Outdoors packages inspire organisers to reimagine networking breaks that take advantage of the venue’s ample open-air spaces including the Event Deck, balconies and foyers.”
ICC Sydney’s largest outdoor space, the Event Deck, is 5,000m2 and will host up to 5,000 people once Sydney’s restrictions ease further.
Marriott International’s CONVERGE program
In recognition of a tough 20 months, major hotel brand Marriott International has enlisted the help of one of Australia’s most well-known psychologists, Michael Carr-Gregg, to develop its CONVERGE program which focuses on boosting delegates’ mental health at business events.
Participating hotels have rolled out a multitude of offers to incorporate the philosophy into business events at their properties, with eight pillars to the program that address everything from getting a good night’s sleep to good nutrition, oxygenating the brain, mindfulness, gratitude, acts of kindness and experiencing new things.
Hotels in Sydney’s CBD and surrounds, including Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, Pier One Sydney Harbour and Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park, each offer walking maps of their local areas to help delegates explore Sydney and the inner-city neighbourhoods.
To discover more new venues in Sydney, click here.
