Kath Eastwood, General Manager of Dieticians New Zealand, never expected to be bidding to bring an international conference to Aotearoa, but working with the Auckland Convention Bureau (ACB) made the experience far easier than she anticipated.
Putting together a bid for a large-scale conference can seem overwhelming, particularly if you have limited time and resources – that’s where the experts come in. ACB’s international bidding team acts as both a guide and a partner during the bidding process, collaborating closely with bidders every step of the way, from creating a strong theme for your bid, down to the smallest details – all for free.
Why bid?
Bidding to host an international conference in Auckland has so many benefits: it can boost your own professional profile and highlight what your organisation, city, and country can contribute to your industry worldwide. For Kath Eastwood, bringing Aotearoa’s unique agri-tech offerings to the table was a major driver.
“New Zealand is renowned for its innovation, its sustainable farming and horticultural practices, and our connection with our indigenous people. To provide delegates with a deep dive into those areas – in a country that does it better than most – we thought that was too good an opportunity to miss.”
The bidding process with Auckland Convention Bureau
Once the decision was made, it was down to business. “Our bidding process was split into three phases. One was an expression of interest, two was our formal bid, and three was a video once we’d made the shortlist. That was about working with a scriptwriter to showcase our sector and forming a compelling reason for people to come to New Zealand.”, says Eastwood. Auckland Convention Bureau connected Kath with the right suppliers to make this possible.
“It was the little things, like getting us to think about what we might want our legacy to be, how we would connect with the public during the event – the things that we perhaps wouldn’t normally think of when compiling a conference bid.
“The highlight for us was putting our video together and that created a lot of excitement through our sector; it really enabled people to get in behind something.”
Working with Auckland Convention Bureau
Drawing on the expertise of ACB made for a smoother, more straightforward bidding experience for Kath and her team. “ACB were fantastic through this whole process; they exceeded all expectation .”
“I would definitely recommend working with ACB on bringing an international conference to New Zealand. I never thought it would be something I would do, and in such a small organisation. We have a very small team, but it was such an easy process.”
As well as working with bid champions to create bids and proposals, the ACB team offers guidance in applying for bid funding, executing financial feasibility studies, facilitating connections and sourcing quotes from venues, accommodation and service providers as well as providing access to promotional resources to achieve delegate numbers.
If you’d like to find out more about bidding to host an international conference, get in touch with Gemma Wood at [email protected] or contact us here.