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MEETINGS 2025, held at the Auckland Showgrounds, kicked off with an opening ceremony at Eden Park arena, new funding announcements from Louise Upston and a networking event. The entire conference was then buoyed on a tide of eagerness and infectious enthusiasm that percolated throughout the next few days.
With record numbers of vetted Australian and domestic hosted buyers and a large number of exhibitors, the scene was set for the serious work of scouting and capturing new opportunities.
The business events industry, alongside a number of other key industries and stakeholders, have spent considerable time and investment developing the infrastructure, says BEIA CEO Lisa Hopkins.
“We’ve been waiting a long time, but things are starting to gel really nicely,” says Lisa.
The opening of several new venues and convention centres has opened the door for New Zealand to pursue the larger business opportunities that previous may have been a stretch.
With former bottlenecks in visa applications being addressed and new aircraft being purchased to service more airline passengers to and around New Zealand, the pathways for bigger events are opening.
“We’ve got a really outstanding product, a really first-class product,” says Lisa – and it’s made us competitive on an international stage. The response from many of the Australian hosted buyers was widely positive, which was a promising sign as Australia is not short of their own fantastic venues.
While many walked the show floor, BEIA had also invited various experts and speakers who addressed a range of topics related to the business events industry. One of the points discussed was the need to understand that the business events industry, convention centres and other associated stakeholders should not become siloed into their respective markets.
Political meetings, trade meetings, ecological conferences and medical conferences are examples that may hold great promise for the future of business events and should not be overlooked.
Lisa reiterated that the industry is often a “catalyst” for bringing people together and being the logistical and knowledge backbone that empowers and enables other industries to have these large gatherings.
Having the Australian hosted buyers attend in force was a real victory for MEETINGS this year – and Lisa hopes that continues. In the future she would like to see the international hosted buyers include bigger contingents from Asia, Europe and, as always, a larger American contingent.
Lisa believes that the New Zealand experience – once experienced – sells itself.
MEETINGS is a fantastic opportunity for that to occur. With everyone in one location, people can “arrive as a delegate and leave as a tourist”.
“Why come all this way and not spend a couple more days to do something you’ve always wanted to do or go to a place you’ve always wanted to go?” says Lisa.
“The more people experience New Zealand the easier it is to sell.”
With MEETINGS coming to a close on June 12, it was clear that a very good start had been made to get many more people to come and experience New Zealand for themselves.
