Gold Coast shines spotlight on business
This month the City will place the spotlight on its thriving business community.
Gold Coast Business Week, which is run by the City of Gold Coast, has been connecting leaders, professionals, and entrepreneurs across the city for the past 6 years. This year’s focus is on talent attraction and retention, with the theme: "Developing, attracting, and retaining the best talent in our city."
The City, in conjunction with businesses, leading education providers and community organisations, has set in place a calendar of 11 amazing business events across 5 days from Monday 14 October to Friday 18 October.
Throughout the week, attendees will have the chance to connect with industry leaders, learn strategies, tactics and techniques to use in their own business and discover a range of new opportunities.
The annual celebration is also designed to showcase the incredible diversity and strength of the Gold Coast economy. Ranked as the fifth highest major city for Gross Regional Product growth, the Gold Coast boasts one of Australia's fastest-growing economies.
During the past 22 years, the city’s population has annually grown by an average of 2.6%, which is faster than Sydney, Melbourne, and South East Queensland.
The city’s employment growth has also outpaced Queensland’s for 2 decades, especially in key sectors like construction, healthcare, technology, professional and scientific services, and education and training.
As a result, the Gold Coast is attracting an incredible surge in migration of skilled workers, with 48.6% of new arrivals in 2021 holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.
To place the spotlight on talent attraction and retention, Gold Coast Business Week 2024 will feature nationally renowned experts to boost local business opportunities.
The week’s events will start on Monday 14 October, with luxury yacht builder Riviera Australia opening the doors of its new Academy of Excellence for free tours (tickets for this event are essential) and ASTN - Australian Sports Technologies Network presenting an evening event at Southport Sharks that is designed to encourage businesses to learn from successes in the sporting world. The event will feature speeches from leading sports identities including Olympians Ellie Beer and Jackson Collins.
Day 2 starts at the Gold Coast Student Hub in Southport with Experience Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Youth Employment Body exploring innovative strategies for attracting and retaining young talent. This will be followed by a joint event run specifically for tourism industry figures by Invest Gold Coast in partnership with Kinetik Global. The free forum in Surfers Paradise Imaginator is designed to help managers to improve their leadership skills and leadership experience. ?
The second day’s activities will be capped off with an evening session with 4 amazing speakers at The Island in Surfers Paradise. Patrons will hear about strategies on talent acquisition, retention, and risk management. The speakers include Gerard Murtagh, founder of MouldMen , Jade Axford, a leader and strategist at Claxon, Joshua Davis, business development partner at Peninsula Australia and Peter Bond, managing director of YTB PLUMBING .
Day 3 will feature 3 events directly relating to different and innovative approaches to employee attraction and retention, with the events spread across the city at Oxenford, Southport and Bundall. Including the Business Connect - Attraction and Recruitment, the Talent of Tomorrow, and Diversify and Employ Global Talent - offering the opportunity to network with business owners across the Gold Coast.
One of the highlights of the week will be The Mayor’s Gold Coast Business Week Breakfast, which will be held at Royal Pines Resort on Thursday 17 October. The keynote will be delivered by Adam Jacobs, the Co-founder of successful online retailer The Iconic, and Hatch - a platform helping people find meaningful work. Meanwhile there will also be a panel session from inspirational Gold Coast business leaders Sam Canavan, from Stacked Farm? , and Lauren Hall, from event management software company iVvy .
Also on Thursday, the Gold Coast Film Commission hosts the Screen, Technology and Music Industry Immersive. Tour TAFE Queensland's Coomera Creative Campus and be immersed in the interactive virtual reality display that will showcase the Advance Queensland and Imagine Realities project with the Queensland Orchestra.
The week’s events will be capped off by the annual YP Gold Coast ?City Leaders Forum at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday 18 October. The keynote speaker for the 2024 City Leaders Forum will be renowned business futurist Kim Seeling Smith, who has been named one of the Top 101 Global Influencers on Employee Engagement. She joined by panel of speakers that includes tourism identity Bob East, Lisa Burquest, who is the Chief People Officer of Virgin Australia, John Warn, the Chief Executive Officer of Experience Gold Coast and Tim Baker, the Chief Executive Officer for the City of Gold Coast.
Whether you’re a seasoned business operator or just starting your journey, you'll gain valuable strategies to help your business grow and succeed at one of the week’s events.
You can find out more about Gold Coast Business Week here and discover more about the City of Gold Coast business support and attraction programs here.
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