How ICC Sydney is raising the bar for the return of world class in person events

With thousands of guests once again passing through ICC Sydney’s doors daily, it feels like a new era has begun. The venue is both excited and proud to welcome back guests for world class events, with new formats, expanded services all delivered by our caring, passionate professionals, as the world gets back to the business of meeting face to face.

As we do this it is sometimes hard to believe that this month marks two years since in person events as we knew them were banned or seismically changed by on-and-off restrictions brought on by the pandemic. So it certainly was significant when earlier this month, the Lansdowne Club St. Patrick's Day lunch returned to ICC Sydney, finally restriction free - given that this was the last event we hosted in 2020 prior to in-person events being halted or fundamentally transformed.

ICC Sydney’s world class team was delighted to welcome guests back for the iconic annual event, with mask-free socialising, dining, dancing and music, and above all the opportunity to reconnect face to face.

Add to this the return of the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) 2022 this week, a key event in the business events industry calendar. As one of our industry’s most important annual events, it provides a special opportunity to come together and share knowledge, learnings and developments from across the industry, which has never been more important than today.

These milestones and many others demonstrate the confidence our clients and attendees share to embrace face to face events, such as Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo which saw 8,000 attendees over two days, the Australian Dental conference and exhibition which welcomed 4,000 attendees, the AusRAIL Conference and Exhibition which saw 3,000 attendees and the UN Women Australia International Lunch where 1,570 attendees walked through our doors.

Important steps in the road to recovery of Australia’s business events industry after two incredibly tough years are being taken, and we note that two years of pent-up demand has fuelled the desire to get back to in person events, with strong event bookings at ICC Sydney for 2022 and beyond.?

With the lifting of all New South Wales health restrictions on 24 February 2022, ICC Sydney is set for a strong March with 54 events and 54,000 attendees. We have 300 events on the books through to June and a further 300 scheduled for the second half of the year, which we fully expect will continue to grow.

ICC Sydney’s team was pleased to take the opportunity at AIME to share with colleagues from across the industry the ways in which ICC Sydney has used the last two years to raise the bar with our products and services in preparation to deliver even better world class events.

While we continued to operate throughout the crisis, supporting our clients to navigate the turbulent times, we also used that time to evolve our venue’s leading offering to build back even better today. This includes the introduction of new products, enhanced services and strengthening our team’s capabilities to deliver exceptional in person events. I am pleased to share the top three reasons to book an event at ICC Sydney, below.

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Face to face amplified

Looking towards events throughout 2022, one key theme we’re seeing is increased demand for in-person connections and networking. In response, ICC Sydney is supporting clients to integrate more face to face networking time within their events, while continuing to put delegates' health and safety first by delivering these within our EventSafe Operating guidelines.

This includes ICC Sydney’s ‘Connect Outdoors’ meeting options delivered in partnership with Divine Events, which enables event organisers to extend networking time and take advantage of the venue’s outdoor spaces, with uninterrupted views across Darling Harbour and the iconic Sydney CBD skyline.

In person experiences have been enhanced at our venue with the update of its Self-Guided Art Tours used to locate its comprehensive Australian art collection, including artwork “Gadigal, Acknowledgement Respect” showcased in the venue's Reconciliation Action Plan, created by First Nations contemporary artist, Jeffrey Samuels—one of the founding members of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative.?

New partnerships and broadened experiences have been added to the venue's Legacy Program offering event organisers even more avenues to reach their corporate social responsibility objectives through their events.

Hybrid is not a dirty word

ICC Sydney is committed to developing and elevating our industry-leading virtual and hybrid event services launched during the pandemic, to continue to meet clients’ changing needs.

Our team was excited to announce at AIME the next evolution of this service, with the launch of the ‘Connect Hub’ - a new speaker preparation and events enhancement service. The offering encompasses complex program delivery support via hybrid events solutions, onsite and online speaker preparation, ICC Sydney’s Connect platform, digital concierge, a dedicated media studio, edit suite and digital signage management. It is a true end-to-end solution for managing digital or hybrid events.

Experienced, match fit team

Behind this evolution and positioning at the forefront of the business events industry is ICC Sydney’s world-class team. I could not be prouder of how our team has not only guided clients through the pandemic with new ways of approaching events, but also upskilled so they are now more equipped than ever to help people get back to safely meeting in person under our EventSafe Operating Guide which was developed in line with our parent group, ASM Global’s VenueShield program.

Continuing to work with clients throughout the pandemic, ICC Sydney’s team understands the unique needs and aspirations of clients and delegates after two years of cancelled and reformatted events, and is able to deliver unrivalled experiences via exceptional events.

It is this same team that recently welcomed back major events such as the Lansdowne Club St. Patrick’s Day Lunch and who will welcome 300 events by the end of June, and a further 300 events by the end of the year.

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So it feels like we are finally all getting making great progress, with meaningful recovery underway and set to continue. While this won’t happen overnight, with state and national borders once again open and demand for in person meetings high, we are sure to advance, and have the opportunity to once again provide substantial economic benefits to the Australian economy and also make a difference to our charity partners and the community we serve.

On behalf of myself and the team at ICC Sydney, we can’t wait to welcome you back to our venue for even better, world class events. ?