MEA HONOURS AWARD WINNERS

AN ONLINE audience of more than 500 attendees from across the country last Fri took part in the first ever virtual Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) annual awards ceremony.

MEALIVE 2019 was hosted at the International Convention Centre Sydney Studios, in a major technical production which saw winners accepting their accolades and entertainment presented online.

“This was a whole new experience,” said MEA CEO Robyn Johnson (pictured), adding that taking the awards online had been a complex undertaking that required an enormous amount of technical coordination.

“Our goal was to make it the benchmark in virtual awards events,” she said.

“We were absolutely delighted with the attendance and the way the industry grasped the opportunity to celebrate with their colleagues virtually. For the first time state and national awards were named together, honouring excellence in various types of events, venues, products & services, marketing and individual event professionals.

Host venue ICC Sydney took out the “Event Venue - Capacity more than 1,500” category, while other venue winners included Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart, National Wine Centre of Australia and Howard Smith Wharves.

Forum Group Events & Marketing took out the Event Agency of the Year category, while the Event Manager of the Year was Ellen Sexton from Solterbeck Events.

The Event Technology award was won by Cvent, while Milestone Creative Australia won the Event Marketing category and Novatech Creative Event Technology took out the

Audio Visual Services Award as well as the Innovation Award.

The Regional Destination Marketing Organisation award was won by Destination North Coast, and Kate Nichols from Howard Smith Wharves took home the the MEA Future Leader category.

La Trobe University was named winner of the Event Management Team - Corporate, while the Government section of the Event Management division was taken out by the Programs and Events Team from the Queensland Department of Education.

Gary Bender and Donna Kessler’s Get Global was named Exhibition of the Year, while the Association Event of the Year was the GOSCI 14th Biennial Conference 2019.

Amway China 2019 Leadership Seminar was the Incentive of the Year, and the Special Event of the Year was the Virtuoso 2019 Symposium Dinner.

Johnson congratulated all the winners and finalists, saying “it was an amazing night and a bright moment for the events industry”.