Conference Venues In Melbourne

Methodology

Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia, and the state capital of Victoria. This report focuses on Melbourne as a destination for conferences of various size. The focus is on three conference scenarios – small, medium, and large. All these scenarios have different spatial, functional and operational requirements. Based on those requirements, three different venues have been selected for conducting the conferences.

As an overview, the report has two parts – methodology and findings. Methodology discusses the process in which the venues have been selected, and the findings are about how those venues are ideal for the respective scenarios. In each scenarios, the facilities that the venues provide will be presented and explained how those support the requirements in each case.

Melbourne is a city rich in its culture and heritage. The city offers all kinds of entertainment centres, galleries, art centres, museums, parks, business centres, convention centres, various kind of restaurants and bars (Wiedmann, Chen and Barrett 2016). The architectural designs also vary from classical to modern. In order to select the venues for the conferences, internet search was the best option. There are number of websites that offers lists of venues for various purpose and requirements. This report used two websites two search for the venues namely cvent.com and melbournecb.com.au. The first website gives the opportunity to narrow the search by providing options to give the specific requirements. The second website is used only for selecting venue for the third scenario. The following chart shows the specifics for the scenarios –

It is evident from the chart that the first scenario needs a regular size venue for conducting conferences, whereas the second scenario demands more elaborate spatial areas. The third scenario, on the other hand, has a detailed demand and hence the search for this type of conferences is very specific. In order to make an event successful, it is crucial to fulfil the spatial, operational, and functional needs of the event (Quinn 2013).

Conducting a small conference with workshops, forums, and exhibitions require a venue that is located in an area has the accessibility of public transport and can support the event by every aspect (Rogers 2013). The venue that has been selected for this Conference Scenario 1 is the Aitken Hill Conference and Events Venue at 20 Dunhelen Lane, Yuroke, Melbourne 3063, Victoria (aitkenhill.com 2018). This venue provides a seminar room that has 3401 sq. ft. area, perfect for accommodating 200 people in theatre style seating arrangement. In this seminar room, there are arrangements for setting up stages, microphones, and sound boxes for meeting and conference purposes. The workshop is divided in two sessions. The first session can use four meeting rooms in classroom style arrangement, and the second session can use another seminar room to seat 200 delegates in theatre style. There event has five exhibitions each day, and for this purpose, five syndicate rooms can be used to conduct the exhibitions (Appendix 8). The main dining room, which has the banquet style seating arrangement, is ideal for this type of small conferences. The location of the break station is located conveniently outside the seminar rooms and offers tea and coffee throughout the day.

Findings

The venue provides free internet access through Wi-Fi, AV capabilities, and video conference, which makes it competent of holding a conference of this size. There is a committed team to set up the rooms for different purposes, and to support the events. It also provides luggage storage and onsite security facility to make the delegates and participants comfortable. The venue is flexible in terms of transportation as it is accessible by airport shuttle, taxi, and bus. In addition, the parking is complimentary and it allows buses to park too. There is freedom to use its state of art recreational facilities, which are ideal for team building. The onsite catering service includes lunch, and snacks and beverages for the breaks. It offers a range of menus with seasonal produce and takes any special dietary requirement into consideration. There are a lot of venues in the Melbourne city that could have provided the similar facilities for this kind of small size conference. The reason for selecting Aitken Hill Conference and Events Venue is its location.  Located in rural area, it offers a different environment than the city-life while maintaining accessibility.

It has been more than 135 years since the Melbourne Town Hall has been hosting events that built the city’s features and future. It has the capacity to conduct events that need to accommodate 2000 people. Therefore, the Epicure at Melbourne Town Hall, located in the Melbourne CBD, is the ideal choice for the medium size events (epicure.com.au 2018). It offers a range of spaces that can be utilised to conduct the plenary session, concurrent sessions, exhibitions, and the social activities. The main hall with an inbuilt stage is capable of fitting up to 2000 people in theatre style seating, which is perfect for the plenary session, and the concurrent sessions (Appendix 9). The adjoined foyer serves the purpose for the space for tea breaks. The Supper room and the Yarra room provide the space for the exhibitions. The Portico room and balcony is the ideal space for social activities (Appendix 11). The Epicure also offers the Regent room, Council Chambers, Melbourne room and several other rooms for intense meeting sessions and group discussions. The Swanston hall can serve the purpose of catering the delegates (Appendix 10).

The place has its own specialised in-house Audio Visual Dynamics that provides every technological requirement of such events. The position of the building, which is the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets, gives it advantage of transportation accessibility. In addition, the Flinders Street train station is minutes away from the venue (Appendix 12). Along with several car-parking areas near the building, it has also accessibility of trams.

Scenario 1 – Small Conference Venue

The city of Melbourne has quite a few places suitable for a medium size conference, yet none of those is as elegant as the Melbourne Town Hall. It stands out not only for its explicitness in terms of interior but also for its richness in history. The regal décor of the main hall imparts astound beauty to the whole event. The wooden panelling and classical touch in the interior designs makes the place exquisite. The food that they cater is made not only from fresh but also environmentally sustainable produce. In addition to this, they take supplies from local suppliers in order to build a sustainable environment. All these reasons add more value to the place as the chosen venue.

Scenario 3 is about a large international conference, which requires a venue that can provide space large enough to achieve all the purpose of the event (Rogers 2013). There are only a few places in Melbourne that can conduct event of such scale, and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is probably the most suitable venue for this purpose (mcec.com.au 2018). It is positioned on the bank of Yarra River, near the CBD, and there are shopping areas, boutiques, restaurants galleries, and entertainment facilities all around it. Therefore, it is in the ideal position to host an international conference. The MCEC has a convention centre and exhibition centre. The ground level of the three levelled purpose built convention centre consists of an extensive plenary area and foyer (Appendix 2). The plenary area can be divided into three sections. The entire plenary area is capable of accommodating more than 5000 persons in theatre style seating arrangement and has enough stage area. This is ideal for the plenary as well as the concurrent sessions. The foyer of this level can be used for multiple purposes. Firstly, just outside of the plenary and concurrent session area, it is an ideal space for the break up rooms. It also has plenary café area for the teatime breaks. This area is also well suited for the final day gala dinner and award ceremonies. The foyer in level one can serve the purpose of the various social activities (Appendix 3). The MCEC has 52 meeting rooms for multiple purposes, such as, break up rooms and group discussions. The Melbourne Room in the level two can hold the lunches and dinners in this 5 days conference (Appendix 4).

Scenario 2 – Medium Conference Venue

The MCEC has a dedicated exhibition centre where the exhibition can be arranged in two parts (Appendix 5). Given the number of delegates, dividing the exhibition into two sections would make it less crowded and easier to manage. This exhibition centre can be an alternative for the ground level foyer for hosting the gala dinner and award ceremonies. Moreover, the pillar less centre for exhibition can be utilised for a dance floor too. This exhibition centre every kind of facilities required for both exhibitions and dinners. In addition, it is also designed in a way to conduct meetings (Appendix 6). An international conference of five days requires lodging facilities. The MCEC provides that in the Pan Pacific Hotel, which is connected to the level one of the convention centre through a private internal walkway (Appendix 3). It provides internet access, AV facilities, and video conference facilities (Appendix 7). As located in the heart of Melbourne, the venue is accessible by bus, taxi, and train. The central location is further helpful for planning city tours and leisure activities for the delegates. It has a vast area committed to the parking purpose, where cars as well as buses can be parked. Besides onsite catering, the MCEC offers onsite restaurants for catering its guests.

Conclusion

As it was found while searching for the venues, Melbourne is an ideal destination for conferences and other events, as it offers a range of venues that can be customized according to the needs of the events, as well as purpose built centres for the large-scale events. Urban as well as rural areas of this city have an easy accessibility of transportation, which makes it easier for the organisers to plan an event. Each venue selected in this report is capable of providing the primary operational and functional requirements such as technological, catering, and parking area. As the spatial requirements varied in each cases, the chosen venues successfully provided proper areas for the conferences.

References

Aitkenhill.com. (2018). Melbourne Conference Centre, Conferences Venus Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.aitkenhill.com/ [Accessed 25 Aug. 2018].

Epicure. (2018). Melbourne Town Hall – Epicure. [online] Available at: https://www.epicure.com.au/venues/melbourne-town-hall/ [Accessed 25 Aug. 2018].

Mcec.com.au. (2018). Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre Melbourne | MCEC. [online] Available at: https://mcec.com.au/  [Accessed 25 Aug. 2018].

Quinn, B., 2013. Key concepts in event management. Sage.

Rogers, T., 2013. Conferences and conventions 3rd edition: A Global Industry. Routledge.

Wiedmann, T.O., Chen, G. and Barrett, J., 2016. The concept of city carbon maps: a case study of Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20(4), pp.676-691..