Australia’s largest regional convention centre, the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (GCCEC), has held over 1,500 events, attracted more than one million guests to the property, and served over one million meals in its six years at the top of the business events industry.

The GCCEC has gone from strength to strength. In the last 18 months it has seen a $40 million extension, was awarded Silver Benchmarking Status for continual commitment to the environment, celebrated a win at the Queensland Tourism Awards as the state’s best venue for Business Meetings & Events 2009, and was among one of the first convention centres in the country to achieve AIPC (the International Association of Congress Centres) Quality Standards certification for excellence in convention centres. It was also inducted into the prestigious Meetings & Events Australia hall of fame for its outstanding performance in the Australian meetings and business events for three years in a row from 2005–07.

Corporate and association conferences comprise the core business for the GCCEC, and the centre was recently selected as one of the three venues shortlisted to host the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress in 2013.

The ICCA is the global meetings’ industry network and represents the main specialists in organising, transporting and accommodating international meetings and events.

The Gold Coast was the sole Australian bid for the 2013 ICCA Congress, and it faced tough competition from the other finalists Houston, and winner, Shanghai.

“Being shortlisted by the ICCA to host the 2013 Congress is the business events equivalent of making the World Cup finals or being nominated for an Academy Award – that is the stage which the Gold Coast is now on,” said Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter, who is also the Chairman of ICCA Asia Pacific.

GCCEC General Manager Adrienne Readings says that her motivated team is driven by the philosophy to deliver above expectation and work in partnership with clients to achieve success.

“We are proud of our success over the past six years, but there’s always room for more. We continually look for new ways to deliver on service, present a creative dish, or provide new technology that will contribute toward an event. It’s our job to make our clients look good,” she said.