To say we had fun cooking up our SIITR24 venues would be the understatement of the year.
Where and how do you host a conference when there isn’t a venue in the host community big enough to host the anticipated audience?
The only option was to get creative.
FIRST – it was going to be a circus tent (until the quotes came in – holy moly we have a whole new appreciation for tent hire). Then we explored warehouses, empty shops and the local vineyard and just as we were about to hit the local schools when we spied something… A massive space hidden behind hoarding right in the CBD.
Dusting off our pitch skills we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right ideas for the Gowings exec. team and, the rest will be history.
We will be forever grateful to the Gowings and our production team for making our vision a reality turning a disused retail space from this…
To this
To this…
In identifying this space we were also inspired by the Macleay Country University Centre (CUC) and it’s plans to grow. The Macleay Valley CUC has the highest enrolments in Australia and is bursting at the seams. It just so happened our venue was located right next door.
We formed an investment strategy which would activate the space, show the community what could be done there and then (our next phase) start looking for investors to support this important regional amenity.
In the meantime Gowings have supported the CUC to develop architectural drawings for the site which were displayed throughout the conference and also the lead-in investor tour.
We are really excited to see what happens next here.
Meanwhile, in West Kempsey Father Jesse solved a second venue issue – where to host the conference dinner. He generously enabled us to host our evening extravaganza not only in the Church hall but in the actual church and throughout the grounds.
Oh! What a night. As we say… what happens at the gala dinner stays at the gala dinner, unless you were there in which case you’ll have the secret code to the sealed section of the website where you can view the rest of the pics.
Throughout the conference we also hosted events in the Riverside Theatres, lunches in local cafes and Ronnie Grammatica’s photography exhibition in an empty shop in the main street.
It’s fair to say we lit up the town demonstrating what can be created with just a little creativity and a lot of collaborative spirit.
If you are planning an event in a regional community there is a wealth of venues to choose from, you just need to get your boots on the ground and put your creative brain into gear. Think you don’t have one? Then locate some resident artists who will be only too happy to support you bring your event to life.
