NZ Events Association

The Best Venue 2024 Award was deservedly won by Wellington Regional Stadium for FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. Wellington Regional Stadium hosted nine matches during the FIFA tournament across 22 days, including seven pool matches, a Round of 16 match and a Quarter Final. This was the busiest schedule of all venues across the two host countries, and the busiest period in Stadium history! What stood out to judges was the degree to which the entire stadium team got behind the tournament and pitched in to overcome every challenge, delivering an excellent result for FIFA, the Stadium and Wellington. If you'd like to register your interest to enter the 2025 NZEA NZ Event Awards, click here: https://buff.ly/3NvJJ40

Here's the final Pulse Check Friday for 2024! Our weekly quick-fire poll to capture the industry's sentiment on a range of questions. What are your thoughts on this week's question?

Did you know we have supported 14 incredible concerts in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland over the past three years? These shows, held across Auckland’s amazing venues, brought over 490,000 fans together to enjoy music from Harry Styles, P!NK, Pearl Jam, Coldplay and more. Fans travelled from near and far to Tāmaki Makaurau, filling restaurants, staying in hotels and bringing an incredible buzz to the city. These shows weren’t just about the music—they gave a significant boost to Auckland’s economy and highlighted the power of hosting world-class events. We’re proud to support events like this—they don’t just create unforgettable moments; they also bring huge benefits to our region. Live Nation Entertainment | Auckland Stadiums | Eden Park, New Zealand

Congrats again to iTICKET NZ for winning the Best Technology Innovation 2024 - proudly sponsored by Streamliner - for Toast Martinborough 2023. iTICKET’s game changing innovation AI camera technology solved Toast Martinborough’s challenge of monitoring capacities across multiple venues and over 7,000 attendees. The innovation not only kept the venues and the operations team informed of real time crowd numbers, but importantly put this information in the palms of the attendees via the event app. This solution delivered for the event director, but also put the power into the attendee. If you'd like to register your interest to enter the 2025 NZEA NZ Event Awards, click here: https://buff.ly/3NvJJ40

Further evidence of out of the UK of the wellbeing and economic benefits of participating and consuming culture (e.g. events!) "...consuming culture is good for your health and wellbeing – and generates £8bn a year worth of improvements in people’s quality of life and higher productivity. " This is important study, undertaken for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was a collaboration between Frontier and the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health, which is based at University College London (UCL).

Te Matarau Wānanga by Stuff Events deservingly took out the inaugural Best Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative 2024 Award – Proudly sponsored by Ticketmaster. Te Matarau Wānanga was a ground-breaking event and a catalyst for initiating crucial conversations between media organisations and community groups. It provided a forum for the media to be held to account and to ensure their efforts towards inclusion, diversity, fair representation and social progress are consistently upheld. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was integrated into every part of this event from the venue selection to the event name and format of discussions, and not least, in a continuation of Stuff’s introspective review of their own operations. Congratulations again, Stuff Events. If you'd like to register your interest to enter the 2025 NZEA NZ Event Awards, click here: https://buff.ly/3NvJJ40

The NZEA board members and management came together today to relook at the strategy that was set in 2022, and set the priorities for 2025 and beyond. What a sensational group of industry professionals. Loren Aberhart, Kevin Murphy, Sarah Meikle, Lizzi Pearson, Brenna McCann, Mark Pickering, Andrea Nelson MNZM, Matt Jones, Wendy Wilson, Elaine Linnell Thanks MinterEllisonRuddWatts for the hospitality.

Pulse Check Friday! A weekly quick-fire poll to capture the industry's sentiment on a range of questions. What are your thoughts on this week's question?

Yesterday's webinar with Associate Professor Dave Carter and Dr Catherine Hoad was so insightful. It is great to have independent research, conducted by Massey University on the Live Performance industry, which not only highlights the economic benefits of the industry, but also the social. Check out the full report: https://buff.ly/4iuuVRr

A super day here in WellingtonNZ attending the inaugural #HospitalitySummit held in the Grand Hall at Parliament on behalf of the NZ Events Association. Thanks to Marisa Bidois of Restaurant Association of New Zealand, Steve Armitage of Hospitality NZ and Tourism & Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey for spearheading this initiative and bringing together such a broad range of contributors from across the food and drink sector to highlight and address some of the key issues facing our industry. I loved contributing to the Hospitality, Tourism, Marketing and Local Government group and there were some fantastic ideas developed! #foodanddrinktourism #manaakitanga #tellingnewzealandsfoodstory