From the Chair: 19 October 2022

By Michael Firman

One of the biggest challenges facing our industry today is the workforce skills shortage affecting all corners of the labour market. And it doesn’t appear to be unique to the hospitality, tourism and events industries.

For many businesses, labour is the biggest single cost, yet many employers are facing a second squeeze in the form of an industry-wide shortage of qualified employees. As the economy has opened up and more and more events are taking place, there are fewer qualified workers across the entire industry to support the demand in events.

Even before COVID our industry was suffering a skills shortage. In 2019, MEA released a Workplace Skills report that it had commissioned with McCrindle that concluded the events industry was experiencing an industry-wide skills shortage. The issues identified included the availability of appropriately skilled staff and an overall shortage of suitable candidates.

Our industry poses higher demands on our workforce than other industries, considering the long hours, working nights and weekends, and expectations dealing with sometimes difficult customers while solving problems with grace.

We all know it to be true, we have a workforce skills shortage. And we all know the best solution is to equip the new generation of workers with the appropriate skills. For many businesses, that’s where it ends. For others, advocating to governments become a focus for the solution, but how is government going to provide relief to the immediate industry skills shortage?

There is a real, immediate need for training, especially in regional areas as operators struggle to find staff with experience and need to urgently provide them with training that will provide them with immediate learnings.

The solution is often right in front of you. MEA is Australia’s only association for the event and tourism industry that is also a registered training organisation (RTO), and has a suite of educational tools designed to help organisations with the up-skilling and re-training of staff at a time when people are leaving our sector. Our industry needs to retain as much talent as possible as well as providing training to those that may need it.

MEA provides training & upskilling opportunities to build capacity in the event sector across Australia. Some of these tools include;

• Online webinars – A series of 60 minute webinars covering key business event concepts, content and training. Webinar topics are suggested but may be revised to ensure that topics meet the needs of the participants. Tailor-made webinar creation is also available to suit your individual needs.
• Workshops - 1 to 2 day workshops taking a deep dive into event management topics, held in your own location. Tailor-made webinar creation is also available to suit your individual needs.
• Diploma studies - MEA’s registered training organisation division (RTO ID: 91329) offers flexible and online study options with the MEA Diploma of Event Management (SIT50316). Learn from the event experts. Qualification or skill sets offered, via online study, weekly evening classes and regular workshops.

MEA provides a collaborative and supportive learning environment and in doing so can help all member and non-member organisations retain, recruit and upskill staff.

An employer of choice is one who invests in their workforce, and MEA provides the expertise to curate education content relevant to the needs of those that attend.

If you would like more information about any professional development and training needs for your organisation, contact MEA’s National Education Manager and ask for MEA’s education brochure. Your future is in your hands.