The starter’s pistol has fired

By Peter McDonald, MEA CEO

And just like that we’re back in your inbox. Happy 2024.

It’s been a very busy start to the year at MEA, effort that’s been rewarded because I’m able to announce that Evolve 2024 and 2023 National Awards Dinner is headed to the NSW Hunter Valley over June 12 and 13.

More information is provided here, but the headline is just too good news to not replicate here. Do yourself a favour and head straight over to your calendar and block out those dates now to ensure your freedom to be intellectually and socially invigorated is guaranteed ahead of registrations opening in a few weeks’ time.

But there’s no need to wait until June to get a MEA fix.

Members and other industry people in NSW & QLD both can come together locally on 8 February for networking events to kick off the year. The branch committees in other states are feverishly trying to get similar events happening, so if you’re a venue operator who’s eager to showcase your wares in their finest form by hosting the local events communities of Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Perth and Hobart as THE place for them to hold an event in those cities, please reach out to me and I’ll put people in touch.

What can’t be overlooked is that there’s a whole lot of people new to the industry around the country, which means that there’s a new set of potential customers waiting to be impressed and influenced. Where there was once a time when everyone knew everyone, that’s less likely the case nowadays and complacency will serve nobody well. Venue Business Development people, if they didn’t already, have their work cut out for them.

What heartens me is that the new year has seen multiple new members either join MEA or commence the process for becoming so. All of us feel better when we know we’re doing something that’s valued. Regular readers will know how much I appreciate walkers over talkers, so a general ‘thank you’ shoutout to those who are investing in MEA’s sustainability and future through their new or continued membership subscription.

In that vein, might I share how invested MEA’s new Board Directors have become in the mission so quickly. With big shoes to fill that departures from the Board created, I reassure the community that the people it collectively elected are doing a magnificent job. They have jumped in feet first and the energy and enthusiasm that I am witnessing from them and continuing Directors to make MEA a better place for members is exciting.

It's now less than 4 weeks until entry closes for the 2023 MEA Awards. Monday 12 February is D-Day. I encourage entry as well as non-underestimation of the time preparing a submission takes. We’ve fielded a number of enquiries, and we’re anticipating the program will be even more hotly contested than last year. This makes for a win being more both deserving and worth celebrating. There are 42 different awards able to be won at both state/territory and national level, but to win one you’ve got to be in the running and that all begins with crafting a submission. I’ll make it very easy for you: click here to be taken to the starting line on our website.

Methinks it's going to be a very good year.