Regional Events Strategy

CouncilsDestination DevelopmentDD

Mar 6

Written By Cristy Houghton

Tweed Shire Council, NSW

A gateway into New South Wales for southeast Queensland’s population centres, The Tweed is a place of rich and diverse natural assets, with its coast, river, valley and wilderness areas a drawcard and feature of the region.

Project purpose

The intended outcome from The Tweed Events Strategy was to attract visitation by the kinds of high value, low impact guests who support and respect the values of The Tweed community; and to leverage events for positive outcomes for The Tweed community.

Project overview

Development of the Events Strategy involved

engaging with key stakeholders
scoping existing events, infrastructure and capability
exploring competitive advantages, issues, gaps and opportunities
developing a vision and objectives
identifying game-changing strategic priorities and the actions to achieve them

providing guidance on building resilience to external threats
defining Tweed Shire’s role in events acquisition and its partnerships with other stakeholders in the region

Project outcomes

The project outcomes were maximised by being very clear on the purpose of events for Tweed and the types of attendees/visitors the destination wants to attract.

Other ways outcomes were maximised included

being agile in the ambiguous environment (due to COVID)
challenging assumptions when taking stock of the Shire’s existing events, infrastructure and facilities
identifying those strategic priorities and actions that will foster a balanced portfolio of compelling business, arts, cultural, sports and leisure events
validating the opportunities and proposed priorities with key stakeholders
aligning priorities with the desires of the community
taking a holistic view of event development and expansion in the Shire and how it fits within the broader region.

The strategy identifies

the desired purposes of events (or benefits from events)
ideal attendees aligned with the destination’s sustainable tourism ethos
the right fit events, and criteria to assess them against
recommendations for Council’s event sponsorship program to leverage events for improved community benefit
priorities and an action plan to achieve them
measures of success

Referee

Kerrie McConnell
Events Officer
Tweed Shire Council
02 6670 2735
kerriem@tweed.nsw.gov.au
www.tweed.nsw.gov.au

Cristy Houghton

Cristy's unique career has taken her from country NSW to the city lights of Clarendon Street South Melbourne and back again. With an early career in radio as a copywriter and creative strategist, she is now a Jill of all trades as a graphic designer, website builder, blog writer, video editor, social media manager, marketing strategist and more.

In fact, give her any task and this chick will figure out how to do it! Go on, we dare you!

No, really, we DARE you!!

Cristy has won two Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) for Best Ad and Best Sales Promotion, and even has an 'Employee of the Year' certificate with her name on it.

Cristy and her husband James have traveled extensively through Russia, China and South East Asia, and have two fur-babies, Sooty (cat) and Panda (puppy). Cristy loves drinking coffee, meeting people to drink coffee, coffee tasting and coffee flavoured cocktails. She also enjoys road trips, TED Talks and watching cat videos on youtube.

http://www.embarketing.com.au