Natalie O’Brien AM is Chief Executive of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). On the eve of the AMW exhibition at MCEC, she spoke with AMT magazine editor Paul Hellard.
Ms. O’Brien joined MCEC in January 2023 and has brought a wealth of leadership experience in the tourism and events industry. She is a former CEO of Food and Wine Victoria, producers of Australia’s internationally acclaimed Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. Most recently she has managed her own strategy consultancy while operating as a CEO for Wine Victoria, and previously interim CEO for Ballarat Regional Tourism, where she led the co-design of Visitor Economy Recovery Plans.
AMT: Your work history speaks of a deep knowledge and passion for public events. Tell me about the direction and drive that has kept with you in this sector.
Natalie O’Brien: It’s only when you’re older, and reflect back on your career you ask yourself where did my passion come from? My passion is absolutely people and connecting with people. There’s so much energy for people to participate and collaborate in the community in Melbourne I think my career in events, tourism and hospitality stems from being from four generations of hoteliers. My grandmother was an incredibly vivid role model in how to truly take care of people. From a young age, I worked in hospitality, then in tourism following an extended period at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, a time for me to learn about that industry in Australia which was growing at a rapid rate.
This was an incredible opportunity to ride the wave of growing food and wine events in Victoria. The events industry is full of very passionate people. I think that the diversity of events presently throws a spotlight on so many issues the public is thoroughly passionate about. This could be the environment, energy, business, or manufacturing. Music, or just fantastic food and wine. An event requires so many disciplines to work. Whether it’s logistics, HR, chef, gardening talent, or audio-visual expertise, it’s extraordinary. I’m constantly amazed at the talent of people, particularly in Melbourne, who have the skills to not just dream up events, but then implement and deliver them.
AMT: Give us an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, for the venue specifically, to stage such a big show like AMW2023?
NO: You can imagine an event to the scale of AMW2023, requires a lot of planning and coordination behind the scenes. One of the benefits of hosting an event at MCEC is that we have a dedicated event planner and technology planner assigned to look after clients from the beginning. Every client also has an event delivery manager who is their go-to person on the event days.
We act as the conduit between them, their contractors and all our internal teams with the ultimate objective to understand our client’s vision and bring it to life. Planning an event can start more than a year in advance – in the case of AMW2023, we started planning seven to eight months prior to the event.
Every event is unique with expectations that can often range from simple to very technical. It’s our role to work with our clients to problem-solve and troubleshoot to ensure their event is safe, and seamless, and all their guests have a wonderful experience at MCEC.
AMT: In January, you landed the CEO position at MCEC, the major conference and exhibition venue in Melbourne. The venue has a full slate, for the next couple of years, because you are dealing with the re-emergence of businesses pushing to get out and exhibit their products and services.
NO: I am in the first couple of months, this is week nine for me. I am still learning from key stakeholders, customers and everyone in our team. There’s the opportunity to meet customers in the middle of their events on-site, and our key stakeholders as well. I’ve tried to get to every corner of this building. Of course, the size and scope of the job together with the expanse of the venue was very overwhelming on my first day.
But there’s that opportunity to meet all of the employees, the pastry team, the uniform team, security, to our team in the event technology department. I try to physically walk the floor every morning to meet a whole raft of people who are working hard to deliver an exceptional experience for our customers. We are starting to prioritise many elements in this new operating environment. What does it look like for us going forward? We’re looking at how new technology plays a role in supporting our back-of-house systems and overall business efficiencies during big events. We’re also looking into what some of the digital and AI opportunities are that can enhance the customer experience, and also support the hybrid event model, if required. Other things we’re focusing on are our skills and cultivating the diverse workforce we have. Making sure we are creating an environment, of continuous learning. In January, MCEC held a lot of master classes to lift technical expertise to rebuild the capability we lost to other sectors during the lockdowns.
It’s a huge privilege to work in an industry and a sector that you absolutely love. I come into work every day and it’s my team and then our visitors and customers we get to welcome every day. I get huge motivation and inspiration from my team, whether it’s Mark and Cheryl in uniforms or our hard-working team in logistics. Face-to-face events are back and there’s that buzz of people talking about their sector or their industry. What an incredible role that I get to work with people on my team and then welcome people. All of this is in an incredible location along the Yarra River in Melbourne.
We’re also looking in terms of our future planning of events. What the long-term legacy events might leave for cities and regions. We had a conference here a couple of weeks ago where some customers are looking at what the event might deliver, in terms of long-term legacy to the local community. We know MCEC brings in visitors to Melbourne, and there’s a very good legacy of connecting people to the other experiences of the State, procuring local wines from Victoria and the very best food. The next extension is that conferences that may be dealing with important issues connect with the local community on such issues whether it’s gender equality or sustainability, how do we make those connections with the community here as well?
We had a Pathology conference, a Pokemon event and a Toy Fair here the other week. The diversity of the topics and ideas and exchanges is invigorating. In all of the nooks and crannies of this building, people are planning, connecting, and generating ideas, solutions and trade. That energy is what we really want to continue to build on. And so I look forward to learning more about manufacturing when AMW2023 comes in 9th to 12th May.
I’m very much looking forward to welcoming the AMW 2023 event this year in Melbourne, back after four years.
AMT: Peter King was CEO before you for some eleven years. He left quite a legacy.
NO: Peter King had such an incredible tenure and brought together a really important community of partners. We have the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal coming up which Peter was quite instrumental in supporting. Peter’s contribution was also to the ongoing drive for industry sustainability and the environment and MCEC really pushed out front many years ago. And Peter is continuing that with incredible stakeholder relationships both here in Australia amongst the team, and then all of the global organisations that he was a part of during his tenure as well.
I am only the third CEO of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. I look forward to welcoming you when you come. We’ve some exciting plans to explore technology and sustainability. And it feels like people have realized that connecting face-to-face is a hugely important part of our DNA. And the fact that we can do it again, I think is very exciting.