ClubsNSW is the governing body for more than 1200 member clubs in the state. The Association’s purpose is to lead a sustainable industry that makes a growing contribution to the NSW community, seeks to strengthen conditions for those working within the industry, and to support the local communities they serve
ClubsNSW were looking for an Event Management company to help manage and reinvigorate their Annual Gala Awards Night. The event attracted over 1200 guests with over 25 awards presented – it is the Logies for the Clubs industry.
This Space were engaged for end-to-end management of the Awards Night for three years. We were responsible for everything except the award submissions themselves, which were managed by ClubsNSW alongside a judging panel.
We proposed a new awards structure that would reduce the awards from a whopping 25 to 12. The 12 awards would allow members to celebrate their achievements and better reflect what was relevant in the industry – e.g. Environment & Sustainability, Community and Emergency Services.
We negotiated a three-year contract with Royal Hall of Industries for the Awards Night, knowing that in 2017, ClubsNSW were preparing to move the conference to Sydney to be combined with the Awards. We designed a new theme each year for the Awards program which was integrated throughout the event – from invitation design, registration, digital content during the awards and styling of the event space. For the first year the theme was “Clubs are the seed in the community that helps it grow”. We used an oak tree as the visual representation of this theme. The event commenced with a visual display of seeds being blown across the 30m stage screen. As the night progressed the seed turned into a seedling which grew throughout the presentations up until the final award when it was displayed as an iconic oak tree cemented into the landscape.
Prior to taking on the management of the conference in 2017, two of our team attended the 2016 conference on the Gold Coast as invited guests to get a first-hand experience of how the event was run. Following the conference, we conducted interviews with 35 key directors. We then wrote a comprehensive strategic report that not only audited the event but proposed key changes to be implemented. We also highlighted what challenges they would face in terms of registration for the events following the move. We proposed a plan to mitigate an expected drop off in year one and ensure the event bounced back by year two following the move.
We were delighted that ClubsNSW took on all our recommendations following our strategic review. The drop-off in registrations was only 100 guests in 2017. In 2018 they experienced the highest attendance at the events to date. For us, at This Space, working with ClubsNSW is a long-term partnership. We saw the potential that their two annual events could have on their membership and we are delighted they have gone with our vision, been brave to make a change and let us help shape their events and marketing strategy.
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