Event International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress 2010
Destination Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Organiser Parks Victoria
Delegates 1,200
Date April 11-16



The brief
Parks Victoria wanted to raise awareness about how nature and parks contribute to community health and well-being.
The inaugural International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress aimed to bring together world leaders from sectors such as park management, health, tourism and environmental sustainability, to set an agenda and call on government agencies to adopt their recommendations in government policies.


Challenges
Marketing a new event was the biggest hurdle, particularly during the global economic downturn. Elisia Dowling from Parks Victoria says more than 300 people were involved in delivering the program at a high standard in order to attract international delegates.

Congress keynote speakers and delegates came from all over the world, including Uganda and South Africa.

As part of the programme’s emphasis on health and the outdoors, 18 city tours around Melbourne and surrounding areas were incorporated into the event. Many of the tours were conducted by bicycle or on foot, mostly featuring Melbourne parks, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens.

To make sure all activities ran smoothly, 100 volunteers supported delegates, acted as ushers and room monitors and led the tours. Parks Victoria also hired 45 bicycles for the duration of the conference, which delegates could use to take part in city tours or go sightseeing.

Execution
For the gala dinner, MCEC’s in-house kitchen team created a menu using produce from some of Victoria’s most sustainable farms and vineyards.

There was salmon and caviar from Yarra Valley Salmon, one of the few fresh water aquaculture farms in the world; free-range goat’s cheese from Red Hill Cheese, and wines, from De Bortoli, which follows strict environmental practices in biological farming in the Yarra Valley.

For the opening ceremony dinner, there was a Streets of Melbourne theme with food stations representing the city’s diverse cuisine, including Vietnamese, Italian and Indigenous Australian.

Roving entertainers such as singers, balloon makers and dancers mingled with attendees.

Parks Victoria also opted to use green power, one of the environmental initiatives MCEC offers, where power is sourced from renewable energy.

Comment
Natural England strategic health advisor, Dr William Bird, says many delegates praised the conference as the best they had ever attended. He added the location was a critical factor in the event’s success.

“When you have discussions on obesity, it’s vital to have venues like the MCEC where delegates can easily walk to their hotel and any other facilities they may need,” he says.