How Brisbane got ready for G20 Leaders Summit

Previous weekend, Brisbane, Australia’s new world city, attracted approximately 3000 domestic and international media and 4000 delegates who represent 85% of the world’s GDP for the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the summit offered a once-in-a-generation opportunity on which the Australian city had spent the past two years planning to capitalise.

He said the G20 provided an opportunity to use the experience of being ‘capital of the world’ for the week to further enhance his economic aspirations for Brisbane and enlisting the global community to join Team Brisbane.

“We are honoured that the G20 world leaders summit’s ambitious plan to drive economic growth across the world will be known as the Brisbane Action Plan which is an exciting opportunity we must embrace and leverage,” he said.

“I want Brisbane to be renowned as a rising star in the Asia Pacific, a leader in ideas and innovation that stretch the boundaries, as epitomised by our staging of the Brisbane Global Café, a first for a G20 host city."

“Its success allowed us to guide the international conversation towards topics of importance to our city and was our unique contribution to the summit. I sincerely hope future host cities will continue this as a G20 tradition.”

“The G20 has shown that Brisbane is a place where significant people can meet to make important decisions on global issues and I had the opportunity to meet with many of these influential speakers and some of the world leaders to enhance the economic aspirations for Brisbane.”

Cr Quirk said G20’s pull had been used to promote business opportunities in Brisbane to business leaders in destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and France.

“The Choose Brisbane campaign sought to raise awareness among corporate decision-makers about the business opportunities in Brisbane,” he said.

“The campaign featured images of world leaders, including United States president Barack Obama, co-creator of the world-first cervical cancer vaccine Professor Ian Frazer, and Phil Larsen from Halfbrick, the game developer behind the global hit Fruit Ninja."

“It was a resounding success being seen by more than 165 million people across the globe on billboards, web ads or in newspapers."

“Significant international media coverage has also been generated through targeted publicity activity."

“In the weeks prior, visiting journalists have already been sharing their experience of Brisbane as an exciting new world city and a rising star of the Asia Pacific.”

Cr Quirk said Brisbane had undertaken a number of on-the-ground measures to ensure the city was well-prepared to host the summit.

“This year, Brisbane has seen more than 600 new hotel rooms come online to support the growing market of business travellers,” he said.

“We’re also making sure that visitors leave with memories of Brisbane as the friendliest G20 host city."

“The Brisbane Welcomes the World program put more than 1000 tourism and hospitality workers and volunteers through a free training program to guarantee visitors feel welcomed and connected to Brisbane."

“We’ve organised a number of events and activities to showcase the city’s vibrancy and invested in infrastructure, including physical signs and geo-tagged apps, to improve the city’s accessibility.”

How Brisbane got ready for G20 Summit

1. BRISBANE GLOBAL CAFE NOV 12 & 13
Brisbane hosted the inaugural Brisbane Global Cafe, an initiative that will bring together more than 70 of the world’s leading experts, entrepreneurs and new-world thinkers to explore everything from technology to improving human life.

Through keynote speeches, seminars and forums, the Global Cafe created a space for the world’s brightest brains to share ideas, develop ways of thinking and to connect with Brisbane’s very own pioneers of research and innovation.

Global Cafe is Brisbane’s legacy to the G20 Leaders Summit and aims to be a lasting tradition other cities will embrace and build upon. Global Cafe took place in City Hall on 12 and 13 November. Talks were live-streamed online and broadcast in King George Square for public viewing.

2. CHOOSE BRISBANE CAMPAIGN
Since March last year, economic development board Brisbane Marketing has run Choose Brisbane, an international marketing campaign to raise awareness about Brisbane among corporate decision-makers in business investment, conventions and international education.

The campaign aimed to capitalise on the exposure from hosting the 2014 G20 Summit and features images of world leaders. More than 165 million people across the globe have so far seen the campaign on billboards, online or in print.

3. BRISBANE WELCOMES THE WORLD
The Brisbane Welcomes the World program has put more than 1000 tourism and hospitality workers and volunteers through their paces in a free training program that ensures Brisbane is remembered as the ‘friendly G20 host city’.

The aim of the interactive program was to help ensure Brisbane’s frontline service staff and volunteers help the estimated 7000 visitors and delegates make a personal connection with Brisbane that they will share with colleagues, friends and family.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia