Last week’s article “Industry faces chronic skills shortage by 2014” (March 21) rightly underscores Linda Gaunt’s concern that an industry sector needs to have professionally trained staff to be considered professional. There is no doubt learning and the quest for self improvement should be a goal for all industry professionals, not just the preserve of new entrants to the meetings industry.
In a competitive market where the time and cost of long haul travel to attend business events will increasingly be a factor, the quality and reputation of the experiences on offer can be a deciding reason in bid decisions. Those organisations that provide intelligent, courteous and seamless services to the event organiser will gain trust and build their reputation. We can train for skill but not for attitude and it is perhaps the latter that is more difficult to remedy. Pursuing a career in the events sector is an area of genuine interest amongst school leavers and to grow in stature the field needs to attract the "best and brightest" as well as entry level TAFE graduates.
Throughout Australia there are many universities and TAFE colleges geared to assist the industry in provision of event education. Like many in the tertiary sector we welcome the opportunity to work more closely with industry partners and are encouraged with the many successful partnerships forged with MICE employers. Such linkages allow input in curriculum design and assist in preparing students for the challenges of a career in the MICE sector. Such partnerships offer a way for the tertiary sector to be directly involved in redressing skills shortages identified by MEA. The second and more important step is for organisations working within the sector to give new opportunities to appropriately qualified applicants from our courses and to invest the time to release present staff to up skill.
