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Return to Bulletin Home - May 2008 |
Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop Brings World to Sydney "The organisation of the workshop was first rate and the value gained by those attending was about as good as it gets," said English New Zealand Chairman Rob McKay of the inaugural Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop held in Sydney, Australia from May 5–7. The workshop, jointly organised by ICEF and Australia-based EdMedia, was a great success with 465 participants from 59 countries in attendance, and 4,380 one-to-one meetings scheduled between educators and agents. This makes the Australian New Zealand Agent Workshop the third-largest ICEF workshop worldwide, after ICEF Berlin and ICEF Beijing.
As a destination-focused event, the ANZA Workshop marks an innovative new direction for ICEF's global workshop schedule. The event was open only to educators from Australia or New Zealand. Of the 113 educational institutions represented in Sydney, 51% were from Australia and 49% from New Zealand. Similarly, the 227 participating agents were carefully screened by ICEF, and were selected for the workshop based on their professional qualifications and degree of focus on the Australian and New Zealand markets. Thirty-one percent of these agents were attending their first-ever ICEF workshop. Advance polling of educators by ICEF further shaped the agent selection for the workshop by identifying the international markets of greatest interest among Australian and New Zealand educators. The end result was a rigorous selection process that drew qualified agents from 59 countries identified by participating educators.
"Basically," said ICEF CEO Markus Badde, "the whole world came to Sydney." Leanne Everett from Australia's Language Links College agreed, "It was so great to have an event like this in Australia finally! By the agents travelling to Australia it created an automatic awareness of our country and culture, something that is so much better to see first-hand instead of on paper." In addition to an intensive schedule of one-to-one educator-agent meetings, the workshop featured a series of destination-focused market intelligence seminars, and a variety of networking events—including a harbour cruise, cocktail reception, and dinner/dance. Participating agents were also invited to join several familiarisation tours to Adelaide, the Northern Sydney Beaches, Perth, Tasmania, and Wollongong.
The ANZA Workshop is supported by major education associations in both Australia and New Zealand, including Australian Education International, English Australia, the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET), Education New Zealand, English New Zealand and the New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP). The 2009 Australia New Zealand Workshop will be held at the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre in downtown Auckland, New Zealand from April 22 – 24, 2009. |
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