HEALTHCARE TODAY: News and views from the Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare Ltd

IHHC Conference 2021 now scheduled for Brisbane in September

In last issue’s column, I looked back at the unprecedented nature of 2020 and wrote about some of the changes we in the IHHC had made to quickly adapt to the physical distancing requirements and restrictions placed on our face to face gatherings. 

As part of those restrictions, the IHHC Board reluctantly made the decision to postpone our 2020 Conference – usually one of the highlights of our calendar. The Conference brings together delegates from a variety of health and aged care organisations, across a range of positions including Support Service Managers, Foodservice Managers, Executive Chefs, Cleaning, Laundry and Environmental Services Managers and other professionals engaged in services to the sector.

We are now forging ahead with our plans to hold our Conference this year – although it will now be in Brisbane rather than Perth as previously announced. A number of factors have led to this decision, but most obviously the need to ensure a venue and location which would be accessible for the majority of our attendees, who are expected to hail from the Eastern seaboard.

Therefore the 2021 IHHC Conference will now be held in the Boulevard Level of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre in South Brisbane, from Tuesday 21 – Thursday 23 September 2021. We have chosen this venue because the Conference incorporates a trade exhibition component, which we are hoping will be bigger and better this year, so we needed somewhere accessible and central.

The Conference itself is being housed within a relatively new area of the Convention & Exhibition Centre, which we believe will work well logistically, and we will probably have two to three times the space in the function areas that we had at our last conference in Melbourne in 2019. The main auditorium will hold around 200, plus we will be hosting presentations in smaller breakout rooms.

With this decision made just before Christmas, we are now entering the planning stages for the Conference. While we may be including some of the previously announced speakers from last year’s planned Conference (travel restrictions permitting), we are taking the opportunity to take a fresh look at the program and make sure that everything to be presented is bang up to date and future-focused, as per the Conference’s theme of ‘The Future Landscape: Expertise for Changing Times’. So we are looking at ensuring that all presentations tie in with that theme in some way.

We are already at work to find interesting and topical keynote speakers who can provide inspirational and motivational addresses which we believe the industry can only benefit from.

We will also be running a series of workshops and plan to tie in some site tours of Brisbane’s health and aged care facilities for those interested (COVID restrictions permitting).

We are very keen to encourage any suppliers or businesses interested in supporting the conference to get in touch with us. As mentioned there is a trade exhibition component which all conference supporters participate in, plus plenty of opportunities to mix with our members and other attendees.

We know that for many suppliers and businesses whose products and services are relevant to the healthcare side of hospitality, the opportunities to engage directly with the health and aged care market have been few and far between over the past 12 months. Restrictions around entry into hospitals and aged care facilities has made it difficult for many to promote their products and services to those who will benefit most from them. Therefore, we’ll be making sure that our 2021 Conference provides a great showcase for these products and services and the chance to talk face to face with potential customers in a safe and welcoming environment. Unox, Pac Foods, Regethermic, Phoeniks, Oates Cleaning products and companies responsible for the provision of meal management software for the healthcare market have already signed up to participate in the trade exhibition.

We will also be opening up the trade exhibition at selected times to other sections of the hospitality industry, so that non-Conference delegates also have the opportunity to visit the various booths and meet with suppliers. This will be facilitated via invitation.

And we are currently in discussions with some high profile chefs to possibly include a culinary competition as part of the event – more news on this will be announced in the coming months. 

The supporter and exhibitor information pack is now available on the IHHC website so please take a look at that for more information. You don’t have to be an existing IHHC supporter to participate in the Conference as a supporter or trade exhibitor.  

Everyone on the IHHC Board is excited about this year’s Conference and I look forward to being able to provide more information as the program of events takes shape. In the meantime, any queries regarding supporting, exhibiting at or presenting at the Conference should be addressed to me at ihhcqld @ gmail.com

TROY LITZOW
National Vice President - IHHC