High impact, purpose-driven, and sustainable: this perfectly describes the MICE sector in Oceania.
With Australia and New Zealand stepping up their respective games in terms of even venues, hospitality, and connectivity, the regional sector isn't just thriving: it is setting the pace for global MICE.
As talk2media CEO Matt Pearce put it during the opening of AIME 2026 earlier this week, Australia and the rest of the region are now past the post-COVID recovery stage and walking into new territory: an evolution driven by the push towards high-quality, impactful, and immersive events.
Pearce said: "Growth will continue to be driven by quality versus quantity. They are both incredibly important, but quality will always be our driver because our success has been built on delivering buyers who are ready to do business with our exhibitors. That will remain our guiding principle even as we grow into new channels, sub-groups, and different sectors."
The art of immersion via cultural integration
One of the things that sets events staged in Australia and New Zealand apart from the rest of the world is the way indigenous local culture is integrated into the overall event experience, essentially taking participants on a deep dive, so to speak, rather than a wading immersion.
In the case of Australia, all events honour the land's original owners and its traditional leaders through the inclusion of various traditions, cultural elements, as well as the overarching emphasis on sustainability that has come to characterise Australian MICE.
Tourism Australia managing director Robin Mack remarked on this: "Our First Nations story is so important to us and to our industry; and it is interlinked to our sustainability story, as well."
Mack added that there are actually two priorities driving Tourism Australia and the country's MICE sector.
Elaborating further he said: "The way we talk about culture in the business events sector is to inspire how they can integrate the story telling from a traditional welcome at an art exhibit that might involve the delegates to a food that brings in indigenous players."
Over the way in New Zealand, Māori culture has become an integral part of the MICE experience.
Te Ao Māori, the Māori worldview, can be felt in traditional welcome ceremonies, as well as the concepts of kaitiakitanga (environmental stewardship) and manaakitanga (hospitality.)
Event organisers have long made it a point to work with local iwi (tribes / clans), as well as Māori-owned businesses to ensure authentic rather than token representation.
Setting the standards
It is important to note that organisations like the Melbourne Convention Bureau are leading by example rather than dogma, replacing slogans and catchphrases with a variety of quantifiable measures in terms of sustainability and community support.
Measures have included the use of fully recyclable timber infrastructure for exhibitions and trade expos, zero-plastic mandates, and food-rescue partnerships to significantly decrease food wastage whilst supporting those in need.
At the same time, events are no longer viewed as isolated dates but more like catalysts for national growth.
The consolidation of independent groups through the launch of the Australian Business Events Association (ABEA) has likewise led to the sector's growing prominence in terms of industry research and advocacy.
The way forward
As a way of improving the way events are organised and staged, planners throughout Oceania are leveraging artificial intelligence for predictive audience analytics.
At the same time, immersive augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies are transforming traditional presentations into interactive journeys for both exhibitors and delegates.
Furthermore, there is a significant regional shift toward inclusivity.
As of 2025, approximately 68 percent of event professionals in Australia and New Zealand set and certainly achieved specific accessibility targets, making events more open, inclusive, and comfortable.
But this is all just the tip of the proverbial iceberg and AIME is just the first in a full calendar of regional events for this year.
While we cannot tell what the next chapter will be for Oceania's business events industry, we are pretty sure it's going to be an exciting and inspiring one for the world.
