Interim CEO of Destination Gold Coast in Australia and speaking at AIME 2023 in Melbourne, Karen Bolinger explains that Brisbane’s winning bid for the 2032 Olympics needs to leverage the opportunity to shine a light on the Gold Coast’s assets in the Allied Health Services, Education, Creative Film, and Business sectors using key ambassadors to front the messaging for the region. Seeing an opportunity to use the event to highlight sector development that remains unique to the destination is key to the destination stewardship of the Gold Coast – as Bolinger explains:
“We want events that impact our community well beyond when they have left.”
As a Founding Mother of the narrative surrounding the legacy and intellectual capitalism of business events which emerged post GFC in 2008, Bolinger remains committed to leveraging events to drive policy agendas aligned to the destination. Karen is former CEO of Melbourne Convention Bureau and Regional Director, Asia Pacific, for the Professional Convention Managers Association, PCMA.
