Best practice tours & forums

Recognised as Australasia’s Leading Meetings and Conference Centre, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) connects business with everything you need for a successful event – incredible spaces, leading technology, award winning food and the expertise to bring it all together.

In 2017, our members enjoyed our Best Practice tour of the MCEC kitchen. This tour provided an insight into how the largest commercial kitchen in the Southern Hemisphere manages its workflow of over 1,000 events each year, while creating award-winning food with a sustainable local produce philosophy that supports Victorian businesses.

The MCEC highlighted their ‘paddock to plate’ approach, in which ingredients are either sourced locally, or at least from Australia.

The group was struck by the great sense of pride the team has for the MCEC. The strong culture-based approach and support for high-performance team members were explained by Executive Chef, Peter Haycroft and Director of People and Culture, Helen Fairclough.

To top things off, members were treated to a spectacular dessert table experience at the end of the tour!

This story originally appeared in the Business Excellence Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 3, Spring 2017

Chamber members were in ‘full gear’ in late June 2017 with a Best Practice event hosted by Mercedes-Benz Australia at Sandown Park.

They were met with an ultra-professionally run event – a sentiment reinforced by the line-up of drivers (many well-known on the professional circuit) who would be our instructors.

Racing personality, Peter Hackett started the session with a presentation on Mercedes-Benz Australia’s current and future automotive technology. The presentation explained the benefits of autonomous driving and how such technology is steadily being introduced into the market.

Following this, members were let loose on the track and, in small groups, got behind the wheel for a range of exercises. The rainy conditions only further highlighted the quality and safety of these vehicles, as well as adding to the thrill!

This story originally appeared in the Business Excellence Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 3, Spring 2017.

St Vincent’s, one of Melbourne’s major hospitals, is driving medical innovation, helping to position Victoria as a global leader in the fast-growth industry of biomedical engineering.

In July 2017, a group of members visited the Biofabrication Centre, which is connected with the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. Uniquely, the centre is located within a hospital, right on the edge of the CBD. Within these unassuming buildings on Nicholson Street in Fitzroy, brain cells are being grown, and a ‘BioPen’ is used for the growth of other body parts. From restoring sight, to limb repair and regeneration, biomedicine has the potential to treat illness in ways that have never been possible before.

On this fascinating tour, members learnt a lot about biomedicine, and that the key to the success of this research is multidisciplinary collaboration and the fusion of medicine and technology. The team is comprised of people with backgrounds in medicine, science, engineering and physics. What they have in common is the passion for achieving results and restoring dignity for patients. They are open to working with researchers from far and wide, with several university partners, and enjoy showcasing their work by conducting tours of the centre.

Finally, members were shown a remarkable artwork display that demonstrated their different approaches to solving problems and challenges.

This story originally appeared in the Business Excellence Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 3, Spring 2017.