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Welcome to More+ Informed,


It’s interesting times in the tourism sector, but following a particularly busy period at SKYCITY Convention Centre, I am confident that our business model is meeting the business community's need for high quality New Zealand hospitality.

We attended AIME in Melbourne earlier this year which was a rewarding experience and gave us the opportunity to showcase our services to the international market.  We very much enjoyed meeting many existing and new customers and thank you for coming along to our stand. 

The trends in the MICE market are positive, with forward bookings for the SKYCITY Convention Centre stronger than last year. I am optimistic that this market will be a key driver in the recovery of the hospitality industry – people are travelling and need to conduct their meetings.  I wish to thank you, our customers, for your confidence in us and in our ability to deliver your events and meetings at a superior quality. We have a wonderful team and we thoroughly enjoy our work with you. 


Warm wishes

Peter Zielke

email: peter.zielke@skycity.co.nz
phone: +64 9 363 6070

SKYCITY Catering & Events under the Big Top
VIP and corporate guests attending Cirque du Soleil ‘Dralion’ will enjoy superlative performances under the big top from both the performers and the caterers. SKYCITY Catering & Events has been confirmed by Cirque du Soleil to be the exclusive caterer for the DRALION show. The show will be in Auckland from 9 July until August. SKYCITY is proud to win this contract and be able to add our culinary excellence to this without-a-doubt spectacular show.

Guests in the VIP/Corporate area of the big top can choose high quality food and drinks delivered by SKYCITY Catering and Events. A sophisticated catering set up, great culinary expertise and professional events team ensures an impressive culinary experience.

SKYCITY employs over 200 chefs in its 10 restaurants and Convention Centre to produce a high quality range of international cuisine and special dietary dishes.  The SKYCITY Catering & Events team is excited to have secured the contract again and looks forward to planning and delivering a menu for a discerning audience.

Maritime Museum latest SKYCITY venue

Photo by: NZNMM Collection		 The New Zealand National Maritime Museum on Auckland’s waterfront is the latest venue to join the SKYCITY Catering & Events portfolio.

From June 1, SKYCITY Catering & Events will be the exclusive provider for this marvellous venue.

SKYCITY Catering & Events now offers exceptional boutique-style catering and event services at the Museum making the most of this glorious venue. The Museum is capable of hosting relatively small events with a maximum of 220 for dinner or up to 350 for cocktails and is ideal for day conferencing or evening functions.

As well as being the exclusive provider for the Maritime Museum, SKYCITY is the preferred supplier for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, ASB Showgrounds and St Matthew-in-the-City.

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Meet Michelle Rhind - Catering & Events Manager
Joining SKYCITY in 2002, Michelle began work in the previous convention centre and worked on the operations team which launched the new centre in 2004.

Creative and enjoying a challenge, Michelle went on to become a key member of the team that developed the Catering & Events division. After time off in 2006, Michelle returned to a position in work force planning and moved to her current role in November 2007.

In her role, Michelle oversees the team that delivers events.  She enjoys the variety and working as part of an efficient and fun team.  “No two days are the same, I work with a great team of people and everything hinges on our planning and accurate logistics assessment.  Everyday we work in venues that aren’t ours which makes everything a moving feast.  We have plan A, plan B and plan C to think about on a daily basis and it would be absolutely impossible to be successful without a smoothly operating, highly skilled team of committed people. I also believe in the product we deliver, it’s simply a top quality operation.”  

In her spare time, Michelle, not surprisingly, is seriously into food, wine, coffee and travel.

CONVENE showcases Auckland events industry
Staged at SKYCITY Convention Centre on 7 April, the fourth annual Convene attracted double exhibitor numbers over the 2008 event with the number of buyers consistent with last year.

Buyers raved about the exhibition because it enabled them to research, source and engage with a diverse range of event suppliers at one time.

Convene is an Auckland focused, ground roots showcase of the city’s functions industry attracting 40 hosted buyers from around the country, 123 exhibitors and around 300 Auckland people who organise all types of events.

Organiser Trish Freeman said Convene is designed to bring together function suppliers with people who organise events ranging from corporate to private and special interest.

“A wide range of exhibitors were represented from every sector and this year included interesting venues such as a boatshed and a cooking school.  We introduced two new elements, an entertainment section where entertainers were given 10 minutes apiece to showcase their acts and a seminar section where practical helpful tips were offered in 10 minute seminars. These were incredibly well received and helped people to really drill down into the detail of putting together an event.”

Ms Freeman said SKYCITY’s involvement ‘put the oomph behind the event’.  “SKYCITY has helped propel Convene to the next level.  Their sponsorship and support has been invaluable and we certainly look forward to working with SKYCITY again for next year’s event.”

SKYCITY’s Jo Meredith said the event was extremely well received.

“The day was informative and fun for everyone involved. The food was fantastic! There was a great variety of product on show including entertainment profiles and a seafood school.  It was great to see Waiheke Island profiled as a functions destination and everyone enjoyed the networking opportunities. Tourism Auckland conducted familiarisation programmes pre and post event for the hosted buyers and the weather turned it on for those days which really helped to show Auckland in the best possible light.”

Next year's Convene Auckland is scheduled for 20 April at SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre.

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Auckland turns on the weather for RANZCOG
The combined conference for "Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Gynaecology" and "Asian and Oceanic Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology" brought in more than 900 international and national delegates to SKYCITY.

The event over took the whole convention centre, with it's own dedicated exhibition floor for over 60 exhibitors, also booking the theatre for the 5 days of conference. Delegates also stayed in our hotels - booking over 1000 room nights combined in both SKYCITY Grand and SKYCITY Hotels'.

Auckland turned on beautiful weather while the SKYCITY convention team delivered its usual excellent service.

Prime Minister outlines vision for Tourism
At a recent New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference held at the SKYCITY Convention Centre, Prime Minister John Key outlined his vision for Tourism during his first major speech as Tourism Minister (View speech).

Considered one of the most important meetings for the tourism industry this year, the programme for the 3rd annual New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference (on 14 May) reflected the theme ‘Opportunities in Challenging Times’.  Presentations and panel discussions involved other key industry commentators and decision makers including, BNZ’s Head of Research Stephen Toplis, business commentator Rod Oram and New Zealand Hotel Council’s Jenny Langley.

20 exhibitors representing the heavyweights of the hospitality industry – from hotel groups to hospitality service organisations, banking partners, Tourism New Zealand and the Tourism Industry Association took part in the conference which was attended by 234 delegates.

SKYCITY’s Amanda Olliver said she had received a lot of positive feedback about the event.

“There’s always a bit of pressure when you’re putting on an event for industry partners so we were thrilled that everything ran smoothly and exceeded expectations,” she said.

New Zealand’s biggest jewellery show
Open for three days only, New Zealand’s biggest jewellery show will be housed at SKYCITY Convention Centre from Friday July 17 to Sunday July 19.

Join the celebrities and media who want to be seen in style at the Gala Preview opening night from 7pm to 10.30pm Thursday July 16.

Tickets are $65 per person, and go on sale next week on www.skycityauckland.co.nz

Price includes exclusive preview of the jewellery, free catalogue, complementary drinks and canapés.

The New Zealand Jewellery Show is the only national-wide forum for the country’s jewellery designers to present their work for sale to the public.

After three successful years in Wellington, the New Zealand Jewellery Show is coming to Auckland to enjoy a larger venue and reach a larger audience. The show is designed to showcase the work of more than 100 jewellery designers from around the country and will include contemporary, emerging and traditional elements.  A wide range of quality jewellery from classic pieces to edgy fashion statements and objects d’art – all designed and made in New Zealand – will be on sale. 

The event also showcases the Regal Castings National Jewellery Awards.. In the main exhibition hall, New Zealand's Fine Jewellers and Contemporary Jewellers will present the work of designers of contemporary and fine jewellery. The designers, each with their own display cabinet, will be there to meet the public offering them a chance to hear the story behind each piece.

One day tickets to the show cost $18 adults, $12 students and seniors over 65, children under 14 free.The exhibition opening hours are Friday July 17, 1pm to 8pm, Saturday July 18, 10am to 5pm and Sunday July 19, 10am to 4pm.

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