The APPA Board held its most recent meeting on Friday May 14 in Sydney. Below is a summary of the meeting from President Robert Williams:
The focus of this meeting was a high level review of APPA trade shows and more specifically the results of a recent trade show survey to our supplier exhibitors. Key Board decisions include:
- The annual schedule will remain unchanged with Roadshow in March and CONVEX in August.
- CONVEX will be renamed and rotate each year between Sydney & Melbourne (subject to a suitable Melbourne venue).
- CONVEX 2022 will be held in Melbourne (again, subject to a suitable Melbourne venue).
- There will be no member-only timeslots, however non-member distributors will now be charged a $30 entry fee per person or $100 for a team of 4 or more to attend Roadshow & CONVEX.
- Exhibiting will remain exclusive to APPA member suppliers.
APPA tradeshows are extremely important to APPA and the industry, and the Board and staff are dedicated to investing into the continuous development of these shows to ensure we are producing high quality trade shows that deliver value & attract the right people to stay longer (this is part of the current strategic plan). Therefore, APPA will be introducing further new initiatives and activities at future shows including increased education, social opportunities, activation ideas, and more.
In addition to the trade shows, other highlights of this meeting were:
- APPA is on track to experience a financial loss this financial year as budgeted. The Board is very pleased with APPA’s current overall financial position considering we have been very limited in trade show income over the past 1.5 years.
- The 2021/22 budget was approved, which included a new Sales/BDM/Membership position in Australia as well as New Zealand.
- The Board approved five new members to the membership register.
- The strategic plan which was launched one year ago, was reviewed and updated to reflect changes to decisions throughout the past 12 months, timelines were extended, action items removed, etc
- The Board decided to cancel the 2021 Australian APPA Awards. We realise this will be disappointing to some members, but due to the impact of COVID last year to our industry and the current review of the Awards program, we felt it was best to postpone these until 2022 with an improved program and added excitement at the Awards Gala Dinner.
If you wish to discuss any of these Board decisions, please do not hesitate to email me at robert@yourbrandunleashed.com.au.
Robert Williams
APPA President
