CHIEF MINISTER’S WELCOME OFFICIAL WELCOME

Canberra continues to be a thriving destination for events of all kinds. Creating your business event in Canberra gives you unparalleled access to national decision makers and thought leaders. Our knowledge economy is supported by Australia’s leading research and academic institutions, a vibrant innovation ecosystem and strength in industry sectors driving Australia’s future.

Canberra’s size, the diversity of venues and the easy access to a range of experiences across the city, provides the perfect environment for your delegates to connect and build networks.

After the work is done, your delegates will discover a city nestled in nature with space to breathe, reflect and relax.

Exciting food and beverage offerings showcase our diverse Canberra region, and world-class museums and galleries tell the nation’s story. Everyone is welcome in Canberra. We are a proudly multicultural city and the most LGBTIQ+ welcoming and inclusive city in Australia.

Canberra is the place to discuss the big issues, create opportunities and find solutions. It is our nation’s meeting place, and we look forward to welcoming you in 2023.

Canberra is your capital. Cutting-edge researchers, Nobel Prize winners, federal politicians, innovative thinkers, artists, media figures and business leaders all call our great city home. It’s this mix of interesting people that makes Canberra a city of knowledge, culture and influence.

This 2023 Meeting Planners Guide looks to a sustainable future for our city and the exciting sustainability developments here that meeting planners can build into their events. Our planned and easily accessible capital is now more connected than ever through increased air routes around Australia. Our convenient proximity to major population centres makes us the meeting destination of choice.

We’re a dynamic city, abundant with prestigious establishments and national treasures such as the National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, and Australian Parliament House. Our national story is held within their walls, making them ideal places to host business events.

THINK CANBERRA and the Research and Learning Institutes Group (RALIG) connect your events with these institutions and the thought leaders who work there. Canberra continues to forge its reputation as Australia’s powerhouse of information and justify its title as the ‘Knowledge Capital’. The city is home to five of Australia’s top-ranking universities and a range of research centres.

An advantage of holding your event in a well-designed city the size of Canberra is the ease of movement and connectivity. People within Canberra’s business events community take pride in working collaboratively to deliver on your business events outcomes, where planners and delegates can simply achieve more.

With the help of the Canberra Convention Bureau team, you can access all of Canberra’s unique offerings to design an event program that will inform, entertain, inspire, and impress. We look forward to sharing it with you in person.

Named the world’s most sustainable city in 2021, and with lofty ambitions to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, Canberra is regarded as a leader in sustainability.

With its sights set firmly on a greener future, the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is one Canberra attraction determined to help deliver on the Government’s sustainability targets with the launch of the brand-new Ian Potter National Conservatory.

As an iconic tourist attraction, the ANBG plays a central role in the conservation of native flora and vegetation and is home to the biggest collection of native Australian plants in the world. Due to open in the second half of 2023, the Ian Potter National Conservatory will contribute to the further expansion of the collection, as it becomes a national and international showcase for some of Australia’s most beautiful and unusual tropical native flora.

“The conservatory has been designed to be highly sustainable with low energy use. We think it’s the most energy-efficient conservatory anywhere in the world,” said Australian National Botanic Gardens General Manager Peter Byron.

The highly insulated walls keep the heat out in summer and keep heat inside during winter, while airlock doors and airtight construction minimises infiltration gains and losses. The high-performance glass roof and walls allow the space to be completely lit by sunlight during the day.

Showcasing And Protecting A Threatened Landscape

The $12 million conservatory project will feature an eyecatching floating cube design. Inside, the gallery will replicate the conditions of a tropical rainforest where visitors can immerse themselves in the sights and scents of the tropics.

An impressive 17-metre-high rainforest chamber will feature plants from northern Queensland’s wet and dry tropics, while a downstairs section will house a ‘plant library’ displaying rare and threatened species – many that have never before been cultivated and will be on public display for the first time. A specially designed soundscape will add the effects of birds, the rustling of leaves, and frog calls from the forest floor.

“This project will allow us to display tropical flora from some of Australia’s most famous national parks and remote locations for Canberrans and visitors to the capital,” said Mr Byron.

“Tropical plant species from Kakadu National Park, the wet tropics of northern Queensland, Christmas Island, and other exotic locations, are expected to be a tourism draw card for the Gardens while also operating as a world-class research facility for rare and threatened Australian tropical plants.”

A Whole New Event Offering

The ANBG already offers meeting planners an event venue with a difference – a peaceful oasis just moments from the city centre, with a diverse and ever-changing backdrop. The Ian Potter National Conservatory will further enhance this offering. Complementing existing indoor and outdoor event spaces, the Ian Potter National Conservatory forecourt will cater for intimate cocktail parties or functions of up to 80 people, with guests able to walk through the conservatory as part of the event experience.

Located just up the hill from Pollen Cafe, the Ian Potter National Conservatory will be a fully accessible venue, with ramp access, and full lift access to the lower conservatory level. The conservatory will present an exciting addition to Canberra’s world-class business events offering in 2023.