Published on September 5, 2017
All eyes have been on Ottawa for well over a year, thanks to the lead up to Canada’s big 150th birthday party on July 1st as well as numerous other commemorative events and activities taking place throughout the National Capital Region in 2017.
At Shaw Centre, we have been tremendously proud to play a pivotal role in a number of Canada 150 events, but at the same time we are always looking towards the future. Many of our events are booked years in advance and in some cases, involve complex negotiations by our skilled sales and marketing team. The event and convention marketplace is a highly competitive one so we feel a sense of genuine excitement each time we are successful in booking a repeat or brand new client to hold their event in our space, one of Canada’s most iconic venues.
Year over year, our numbers are steadily increasing, which is proof positive that our sales and marketing team has developed a winning formula for Shaw Centre. During our 2016-2017 fiscal year ending March 31, we hosted 416 events in total, which includes conventions, weddings, holiday parties and galas. Currently we are sitting at 469 events already booked for the 2017 – 2018 fiscal year, with numerous projects still in process. Of particular significance is that a number of the conventions we have booked are city-wide events, meaning that the event is large enough to have delegates staying in three or more hotels in the city. On average, these city-wide events book 500 hotel rooms or more, ensuring the economic benefits that accrue to Ottawa from having a world class venue like Shaw Centre are shared among our many partners in the travel and tourism industry.
Among the conventions taking place at Shaw Centre in 2018 are the Deloitte Partner Meeting, the CUPE All Committee Meeting, the RPIC Real Property National Workshop, the International Cryptographic Module Conference, the International Making Cities Livable Conference 2018, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, the CPA Conference & Trade Show and the Simulation Summit. Notably, several of these conferences are returning to Shaw Centre after our clients previously hosted very successful events with us.
Two 2018 events in particular are ones that will make a big impact in Ottawa. Shaw Centre is pleased to be hosting the 18th AFOA Canada National Conference. AFOA Canada (formerly the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada) is a not-for-profit association which is the centre for excellence and innovation in Aboriginal finance, management and leadership. It is the only organization in Canada that focuses on the capacity development and day-to-day needs of Aboriginal professionals working in all areas of finance, management, band administration, leadership and program management. AFOA’s 2018 conference is also its second international one and will draw over 1000 delegates to Ottawa, all of whom will also be filling hotel rooms, restaurants and other attractions. Bringing this event to Ottawa was a joint collaboration between Ottawa Tourism and Shaw Centre, supported also by AFOA President and Chief Executive Officer, Terry Goodtrack.
A second large event we will be hosting is the joint meeting and annual international conference of ISES and ISEE. The International Society for Exposure Science (ISES) and The International Society for Environment Epidemiology (ISEE) come together bi-annually, with the objective of uniting the globe’s leaders in environmental and exposure sciences. Together the over 900 delegates will occupy over 2200 room nights, generating significant economic impact for the city.
We look forward to welcoming all the delegates, guests and partygoers to the many events we will be hosting in 2018. It is exciting to see the economic potential of Shaw Centre being fully realized thanks to the dedication of our sales and marketing team plus the valiant efforts of our many partners in Ottawa who offer invaluable support to us every day.
