Leading Australian events software platform, EventsAIR, was chosen to undertake the mammoth task of keeping track of more than 30,000 delegates, officials and observers at this month’s APEC meeting held in Papua New Guinea.

A team of 26 from Centium Software, led by CEO Trevor Gardiner, worked closely with the event organisers in the months leading up to the event as well as representatives from each of the 21-member countries taking part, in order to provide a one-stop-shop for all the people management and operational logistics. That involved linking 28 access control points located in seven separate venues.

“This was by far our largest ever technical deployment and one of the most challenging you could imagine”, according to Gardiner, who has 30 years’ experience in the events industry.

EventsAIR coordinated all the flight arrivals, from both commercial and charter flights, along with visa processing and the accommodation for 2800 pax staying on three cruise ships brought in especially for the event.

“At one point we even found ourselves providing live support to the US contingent flying in Airforce Two”, said Gardiner.

Oversight of a fleet of 3000 vehicles, including shuttle buses and VIP limousines all went through EventsAIR. At each of the venues – including APEC Haus where the majority of the official functions were held – RFID-based passes controlled access and allowed security staff to check in real time the accreditation of all visitors.

With security at a premium several layers of redundancy ensured that the system provided 100 percent uptime. Massive amounts of data had to be securely held and the ever-present threat of cyber-security was uppermost in the minds of the team from Centium.

“With delegations from the US, China and Russia all located in the same place we were extremely mindful of the need to deliver a robust product”, Gardiner added. “This was the ultimate test of EventsAIR and we came through with flying colours”.

In line with its commitment to supporting event professionals, Centium took on nineteen local university graduates – providing them with a unique opportunity to hone their skills and experience a major international event.

The team at EventsAIR has developed many of the biggest innovations in event management in Australia over three decades. According to Gardiner, “we design our products to make life easier for everyone – organisers and attendees. We exist to deliver superior solutions to our customers”.

EventsAIR’s all-in-one event management platform features high security and flexible workflows to streamline the event management process for events of all scales.

With a successful APEC meeting on its resume Centium is keen to leverage the connections made with such a wide and influential international group. Its achievement in PNG is a credit to the Australian events industry and will add to their reputation as a leader in global best practice.

Fittingly, Papua New Guinea Government’s chosen theme for APEC 2018 was focused on taking advantage of new technologies to give more vulnerable sectors greater access to participating in the economy.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.