An Introduction

The word holistic gets used a lot these days.

Possibly too much. So apologies for jumping on that particular bandwagon. But we've been thinking about the evolution of EAN and when trying to define our services and vision for the future, the phrase we keep coming back to is this; ‘We provide holistic career, business and developmental support, guidance and training for senior office support staff'. So what do we mean by that? Well, we see our role as being to provide support for EAs and PAs in all aspects of their careers and working lives, from training and education to online tools and guides, tips, ideas and templates through to education and training. But even beyond that, we like to think that through our research and our surveys and by continually interacting with senior EAs and PAs and their executives that

we help provide a voice and thought leadership in relation to the continuing evolution of the role and what that means for your profession.

Our conferences continually seek to push boundaries and ideas in relation to the nature of the role. For example, in our current series, we are conducting sessions aimed at helping EAs and PAs devise better position descriptions and KPIs that truly relate to the role they perform. Our diplomas are also cutting edge and remain the only series of programs of their kind aimed at helping EAs and PAs progress through different stages in their careers. Likewise, our website continues to evolve and provide resources that are useful to EAs and PAs when it is expedient and needed most, like the Chat Room or the directories. And now in July, we will move from having a passive job board for EAs and PAs through to offering full recruitment services that we have engineered and designed to help overcome many of the challenges we know you all face in that regard. And for your organisations, recruitment is also just one part of the human capital jigsaw they have in relation to their EA and PA staff so we are also starting to focus on how we can talk to your organisations at a macro level about the training and developmental needs of their senior support staff and how we can help with that.

So is holistic the right word to ascribe to the services we are offering and the outcomes for your profession we are trying to engineer?

Who knows. But it will certainly make do until we can come up with the strategy for the next phase of development of EAN. We've touched on a lot of these topics in our articles below so we trust these will continue to be useful and help you see what we are doing and where we are going. We also have an article below that touches on the many Networking events we have planned for the coming months. With 6 of our sponsors just having renewed their involvement with us and several new partners helping us to expand our services across all states, plus a number of exciting new partners we believe will be joining us soon, our biggest concern for the coming 12 months is actually going to be how to fit all our many different events across the country into our calendar.

Upcoming EAN Networking Events

We have been very busy building up an exciting calendar of upcoming events for our members. We know how popular the EAN networking events are and we have created some great new partnerships around the country that will ensure members from all states have a plethora of special events to look forward to.

IHG has a fine selection of hotels around the country and they will be rolling out the red carpet with functions in every state over the next few months. Keystone has some of the finest restaurants in Australia and they will be cooking up a storm with EAN networking events in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth over the next few months. There will also be our ever popular networking events for members at the Canberra and Brisbane conferences in July and September. Also to look forward to, are fantastic functions from BE Victoria, P&O, BE Geelong and View Hotels to name a few. So rest assured that the future of networking events is looking very bright indeed. And of course all networking events are absolutely FREE for all EAN Full members.

As heralded a few months ago, Elite Assistants, our job portal, is about to metamorphosise and start offering full recruitment services for members and their companies. With a new office secured in the Sydney CBD and a new look website well into development, we expect to have the new service launched in July. Initially we will only be opening a Sydney office but we will always happily take on engagements from other states as requested. However, our intentions are to have Melbourne and Brisbane offices open within the first year and Canberra and Perth within two years.

The Elite Approach - Creating Invaluable Partnerships

We want the experience of employers and candidates using Elite to be very different from what they have typically had. With a huge emphasis on customer service as well as recruiter knowledge and understanding of you, your role and the expectations of your executives, we know the experience and the results we deliver will set us apart.

Our new company tag line is “Creating Invaluable Partnerships”. Taking a lead from the experiences and understanding developed within EAN about what assistants and their executives are actually looking to achieve, the concept of partnership was an obvious distinction.

But not just any old partnership. Partnerships that really deliver to the productivity of the executive office and correspondingly to the business. So both candidates and employers can expect a greater emphasis around our getting to know and understand the exact parameters of the role, the working styles and expectations of both the executive and assistant, what both typically like to achieve in their partnership and the extent to which the executive sees the assistant shaping the running of their office.

Introducing our newly appointed General Manager

Ahead of the launch of the new business we have appointed a new General Manager to run Elite Assistants Pty Ltd. Justin Pettie has over 16 year’s recruitment industry experience across many different recruitment models and industry types. Importantly however, we engaged him to run this business because of his focus and emphasis on candidate and employer service and experiences. He immediately understood the model we were proposing and what we were hoping to achieve, especially how desperately

we wanted to offer something very different to what employers and candidates alike have often experienced in recruitment.

Free Job Adverts

In addition to our recruitment services, Elite Assistants will still continue to operate as a job board that is open to all companies and recruiters to utilise. We have always seen the operation of a job board as a service we can provide for the benefit of our members and the broader EA and Pa community in Australia and we will continue to do so. And for the foreseeable future, we will continue to offer a free level of advertising to any user. Premium adverts are priced at $75 plus GST but standard adverts are completely FREE.

Additional benefits

Over the past few years Elite Assistants has established itself as the number one job board of its kind in Australia. With over 34,000 visitors in the past 12 months and job adverts averaging in excess of 200 detailed views per advert, it already is providing a level of service that we are extremely proud of. But we will be investing more time and energy to ensure even more top jobs are advertised there to save people having to trawl through SEEK. We will be contacting more recruiters and more companies to get them to place their adverts on the site and the more this continues, the more benefit we know we will be delivering to our members.

Chinese Walls

Establishing very clear boundaries between Executive Assistant Network and Elite Assistants is incredibly important to us. EAN has gained the trust and loyalty of its members over the past decade by being fastidious about privacy and respecting the confidentiality of its members. Continuing this is of utmost importance to EAN. To this end, we are instigating a very strict set of privacy policies and a Chinese Wall that will govern how Elite Assistants operates with EAN. They are sister companies but data will never be shared without the express request of any individual concerned. Elite Assistants will operate as a sponsor of EAN and will have the same benefits afforded to it as our other sponsors, inducing attending functions, advertising on the website, including articles in the newsletter and having emails about its services sent to members by EAN. It will also host a networking function the same as any other sponsor. These will be its opportunities and therefore whilst we will promote its services and pass on referrals when requested, we will never share data between the two companies.

Coming Soon

So watch this space. Our development plans are extremely advanced and bar any unforeseen development glitches we expect to have the website up and running and our offices open before the end of July. As you can imagine, we are extremely excited, so we hope you will be too!

My Execs will be travelling to the Gold Coast (Surfers) next week for a conference. They will be staying...

I am looking for a multi platform (Web, MS, Apple and Android) system where we can create lists...

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to track ongoing projects that will allow me to...

Hi, can anyone recommend a venue for a 2 day executive workshop with accommodation...

I would like to reach out and see whether anyone has any ideas for our 10 year anniversary dinner...

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit our chatrooms today.

While salary is not everything, it is a means to live. More than that, knowing you are getting paid an amount that you feel you deserve can improve confidence, workplace empowerment and overall engagement. The subject of pay can be a thorny issue, though negotiating a rise is a part of your professional life that will need approaching from time to time. After all, inflation is only ever going to continue, and you will need the occasional financial boost if you are to maintain a fair living standard. But many will struggle with the eternal conundrum of how to negotiate a pay rise.

To help make the discussion more successful, here are six tips:

Know your worth - 'Be confident' is pretty poor advice; no one can turn on true self-belief. However, understanding your own value - being able to list your achievements and what you think an employer should be paying for such a luxury - is a good way to speak with confidence.

Research some figures - What is the average wage for someone in a role such as yours? Are there extra factors at play that mean you should be paid more than you currently are? A little homework before you start your discussions can pay off massively in the end.

Set your limits - Know beforehand what salary you would ideally like to be on and what you will settle for. It's difficult to know where your employer will begin with their negotiations, but setting your boundaries will make your final decision an easier one.

Use email if possible - If this is achievable, try to broach the subject and conduct negotiations via email. According to information collected by Job Cluster, you have a greater chance of success using this method. Both you and your employer can choose your words carefully, and mull matters over instead of making rash decisions on the spot.

Plan for change - If you accept a pay rise, your workload may change slightly. Your employer may give you more challenging tasks to test your skills. In this situation you will need to really earn that higher wage, so be prepared to change the way you work. Alternatively, you may be denied your wishes (maybe your request may be denied - although I do like that it makes it sound like you're asking a genie for a pay rise), in which case you may feel the time is right to look for work elsewhere. Either way, be ready to embrace the change.

Stay professional - You may be good friends with your boss, but such negotiations should always be conducted in a professional manner. This will make your employer understand the seriousness of your request, and remind them of what you can offer a business. If you feel you can leverage the situation through your personal relationship with the employer, feel free to do so, but formality should always be your default setting during negotiations.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

I like education. I love education. How about you?

Education via training for me is a perspective, a viewpoint, a rationale. It provides the capacity to look at something critically, review something objectively and build your own rational conclusions on what you have observed. How many training courses have you been to and 24 hours later, simply forgotten all that you 'learned'? How many participant certificates and handbooks do you have sitting in your bottom drawer from said courses? Training is important in the workplace. But what about the educational experience? Education provides insight. It allows you to be intellectually rigorous. It helps you identify your biases, your prejudices, your privileges. It is the new black. With the vast amounts of information at our disposal in our era, it has become easy to generate false dichotomies and then try to argue one point using two entirely different sets of assumptions. As the Australian comedian, Tim Minchin would put it: "Like two tennis players trying to win a match by hitting beautifully executed shots from either end of separate tennis courts."

Educate yourself. Don’t just train yourself.

Designed and Delivered by us, EAN's Diplomas and Short Courses talk a lot to this philosophy. This year has seen some brilliant EAs and PAs engaging throughout Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane. And our mid-year 2015 diplomas and courses are heating up! And if you're interested? We're happy to talk. So jump online or call us on 02 8402 5000. After all, in the words of Mr. Einstein, "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death!"

Shane Garrott is EAN's Education and Training Manager. And apparently loves edumacation.

Performance measurement and KPIs, whilst commonplace in many other roles, have, for many EAs and PAs, been either totally lacking or extremely basic, and rarely truly focused on the benefits you really deliver in your role. As a result, over a year ago we started a project to look at these areas and this project has taken on a new direction through our current series of conferences.

In this series of conferences we have two interactive EA/PA panel and workshop sessions that focus on two key issues:

1. Intangible Benefits - Identifying the many areas where EAs and PAs add significant value that aren't easily measured and assessing whether they can in any way be measured
2. Establishing KPIs that are relevant for your role and aligning these with those of your executive

The objective for each of these is that we can get input and ideas not just from the panellists but also the audience and ultimately build a comprehensive document that can be off assistance to all EAs and PAs once our series of 5 conferences is over. Each panel works like this; firstly the panellists each take turns to introduce a couple of ideas that are germane to the broader topics, and then they champion these with working groups in the audience who can workshop the ideas in more depth. Under the Intangible Benefits section, two of the ideas we investigated in Sydney were as follows:

• Your role as the conduit of information flow and access in and out of the office and using your discretion, skills and knowledge to do this judiciously and appropriately
• What are the benefits to the executive and the organisation?
• Can they be measured?
• Your role in protecting the executive when acting as a conduit of access and information flow but also as the manager of their time and priorities - being a protector, and even, when required, a gatekeeper
• What are the benefits to the executive and the organisation?
• Can they be measured?

In relation to KPIs, an example of one of the topics that was workshopped on the day in Sydney and one set of ideas that came out of that are as follows:

• Diary Management
• Action Examples Measures Examples
• The executive and EA have coordinated diaries featuring all meetings, travel, actions, researching, planning or other times recorded
• Diaries are accurate and up to date
• Diaries are regularly checked and updated Executive, meetings, travel and other actions and times all occur without hitch
• Details are always regularly checked with executive
• Strong relationships have been established with stakeholders to facilitate this
• Have achieved the trust of the executive to enable you to run this
• Priorities based on in depth of understanding of needs of executive and business have been appropriately set

As you can imagine, given the large number of panellists and attendees we will have over 5 conferences, we expect to be able to gather an extremely large volume of ideas and opinions on these topics ahead of pulling them together to put into one resource for members. In the last couple of months we've seen a couple of chatroom posts relating to this topic and heard a lot more talk about it at events and conference so we trust this will be a useful resource.

Looking for something other than the usual uneventful function space?

Crowne Plaza Terrigal offers limited opportunities each year to event organisers to book the whole hotel for private use. The hotel's broad facilities footprint includes 13 imaginative indoor and outdoor event spaces, 199 cleverly designed rooms and suites and a creative selection of 3 ocean-view restaurants and bars. The hotel becomes a blank canvas on which you can design for your delegates the most powerful communications strategies to drive home your key messaging. Read more here.

Natasha Cannon - EAN's Joint Managing Director joined Brisbane members for a P&O cruises ship experience aboard the Pacific Dawn hosted by Chris Rich and Peta Torkington.

EAN members gained an insight into the benefits of conferences at sea as well as an informative presentation on the two new ships Pacific Eden and Aria arriving in November 2015, offering dedicated affordable conferencing as well as the re-brand of the existing fleet to deliver an out of this world experience inspired by Modern Australia - in design, food and entertainment.

After a tour of the ship, members indulged in the ultimate at-sea dining experience: Salt Grill by Luke Mangan. P&O offers more choice in itineraries and ports than any other cruise line from Australia. We're cruising from your doorstep, with departures from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Fremantle and Auckland, and our itineraries range from two to 16 nights. All of our ships offer state-of-the-art theatres and lounges, seven onboard restaurants and cafes, including Salt grill, spa treatments, P&O edge adrenalin activities, casinos, shopping and over 600 Shore Tours.

Find out how to treat your delegates to a once-in-a-lifetime, unique event experience aboard a P&O Cruise - contact the Corporate events team 1300 366 168 or mice@pocruises.com.au

Have you ever wondered the reason for Celebrating Christmas in July?

For us Australians, Christmas is celebrated in the sizzling summer heat, and our dream of a cool white Christmas can only become a reality if we travel overseas. Therefore, while there is no confirmed origin, it is believed that Christmas in July came about so those in the Northern hemisphere could celebrate Christmas in the warmer months and those in the Southern hemisphere could celebrate in the cooler months. So whether you choose to celebrate Christmas in July or December, our Chef's Traditional Christmas Buffet is the perfect meal to share with family, friends and colleagues. It's filled with everyone's favourite holiday dishes; perfect for private dining. For only $50.00 per person you and your guests will get to indulge in Chef's amazing Christmas themed menu, and, if you book your December Christmas Party with us before the 31st of August, for 30 guests or more, you will receive a complimentary half hour beverage package with your event! Why not check out our delicious menu below and contact our friendly Events Team on 02 9455 7432 or freniv@viewhotels.com.au today! Terms and conditions apply.

DINNER

• Berkshire leg ham with orange, tamarind and palm sugar glaze
• Roasted turkey with apricot and pistachio seasoning with cranberry jus
• Vegetarian pasta dish of the day
• Chef's daily hot dish
• Roasted vegetables with thyme and Rosemary
• Steamed seasonal vegetables and Chef's potato dish
• Crudité and antipasto with gourmet meats, artichokes, olives and grilled vegetables
• Chef's selection of 5 garden fresh salads
• Freshly baked artisan sour dough and bread rolls

DESERT

• Christmas pudding with brandy sauce
• Yule log and panettone
• Strawberry tarts
• Lemon meringue pie
• Coffee éclairs
• Gateaux and traditional desserts
• Selection of Tasmanian cheeses with fig and pear chutney
• Seasonal fruit platter
• Tea and freshly brewed coffee with fruit mince pies

At Assured Ascot Quays Apartment Hotel, we make functions easy with a variety of flexible spaces in a picturesque riverside location. Our dedicated Events Team, offer a tailored approach to meet your individual requirements and ensure a great value function experience. Craig Kinley, our Events Executive, has put together these top 5 tips to make your next event memorable:

1. WOW your guests with a welcome gift pack
2. Introduce a morning yoga wake up session
3. Get some fresh air and serve a picnic lunch on the banks of the Swan River
4. Mid conference river dinner cruise
5. Conclude with a poolside party cocktails, canapés and Connect 4

Functions are fully catered by our onsite restaurant, 150 EAST, offering a range of versatile menu options designed by our Executive Chef, Andrew Dunn. Whether you are planning a conference, meeting, workshop, dinner or social celebration, we have the perfect solution for you at Assured Ascot Quays. Visit our website here for more information on our current specials.

To enquire, contact our Events Team on events@assuredhotels.com.au or call us on (08) 9479 0014.

Astra apartments offers modern, spacious, serviced apartments in cbd locations across australia's major cities.

With more space than the average hotel or serviced apartment and featuring modern interior styling, choosing astra apartments for executive accommodation is a smart business decision for work life balance. Traditionally, the term 'serviced apartment' has been used to describe an alternative to hotel accommodation for long stay business or leisure travel in urban locations. However, the various different sub-categories that now exist makes this an over simplified definition.

At one end of the serviced apartments spectrum is the aparthotel product, also referred to as extended stay hotels. Aparthotels (such as Meriton Serviced Apartments or Quest) have varying ranges of ancillary services and amenities and typically have no minimum stay period restrictions. This enables them to market themselves as hotel alternatives. At the other end of the spectrum, corporate housing is the term for residential properties that have larger living spaces than Aparthotels and have been upgraded to include services such as cleaning. These apartments are fully furnished with fully equipped kitchens and everything needed for a long stay. Corporate housing is frequently referred to as serviced apartments in Australia thereby causing some of the confusion about its definition.

Another aspect often overlooked but which contributes to this confusion is that serviced apartment rentals can be for very long periods. The definition of 'extended stay' in the hotel world usually means 4 or 5 nights or more, whereas in the residential rental markets, 6 and sometimes 12 months would be considered short term. Corporate housing ideally serves this gap and meets the growing need by corporates for this type of serviced accommodation. In the transition between the hotel and residential worlds, the focus on amenities and services shifts. 24/7 reception desks, onsite staff or restaurants start become the exception rather than the norm, but customer service, cleaning, maintenance services, health & safety compliance are essential features of any serviced apartment. It is these essential features of service that Astra Apartments has prided itself on delivering beyond expectations to become preferred supplier to some of Australia's largest companies, multi-nationals, government, travel management companies and global relocation companies. At Astra Apartments, we understand what business executives need when they travel. We also understand that people who book executive accommodation need a personalised service that delivers convenience, flexibility, peace of mind and quality assurance. Your traveller is our guest, that's why we have thought of everything to make guests feel right at home straight away. Rest assured that whatever time your clients arrive, we're on hand to greet them face-to-face 24/7 and help them settle in.

"We look for well-equipped, modern apartments. An easy booking process with options to extend if required and a personal meet-and- greet and check-in service is essential! Thanks Astra Apartments for providing all of this. Your property managers have consistently provided an excellent service to our business." - Boehringer Ingelheim, Sydney

Accommodating business travellers is all we do. Astra Apartments offers we-appointed, spacious apartments, featuring modern interior styling with fully equipped kitchens and internal laundries, so that your travellers can take time out and relax in the comfort of their very own home away from home. Choosing Astra Apartments for executive accommodation is a smart business decision for work life balance. We cater for individuals, project teams and group corporate bookings with consistently competitive pricing and no seasonal price spikes. Saving up to 30% on accommodation bills also means your travel budget will stretch further. To find out more about our apartments and locations visit www.astraapartments.com.au or call us on 1300 797 321 to arrange an apartment tour. Our aim is to make booking and staying in executive accommodation easy.

Imagine your next corporate function on a luxury catamaran

"It has to be fun, safe and affordable, something that will appeal to everyone and uphold our brand values. Oh, and let's do something a bit different. You know, to keep it fresh, make it memorable." What am I referring to? You guessed it, that next big fabulous corporate event that simply must be a roaring success. Maybe it's the staff Christmas party or team building activity or a client function or simple a gift voucher to say thank you or well done. And it is getting harder each year to satisfy everyone. Well I may have the solution for you.

Your next big fabulous corporate event is waiting for you. Queensland's Moreton Bay Marine Park is a treasure trove of amazing experiences waiting to be explored. Right on Brisbane's doorstep, what better way to discover it for yourself than on a luxurious modern catamaran with Robinson Cruises Sailing Adventures. Did you know that hundreds of dolphins, dugongs, shorebirds and 4 species of sea turtles call Moreton Bay home? And that it is the only place in Australia where Dugong gather together in herds? Large populations of Bottlenose and Humpback Dolphins live here year round, as well as annual visitors like the humpback whales. It is common to spot dolphins or turtles off the bow as we sail out to a sheltered sandy beach for a gourmet BBQ and some fiercely competitive beach cricket. Water temperatures remain a swimmable 22 degrees or more for all but the winter months making swimming and snorkelling very popular. There are over 100 ship wrecks in Moreton Bay and several of these are accessible to snorkelers along with 120 species of coral. Did you know that about 1% of the area of the Bay is coral reef? Surprising but it's true. As global warming causes the water temperatures to rise more coral is expected to grow.

What are your options? A corporate box at the cricket or the footy is so expensive now and numbers are very limited. Barefoot bowls has been done to death. Maybe go karting or even paintball but there is the safety aspect to consider. You could organise a dinner at a restaurant which it is a safe bet but how memorable or fun will it be? No points for creativity there. A cooking class - now you're thinking but will the whole team get involved? You could all go to the horses but with thousands of people there is can be difficult to achieve any actual interaction and bonding within the team. And gambling may not fit with your brand values. So the 'thing' needs to be safe, fun, outdoorsy but comfortable and appeal to both young and old, the active and the more laid back. Some social interaction is important as is a bit of intellectual stimulation and even some friendly competitiveness thrown in to deepen relationships within the team. Sailing in a comfortable catamaran on Moreton Bay would do all this.

"But not everyone likes sailing" I hear you say and "What if I get seasick?" is another common concern and important points to consider. Well, the good news is that a large sailing catamaran is not your typical leaning over and hanging on type of sailing vessel. Far from it! Our vessel is designed with your comfort in mind. She stays quite level even under sail and at anchor. Being 14m long and 7m wide she is a very stable platform on which to host up to 36 guests who are made to feel like VIPs for the day. The rear decks are fully covered as is the spacious cabin so protection from the elements is assured. There are sunbeds on the foredeck for those wanting to work on their tan. Our sailing grounds within Moreton Bay are sheltered from any ocean swells making it a rarity for anyone but the most susceptible people to feel any affect whatsoever. You and your guests will be comfortable, safe and too busy enjoying yourselves to worry about anything else.

We cater for guests of all ages, sizes, interests and levels of fitness. Some spend the day swimming and racing around while others sit back and relax taking the opportunity to unwind and chat. With this much flexibility it is easy to create your own style of perfect day. Ample refrigeration keeps the drinks ice cold while generously portioned gourmet platters, hot and cold buffet lunch options and snacks are available as you require. - Wayne Lamb - Skipper, Robinson Cruises

Did I mention the absolutely sublime sensation you experience when the sails are hoisted, the wind fills them and we shut off the engines? I can often feel the collective sigh as we all exhale. I love how sailing can do that. Our boat is named "Axis Vitae" which is Latin for "Centre of Life" and she really does help me stay centred and better balanced in my life. She has that affect on many of our guests, too. Let's pull out the checklist. Fun? Tick. Safe? Tick. Affordable? For less than the cost of 8 people for a few hours at the Rugby you can entertain 36 guests for the whole day! So I give this a big "tick" for affordability. Broad appeal? Yes, you can do as much or as little as you like. Will it reflect positively on your brand? Most definitely! And will your Moreton Bay sailing event be something a bit different, fresh and to be memorable? Yes, yes and yes. With so much natural beauty, wildlife, adventure and tranquillity on offer, a Robinson Cruises Sailing Adventure for your next big fabulous corporate event will be exactly that. The time they went sailing is the event everyone will talk about the most and will want to do it again. I know this because our clients tell us and they do keep coming back. More than 5000 guests have enjoyed our unique style over the past 5 years. They all loved it and so do we.

We would love to take your group out on the Bay so you can experience it for yourself. We offer full or half day events as well as shorter pre-dinner sunset cruises. Your team will thank you. Contact me, Wayne Lamb, at wayne@robinsoncruises.com or visit www.robinsoncruises.com for more information.

Wyndham Hotel Group offers an array of new and existing conference options in Queensland.

The newest hotel to join the Wyndham Hotel Group portfolio is Ramada Hotel Hope Harbour. Recently the hotel went thru a million dollar refurbishment. Ramada Hotel Hope Harbour offers a stunning Mediterranean style complete with an impressive porte-cochères and grand lobby. On arrival guests feel a sense of opulence. The hotel is tucked away in the tranquil waterways of the northern Gold Coast. It offers the perfect location to keep your conference delegates inspired, focussed on their work at hand but, close enough to experience the region's endless list of attractions. Within a short drive to acclaimed golf courses, 40 minutes from Gold Coast Airport and 50-minutes from Brisbane Airport it is a centrally located Gold Coast hotel. The Harbour Cove Ballroom located on the second level offers 205 square metres of meeting space adjoined to a pre function area with spectacular views over the marina complete with a break out room. The Ballroom caters for up to 160 banquet style. The Pier Lower Deck offers an alfresco dining entertainment area, overlooking the spectacular marina and surrounding waterways, provides the perfect backdrop for any occasion. This area caters for up to 300 guests for a cocktail function.

The Restaurant on the ground level opens up onto the spacious boardwalk. Enjoy your breakfast while watching the sun come up and the yachties prepare for the day on the water. A great location for your group lunch, breakout or a grand formal dinner. Accommodation is well appointed with options including Spa Suites and Deluxe King rooms, Queen and Twin rooms. All rooms offer terrace or a furnished balcony to enjoy sweeping marina or poolside views. All rooms are equipped with air conditioning, interactive lifestyle flat screen TV, working desk and internet access. This location offers plenty of offsite activities from private boat cruises, theme parks, day on an island, golfing, escorted shopping and more.

Winter Conference Special: Full Day delegate packages from $55 per person. (conditions apply) Accommodation from $150 per night. For more information on Ramada Hotel Hope Harbour visit www.ramadahopeharbour.com.au

Wyndham Hotel Group also recently opened TRYP Fortitude Valley, Brisbane to add to their growing portfolio. For more information on Wyndham Hotel Group properties visit www.wyndhamhotelgroup.com.au or contact Nicole Hill at nicole.hill@wyn.com or +61 457 757 297.

Cliftons' network of premium venues throughout Australasia's capital cities will provide a tailored solution for your next meeting, training or conference. All our venues are centrally located, minutes from public transport and offer intelligent workspaces equipped with the latest technology.

Cliftons is your key partner for organising and hosting your next business or leisure event all year round:

• 10 outstanding CBD locations filled with natural light and large breakout areas
• From a few guests up to several hundred
• Access to over 7,400 venues in more than 3000 locations through our network of global partners

Did you know? Cliftons can also look after the printing and delivery of all your business or training documents for you!
Some benefits of using our document management and printing services:

• We organise and print the material required for your session
• No need to worry about delivery and storage
• Online document management platform available for easy ordering
• Last minute printing becomes a 'no brainer'

For a limited time only, we are offering 15% OFF resource printing to EAN members when you book your event for the months of July and August. For more information contact enquiries@cliftons.com or visit www.cliftons.com

Your conference deserves a truly memorable destination.

With 12 versatile event spaces including the stylish Rooftop Pool & Lounge, French provincial courtyard and spacious Grand Ballroom, InterContinental Sydney Double Bay is the perfect venue for your next conference. Nestled in the inner city and intimate Double Bay village, the hotel offers a destinational experience being only five kilometres from Sydney CBD.

Book your next conference with us by 31 August 2015 and receive the following:

• Day Delegate Package from $85pp
• Upgrade your Day Delegate Package to $105pp and enjoy a two course seated lunch in Stockroom or experience our 'Australian Favourites' Insider break for morning or afternoon tea.
• Book 15 rooms per night and receive one complimentary room (maximum four per night)
• 10 complimentary valet car spaces to be used by your attendees

Book now and quote 'Winter DDP Offer' to take advantage of this exclusive winter offer. Terms and conditions apply: For bookings held up to 30 September 2015. For more information or to book your next conference please contact your IHG Key Account Manager.