Have award, will travel

Deborah Lonne is a national award winner and has an upcoming trip to Germany to prove it.

The University of Queensland’s School of Tourism student has won the 2010 AACB Vin Barron IMEX Prize and will head to Frankfurt in May for an international convention.

The Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) gives out the prize in partnership with Qantas and IMEX to foster career development for early-career managers.

It includes a trip to the Worldwide Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings and Events (IMEX).

``It’s the first time I will have this first-hand experience to go to an international trade show and meet influential people in the incentive and convention industry,’’ Ms Lonne said.

The Taringa 22-year-old wrote a paper about Australia’s challenges in promoting itself for business events in the next decade as part of her entry in the prize.

Ms Lonne said her paper talked about advancements in technology creating both challenges and opportunities for promotion, with social networking sites giving destinations a chance of gaining sought-after exposure.

Among the other challenges was the rise of Asia and the Middle East as destinations for business events, creating additional global competition, her paper said.

``I really enjoyed researching this paper and gathering an in-depth understanding of the current state of the business events industry. I put a lot of effort into the paper. I worked on it for two months. It’s great to have it all pay off,’’ Ms Lonne said.

While still studying part-time at UQ, Ms Lonne has taken on the role of co-ordinator at Brisbane Marketing’s Convention Bureau.

She gained the role straight after finishing a month-long placement at Brisbane Marketing as part of her event management studies at UQ.

``The UQ degree is extremely useful. It gives you a broad overview of everything in the field you could work in,’’ she said.

``My work experience at Brisbane Marketing has been most beneficial and will no doubt shape the future of my career. Six months ago, I never would have guessed that I would be where I am today and am so excited about my future career in the business events industry."

IMEX will run from May 25-27 and Ms Lonne hopes to spend some time sightseeing in Europe before her return to Australia.

Media: Deborah Lonne (3006 6271, 0401 009 953) or Erik de Wit (0417 088 772)