Golden Opportunity – expert panel discussion & community forum

Wednesday 21st November, 5:30pm – 8:00pm
Paradise Showroom, The Arts Centre Gold Coast, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise. 

Free event.

Join leading arts, urban design and technology experts to discuss the City’s cultural future at a community forum next Wednesday.

The Golden Opportunity forum looks making the most of opportunities to enrich the Gold Coast's cultural life and economy through creatively amalgamating information & communication technologies and the arts. 

Inspired by a research paper by Professor Marcus Breen, entitled Golden Information: The Virtual (in the) Cultural Precinct, the forum will explore future opportunities for universities, schools, industry, local government, cultural and community organisations to intersect and collaborate around the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct and beyond.Co-chaired by Marcus Breen, Professor of Communication and Media, Bond University + Tory Jones, Executive Coordinator Major Projects, Gold Coast City Council. 

MC:  Professor Jeffrey Brand, Bond University.

With special guests Michelle Tabet (Arup), Sahba Abedian (Sunland Group), Prof. Michael Blumenstein (IT Forum Gold Coast), Dr. Lucy Cameron (Queensland Government) and Simon Goodrich (AIMIA).

Free event, please go to www.bond.edu.au/golden-opportunity for more information and to register.Invite friends and share on Facebook.Golden Opportunity is a collaborative cultural forum supported by Gold Coast City Council, The Arts Centre Gold Coast and Bond University.

RE-IMAGINING THE GOLD COAST

For those residents and business owners looking to be part of the Gold Coast cultural dialogue take a look at this invitation - ironically I cannot attend as I will be going to the Gold Coast Arts Centre to see the Sydney Dance Company.

BOND UNIVERSITY and TIGERMONKEY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS... 

RE-IMAGINING THE GOLD COAST

Cerum TheatreWednesday July 25, 6:30pm-9:00pm

Experience a night like no other as the Gold Coast’s very own Jeff Licence and Dr. Sally MacKinnon take us on a journey intothe cultural underground of the Gold Coast, exploring issues that have formed the stereotypes and discovering a much deeper side to the coast beyond the ‘Glitter Strip'.

Professor Philip Follent from the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture, and Professor Marcus Breen from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences represent Bond University on a panel along with…

§  Rory O’Connor (Managing Director, Yugambah Museum),

§  Libby Sander (Founder, The Future of Work Project and Chair, Goldspaces)

§  Destry Puia (General Manager, Arts Centre Gold Coast)

§  Nerida Marshall (Screen Theatre and Writers Studio)

Bond University is also honoured to welcome the Honourable Ros Bates MP, Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts and State Member for Mudgeeraba; and Assistant Minister for Child Safety and State Member for Southport, Rob Molhoek.

Gold Coast’s Mayor, Councillor Tom Tate has also confirmed his attendance for the event, along with seven of our City Councillors.

Join leading people from our community to contemplate the future of our city.  

$15 general admission or $10 concession.

Ticket price includes drinks and canapés served during the intermission.

 To find out more & to register please visit:

http://www.bond.edu.au/about-bond/news-and-events/events/BD3_022122

Rebranding the Gold Coast - lets fix the 'product' first

Gold Coast Council is investigating a new brand for the Gold Coast in a move that could cost ratepayers around $2million.

This proposition in my opinion, is putting the cart before the horse and will ultimately be a waste of money, if we don't fix the product first.

This means firstly building on the standards we already have in place but then working to tidy up and better present our tourism centres, like Southport, sections of Surfers Paradise, Palm Beach and Mermaid. This tidy up is as simple as Council creating spaces that are appealing to the eye through implementing professional and consistent signage for business, streetscaping, upgrading foot paths and walk ways, cleaning up litter and creating community working groups to remove graffiti.

It will also be important for Council to work with the State Government to reduce crime, and create a safe atmosphere. If we are looking to attract tourists who spend more when they get here we need to provide locations that are safe but still fun, unique but not tacky. People feel vulnerable when they are not safe and part of a relaxing holiday is travelling to a location where you are safe to unwind.

We also need to educate stakeholders the importance of having a economically sustainable brand, a brand that isn't driven on a culture of discounting but instead a culture of value adding and providing a better product - this would be a win for local business, tourists and residents. And would mean the Gold Coast is less susceptible to fluctuations in the general tourism market.

Once we have a economically sustainable product in place then we identify the markets we want to attract to the Gold Coast - market segments that have money to spend when they get here. And this is where we need to ensure our new brand connects with domestic and international audiences - Audiences like the high earning and often over looked Canberra market, the traditional Sydney and Melbourne markets and the valuable Brisbane/SE Qld drive market as well as international emerging middle class markets in Asia like India, China and Malaysia.

Whatever the outcome of creating a new brand for our city, the Council need to realise this would be the brand we take into the Commonwealth Games in 2018, and this brand is more than just a mechanism to attract tourists, but also business - so in years to come we have well paid jobs and career options on the Gold Coast.

A new brand should be about what we want to be - what we aspire to be as a city.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/05/28/419481_gold-coast-news.html

QR Codes for a Queensland University

Griffith Enterprise is taking innovation to a new level by rolling out the use of QR Codes on their advertising and communication.

QR Codes or Quick Response Codes are already widely used in Asia, including widespread use in Japan.

A QR Code is a two dimensional barcode which with the help of your smartphone and a free QR Code application turns everyday printed material such as posters, flyers and billboards into measurable online communication tools.

The rapid increase of smartphone use and better broadband connection in Australia means QR Codes are emerging as an innovative way to enhance marketing and communication messages.

By scanning a QR Code customers can be directed to a website or specific landing page, a simple text based message, or even provide a Google map location, all without the need for remembering a web address or telephone number.

The University’s commercialisation office Griffith Enterprise is rolling out the codes on everyday marketing collateral, such as conference display material, so customers can be better directed to information about University’s capabilities.

Griffith Enterprise Marketing, Communications and Events Officer Gordon Watson said, “QR Codes are great because they are easy and free to generate. The codes also provide us with a quantitative way of measuring the effectiveness of our marketing material.”

Mr Watson adds, “QR Codes are an innovative tool and this attribute is a hallmark of Griffith Enterprise and the services we provide the University as well as government, industry and community organisations. Looking into the future we are looking to integrate the codes further into our marketing mix by linking them to online videos and other electronic media.”

Griffith Enterprise recently used a QR Code on a retractable banner at the ICMAN5 Conference in Brisbane to showcase the University’s Nature Bank. The code linked through to the online search feature on the Nature Bank website.

To maximise the effectiveness of QR Codes Gordon recommends linking them through to a designated website landing page where a customer needs to perform a desired action.