Meatstock is aimed at meat and music enthusiasts and for two days in February, 2016, it would be held in Sydney for the first time. Organisers planned to merge competitions, exhibitions and live music to create a unique and unforgettable environment.

Competitions included the A&E Sydney Barbecue Wars, the largest barbecue competition ever held in Australia.

Exhibitors specialising in barbecue equipment would include Weber, Hudson Meats, Everdure and many more.

Live music boasted such names as The Beards, Sahara Beck and Henry Wagons.

On top of the usual challenges presented by a multi-discipline event, the barbecue competition involved teams being able to smoke their meat overnight on open wood fires.

This required DA approval from the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and special, on-site accommodation for the barbecue teams. Advance approval was required from fire services in case of a total fire ban.

The Sydney Showground team developed a specific, first-response firefighting plan and had it signed off by Fire & Rescue NSW as well as NSW Rural Fire Service to allow the barbecue competition to proceed.

In order to create a dramatic entrance to the event, a graffiti wall was erected and various artists contributed to create a vivid and distinctive piece of art.

Competitions successfully held during the event included the Sydney Butcher Wars and the Blundstone Cutthroat Barber Wars. In fact, at Sydney Showground over 200 individual competitions were held during the event.

All caterers sourced specialised in authentic barbecue style. They included Burgers by Josh, Bovine & Swine Barbecue Co., Parrilla Argenchino Catering, Rangers Texas BBQ and The Smoking Brothers. Boutique beverages were selected, with beer from Six String Brewing and bourbon whiskey from Buffalo Trace.

The two-day event attracted 10,503 ticket holders and 1,564 VIPs, competitors, media, expo staff and sponsors. Reactions and feedback were overwhelmingly positive, with the organisers keen to work with Sydney Showground again.

High-performing staff members of the Asian arm of direct selling company Nu Skin were rewarded with a trip to Sydney. Partners of those who received the incentive were also invited. The largest event during their trip was a workshop and gala dinner for 4,000 people, both hosted by Sydney Showground.

On top of the usual challenges presented by a multi-discipline event, the barbecue competition involved teams being able to smoke their meat overnight on open wood fires.

This required DA approval from the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and special, on-site accommodation for the barbecue teams. Advance approval was required from fire services in case of a total fire ban.

The Sydney Showground team developed a specific, first-response firefighting plan and had it signed off by Fire & Rescue NSW as well as NSW Rural Fire Service to allow the barbecue competition to proceed.

In order to create a dramatic entrance to the event, a graffiti wall was erected and various artists contributed to create a vivid and distinctive piece of art.

Competitions successfully held during the event included the Sydney Butcher Wars and the Blundstone Cutthroat Barber Wars. In fact, at Sydney Showground over 200 individual competitions were held during the event.

All caterers sourced specialised in authentic barbecue style. They included Burgers by Josh, Bovine & Swine Barbecue Co., Parrilla Argenchino Catering, Rangers Texas BBQ and The Smoking Brothers. Boutique beverages were selected, with beer from Six String Brewing and bourbon whiskey from Buffalo Trace.

Service times were even faster than Sydney Showground staff had planned for. Entrees were served in 17 minutes. Mains were brought out in 26 minutes and dessert in just 18 minutes. The entire gala dinner for 4,000 diners was served and cleared in less than two hours.

Clients, including several event management organisations as well as their contractors, were thrilled with the outcome.

EB Games began its life as a much smaller exhibition in Brisbane hosted in a space of approximately 10,000 square metres. The client identified the opportunity to launch EB Games Expo into the much larger Sydney market by moving to Sydney Showground. A key challenge was to stage the EB Games store managers' conference, 900-person gala dinner and trade show, and then rapidly convert multiple venues for a three-day consumer-focused exhibition. Another challenge was that the event was relatively unknown in the Sydney market, making it difficult to predict attendance levels.

Thanks to a rigorous planning process, our experienced event planners and managers were able to achieve a fast turnaround of the conference, which finished at 4pm on Thursday, into the large-scale consumer exhibition which opened on Friday morning at 8am. Our logistics, floor management and catering teams received extensive briefings to ensure all venues were seamlessly converted, with all conference equipment removed and replaced with catering concessions and ticketing areas. We invested significant resources into planning for the possibility of large crowds at the consumer exhibition, which eventuated on the day. The event has grown into one of the largest consumer exhibitions in Sydney and each year utilises more of Sydney Showgrounds variety of indoor and outdoor venues.