Feedback has been coming in for the three days of the live PAA 2023 Conference in Melbourne, and we’re extremely happy that you think it was a resounding success! Three great days of Pilates learning, experiencing, sharing and catching up with friends.
For us, bring the conference to Melbourne for the first time in many years was a great experience – we got to meet so many of the local instructors and studio owners. Thanks also to everyone who made the journey to join us – we met new friends from as far away as Perth, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory – and Japan!!
Everyone is sharing how much they appreciated the in-person experience and connections of the weekend.
The Crown Conference Centre was a new venue for us, and tied in neatly with a desire to uphold greener practices. This year we provided online notes instead of printed workbooks and chose not to give goodie bags, which encourage printed vouchers and leaflets. Crown has one of the more extensive recycling programs in Australia including outcomes for food and green waste and their own plastics recycling program (for all those little water bottles!).
A few fun statistics:
- 38 presenters, 45 workshops, 15 masterclasses
- 200+ attendees
- 20 reformers, 12 wunda chairs, 4 cadillacs, 6 ladder barrels, 7 spine correctors, 8 baby arcs, 1 skeleton, and 1 ped-o-pull
- 639 lunches, 1065 catered breaks (oh, those chocolate brownies!) and LOTS of drinks!
Presenters, Local and International
We were proud to feature an amazing line-up of Australian as well as international presenters to provide a rich learning experience for all the delegates. The wonderful feedback from both presenters and delegates just reinforces our strong belief that our Australian Pilates presenters are world-class. We appreciate their generous contribution which continues raising the bar of quality Pilates education in Australia and contributed to the resounding success of the conference.
Equipment Partners
A huge thank you to our equipment partners (Pilates Equip, HF Industries, Pilates Reformers Australia) for transporting and sharing their Pilates equipment for attendees to use. Setting up for a conference event is a major undertaking, financially and logistically, and we truly appreciate their time and effort.
Big thank you also to Melbourne locals Eve Fairbairn, Bruce Hildebrand, Stephanie Sibel, Katrina Edwards and Kirsti Viitali who generously lent their mats, poles, balls, weights, a skeleton and a ped-o-pull!
Sponsors & exhibitors
The exhibition this year was smaller than in previous years. However, this helped add to the community feel of the event as we were able to site it in the central foyer next to the catering. We thank all our exhibitors and sponsors for their involvement and support (Whealthy Life & Elements, Toesox Australia, COM Marketing, BMS, Focus GDT and The Pilates Link). Keep an eye out for post conference promos and communications.
Media Partner
Thank you to CJ for providing hard copies of The Pilates Journal for delegates and also writing a feature on the conference in July – it was a great promotion. It’s also lovely to see so many Australian instructors featured, acknowledging their expertise and the value of different perspectives.
The Cocktail Party & Trivia
The Cocktail Party on Saturday evening gave us a much-needed opportunity to socialise together again after too long a break. President Robyn Rix entertained us all with a quickfire Pilates trivia quiz with some fun general knowledge and Molotov cocktails thrown in for good measure.
The Volunteer Team
Finally, an enormously big Thank You to the student volunteer team led by Kirsti Viitali (Claire, Ana, Michael, Heather, Chloe, Miriam and Sun) and the PAA Committee volunteers and staff (Robyn, Chris, Karen, Meredith, Donna, Susie, Bruce, Daniela, Kerry, Sharan and Natalie).
And thank you to all of our delegates – see you in two year’s time!!
P.S. There are still 18 days of access to the online recordings of the 2023 Conference. That’s one workshop per day if you purchase them now! 😉
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