Rachel Froggatt, former Chief Executive Officer of Women in Sport Aotearoa (WISPA) and Secretary General of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport Conference and Secretariat. Read about her experience of bringing an international conference to Auckland to shine a spotlight on women and sport in New Zealand.
In 2022, the thrilling Black Ferns victory at the Women’s Rugby World Cup put women’s sport in the spotlight in Aotearoa New Zealand. Played in front of a record-breaking crowd of 42,579 fans at Eden Park, the on-field success marked an important victory for women’s sport off the field too. In November 2022, just two days after the final, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland played host to the eighth IWG World Conference on Women in Sport.
IWG World Conference on Women in Sport
Rachel Froggatt says the conference was part of the shift on women’s sports in New Zealand. “The International Working Group is committed to the advancement of gender equality and equity for women and girls around the world,” Froggatt says. “Aotearoa faces its own challenges in this space and we really felt that bringing the IWG World Conference here would provide a catalyst for change within the sport and recreation system.”
Working with Auckland Convention Bureau
Rachel Froggatt and her team worked with the Auckland Convention Bureau (ACB) to create a winning bid for the IWG World Conference on Women in Sport. ACB’s international bidding team helps leaders in their field to bid for, win, and host world-class conferences, allowing individuals and their organisations to promote their work and sector, and share new discoveries with peers around the world.
Froggatt says that, as with sport, winning this conference bid was a team effort.
“Bidding to bring the IWG World Conference on Women in Sport to Aotearoa New Zealand was a unique challenge, and we were incredibly grateful to be working with the Auckland Convention Bureau and our other partners to conduct such a unique bid.”
“What really stood out for us was how much the ACB team engaged with the idea, worked to understand the conference, the subject matter, and the stakeholders involved.”
“In particular, we wanted to make sure that tikanga Māori was really well represented across the entire bid as being a unique part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s offering. That came through beautifully and was one of the reasons we won the bid.”
Time to bid?
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The team at Auckland Convention Bureau works closely with bid champions throughout the entire process, from strategy to promotion, and best of all, it’s a completely free service.