October’s Pacific expo is the event’s biggest in its 20-year history, drawing international and local industry and uniformed leaders, and for Defence Connect it provided the opportunity to reinforce its position within Australian defence media.
Defence Connect delivered a special bulletin dedicated to covering the daily announcements of The Pacific 2019 International Maritime Exposition.
While the buzz was different to the 2017 iteration of the Pacific International Maritime Exposition, which was buoyed by announcements for the $35 billion SEA 5000 and $50 billion SEA 1000 programs, 2019 was the biggest yet.
Defence Connect director, Phil Tarrant, said: “The week began with enthusiasm from across the industry and it was a great chance for Defence Connect to press the flesh and engage with Defence and defence industry as a whole.”
The three days of the expo saw about 21,241 attendees over the three days, with 657 participating exhibitor companies from 22 nations and 182 industry, government, defence and scientific delegations from 48 nations.
For Defence Connect, Pacific 2019 offered the opportunity to deliver a special bulletin dedicated to covering the daily announcements of Pacific 2019 expo, supplementing the regular Defence Connect and Insight bulletins
“Over the course of the expo the team delivered 70 articles delivered via 216,000 individual newsletters supported by 560 social media posts.
“That is an average of 20 unique articles a day and a total of about 15,000 words for each of the journalists, which is an amazing accomplishment over the course of an action-packed few days,” Tarrant said.
The Defence Connect Podcast was recording throughout the expo and saw a range of guests from across the Australian and global defence industry plus government delegations, each seeking to articulate their vision for engaging with Australia’s growing defence sector.
Tarrant said it was great to see the podcast continue to gain traction, particularly with the international delegations.
Through the week, Defence Connect recorded 15 podcasts, with the highlight of the week culminating in two podcasts with the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, who discussed the release of the Navy’s industry engagement strategy and Plan Pelorus 2022, and Secretary of the Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty, who discussed the growing role of Australia’s defence industry in providing a fundamental input to capability.
Tarrant added: “The participation of both VADM Noonan and Mr Moriarty reinforces the role Defence Connect plays in supporting the nation’s key decision makers, by providing an informative, responsive and comprehensive platform to industry, government and defence.”