Expo firm ‘threat to’ free event

Andrew Mathieson
A NATIONAL company wants to muscle in on a not-for-profit careers expo with 20 years of service to Geelong.
But Employment of Choice (EOC) Consulting says money is not its motivation for expanding to Geelong.
The company intends to spread its travelling expo to Australia’s 11 largest centres next year.
This decision has threatened to disrupt Geelong Careers Teachers Expo, at Deakin University’s Waterfront Campus, about a month later in June.
EOC founder and managing director Cliff Stoneman believed both expos had room to survive in a region with “definite skill shortages”.
“Clearly, the event that is currently running in Geelong is a very, very high quality event – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“It’s focused and targeted, while ours is more broadly-based. Ours will simply elevate all the events.
“We’re not interested in competing and it’s not about making a dollar.”
Mr Stoneman said his company’s expo would not charge admission but exhibitors would pay for stands.
EOC had approached “many” Geelong businesses to participate.
Mr Stoneham said the expo had local support in both the commercial and government sectors.
“We’re not about trying to run a national expo out of Geelong,” he said.
“What we are trying is to expose Geelong to as many people and companies nationally as we can.”
Careers Teachers Association president and Geelong expo organiser Neil Rankin was unsure how the commercial event would affect the local version.
“All I know is we’ve got really good support from a lot of business around Geelong,” Mr Rankin said.
“But they (EOC) are a business and they’re about making money.”
Mr Rankin said the Geelong expo did not charge for entry or stands, instead relying on funding from local public and private organisations.
He believed the expo had been a success because of support from several employment agencies, educational institutions and major Geelong companies.
“The only disappointing thing is the council hasn’t got involved,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve tried for a number of years but we don’t fit under their guidelines.”