17th Annual SMAANZ Conference, 2011 - Melbourne, Australia

The Centre for Sport and Social Impact at La Trobe University was the proud host of the 2011 SMAANZ conference and Sport Business Forum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from November 23rd to 25th.  

The Sport Business Forum provided participants with an exceptional range of sport industry speakers, with Kim Williams (CEO of Foxtel and incoming CEO of News Limited) and Malcolm Speed (Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports) delivering the key note addresses. A variety of industry speakers presented throughout the day on topics such as: sport development, sponsorship, digital and social media and commericalisation strategies.  The panel session on managing a new franchise with representatives from the Melbourne Rebels (Ross Oakley), Melbourne Vixens (Leigh Robinson) and Melbourne Heart (Scott Munn) showcased the diverse and competitive professional sport landscape in Melbourne. The day finished with a cocktail function at the iconic National Sports Museum.  Forum attendees were drawn from a wide range of National Sport Organisations, State Sport Organisations, Federal, State and Local government, Australian Sports Commission, Vichealth and of course sport management academics from Australia and abroad.

The SMAANZ 2011 conference theme was Research with Relevance and over 100 sport management academics presented their work to the industry and their peers during the two-day conference. A keynote presentation by Associate Professor Alison Doherty (University of Western Ontario, Canada) titled Research for practice and practice through research: making a difference in sport management was the highlight of the academic program. Academic presentations throughout the conference highlighted the diverse fields of research within sport management, including: social and digital media, sport volunteers, sport governance, sport development and sport marketing. After closing the conference with a dinner in the MCC Members Dining Room, the baton was handed to University of Technology Sydney for the 2012 SMAANZ conference at Manly, Sydney.

Congratulations to the following award winners:

Distinguished Service Award:

Associate Professor Christine Green
University of Texas in Austin

 

Best Paper Award:

Associate Professor Marlene Dixon
University of Texas in Austin

Assistant Professor Stacy Warner
East Carolina University

"Competition and gender: Reconsidering the role of competition in sport"

 

Student Award:

Ms. Megan Stronach
University of Technology, Sydney

"Sport Career Transition and Retirement: Stories of Elite Indigenous Australian Sportsmen"

 

Past conferences

2010 - Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand

2009 - Bond University, Queensland, Australia

2008 - Curtin University of Techology, Perth, Australia

2007 - Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

2006 - Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia