Australia’s premium venues now have a choice - to provide all customers with an unprecedented level of technical event service. Avantage is Australia’s only exclusive in-house event services company, created specifically to meet the unique needs of venues.
Jointly owned by Haycom and Solution RED - Australia’s leading independent audiovisual and themeing companies – Avantage brings unprecedented experience, expertise and customer service to in-house events.
Avantage delivers to Australia’s premium venues the competitive advantage needed to command an increased share of the lucrative but increasingly competitive conference and convention market. By delivering unique, value-added event services we will assist venues in attracting the largest, highest profile and most successful events.
Team Profiles
Rhona Walker - Executive Director
rhona.walker@avantage.com.au
Rhona is also the owner operator of Solution RED and has a strong background in event support within the hospitality and venue environment, having previously managed the in-house event services at the Radisson (now Carlton Crest) in Melbourne. Rhona’s implementation of the organisational structure and procedures for a range of venues including Royal Pines Resort, Conrad Jupiters and Marriott’s Surfers Paradise set the benchmark for the future.
Rhona’s commitment to the community has been commended: mentoring students from colleges and institutes around Australia and her dedication to the Meetings and Events Association spans over 12 years. With over twenty years of industry experience Rhona has a proven ability to bring both technical and creative teams together delivering acclaimed events for clients both nationally and internationally.
Stuart Gregg - Executive Director
stuart.gregg@avantage.com.au
Stuart started his event career in 1984 in London and over the next 15 years worked throughout Europe in numerous roles delivering technical and production services for companies such as Gearhouse and Caribiner. Stuart moved to Haycom in 1999 as manager of the Sydney operations and then progressed to become General Manager of the Haycom Group nationally. He has brought to Haycom an enormous level of experience and a passion for delivering excellence. His wide and detailed technical background ensures Haycom stays at the forefront of the industry in delivering technical showcraft and innovation.
Matt Kirby - General Manager
m.kirby@avantage.com.au
Matt has over 15 years experience of working within the corporate events industry. Starting out as an in house technician in a major 5 star hotel he quickly gained a reputation for excellence and attention-to-detail. Matt moved on to join Australia’s most successful communications agency, Wavelength Corporate Communications (later to become Caribiner and Jack Morton Worldwide), and worked successfully through a number of roles including technician, technical director and technical producer, delivering events to all the major Australian corporate customers including McDonalds, Qantas, Subaru and Optus. Matt then joined Haycom managing countless large scale events, both in Australia and overseas. Matt’s experience in the events industry and ability to lead technical teams saw him move into the position of assistant general manager. Matt’s rich and varied background, creative passion and patient leadership skills have been instrumental in ensuring all events he manages are successful.