Jacqui Murkins, National Events and Partnerships Manager at Palliative Care Australia, is an 'events team of one'. Her flagship event — the Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care meeting in National Palliative Care Week — was typically a Canberra breakfast for 80–90 guests.
In 2020, with a panel of eight experts led by the ABC's Dr Norman Swan and a country going into lockdown, the format had to change. The topic said it all: "Palliative Care and Covid-19… We're all in this together."
Using SMC's ON AIR studio services, the event went hybrid — a broadcast-quality production streamed nationally instead of a room in Parliament House. The result: an audience roughly 500% larger than the traditional event had ever reached, with stakeholders joining from every state.
Why it worked
- Broadcast-grade studio — purpose-configured conference room with professional streaming, vision mixing and audio.
- One team — production, AV and venue coordination under one roof, critical for a solo event manager.
- A format that outlived the pandemic — hybrid delivery is now a permanent option for reach-driven events.
Planning an event where the audience in the room is only part of the story? The same infrastructure — 1 Gbps internet, in-house AV and streaming partnerships — is built into every SMC space today.
