The Ekka turns 150 this year. It will also keep running while the showgrounds are rebuilt around it. The Queensland Government has confirmed a $287.5 million revitalisation of the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills, with Hutchinson Builders appointed and demolition at Machinery Hill starting in September, straight after this year's show. The Main Arena goes to 20,000 seats. New grandstand, new horse pavilion, accessibility upgrades. The show stays on site throughout, and the only year it won't run is 2032. The line that matters is the one about staying open. Sequencing a build around a live event is the builder's job. Keeping the public with you year after year is a different one. Someone will arrive at a gate that has moved, look for a pavilion that isn't there, park somewhere new. What they're told before they leave home decides how they feel about the whole project. I was TMR's representative inside the GC2018 Games Communication Centre, on a team of communication and media representatives, and the pattern held there too. People forgive disruption they were warned about. They don't forgive being surprised. An annual show that carries its crowd through a full rebuild is a communication program in its own right. #Brisbane2032 #Ekka #MajorEvents #StakeholderEngagement #Queensland