International Convention centre, SYDNEY

We are both honoured and privileged to be one of the ICC Sydney’s chosen charities! Both management and staff at the ICC Sydney have helped Stand Tall enormously over the years from conception to execution of each Stand Tall Event. The ICC have supported us year on year by matching their support with our growth. In 2020, we executed our first ever Stand Tall Live Streamed event from the ICC Studios which reached more than 40,000 students, teachers and individuals across Australia, and even internationally! This would not have been possible without the help and support of the ICC management and staff.
See below a case study created by the ICC media team!

“Our team at ICC Sydney are very proud to have supported Stand Tall 2020. On a personal note, events like Stand Tall are the reason that I work in the event industry. To be involved with the spirit and passion of the event, which brings hope and ultimately changes young lives for the better, is an amazing experience.” - Stephen Wilkinson, Event Services Floor Manager, International Convention Centre Sydney.

In addition to event management, customer service, culinary, audio visual and marketing services provided for Stand Tall 2021, ICC Sydney was pleased to further support the Stand Tall event with volunteers. Volunteer duties included ushering, assisting with sponsor requirements, crowd management, back of house VIP and speaker movement, catering logistics and cloaking requirements. This event provided our team with a rewarding opportunity to lend their skills to an event that is not part of their usual day to day, an event that is truly dedicated to making a difference in the community.

Whether attending in person or virtually, audience members heard from a range of diverse and inspirational speakers including Michelle Payne OAM, Michael Crossland and Aminatah Conteh Biger, as well as Lucas Patchett OAM and Nic Marchesi OAM, the young founders of Orange Sky, a mobile laundry service for homeless people. The moving stories didn’t stop there. Viewers also heard from tech entrepreneur and Motivational Speaker of the Year 2020, Jonny Shannon, not to mention young Alex Noble who became a quadriplegic after a rugby tackle in 2016. While sharing their own moving stories, the speakers together tackled some of the biggest challenges faced by young Australians such as mental health, bullying and overcoming adversity. Viewers also enjoyed a performance by popular musician, Timomatic who returned for the second year in a row to sing, dance and share his own personal journey. Students provided feedback at the close of the event, and the positive impact of the program content is clear, with one commenting, "It has taught me so much and I feel so much more appreciative and happy about my life. I feel so much more confident in who I am and am motivated to enhance my role in society. I am determined to make a change and am completely inspired by all the speakers."

Having been supported to take place as a virtual event in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, Stand Tall utilised ICC Sydney’s expert Audio Visual and IT services to broadcast the event across Australia last March. This year, it was a gratifying for ICC Sydney’s expert team to deliver Stand Tall as a hybrid event for Stand Tall co-founders, Jeanine Treharne and Angela Farr-Jones and their team, allowing the event’s message of hope to reach record numbers of students across the nation.

As events continue successfully returning to ICC Sydney, our team is privileged to nurture relationships with our esteemed charity partners and remain committed to our corporate social responsibility goals. We look forward to growing and maintaining our relationship with Stand Tall, and supporting the phenomenal and impactful work they do surrounding youth mental health again in 2022.

Beyond supporting our charity partners in this way, ICC Sydney’s event Legacy Program was designed to help all clients deliver an impact, and contribute to the intellectual and cultural capital of Sydney, long after the conclusion of your event. To achieve this our team works with clients to identify how they might advance the social or environmental goals of their event, engage with local bright minds and new generation, forge a new partnership with a local organisation, or simply give back to the community through our five legacy streams.

What our clients say

“How do we ever thank you enough for the incredible support we receive from you and all the extraordinary ICC Sydney team! We are so enormously grateful that Stand Tall has the backing of Australia’s premier theatre and management.

It was an incredible experience to run the event this year with you as our partner and many have said it was our best event yet. We have been so moved by the floods of emails, texts, phone calls and social media messages that are pouring in remarking on the impact it had on the young people as well as the adults who watched it. Our survey results on the day were also outstanding. It definitely makes all the hard work worthwhile. The Aware Super Theatre is the perfect venue for Stand Tall and attending this beautiful theatre makes every student feel valued and very special.”

Angela Farr-Jones, Co-founder, Stand Tall
Jeanine Treharne, Co-founder, Stand Tall

ICC Sydney Case Study - June 2020

FRI 22 MAY 2020 - Article by ICC Sydney

Youth mental health charity Stand Tall, today announced its 2020 Event will be live-streamed to thousands of high school students across Australia on 4 June from the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney). The event has been reimagined into a digital format to go ahead under COVID-19 restrictions.

With more than 20,000 students expected to tune in, Stand Tall 2020 will bring together some of Australia's leading young musicians, athletes and inspirational speakers to share stories of hope, courage and resilience. This year’s line-up includes Sam Cawthorn, Michael Crossland, Emma Carey, Timomatic, Derek Rabelo, Anna Cocquerel and Tony Hoang, among others.

Australia’s largest youth wellbeing event aims to address the increasingly high incidences of mental health issues in young people, inspiring attendees to change the course of their lives and build hope for the future. More than half (55%) of secondary students say they don’t have any hope for the future, while experts warn of the potentially devastating impact of COVID-19 on young people’s mental health.

Traditionally a one-day annual gathering at ICC Sydney, Stand Tall 2020 is set to increase its reach by more than 100% this year as it goes virtual. Australia’s premiere convention venue will utilise audio visual technology to live stream the show to thousands of schools and students across Australia.   

Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, says Stand Tall is driving important awareness and opening up the conversation around mental health amongst young people.

“The Stand Tall live stream event is a wonderful resource being made available to schools across Australia, providing stories of hope and courage to students,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We know how challenging the past few months have been for students having to adapt to learning from home and missing their friends. It’s important we acknowledge the impact this may have had on the mental wellbeing of the community and provide resources to support those in need.”

Following a sold-out 2019 event, opened by the Premier of NSW and Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, an Independent Impact Study conducted by UTS showed that over 74% of students felt that at least one of the speakers seen had directly and positively affected them, with significant increases in student hope and wellbeing recorded following this event.

Stand Tall Co-founder and Associate Chief Executive Officer, Angela Farr-Jones, said as a mother of four she’s devoted to giving hope and confidence to the younger generation, so they can better cope with whatever life throws at them.

"Now in our seventh year, Stand Tall Event has grown from 2,500 in 2018 to 5,000 in June 2019. However, this year will be unlike any other, as Australia faces one of the worst youth mental health crises of a generation.

“It is absolutely critical that as young people grapple with the mental toll of COVID-19, climate crisis, bullying, or whatever their personal challenge might be, they are given hope for a better future. Young role models really do inspire other people. That is why now, more than ever, Stand Tall is committed to providing meaningful connections to support young Australians.”

ICC Sydney Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Donaghy, said Australia’s premier convention, exhibition and entertainment venue is proud to provide ongoing support to the charity.

“ICC Sydney couldn’t be prouder to reinforce our longstanding partnership with Stand Tall, who we have been delighted to support for three incredible years. Using our in-house AV technology and talented team, we have been able to creatively reimagine this important event, to ensure it reaches and helps more young people than ever this year”.