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Sunshine Coast · Venue finding

Conference & Event Venues on the Sunshine Coast

Tell us what you need on the Sunshine Coast. Shortlist within 48 hours, free to you.

Sunshine Coast, in short

The Sunshine Coast Convention Centre at Twin Waters is the only property in the region that seats a four figure plenary and sleeps most of the delegates on the same site. Its Minyama Ballroom takes 1,000 theatre, 920 banquet and 1,500 cocktail across 1,600 square metres, with the Wandiny Room alongside at 980, and 373 rooms in the resort around it. The centre states a working maximum of 1,400 delegates.

Choice narrows sharply above about 350 delegates. Outside Twin Waters the largest published single rooms are The Events Centre at Caloundra at 820 on a flat floor, Peppers Noosa at 350 and Elysium Noosa at 300, and the next largest room blocks are 188, 176, 170 and 160 rooms. A 600 delegate residential program is a single property decision here, not a shortlist.

This is a dispersed coastal region, not a walkable precinct, and that shapes every program. Noosa, Mooloolaba, Twin Waters and Caloundra each hold their own accommodation, with the hinterland inland again, so an event spread across two of those centres needs coaches built into the budget from the start. Sunshine Coast Airport is at Marcoola, eight kilometres from Twin Waters, with Brisbane Airport about ninety minutes away as the fallback. See the venues we would start with.

The Sunshine Coast is a favourite for conferences that double as a reward. Beachside resorts, hinterland retreats and Noosa's easy glamour, close enough to Brisbane to be simple and far enough to feel like a genuine change. It suits incentives, leadership offsites and residential conferences for groups that want room to think. We source across the coast and negotiate resort and group rates.

What we source in Sunshine Coast

  • Beachfront and resort conference properties for residential programs
  • A purpose built convention centre at Twin Waters
  • Council venues at Caloundra and Kawana for day conferences and expos
  • Hinterland estates at Montville and Maleny for executive retreats
  • Delegate room blocks across Noosa, Mooloolaba, Twin Waters and Caloundra
Start your Sunshine Coast brief
Where to start

Not sure where in Sunshine Coast your event belongs?

A quick steer, based on what you are running. Tell us the detail and we will shortlist what suits it, rather than the obvious names.

Based on venue suitability alone.

Large conferences
Sunshine Coast Convention Centre at Twin Waters
Residential conferences
Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort, Peppers Noosa, Elysium Noosa, Mantra Mooloolaba
Premium gala dinners
Minyama Ballroom, Peppers Noosa Macquarie, The Events Centre Caloundra
Leadership retreats
Spicers Clovelly Estate at Montville, and the Maleny properties
Incentives
Australia Zoo, Noosa programs, and the hinterland
Academic and medical conferences
University of the Sunshine Coast at Sippy Downs
Local knowledge

Where in Sunshine Coast to hold it.

The area you choose shapes everything from how easily delegates arrive to what you will pay for dinner. These are the ones we source across most, and what each is good for.

Twin Waters and Marcoola

When the delegate count decides it. The only precinct with a four figure plenary and 373 rooms on one site, plus AFL and NRL fields for outdoor activation, eight kilometres from the airport.

Mooloolaba

Mid size residential conferences that want an evening the organiser does not have to program. Beachfront hotels sit opposite the Esplanade strip, so delegates walk out to dinner.

Noosa Heads

Premium and incentive programs where the destination is part of the sell. The deepest concentration of upper tier rooms, but ballrooms cap around 300 to 350, and it is the furthest point from the airport.

Caloundra

A large flat floor plenary or theatre infrastructure without resort rates. The Events Centre carries 820 on a flat floor but has no rooms of its own, so accommodation is a separate block.

Kawana and Bokarina

Exhibitions, expos and community scale events, with Venue 114 and the stadium side by side and accommodation drawn from Mooloolaba.

Montville and Maleny

Leadership retreats and board offsites of fifteen to forty on exclusive use properties. Closest part of the region to Brisbane Airport, but winding range roads back to the coast.

Worth knowing first

The parts of Sunshine Coast we would raise before you commit.

No destination is right for every brief, and the useful conversation is about where the limits are. These are the ones that change a Sunshine Coast program most often.

This is a region, not a precinct

Noosa to Caloundra is a real drive, and Twin Waters sits between them. Any program that uses two centres needs coach transfers written into the budget on day one, and a delegate arriving at Noosa from Brisbane Airport is on a road transfer of well over an hour.

There is no exhibition hall

No venue in the region publishes an exhibition floor area or a booth count. If your program needs a serious trade floor alongside the plenary, it belongs in Brisbane or on the Gold Coast, and we would say so rather than make it fit.

Above about 400 seated and residential, it is one property

The Sunshine Coast Convention Centre at Twin Waters is the only site we publish that seats more than 400 and sleeps them on the same grounds. The Events Centre at Caloundra takes 820 on a flat floor and the University of the Sunshine Coast 500, but both need a room block negotiated separately across nearby hotels. So a large residential program here has a single answer, which means a long lead time and a second destination held in reserve.

Why CVBS in Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast is a residential conference destination, and it rewards a single site.

Karen Jepson, Director, CVBS

One brief. A real person on the other end.

Everything above this point is information. It is genuinely useful, and no other venue finder in Australia publishes it. But it is not the thing you are actually buying.

What you are buying is someone who has already had the conversation with the person who holds that room, knows what they will move on and when, and will pick up the phone rather than send you a portal login. Whoever takes your Sunshine Coast brief stays your point of contact from the first call through to the day of your event.

Karen, Anthony, Chantelle and RychelleSourcing Australian conference venues since 1989

Start your Sunshine Coast brief Meet the team

Venues we can speak for

Almost everything that goes wrong here is a transfer nobody costed. We start with which centre the program belongs in, because Noosa, Mooloolaba, Twin Waters and Caloundra are separate towns with separate accommodation, and choosing one of them well is worth more than shortlisting across all four.

The drawbacks as well as the pitch

Every venue has something worth knowing before you sign. A difficult load in, a low ceiling, a pre function space that struggles once the room is full. You will hear that from us at shortlist, not on the day.

Free to you

There is no fee for our service. The sourcing, the local knowledge and the negotiating are all included, and the rate you end up with is usually better than booking direct.

FAQ

Sunshine Coast venue finding, common questions

How much does it cost to use CVBS to find a venue on the Sunshine Coast?
Nothing. Our Sunshine Coast venue finding service is free to you, and the rate we negotiate is usually better than booking direct. If you would like the detail, it is set out on how we are paid.
How quickly can you find Sunshine Coast venues?
We deliver a shortlist of matching Sunshine Coast venues within 48 hours of receiving your brief, with rates and inclusions ready to compare. If your dates are tight or unusual, tell us in the brief and we will call the venues rather than email them.
What is the largest conference venue on the Sunshine Coast?
The Sunshine Coast Convention Centre at Twin Waters, integrated into the Novotel resort. Its Minyama Ballroom takes 1,000 theatre and 1,500 cocktail across 1,600 square metres, and the centre states a working maximum of 1,400 delegates across the site.
How many delegates can the Sunshine Coast handle?
Comfortably up to about 350 across several properties, and up to about 1,000 seated in one room at Twin Waters only. The region’s convention bureau describes its sweet spot as 50 to 200 delegates, which matches what we see.
Do you cover group accommodation on the Sunshine Coast as well as venues?
Yes. We can package delegate or group accommodation in Sunshine Coast with your venue as a single negotiation, which often strengthens the rate on both. See group accommodation for how that works.
Which airport should Sunshine Coast delegates fly into?
Sunshine Coast Airport at Marcoola where the routes work: it is eight kilometres from Twin Waters and around 32 to 35 kilometres from Noosa, and its 2020 runway upgrade to 2,450 metres allows wide body aircraft. Brisbane Airport is about ninety minutes by road and carries far more capacity, so national programs often use both.
Is the Sunshine Coast better than the Gold Coast for a conference?
For a large conference with an exhibition, no: the Gold Coast has the convention centre and the floor area and the Sunshine Coast has neither. For a residential conference of 100 to 350, or an executive retreat, the Sunshine Coast usually wins on lower density, a genuine hinterland and a quieter delegate experience.
Can we hold a leadership retreat in the hinterland?
Yes, and it is one of the region’s strongest cards. Spicers Clovelly Estate at Montville takes a group of about fifteen to forty on exclusive use with the restaurant as the reason most groups choose it, and the Maleny properties work the same way. Both are range road drives from the coast, so build the transfer in.
Ready when you are

Planning something in Sunshine Coast? Tell us about it.

You will have Sunshine Coast options to consider within 48 hours.

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