The New Zealand Association of Event Professionals wrote a letter to thank John West from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology for providing their venue free of charge to host their Certified Festival and Event Executive Program, which was the first of its kind outside of North America. The Association's Chair praised the hospitality coordinator Kym for her assistance and said attendees enjoyed being in the student environment at CPIT as well as the warmth shown in Christchurch.