The Gold Coast will be the centre of the AFL universe this week as South-East Queensland hosts both the AFL Industry Conference and the 2010 NAB AFL Draft.

The AFL Industry Conference, to be held from Wednesday November 17 through to Friday November 19, will bring together AFL Commissioners and Executive staff, club Presidents, CEOs, Board members and senior club staff working throughout the football industry across commercial operations, football operations, membership, finance and game development.

AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou said the Industry Conference was to be focussed around continued growth for the clubs and the wider football industry, with the AFL Industry Dinner to be held on Wednesday evening. The AFL and the clubs will centre their discussions on fans, with input from world leaders in the areas of digital media, social media and fan interaction.

Mr Demetriou said a presentation by Gold Coast Tourism early in the year convinced the AFL that the Gold Coast was the best place to stage both the NAB AFL Draft and the AFL Industry Conference. The Gold Coast is not only regarded as Australia’s favourite holiday destination, but it hosts 80 per cent of all major sporting events in Queensland and 50 per cent of the state’s business events.

Mr Demetriou also thanked the Bligh Government for its support, not only of this conference, but also for the investment in the re-development of stadia in recent years from the Gabba to Gold Coast Stadium and, most recently, Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns.

The Draft, to be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Thursday November 18, is expected to draw more than 1500 fans and general public, as the competition's most-important talent selection process heads to the northern states for the first time in its 25-year history.

The Draft, first held in 1986 when the then-VFL moved towards a strict equalisation policy that has helped build the AFL competition into the largest sporting code in Australia, has only previously been held once outside of Victoria (South Australia in 1997).

Mr Demetriou said the AFL was delighted to have been able to secure a number of outstanding presenters for the Industry Conference, including Sir Rod Eddington (Chairman of Infrastructure Australia), Bernard Salt (KPMG), Pat Coyle (President of Coyle Media and formerly with the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL), Byran Perez (General Manager, NBA Digital), Frank Hawkins (Scalar Media and former head of strategic planning for the NFL) and Bernard Mullin (The Aspire Group, and former CEO of the Atlanta Hawks).

"In 2010, a record 7.1 million people attended matches across the Toyota AFL Premiership Season and Finals Series, placing Australia's only indigenous game as the third-highest attended sporting competition in the world,  behind only the NFL in America and the German Bundesliga," Mr Demetriou said.

"However, like any sport or industry, we cannot rest on our laurels and I'm delighted the industry conference will focus on our fans. Our fans, and the communities they live in, will continue to underpin the success of our game and we must strive to find new and better ways to connect with and engage these communities as we continue to grow the game."

In 2010, a record 614,251 supporters committed to members of an AFL club and Mr Demetriou said the entire football industry was committed to further building on these record levels, and the aim of the conference was for all clubs to be able to understand the current leading strategies being used in sport and industry overseas.

Separately, the focus for all football and coaching staff in the AFL industry will be Thursday's Draft, where the game's new stars will have their entry into the competition confirmed.

The Gold Coast was confirmed as the venue for the 2010 Draft early this year and the AFL's newest club, the Suns, will have first round selections at picks one, two, three, seven, nine, 10, 11 and 13 as the club builds towards its debut match next year, against Carlton at the Gabba in Round Two. The redeveloped Gold Coast Stadium at Carrara will be ready to host its first Suns home game in round 10, when they play the Geelong Cats.

The 2010 Draft will see the 17 clubs make a total of 112 selections in all, and Thursday evening's Draft will be telecast live on Fox Sports. There will be 80 live selections on the night with Western Bulldogs pair Mitch Wallis and Tom Liberatore and West Coast's Jacob Brennan already confirmed as father-son selections while a further 29 players will be upgraded to club senior lists on Thursday evening as either rookie-list or scholarship promotions.