This paper examines a case study of industry engagement in the context of the emerging field of event management education at Victoria University, Melbourne. There are a number of well documented benefits associated with bringing industry into the classroom, such as giving students the opportunity to network with industry professionals, and enabling increased contextualisation of learning, but at the same time there are challenges to be faced, particularly by the teaching staff organising such events. Such challenges include the time it takes to organize these events, and the financial costs involved for the School or Department. The paper uses evaluative data and reflections from the teaching staff to identify the major benefits of bringing industry into the classroom and concludes that although there are indeed challenges, the benefits for students, academic staff, industry and the university as a whole do outweigh any difficulties.