Mid-Year
Wrap Up
Well, we just wrapped up
another successful Mid-Year
conference! It had been two
years since the last time sunny
Qld hosted the conference and
it was great to be back. The Star
Hotel having just undergone a
stunning refurbishment was the
backdrop for our conference and
they did a great job hosting us
over the four days.
The events kicked off with a two
part ACCM course, Emotional
Intelligence being held on
Tuesday and Wednesday prior
to the conference.
This workshop was facilitated by
Sarah Yip, from the Australian
Institute of Management Brisbane.
35 delegates attended over the two
days with a range of managers from
DMs to HR, Ops and GMs which
provided a great dynamic in the
class.
Whilst our delegates were studying
hard we had a small group study
tour go through the Tweed Heads
Bowls Club for a kitchen design
briefing with very talented Executive
Chef Brad Whittaker. Tweed Heads
Bowls Club has recently had
significant renovations to their
brasserie and cafe. It’s a large
traditional club, however Brad
Whittaker is well ahead of the times.
Thanks Brad for taking the time to
host our delegates.
IQ 28
Jon Dee, Anchor Sky News, opened
our conference and showed
delegates how to be smarter with
their energy use and resources and
how this can have a direct result
on a clubs bottom line. Jon’s book,
Sustainable Growth has sold over
90,000 copies and is considered the
definitive sustainability guidebook
for small business. Jon also showed
how in small steps and changes
clubs can make a significant
difference to their bottom line
and the environment.
Wrapping up the first day was
Hostplus’ Greg Clerk who delivered
the annual Australian and global
economic update to our delegates.
Later that night delegates and
sponsors joined together to watch
the live telecast of the State of
Origin which again turned to Qld as
the victors.
Talk about ‘cementing the never
give up attitude’ which was the
conference theme; Michael
Crossland, our keynote speaker was
sensational and wowed the audience
with his inspirational presentation
recounting his adversity in life and
how having self-belief can counter
more challenges in our lives than we
could ever expect. I struggle now to
put the impact of his presentation
into words and for those who were
there, I am sure they can appreciate
how hard it is to summarise, and do
justice to the amazing story he told.
Michael is not only a gifted speaker
who relates his extraordinary story
in a personal way, he is also an
accomplished businessman, National
Ambassador for Camp Quality,
Australian of the Year finalist,
Australia Day Ambassador and
International Hall of Fame Inductee.
His extraordinary story of resilience
and overcoming unimaginable
adversity, was sad, inspirational and
at times even funny.
Michael finished to a standing
ovation from the audience and was
gracious enough to stay and talk
with our delegates and sign his book
‘Kids don’t get cancer’.
Simon Dowling was our next
presenter, a hard act to follow but