Program
8:30am Registration and exhibition opens
9:00am Welcome to the 2021 CEO & Chair Symposium
9:05am Welcome from International Convention Centre Sydney
Geoff Donaghy, Chief Executive Officer, International Convention Centre Sydney
9:10am Agile Leadership by the Meetings Industry During the Pandemic
The conferences, exhibitions and events sector has been hit hard by COVID-19. As the convention bureau for Australia’s global city, BESydney has a unique insight into how the meetings industry has addressed these challenges:
- Managing the economic, social and beyond tourism impacts for our sector during a pandemic
- How we stay connected whilst travel and social distancing measures have kept people apart
- Innovation and adaptation across the meetings sector to survive and thrive
- The importance of agile leadership as the meetings industry builds back
Lyn Lewis-Smith, Chief Executive Officer, BESydney
9:35am Bringing a Federation Together into a Single Entity Charity
Australia’s 6 Coeliac organisations comprised 5 state/territory bodies plus 1 federal entity. This was identified as a less-than-ideal structure and the journey of change commenced:
- The process of obtaining agreement from the state/territory bodies to commence the journey
- Convincing dedicated Boards that amalgamation and subsequent winding up was the right choice
- Steps in bringing change – for nearly all of the nation
Michael Bell, President, Coeliac Australia
10:00am Interactive session: CEO & Chair Triumphs and Tribulations
This will be an interactive breakout session sharing experiences on how to deal with difficult Directors and challenging CEOs and how to maintain a balanced relationship between the two roles.
10:30am Morning Tea
11:00am We've got a new Bumper Sticker for your Association Vehicle
Year over year membership numbers stayed the same or dropped for more than 50% of associations in 2020. Yet, strategic planning and incremental growth targets pervades the industry for even more organisations trying to shelter from the storm. Let's take 10 minutes to talk about why this is the perfect time to think about a growth engine for your association and the 5 steps required to build it.
Rob Barnes, Country Manager APAC, Higher Logic
11:10am Staying Ahead of the Curve
Associations require a progressive strategy to ensure their membership organisation will remain sustainable in its operations and relevant to its members. Hear how to achieve a ‘great leap forward’ through innovative leadership:
- Retention during COVID-19 and re-thinking the membership model
- Advancing the professional credentials and identity of FIA members
- Engagement: how FIA has adapted its events to the new environment and prepares for the future
- Governance, Board composition and productive relationships with DirectorsHow CEOs need look strategically over the horizon and lead a successful team
Katherine Raskob, Chief Executive Officer, Fundraising Institute Australia
11:40pm Association Response in a Crisis
Through natural disasters and COVID-19, the year 2020 dealt a major blow to many industries and professions. Associations played a critical role in serving the rapidly evolving needs of their members during these crises.
Hear how Turf Australia:
- Impacts of the severe Nepean/Hawkesbury floods in NSW in March 2021
- Although with few staff resources, the association rose to tackle the challenges
- Utilised response to the crisis to enhance member engagement
Jenny Zadro, Senior Manager, Turf Australia
12:05pm Building confidence through Reason, Implementation and Results
- Effective governance and practical applications to improve performance
- Dealing with board performance and conflicts of interest
- Handling policy reforms, negotiation and budgeting
- The work involved, from idea to reality
- Identifying risk and outcomes; what have we learnt?
12:40pm Lunch
2:00pm Managing Associations in Major Business Sectors
Regardless of their size and scale and the industry or profession they represent, associations small and large need to have good leadership and sound principles of management.
- The degree to which joining an industry or professional association is a factor of corporate social responsibility
- Appeal and efficiency of joining an association or institute policy makers and advocacy from one voice
- Meeting members changing expectations
Sally Loane, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Services Council
2:45pm Australia's Brain Gain Project... Harvesting Global Talent to Turbocharge Prosperity
The Australian Government’s Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce is helping transform Australia into a more powerful magnet for world class talent and marquee enterprises. The aim is to harvest more of the globe’s ideas, capital and talent to accelerate Australia’s capacity to build transformational industries of the future.
Mr Verwer will talk about how seeding Australia’s outstanding home-grown enterprises and talent with the world’s best can:
- create more and better jobs
- turbocharge the economy by building world-class ecosystems
- boost national resilience
- foster a manufacturing renaissance
- expand and diversify export opportunities
- energise national research, innovation and productivity
- deepen channels of capital and finance
Find out how industry associations will play a critical role in giving Australia a global talent advantage.
3:15pm Afternoon Tea
3:45pm Change Challenges and Methodology: An Interactive Workshop for Leaders
Recognising change is easy; but it takes innovation and strong leadership to interpret the signs to successfully transform. Join our interactive workshop that will address issues of association change:
- Identification of what your association may need to change
- Validation and verification of the issues and persuading others that change is required
- Who leads: the CEO or Chair?
- Member engagement in transformation stakeholder management
- If minimal change is required, the need to understand weak signals and to look over the horizon for the association and its cause
4:45pm Closing comments
5:00pm Close of Symposium and Networking Drinks