Conference information

Transcription

1 Conference information We have kept the costs to a minimum, so as many as possible can attend. We know this year has been a tough one for those of us on the land, so our big focus has been to keep the costs down as far as we can possibly go, so we can get as many of you as possible to come and join us for a great weekend of fun and entertainment, and the social activity of renewing friendships with Rotarians from around our district. So if you book in for everything this year; both dinners, lunch, breakfast and morning teas it is just $150 per person. The entertainment is free; we have not charged anything for this and there is wonderful entertainment on offer Dinner Dance on Friday night will be a highlight. The Dixie Six is actually an eight piece Dixieland Band, who will play so many old favourites you will be able to dance to. The band is led by our Director of the New England Conservatorium of Music, Russell Bauer, who has also kindly donated his services as our production manager for the Conference. Russell plays the tuba in the band, and they have been invited to attend the Country Music festival this year, where they will be playing Country Music favourites in a Dixieland style! I ve heard the Dixie Six play a couple of times now and been thoroughly entertained. You ll want to burst out into song with a couple of the tunes and why not? Friday night s dinner will be at the Armidale Bowling Club.

2 Wonderful Concert after dinner on Saturday night. Dinner will be right next to the Lazenby Concert hall, in their restaurant on the campus at our University of New England where the conference will be held. After dinner, we will move into the Hall and you will be entertained by Voci Stupende. This group is making a name for themselves right around the country now; they ve been performing together for about five or six years, and they were all originally graduates from the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. Hannah Fraser, originally an Armidale girl who is a member of the group, has been studying in Italy and has just flown back there, so she will be missing, but they are all wonderful. I ve had a few people say to me that not everyone likes opera, and I know that is true, but having been to a Voci Stupende concert a number of times now, I believe that you will all enjoy their performance. I have asked them to sing some popular songs as well as well-known arias. There won t be any Wagnerian Viking heroines in horned hats screeching out their dirges I promise! Some of their program will include The Barcarolle, The Flower Duet, Merry Widow Waltz, and more: items from The Sound of Music and other musicals, and a special request from me of I ll walk beside you just to name a few, and to whet your appetite. You will like our line-up of Speakers. Stephanie Woollard Stephanie was a keynote speaker at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto las year. She is the founder and CEO of Seven Women At the age of just 22, Stephanie began her Seven Women project during a visit to where she met seven disabled women making soaps and candles in a small tin shed. In Nepal,

3 disabilities carry a strong social stigma, believed by many to bring bad fortune. The women were consequently lived in poverty, able to sell only a fraction of what they produced at market. Stephanie used her last $200 to pay for two trainers to up skill the women to manufacture products appropriate for sale abroad. The Seven Women project has since changed the lives of over a thousand disabled Nepalese disabled women through training, employment and the sale of their ethically manufactured goods worldwide. In addition 5000 women have been positively impacted through outreach programs facilitated by the enterprise. Education programs hosted by Seven Women include practical production skills such as sewing and growing vegetables, literacy classes and money management. Our approach is to give a hand up, not a hand out, said Stephanie. All it takes it one generation to learn how to break the cycle of poverty and pass their learning down to the next to transform a village forever. The ripple effects of education are awe inspiring. Stephanie has recently been recognised on the global stage with a prestigious Rotary Responsible Business Award for her work, one of only six honourees worldwide. The award presentation formed the centrepiece of Rotary Day 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with Rotary International President John Germ, more than 1500 Rotary members, UN officials and NGO leaders present. This adds to other accolades received for the project including an Ethical Enterprise Award in Stephanie recently completed her Masters in Peace and Conflict Resolution at Uppsala University in Sweden. She has this year been nominated as Australian of the Year. In October 2017, Stephanie was presented with an award for Sustainable Business from the Governor of Bahrain, as part of the Manama Entrepreneurship Week and the Sustainable Business Accelerator Initiative. As Stephanie receives no payment for her efforts, in order to sustain her passion she subsequently founded Hands on Development through which she speaks at conferences, provides mentoring and runs immersive tours to Nepal and Australian Indigenous communities. Seven Women provides traditional Nepali cuisine cooking classes, prayer flag making workshops and Basic Nepali lessons, allowing improvement of the women s communication skills and profits used fund hospitality training to enhance their employment prospects. Stephanie believes there is potential for all businesses to be a strong force of good in our world. Businesses, small and large, carry a responsibility to make sure they uplift and not exploit, and respect people and the planet as well as profit. It s not only businesses but consumers as well we all cast our vote on what type of world we want to live in with every dollar we spend. Stephanie is a deeply inspiring young woman dedicated to education and empowerment of the world s most marginalised. Her journey demonstrates how through persistence and unrelenting commitment one person can truly make a difference.

4 Professor Dominique Rowe, Macquarie University, Expert in the research of Motor Neurone Disease. As you know, research into Motor Neurone Disease is our Partner s Project. Professor Rowe will bring us up to date with the latest research findings. We are partnering with Australian Rotary Health, and have had special permission to provide a Research Scholarship at Macquarie for this purpose. Wherever we travelled last year, we found someone who has been affected by this insidious disease; some of us have lost family members and friends; it touches more people every year. Hopefully, there will be good news on the horizon. Mr Russell Bauer, CEO of the Conservatorium of Music, Armidale Russell has a wonderful presentation prepared for us, and he will be directing the production of our Conference as well. I don t want to steal his thunder, but you will also be treated to a surprise interactive performance. Russell is a pianist and a composer, but he is able to play a number of instruments and he has been instrumental in adding percussion to the number of instruments his students are able to study. I know you will enjoy the line-up of entertainment he has planned for the opening.

5 Will Winter The Minimbah Project. Will is a business consultant at the University of New England who has been instrumental in setting up The Minimbah Project. The Minimbah Project is a community led response to ensure that all Australians have access to a birth certificate. Birth certificates provide proof of legal identity and are a foundation for lifelong belonging and participation in society. The project is based around helping people who don t have a birth certificate, have their birth registered, and there will be a special sign up day on Friday afternoon at Newling School for those who might like to see the project in action. Other Keynote speakers will be:- Greg Ross, Chair of Australian Rotary Health District Governor of 9670, Mr Brian Coffey (yes, his name is the same as mine, but we are not related.) Brian will speak to us of his hands on experience with a ROMAC recipient. Make sure you bring tissues. And Rotary speakers will be:- Group Study Exchange teams the Danish Team and the returned Aussie Team. Rotaract, of course. Foundation Drought update from RAWCS and those working at the coalface. An update of Dr Ray Hodgson s Nepal Project. The Public Speaking finals always a highlight! And more. Sunday Morning Breakfast and Ecumenical Service with Candle ceremony and Service of Remembrance. Join us for Sunday Breakfast at Booloomimbah (the wonderful old home where the University began). This will be followed by the Ecumenical Service, with a special candle ceremony and presentation of photos of those Rotarians we have lost during the year. So, get your registration done NOW! I really look forward to renewing friendships with as many of you as possible!