DISTRICT 9520 CONFERENCE - 2015, BALLARAT

Posted by Gordon Wilkinson 
 
 
DG Jerry Casburn's District Conference was held in Ballarat and marked RC Unley's 80th Birthday. What a fantastic celebration it was!! It ranked among the best, if not the best, I have attended. Attendance was around 400 and all went smoothly. Superbly organised and the guest speaker lineup was even better than last year's at Warrnambool, and that was terrific. Coinciding with the National Basketball tournament registrants put pressure on Ballarat's accommodation, however Nereda & I were able to stay at Craig's Royal Hotel in the city centre, thanks to contacts in the Burnside club.
  • First key-note speaker, Peter Walsh, shared some tales from his sports commentating career, paid tribute to Richie Benaud and bemoaned the decline in the language used on air.
  • By far the most outstanding speaker was Noel Pearson. How Stephen Baker (responsible for the speaker's programme) managed to engage him I can't even surmise. Noel spoke at length on the poor literacy amongst his peoples and the ineffective teaching protocols used by young qualified primary-school teachers. As he was running short on time, he briefly mentioned his stance on indigenous recognition in Australia's Constitution and his vision for his people's enlightenment and culture. Not surprisingly he earned a standing ovation.
  • My mother was profoundly deaf from early childhood and I can empathise with Elaine Saunders, whose father was so afflicted. This motivated her to develop improved hearing devices for the hard of hearing. She helped in the development of cochlear implants and now runs a hearing clinic in Melbourne. She spoke of the development of hearing aids and their rapid improvement in recent years. She also described her business model to reduce the cost and improve the delivery of health services; her clinic operates entirely on-line. This includes testing of clients, adjustment and monitoring of appliances, and advice on courses of action. Her costs are ~20% below the industry norm.
  • Unley's Policeman of the Year was John Illingworth (Rotarian). His interest is road safety and he spoke engagingly and pointedly about community misconceptions. One amusing exercise he ran involved the audience. He divided drivers into 5 categories: bad, slightly worse than average, average, somewhat better than average, and very good. He asked the assembly who considered themselves 'bad drivers'. I didn't see a hand go up. He then asked who considered themselves somewhat better than the average; about 80% put their hands up. Then he countered with the great leveler: "How can more than 50% be somewhat better than average?" The point was well made. He finished with he statistic that in the 16-24 yo age group, the fatality rate has fallen dramatically with speed cameras, radar and breathalysers and now matches those in the 60+ range, which, whilst low, hasn't changed over the same time. Watch out for the other driver's mistakes, but it isn't always the other driver.
  • Jane Pirkis has been funded by the ARHRF/ARH for research into Mental Illness, in particular suicide. She described her work on the link between media reporting of suicide and it's prevalence. The frequency and the way it is reported do influence the taking of one's life. Her work has led to workshops and publications for journalists advising on how to report suicide and what not to say. Leave out details of the method used, being one plea. Thankfully these suggestions have been taken up voluntarily world wide and despite the number of reports increasing in the past decade, suicide incidence has declined.
  • Some may have heard White Ribbon Ambassador, Joseph Masaka, speaking at the Soroptomist march (against domestic violence) along North Terrace last year. This time he talked about the high death rate during childbirth and post-natal in developing countries. Australia's rate of 5/100.000 births is the world's best and well ahead of Germany, US, and other 1st world countries. He contrasted this with African nations: Nigeria-800, Tanzania-400, PNG-200, Sierra Leone-1000, but topped by Afghanistan at 1,200/100,000. He urged Rotarians to partner with others to help with ante- and post-natal care in such places.
  • Nick Farr was in the news a couple of years ago and castigated for not doing more to help his climbing companion when in 2010 they were caught in a 5-day blizzard high in the Himalayas. Only Nick survived. He spoke of the trauma of loosing his friend and the difficult journey back to eventually scaling the world's highest. Very motivational and ... great photos.
  • The final keynote speaker was also featured on the cover of RDU (Rotary Down Under) as the youngest Rotary Club President (of a Perth Club). In 2010 she was among the Financial Review's '100 Most Influential Australian Women" and in 2014 chaired the G20 Youth Summit, amongst many other claims to fame. She is passionate about driving innovative and sustainable change in the Not-For-Profit and corporate worlds. When Rotary started, there were few if any NPOs, now there are 67,000 in Australia alone. No wonder it is difficult to attract new and young members - the landscape has changed. WE MUST CHANGE TOO. Enable volunteers to assist in projects, but not necessarily to become members; 'what makes new-comers uncomfortable at meetings?', Act on change, and don't delay like Kodak did over the advent of digital cameras, even if the need is clear; speakers should appeal to young business people and professionals and cover such topics as: personal development, leadership, be motivational, improve networking. Before meetings allow adequate time for and encourage 'networking'. Keep meetings concise and to time as time is valuable for young professionals.
Next year's Conference, hosted by incoming DG Dick Wilson and RCs Stirling and Renmark, will be at Renmark, 28 Apr - 1 May, 2016. The Chafey Theatre has been booked and permission has been obtained from council to moor House Boats adjacent the Renmark Hotel for the duration of the Conference - and not the usual limit of one night. They can be hired from near-by marinas.
The District Awards are listed in the Herald #41. In Sandy's year we won the Best Bulletin Award smiley- sadly nothing this year sad.
MC was DG Jonathan Usher, from Dunedin NZ. A most capable and entertaining compare. He is also a magician and entertained during breaks with some great illusions that even the most astute couldn't unravel. 
The RI President's Personal Representative was PDG Dato Jimmy Lim and his wife Datin Brenda Loh. Much has been said about the quality of the RIP's reps, some not complimentary, but Dato Jimmy was an excellent choice. He and his wife mixed freely and charmed us all. He spoke engagingly and his address included the topic of membership. "If you fail to Tell, you  fail to Sell" is his motto. Worth taking on board, don't you think?
There were a few other agenda items, such as the presentation by the Youth Exchange group (both long-term and short), the Friday evening Cocktail party, the welcome to the incoming Vocational Training Team from Timor Leste, each of whom spoke briefly about themselves and their country and the Tailem Bend club Music Hall performance.
Saving the best to the last, was the 3-waiters performance at the conference dinner. DG Jerry wanted something with a 'wow factor'. He certainly got it. Posing as the head chef and a couple of cooks, the trio launched into an exchange of banter across the room. One as an Italian opera singer, the other a Frenchman and the third a Spaniard. Each accusing the other of a lack of 'passion' in their singing - backed up by a suitably sung aria. It was fantastic, to say the least. They too got a standing ovation and calls for More. They obliged with a jolly encore. Towards the end they confessed to not being the nationalities they posed, but simple Aussies from nearby. They brought the house down!!!
All in all a most enjoyable, entertaining, fun-filled and educational Conference and worth every dollar we spent to attend.
Gordon Wilkinson