From the CEO’s Desk

Thu 23 Jan 2020

RCCIWA Members Forum – June 18th and 19th 2020, Perth – Save the Date!
Planning has already commenced for the first biannual RCCIWA Members Forum, to be held in Perth at Parliament House on Thursday June 18th and at a venue to be confirmed soon in Perth on Friday June 19th.  For this first Forum of 2020, we are again looking at what technology we may be able to utilise so that members unable to make it to Perth, can still participate and contribute. We will keep you posted on this.

We will be holding our legendary Business After Hours on Thursday June 18th in the PM – and will get back to you with our host details as soon as they are confirmed.

If you have not attended previously, we would love to see you there. You can read the notes from Day One of our most recent Forum here if you would like to find out more about what the RCCIWA Advocacy Day involves. You will also find the programs from the 2019 November Forum here and here to give you an idea of what is involved.

In order for us to plan the Forum so that it is relevant and informative for you, we would love your feedback on the following – just email me on ceo@regionalchamberswa.com.au or Emmi on admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au with any suggestions you may have:

  • Members of Parliament you would like us to invite
  • Questions for those MP’s
  • Topics and issues, you would love covered on Day two, the Operational Day
  • Any guest speakers you would like to hear from on either day
  • Any suggestions you have for the format and the timings of both days – what you would like to see.

RCCIWA January Teleconference Wrap Up
We held our first teleconference for 2020 on Tuesday and it was great to hear nine of our members represented on the line. The main message was that everyone has hit the ground running this year and has been very busy planning and organising. It was a very valuable and interesting discussion with some of the highlights being:

  • Nikki Forrest, Policy & Advocacy Officer with the SBDC joined us to give us an update on their activities and main pieces of policy work. We hear from the SBDC each month and it is a great way to keep updated and also to give direct feedback to inform their work. If you have not checked out the SBDC website lately, I would thoroughly recommend that you do here – it is a fantastic resource!  
  • Simone de Been from the KBCCI joined us briefly and was able to give us a quick update on their signature events for this year with the first one being their Explore the Goldfields Community Expo – which you can read more about here. 
  • Bernie Masters from the Capel Chamber of Commerce gave us an update on the priority project which is securing funding for CCTV for their Light Industrial Area and their main street. You can follow the Capel Chamber here.
  • Andrew McKerrell from the Peel CCI discussed their strategic planning day which was being held later on this week and the fact that they already have 45 events planned for the year! That is a massive year ahead.
  • Bec Woods from the Collie CCI spoke about their hugely successful Shop Local at Christmas Campaign which saw $1.5 Million spent locally as a result – this is incredible.  They are also holding their inaugural Collie Community Expo in February.
  • Elaine Jolliffe from the Broome CCI talked about all of the amazing events they have planned for the year as well as the optimism in the region from several large construction projects that are due to commence in 2020 in Broome. The have some new events confirmed, including their inaugural International Women’s Day event in March.
  • We met Sumer Addy, the newly appointed CEO of the Denmark Chamber of Commerce, who has been in the role for 3 weeks. Sumer gave us an update of some of the activities they are involved in and planning including the Great Southern Agricultural Producers Project they are working on with DPIRD. They also have the Great Southern Women’s Leadership Forum coming up in March in collaboration with the Albany CCI. You can find out more here.
  • We heard from Mark Seaward from the BGCCI who gave us an update on their recently commissioned CCTV project, that was several years in the making as well as an outline of their extensive events program and work on the Bunbury Outer Ring Road project. You can find out more here.
  • Tania Tucker from the Newman CCI gave us an update on the very exciting Family Innovation Day, being held in February as well as highlighted some of the major events they have planned for the year. You can follow them here.
  • Joanne Fabling from the MWCCI updated us on the Food Industry Cluster that they are part of in the Midwest as well as the exciting signature events they have planned including an Economic Summit and their Business Excellence Awards. You can find out more here.

This is only a brief snapshot of the conversations, but as you can read everyone is very busy and focused on providing quality events, support and advocacy for their business communities. If you have not joined us previously for our monthly teleconference – we would love to hear you on the line some time. We hold it on the second Tuesday of each month at 10am. Look out in your inbox for reminders, the agenda and the dial in details.

RCCIWA Administrative Items

  • Emmi Taylor is back and is currently updating our membership contact list. If you have any changes to your contacts or would like to add any people, please email Emmi at admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au
  • Please find your “proud to be a member of” logo here – we would love you to use this in your various communication channels and branded collateral.
  • Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and share our page with your members.
  • Please also let us know about any activities, initiatives or events you would like us to include in our weekly newsletter. You will notice that we are including an item each week that showcases a great idea, program or event that one of our members is delivering. If you have something you would like us to share – please send through the details to Emmi.
  • Any events you would like added to our events calendar on our website. If you have a specific logo for that event -could you also send that through, and we will include it.