Toodyay CCI AGM – Friday February 22^nd
It was my privilege to attend the AGM of one of our very proactive and well-organised members, the Toodyay CCI in February. The TCCI is a volunteer run Chamber that has achieved an enormous amount over the past two years, with a new constitution, a new website and amazing promotional videos being a few of their achievement highlights just in the past twelve months. I always love meeting the members and the elected representatives of our members in their town, as it is a great opportunity to find out first-hand how their business community is going as well learn what the main issues of concern may be and how RCCIWA can support them.

The Toodyay CCI’s AGM was extremely well organised and well attended. A big congratulations goes to outgoing President Bob Schrader and welcome to new President Debra Andrijich. To find out more about all the activities they have been up to and what they have planned please visit here and make sure you check out their latest video – Toodyay in Summer – it’s a ripper!

RCCIWA Members Forum – June 13^th and 14^th 2019
Planning has already commenced for the first biannual RCCIWA Members Forum, to be held in Perth at Parliament House on Thursday June 13^th and at The Mercure Hotel Perth on Friday June 15^th.  For this first Forum of 2019, we are 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 also be managing the registration for the meetings and the BAH via an online platform – so hopefully this makes it easier for everyone.

I am also pleased to announce that the NAB have very generously agreed to host our Business After Hours which will showcase great produce and beverages from Regional WA. The terrific team from Accor Hotels WA will be able to take the night off and join us for quality networking and NAB hospitality.

In order for us to plan the Forum so that it is relevant and informative for you, we would love you feedback on the following – just email me on ceo@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
• We have larger capacity for our BAH, so please start thinking about any of your members who may be based in Perth, that you would like us to invite. We will put out a request for this next month.

Local Government Act Review | Have Your Say | Please Share
I am aware that we have sent you this info regarding the WA Local Government Act Review quite a few times, and the reason for doing this is because how Local Governments impact and effect local communities would be one of the topics we always receive the most feedback and comments on, for many years. The review is closing on March 31^st and RCCIWA will be contributing a submission, however I would urge you to take some time to visit the survey and contribute your comments as well. They have set it up, so that it is easy and quick to complete, and you can just comment on the areas that are of interest to you and your members. Could you also please share this info with your members and networks – as the broader the feedback, the better the review.

RCCIWA is pleased to have been invited to be a member of the Local Government Act Review reference committee, to ensure that the voice of regional business is heard. We have been contributing the views and perspective of all regional business communities to ensure any changes to the Act make a positive impact for all regional businesses, and make it easier to do business. To find out more go here

RCCIWA Monthly Teleconference
A reminder that our March teleconference will be held next Tuesday, March 12^th at 10am and we would love you to join us on the line. We will be changing the format slightly this month to focus on issues and topics of interest, rather than hearing regional updates (which we will do again the following month). This will be a great opportunity to discuss common issues and come up with some ways we can work on them collectively. A calendar invite will be sent to you with the agenda – we are looking at discussing:

• Issues of priority for RCCIWA for the Federal Election
• Local Content – How can we deliver a more coordinated approach?
• Economic Forums – who is doing what?

A big thanks to Telstra Regional WA for providing the teleconference service at no charge – we really appreciate this type of practical support that allows our members to regularly connect.

RCCIWA Website Update –  Send us your Documents
We are currently working on developing a member’s only access area on our website that will be a resource library to share information from our members with our members. We get asked every week for examples and templates and thought it would be great to have a live resource you could access. We hope this will be up and ready to go by the end of March and to assist us, could you please send Emmi at admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au any documents that you are happy to share with your fellow members. We will assume if you send it to us that you are happy for us to upload this on the members only access section of our website. Please send in pdf format, documents such as:

• Your Constitution
• Your Strategic or Operational Plans
• Membership Forms, Membership prospectus
• Member Benefits flyer
• BAH information
• Sponsorship information
• Directory information
• Business Awards Information
• Job and Position Descriptions
• Events information
• Policies and Procedures
• Committee Induction pack  etc