Online Conference Program

Leadership | Management | Membership Engagement | Business Development | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | plus more...

3 - 4 pm 

LINC Virtual - Pop in any time for up orientation chat

8:30

Coffee

9:00

Welcome and Conference opening

9:20

Opening address + LEAD WITH STORIES.
Jehan Casinader, keynote speaker
You can chair a meeting and give a speech – but can you tell a good story?
In a world that is overflowing with information, it’s vital that leaders can cut through the noise and connect with people in a meaningful way.
Award-winning journalist Jehan Casinader has spent more than a decade telling stories about New Zealanders from all walks of life.
In this presentation, he will teach us how to engage hearts and minds – and how to change perspectives using the power of storytelling.

Jehan Casinader is a journalist, author and mental health advocate. He was named “Broadcast Reporter of the Year” at the Voyager Media Awards in 2020, and “Reporter of the Year” at the New Zealand Television Awards in 2018. In the aftermath of natural disasters, terror attacks, sporting triumphs and everything in between, Jehan has helped hundreds of Kiwis to share their vulnerable and deeply personal stories with the rest of the country.
He is the author of This Is Not How It Ends: How rewriting your story can save your life (HarperCollins).

10:20

Certified Association executives (CAE) presentation

10:30

Carry on talking to one another as the next session starts at 11

11:00

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion –  Leadership for sustainable outcomes. 
Maretha Smit, Chief Executive, Diversity Works New Zealand  

Organisations are increasingly reliant on diverse perspectives to effectively connect with customers, communities and stakeholders. As corporate citizens, workplaces are also increasingly viewed as a pathway to improve standards of living and quality of life for the communities in which it seeks a licence to operate. These issues are critical considerations for long-term organisational sustainability. And yet, time and again, organisations fail to mobilise sufficiently to realise the desired outcomes of diversity and inclusion programmes. What are the roadblocks? And how can membership organisations play a role in mainstreaming the conversation about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in workplaces? This session will look at the case model for DEI and provide delegates with an overview of the Aotearoa Inclusivity Matrix (AIM), as maturity framework for “what good looks like”. It will provide insight into DEI as a critical leadership competency, with case studies, tools and tips to get leaders mobilised.

Maretha Smit is the Chief Executive of Diversity Works New Zealand.  She has a passion for issues of social justice and sustainability – and has held a number of transformational leadership roles, including executive roles in her native South Africa that required significant transformation as the country moved from apartheid to democracy.  She has a strong appreciation of challenges in diversity and inclusion and believe in the power of connecting widely, and listening deeply, to build bridges across cultural and social differences
[Topic: Leadership]

11:45

Making it hard to say 'NO' to sponsorship
Mike Wootton, Managing Director, The Sponsorship Pantry and Digital Marketing.

Former Sponsorship Professional of the Year recipient Mike Wootton dives into what makes it hard for brands to say no to you. He’ll show you how to build confidence, outline why business’s sponsor and how to research a business before you approach them.
Mike is a passionate sponsorship professional who earned his stripes delivering best practice sponsorships to every side of the equation, from not-for-profits, to professional sports teams, international events and cultural events, right through to managing sponsorship portfolios for billion dollar companies.
Having won multiple sponsorship and marketing awards, including New Zealand's Top Sponsorship Professional Award, he realised no institution, course or individual was teaching the unique insights he'd gained over the years.
So he founded Sponsorship Pantry to give people all the ingredients they need to create incredible partnerships

See Mikes website here Sponsorship Pantry

12:45

Lunch time Break 

1:30

Privacy Act 2020 and how is relates to membership organisations  
Mitchell Souness, Solicitor, Mahony Horner Lawyers

How do the recent changes to New Zealand's privacy legislation affect you and your organisation? This session will pay specific attention to identifying and handling notifiable privacy breaches and other key compliance obligations. 

Mitchell is a member of our Commercial and Property teams, and assists in providing regulatory advice.  Mitchell has broad legal experience, having supported the firm as a Law Clerk since 2015 while studying at Victoria University of Wellington.  He completed his LLB and BCom (Finance) in 2019 and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2020.
[Topic: business development]

2:00

Privacy Act 2020 Deep Dive in practical terms for membership organisations  
Mitchell Souness, Solicitor, Mahony Horner Lawyers

Session 2 – Privacy Act 2020 - Practical How-to Are you collecting, storing, and using personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020? This session will involve a general discussion and refresher of the information privacy principles, including a how-to of access and correction requests, and focusing on the key touch-points for membership organisations.

Mitchell is a member of our Commercial and Property teams, and assists in providing regulatory advice.  Mitchell has broad legal experience, having supported the firm as a Law Clerk since 2015 while studying at Victoria University of Wellington.  He completed his LLB and BCom (Finance) in 2019 and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2020.
[Topic: business development]

2:30

Carry on talking to one another as the next session starts at 11

3:00

Targeting the education system to strengthen your sector
Ian Lee, Deputy Chief Executive, Strategy and Design Directorate, Tertiary Education Commission 

International research shows that children form aspirations for their future and have unconscious biases from as young as 7. Those aspirations and biases are linked with their outcomes later in life.  Most students knew about the job they drew from knowing someone in the role, or seeing it in the media. Less than 1% of young people knew about their preferred role from someone visiting their school from the world of work.  The Inspiring the Future programme has been created to give them exposure to the wider world, and to real stories from people in the community. Connecting to role models is important at a young age in order to broaden young people's horizons and empower them for their futures.  

Ian, as Deputy Chief Executive, Strategy and Design, Ian ensures that TEC has a strategic approach to its role in the tertiary education sector. He leads the development of TEC’s long- and short-term operational strategies, and strategic marketing and communications functions. He also leads the development of products and services that enhance life-long education and career choices that support the Tertiary Education Strategy. Ian joined TEC from Air New Zealand where he was Strategy Manager, Networks & Competitor Analysis. He led a team responsible for developing Air New Zealand's longer-term network strategy and growth plan, driving unprecedented growth and opening new markets to Singapore, Buenos Aires, Houston, Ho Chi Minh, Taipei, and most recently Chicago.

[Topic: Leadership]

3:45

Birds of a feather: Assisting others in association management
Brett Jeffery, General Manager, AuSAE and other Association executives
A collaborative community is a strong community, how can we all as membership bodies ensure that our stakeholder engagement is maximised. Let's get together, have robust conversations around three questions about our joint communities.
[Topic: Collaboration]

4:45

Close of day one Buses to hotels

9:00

Day two keynote address - Literacy in Life
Hilary Beaton, CAE,  Executive Director, Public Libraries Association of NZ

Literacy in Life is a national campaign changing the well-worn narrative of libraries as places of books and reading, to an engagement, online or in person, with literacy and life-long learning. Public Libraries today offer a critical service that ensures the wellbeing of our communities and answers the needs of society. Whether those needs be economic, social,  technological, environmental, or emotional; public libraries are leading the way.

Hilary has over 25 years’ experience in executive management across all functions of non-profit organisation. Her strengths in strategic planning and operational management, revenue generation and funding diversification, client/member growth initiatives and donor programmes are well recognised.  She has demonstrated skills in sales and marketing that result in increased profit, reduced expenditure and positive media exposure. 

Public Libraries of New Zealand is the professional association for public library managers. Its primary role is to foster a strong and influential network of public library leaders. We do this by offering our members support services, resources and shared learning opportunities.  Our key initiatives include: the Public Libraries Strategic Framework, National Data Collection, and Annual Forum, and National Awareness building, as well as providing all-year-round advocacy on behalf of our members. Literacy in Life is our current campaign aimed at changing perceptions.

9:45

Carry on talking to one another as the next session starts at 10:15

10:15

Why is cybersecurity important for businesses now more than ever? [Cyber Panel]

This session is based around general happenings and environment in the cybersecurity world and issues faced by small businesses and associations in being secure and safe. 

Ankita Dhakar, Managing Director, Security Lit & 
Victoria Huang is a Research Fellow in Cyber Security Lab,  University of Waikato.

Ankita Dhakar.  Due to the impact of COVID-19 and people moving to remote working and more businesses choosing digital solutions brought a cyber-pandemic to New Zealand. Once Ankita learnt about cyber security incidents and the very real threats companies and individuals face in the digital era, She knew she had to help.

With this vision she founded SecurityLit, A business providing penetration testing and security consultancy services to SMEs. Ankita made it her mission to make cybersecurity solutions easy and affordable for businesses so they can operate confidently and securely in the cyberspace.

Ankita was recently recognised as the IFSEC global top influencer 2021 under the ‘One to Watch’ category and was also the winner of Women in security awards Aotearoa ‘Rising Star’ by New Zealand Security Magazine. 

Vimal Kumar 

[Topic: business development]

11:00

Understanding the power of HR management: insights for member organisations

Vaughan Granier is the National Workplace Relations Manager for HR Assured NZ.

People aren't just the energy powering a business; they are the business.  A highly engaged and loyal workforce grows from a strong foundation of workplace culture and compliance. Both of these factors are driven by best practice human resources management. Giving HR its rightful place in any organisation – large or small – is incredibly important. And it's easier than you might think.  This session will examine the relationship between HR compliance, good leadership and workplace culture, including insights into how membership organisations can help simplify HR and support member businesses to perform at their best.

[Topic: Business Membership]

11:30

Building member engagement through virtual mentoring
Holly Brailsford, Psychologist and Co-founder of Brancher

Members are craving career development now more than ever before. AuSAE's research shows that members join associations because they want networking, continuing education, learning best practices and advancing their career. Mentoring is a popular and clear way for members to provide these benefits...  but how do you set up a mentoring program for success? 
In this session you'll learn some practical tips on how to build, launch, sustain and evaluate a best practice mentoring program. In this session we'll cover how to set a mentoring program up for success, even if you don't have the budget and resources.
Holly is a registered Psychologist with a background in organisational psychology and organisational development (i.e. all things mentoring, career coaching, leadership, culture change, talent management, engagement!)

[Topic: Membership Engagement]

12:00

The Power of Play in Virtual Meetings
Meeting on Zoom is not the same as meeting in person. You can’t ask people to put their screens away and give you their full attention – it is through these screens that your virtual meeting participates! Zoom fatigue makes our attendees tune out, and highly addictive social media is only a click away. By using the Power of Play, and inviting interaction from your attendees, your next virtual meeting will be engaging, exciting, and full of smiles.

Caelan Huntress is the Creative Director of Stellar Platforms, a digital marketing agency that helps entrepreneurs set up smart marketing systems. He is an American digital nomad living in New Zealand, and has spent ten years running an online business while traveling the world with his young family. Caelan is a dynamic speaker, trainer, and business coach, who combines his skills as a theatrical performer and technical geek to make compelling virtual experiences.

Lunchtime break 

1:15

On solid ground - how lessons from the Christchurch Earthquakes prepared AMINZ for Covid-19
Sue Wells, Executive Director,  Arbitrators' and Mediator's Institute of NZ (AMINZ)

In 2011, Sue Wells was the Chair of the Christchurch City Council's Planning Committee. The lessons she learned about governing a city in a disrupted environment were implemented immediately upon her appointment as the Executive Director of AMINZ.
[Topic: Leadership]

2:00

Keynote The true power is accepting the truth of who you are. 
Shelly Davies, Keynote Speaker and Rockstar communication Amazing humans, let's talk power. Powerful voice. 
Powerful boundaries. 
Powerful love of self.
We can't save the problems of the world in an hour but we can give ourselves a wake up call and a kick in the ass reminder of what it looks like to be powerful in our own world with this session from Rockstar Writing Trainer and General Badass Shelly Davies.
Let's become more powerful together. 

Shelly Davies Shelly's all about personal power - at work through better writing, and in life through loving self - and she has a remarkable story of finding both of those things for herself. Known for her government and corporate trainings in clear writing, Shelly's authentic and vulnerable style of self-leadership and bubbly energy is irresistible. She's a mum, a grandmother, a proud Ngātiwai woman, and her story is one of leaning more and more fully into her truth until she was ready to literally wear it on her face.

2:45

Closing +  keynote address  If Your Why Is Strong Enough, You Can Overcome Anything. 
Dave Letele, Former professional boxer, Dave Letele (AKA Brown Buttabean), is a South Auckland community leader who uses his platform to advocate for families in need. Having grown up with a father who was the president of the Mongrel Mob and in and out of prison throughout his childhood, Dave understands what it means to struggle. Nothing quite beats a real story straight from the heart, Dave will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions where you will come out the other side understanding the power of determination, perseverance, hard work, taking that first step and hope! Let Dave inspire your audience.

Supported by Celebrity Speakers 

3:45

Close of the day

Conference Partners