Melbourne Field Trip – Thank You

Thank you to all our hosts for our Melbourne visit 5-7 Oct; AICD, Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), HoMie, Leadership Victoria and Parliament House.

Special thanks to Minister Pulford and staff, James Purcell MLC and staff as well as Emma Kealy MLA and staff for your assistance in organising our Parliament House visit.

It will be a jam packed couple of days which will include a full day at Parliament on 7 Oct and a back stage tour of the MTC on the evening of the 6th.

Visit to Victorian Parliament

On October 7 we will visit Victorian Parliament completing a tour, attending question time, meeting with advisors and networking with Ministers. Lots of preparation required for this trip.

Thanks to the following offices for their support in organising our visit – Minister Pulford, Emma Kealy MP, James Purcell MLC and Joshua Morris MP.

Joint Program Day – Vic State Library

Our joint Program Day, held at the Victorian State Library, challenged the participants to think about how community leaders can influence the future of regional Victoria.

The participants gained exposure to strategic thinking beyond their own localities with Jason Clarke, Director Minds@Work and facilitator Chris Kotur.

With a panel of local government councillors from Moira, Hepburn, Strathbogie Shires and Latrobe City Council we were challenged to look at how elected representatives an influence the future of their communities and effect community change.

A fantastic networking opportunity with LGSC meeting program participants from Gippsland, Geelong, Ballarat and the Goulburn Valley http://www.vrclp.com.au/

Communication Program Day

What responsibility do we have as educated citizens in using technology to change the world for the better?

This is one of many big ideas that the LGSC participants were lead to ponder on our recent Communication Program Day.

The group heard from the inspirational Vicki Jellie (creator of Peter’s Project) who did change the world for the better by garnering support from the local media very early in her quest to build a cancer centre in memory of her late husband, Peter.

With experience in newspapers, TV, marketing and public relations, Karen Foster from O2 Media advised the group that it is incumbent on leaders to have an opinion and that social media is the most effective vehicle to become a thought leader in their field.

This year’s leadership group is certainly not short of an opinion, and gained valuable insights into lobbying politicians on local issues facing the South West community, from Lisa Carey, National Co-ordinator of Emily’s List.

Thank you to all the presenters.