ADVOCATE COLUMN 4th WEEK OCTOBER 2012

In October this year I attended the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce Conference along with about 30 other chambers from throughout the country. Generally I have reservations about attending conferences and some conferences I have attended for various organisations in the past have been of limited benefit and have not added a whole lot of value to the organisations involved. On this occasion there were both good things and some things that were not quite so good. This is not a criticism of those involved in organising the event as they were a small Chamber with not full-time employees and the event was organised in a faultless manner, it ran smoothly and showcased their district in the best possible light. The challenge generally is the content of the event and who delivers it. We did have some great speakers who were well known at a national and international level. I suppose my main concern about these events is that they will be their very nature be quite formulaic and will invariably include someone providing what is intended to be an inspirational presentation on leadership or some similar topic. I have no problem with the topic and leaving a conference inspired and invigorated is obviously a key objective. What surprises me however is how often the person delivering the address on these subjects is a sportsperson. In some ways it is a reflection of the role sport plays in our society but at times it would be good to seek inspiration from other sectors of our communities whose endeavours equally deserve recognition. On a more positive note it was amazing to the see the combined strength that the network of various Chambers of Commerce from throughout New Zealand provides our Chamber through shared resources and member benefits. This national profile also means that we are offered fantastic savings for our members through relationships with national companies that we as an individual Chamber would not normally have access to. Within the Northern Hub alone there are eleven chambers that meet on a regular basis and allow us as a small regional chamber to deliver services that would otherwise be well beyond our own individual capacity. This same network also gives us a national voice. It allows NZ Chambers of Commerce Northland to advocate for our members at a national level with central government on matters that affect their businesses. We are certainly stronger for these relationships and conferences provide an opportunity to recognise this and strengthen these relationships further.