Conference 2010 Christchurch 28-29 July

Conference Sponsorship and Exhibition Form and
Conference Sponsorship and Trade Opportunities

Registration available in April

By now I hope we've caught your eye! Conference 2010 is stacking up to be a great industry show piece.

Government officials, Industry Experts, Speakers outlining significant savings in new Member Benefits will be just some of the draw cards.

We'll celebrate Yates Garden Retailer of the Year. The competition has been gathering momentum; we will nominate the leaders, recognise excellence in staff and reward the high achievers. The finalists will all be attending conference and the winners will be announced at our special awards evening.

Keynote speaker Gil Simpson, one of New Zealand's self made entrepreneurs and business visionary will share his secret to success. Gil will speak about innovation and leadership, two areas where our industry could take advantage.

A Session on employee Engagement by Deidre Graham will highlight why over 60% of employees in New Zealand are not engaged. This will be followed by an interactive workshop where participants will learn how fully engaged staff reduce levels of absenteeism, customer service, inventory loss and profitability.

I am pleased to report we have Murray Sherwin the Director General of Agriculture attending; Murray will brief conference on current MAF and Biosecurity issues affecting our industry.

Canterbury's netball coach, Helen Stroud and Tony Sewell Chief Executive of Ngai Tahu Property Ltd are both lined up to speak on their specialised topics.

We have the CEO from Nursery and Garden Industry Australia joining us; we will be working on developing a closer relationship with Australia NGIA once again to make available to our members access to excellent research projects and technical material they have offered us previously.

Horticulture NZ, Gardenwise Recycling, Go Gardening, Biosecurity and much more will be featured.

In fact there is so much happening that Growers, Retailers and the Supply Sector can not afford to miss this opportunity to gain information and inspiration to lift their game plan. You should know the social and networking opportunities speak for themselves!

The Rydges Hotel in Christchurch offers a super venue and the conference committee, like Cantanbrian Teams are carefully structuring their game plan to make Conference 2010 a winning event.

Peter Fraser
President