Well, it’s finally over for another year.  Conference week just seems like a whirlwind when it’s happening and then before you know it’s all over and then planning starts for the next one.  Just a few final details to remind you of before I sign off.

Post Conference Survey

Thank you to those of you that have already completed the post conference survey.  The survey only takes a couple of minutes to complete (I know you’ve heard that before) but ‘trust me’, we can’t improve on things if we don’t know what you did or didn’t enjoy.

Missing Gala Dinner Table Settings

Oh dear, a conference on Trust and we have some missing fairy lights that were part of the table settings for conference.  We do have photographic evidence for 10 of the 18 sets of lights that went walkabout (a nun, an angel, a high court judge, a boy scout, four witches and a plain clothed random woman).  The witches I can understand but nuns and angels…..come on).  Evidently the witches and the high court judge have returned their sets so please can those concerned return them as soon as possible before we publish the photos in a WANTED poster for all to see!  Alternatively we could bill you for the $50.00 per set that the hire company is going to charge us for not returning them….ouch!

Presentations Notes and Photographs

The majority of the speakers’ presentations have now been loaded on the conference website and the complete photograph selection will be up on the website shortly.

Conference DVD and Keynote Books for Sale

We have been inundated with orders for the DVD of selected keynote and concurrent sessions from conference.  This is your final opportunity to purchase a copy, click here for the order form.  For those of you who didn’t get the opportunity, we still have some copies of David Thompson’s books available to purchase – click here for the order form.

HR Magazine

The next issue of the HRINZ Human Resources magazine will have conference highlights and photos of the event so keep an eye out for that – I hope you didn’t embarrass yourself!

Next Year’s Event

Bear in mind, due to the Rugby World cup, the HRINZ National Conference will be held from 9-11 August 2011.  Make sure you keep those dates free so that you can join us again.  Thank you once again for participating and making the HRINZ Conference a raging success!

URGENT STUFF!

Registering
If you haven’t registered yet, you should get a move on to avoid missing out on the sessions you really want to go to.

Flights
If you’re in Rotorua, you can still book return flights on Air NZ for $260 and from Dunedin $270 return, come on be quick these prices won’t last.

Accommodation
Don’t forget about the accommodation deals we have with room rates from just under $80.00, book now.

SPOTLIGHT ON KEYNOTE

Nic Russell – What Can You Do to Foster Resilience?
This is a Keynote session I don’t want to miss.

In 2005 Nic Russell became a cancer patient, a bereaved mum and a sole parent.  By 2009 she had become a marathon runner, an ocean swimmer, an author, a psychology graduate, a founder of a charity and a motivational speaker.

Nic’s story is both extraordinary and inspirational. She chronicles her tumultuous and heart-rending journey with a natural story-telling ability which leaves people laughing one minute and crying the next. Her presentation demonstrates the power of resilience, how we can foster it to perform at our highest potential.

BREAKFAST SESSION – YOU CHOOSE!
On the Friday morning of conference you have the choice of two breakfast sessions to attend.  If you registered for conference early prior to the breakfast announcement, please ensure you email lauren.mouton@hrinz.org.nz with your choice as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

Choice #1 – Mercer Energy Breakfast
Fresh bacon and eggs, a strong coffee and a light hearted and entertaining talk by our popular opening keynote speaker, Fermin Diez, from Mercer.

Choice #2 – HRINZ Buzzy Breakfast
Tuck into some pancakes with maple syrup and sip on your smoothie  while the HRINZ Wellington Branch facilitates a fun, informal networking breakfast for those wanting further opportunities to network with their peers and like minded industry professionals

Well that’s all for this week.  Trust us – you won’t want to miss the HRINZ National Conference experience.

Urgent Stuff!

Earlybird Rate to Close
Hurry now to take advantage of the Earlybird rate and save yourself a cool $200 bucks which could be spent on shoe shopping in Wellington (not during conference time of course)! 

Flights
You still have the opportunity to get flights for under $200 Air NZ or $140 Pacific Blue return from Auckland and Christchurch with Rotorua and Hamilton costing just under $250 Air NZ only.  In fact, you could have a combined accommodation and flight package for less than $600 smackers if you’re quick!

Be careful about buying flights during Maori language week on Grab a Seat though, you could end up in Eketahuna!

Accommodation
Our in-house Event Manager has gone to great lengths to get a range of very affordable rooms in central Wellington to cover everyone’s budget.  With room rates from just under $80.00, you can’t afford not to be there!   Check out our range of accommodation on the General Information tab of the conference website.

Competition Winners
To Sandra Bennett from Life Clinic in Wellington who was the winner of our New Member prize and receives a free conference place at this year’s conference.  Sandra will be joined by our winner of the ‘Mystery Speaker Competition’, Cathy Fitzsimons from Manage to Lead.

Mystery Speaker Revealed
After much speculation, Blogging, Facebooking and Twittering (good old Social Media, now there’s a couple of words that’ll have the Finance Departments trembling in their boots).  We have now revealed that our Mystery Keynote Speaker is……..noooooo not Tiger Woods (nice try though but we didn’t have a budget large enough for his partners to attend)………..

Vanessa Stoddart – Group General Manager People and Operations, Air New Zealand
Back by popular demand, Vanessa has agreed to re-present the inspiring presentation she gave at ‘Nine to 9’ earlier this year after ‘wowing’ our Auckland audience. 

Vanessa will share Air New Zealand’s culture transformation story and their journey beginning from when staff attitude received the highest compliments – and the highest complaints to being recently named ‘Airline of the Year’. 

Don’t be late, don’t hesitate……

Trust us, this conference is worth the wait!

Righto, things I want to remind you about for conference.

Earlybird Rates Closing
Those of you that are dilly dallying or procrastinating about your registration should move sharply in order to obtain the Earlybird discount which finishes on Saturday 31 July, that’s next Saturday!  Earlybird rates will save you $200 so stop dithering or you’ll miss out.  It’ll also help out our team by not all leaving it to the last minute.  Also limited capacity in concurrent sessions, get in early to make sure you get 1^st choice.

Mystery Speaker Competition
If you are following HRINZ on Facebook (LIKE) or receiving our ‘Tweets’, you’ll already know about the competition to guess who our Mystery Speaker is going to be at conference.  If you haven’t already registered, you could win a free place at conference or a free place for a colleague.  Hurry and get on the bandwagon, clues are being given daily via our Social Media network!

Conference Friday Breakfast Announced – Your Choice of Two!
On the final day of conference, you have the opportunity to attend one of two breakfasts being held at the convention centre.  If you have already registered for conference, please email us to confirm your choice as soon as possible.  To find out more about the breakfast sessions click here and scroll down to Friday.

Roger Steare – Conference Keynote Speaker, Extra Opportunity
One of our keynote speakers this year is the renowned Professor Roger Steare, ethics expert and corporate philosopher.  We have also managed to secure Professor Steare for two extra events, one in Auckland and the other in Wellington.  If you are unable to attend conference or would like to have a more in-depth session with Roger you should take advantage of this opportunity click here.

Well now I can cross BLOG off my list of TO DO’s this week, thank goodness!  I’ll be in touch again next week.

P.S. 9 days until Earlybird closes.

My name is Val Fono, Executive Assistant at the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ), aka EA and PA to the CE of HRINZ (if you’re into acronyms)!  I’m on the organising committee for the upcoming HRINZ National Conference and it’s my task to keep interested parties informed of the preparations and details on a regular basis.

I’ll be chatting to you over the coming weeks and months as we prepare for our National Conference – ‘Restoring the Trust’ being held in Wellington from 1-3 September at the Wellington Convention Centre.  As I write, members should be receiving a copy of the conference brochure in their mailbox, piggy backing the Human Resources magazine.  If you’re not a member and would like a copy, just send me an email with your postal address.

The team at HRINZ put a lot of work into this event every year and as usual, the Chief Executive, Beverley Main, has again wooed international speakers from all corners of the globe (okay so geometry wasn’t my forte).  I’ll blog about the keynotes and concurrent speakers a little later over the coming weeks.

Trust us, this conference will really get into ‘trust’ and look at the darker side of the last two years (during the recession) and explore what we did badly, what we did well, what we have learnt and what we need to do now.

The delegates who attend this event are an amazing group of dedicated HR professionals who come together for learning and development and networking opportunities.  You could be one of these people in 2010!

Trust us, by following this blog you will have a ‘leg up’ in being prepared for conference and if you’ve never attended a HRINZ Conference before you will be able to get helpful hints and perhaps even win spot prizes.

Website and Registrations are now active at: www.conference.hrinz.org.nz. 

Trust Us – You Won’t Want to Miss It!