Rhinos rethink, royalty, and Relay.
DUBBO’S Rhinos business awards have come and gone, and now the party hangover has dissipated it’s time for the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry to hold a debrief and work out how to make next year’s event bigger and better.
Well done to everyone for the effort they put in to stage this event but I think this year’s after-action examination should work hard at getting all the negative feedback, from people who attended and those who won’t attend, to find out how to continuously improve.
I was interested to see a Facebook comment from a bloke named Jim Ball who wasn’t scared to give some comprehensive and detailed advice – I’ll print it verbatim so no-one can accuse me of taking his comments out of context:
“Not a bad night. Less embarrassing than the last two I’ve been to. Liked the sentiment and the fervor. Too much unprofessional behavior from introducers, winners and audience (which seemed obvious to the MC): poor speaking, poor presentation (speaking, gum chewing, coats unbuttoned, hands in pockets, talking during speeches; and the lack of respect for the dress-code). For a front-man for an important organization Matt (Wright) needs to polish his act further. He is charismatic but he speaks too quickly, don’t you think? – hard for the more experienced among us still in the audience. As a political vehicle it is a little obvious, but irresistible. Ben (Shields) went well.”
Some good and bad in that. I’ve talked to various chamber board members about my concerns that too many important business people in Dubbo shun the organisation and its Rhino Awards.
Too many people over the years have told me they feel the Rhinos is a closed shop and that the award-winners come from the same influential circle inside the organisation, so that’s a perception I’ve told them they have to work hard to change.
The Chamber breakfasts are a great initiative and the city desperately needs the organisation to be the best it can be, so I hope their debrief is frank and fearless.
I’d be asking people like Jim Ball to address them, along with some of the city’s most successful people who at the moment don’t bother to even engage with the organisation – find out why not, and ask them what they can do to bring them into the fold.
That would also mean the winners of the various Rhino awards would be the real winners from the city’s entire business community, and not just from the small per centage who enter to start with, so a Rhino win would really mean something bigger and have that broader credibility that it lacks at the moment.
I encourage readers to get back to the Chamber with your feedback – as a city we need to help them be the very best they can be.
Thanks Jim Ball for your courageous stand. PREDICTIONS of savage thunderstorms saw organisers postpone this year’s Orana Relay For Life less than 24 hours before the event was scheduled to start, and after the tragedy at Geurie where a 53-year-old man was killed after being struck by lightning, it looked like a wise decision.
“While we understand that warnings may not always be accurate, it is paramount that we think of the safety of the Relayers and their families, therefore can not risk going ahead with the Relay,” was how the message was spread.
“This decision comes with great sorrow, however the fight to beat cancer continues and we will work together as a committee to organise another date for the event in the near future.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and hope everyone has a safe weekend away from the storm.”
Hopefully they’ll find an appropriate date to stage it later in the year. I HAD a quick yarn to Channel 7’s national political reporter Alex Hart as he was checking in to fly out of Dubbo early on Thursday morning, and he had four cans of the Old Bank’s Royal Beer in hand, what was left of a six-pack.
How good is that? All these very high-profile people got far more love from visiting Dubbo than they’d realised, and that’s going to continue paying us back for years to come.
As Prince Harry has apparently sworn off the grog until wife Meghan has the royal tot, I’m hoping Kensington Palace makes sure he wets the bub’s head with his mates while drinking a case of the Old Bank cans.
He could do a lot worse, and as the baby will be a mix of its parents, so was the beer designed to reflect their different heritages. DUBBO’S Rod Fardell is pretty full-on at all times, but it sounds MARK COULTON has thrown his Akubra in the ring again, nominated by the Nats to contest the federal seat of Parkes for the fifth time.
There wasn’t much talk of anyone else having a crack to snare the nomination, so things seemed to go smoothly.
That’s very different to the state pre-selection where a local poll I heard about put Jillian Kilby at 50 per cent of the vote, yet the members handed it to Dugald Saunders instead.
Both the state and federal elections are going to be incredibly interesting, I cannot wait for things to heat up, I’ve got so many great questions I’m going to firing at all the candidates.
I’m hoping that independent candidate for the state seat Mathew Dickerson will reveal more of his policies this time around, he can’t keep claiming that he’s on his “listening” tour forever. SPEAKING of tours, and ones where there really are plenty of home truths told with total honesty, how about Joey Williams.
This poor bloke suffers from such acute short term memory loss that he struggles to get through the day, yet his amazing book “Defying The Enemy Within” on how he’s worked to, and is still working at, overcoming his struggles, is set to be released in the USA and Canada from July next year.
He’s already booked an airline ticket over there and is busily locking away cities JUST two days after the royal visit, The Long Walk to Treatment was launched in Victoria Park.
The walk is being carried out by 100 everyday Australians who will take turns walking the 400km from Dubbo to Sydney to showcase the extreme distances people in rural areas must travel to get help for drug treatment.
Local Shantell Irwin, who is herself seeking treatment, will be the very first walker.
“200,000 Australians per year are unable to access the alcohol and other drug treatment services they need and people in regional areas are often hit hardest,” according to Group Advocacy Director at Uniting, Doug Taylor.
Uniting runs the state’s only medically supervised drug injecting centre.
“A woman living in Dubbo and requiring residential rehab treatment for drug dependency, has to travel a staggering 400km to Sydney to access the treatment she needs to get well.
“Shantell’s plight is simply horrible. Unfortunately she is just one of many people in rural areas who aren’t able to receive the treatment they want and need to assist with helping get them off drugs,” he said.
The Long Walk to Treatment (LWTT) will involve 100 walkers who will cover 500,000 steps over 15 days. Walkers will include members of the public who are seeking treatment, local community groups, people who have successfully been rehabilitated and church leaders.
The walk will finish at NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street.
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News staff. Note: John Ryan is also a councillor on Dubbo Regional Council, and is also employed part-time by Landcare. He writes here in his capacity as a journalist.