It’s happening again and the President can’t believe it!
Each year January 1 arrives and we sit back, take stock of our past year and reflect on the things that worked well, things that went wrong, set our goals and say how much we will achieve in the ensuing 12 months.
Well it’s a big call and how will we fit all of our goals into a short 12 month period, is the $64k question.
HEREWEAREAGAIN!
The street decorations are out; we are being flooded with retail buying opportunities; and red and green are the colours of fashion. Christmas time is here again and we all keep saying how fast the year has past.
It’s a silly saying, since in a practical sense; time does not change speed, (unless any of us has discovered a working time machine), but with our busy lives, it does give us a sense of “Time flying by!”
The MBN year has also flown by.
What a great range of events and speakers we have had this year and we have some big changes for 2010.
WHAT DID YOU GET OUT OF IT?
Continued...
FEBUARY
Back in February, (can you remember that far back), we were honoured to have Stan Alves talk on the Importance of Relationships in business, sport and life. Thinking back, how relevant was this subject? Consider how important our business relationships have become, given the business pressures that the Global Financial Crisis, (here on referred to as the GFC in case you have been asleep or on another planet for the last 12 months), has bought to us. I have just finished reading a book on negotiating, and one highlighted point was the fact that a good negotiator will negotiate a deal, but a great negotiator will negotiate a relationship, leading to a better deal. SOMETHING TO ALL THINK ABOUT!
MARCH
Attending a function the other night, a comment was made on how the Lord Mayor is being so “pro-active” and “vocal” on the development of Melbourne. Whether you agree or not, it is great to see that all ideas and concepts are being raised to ensure the best possible outcome will be achieved. It was fantastic to have the Lord Mayor speak to us in March on his experience of the first 100 days in office. We have also been well supported by many of his Councillors and Staff throughout the year and we look forward to working with them throughout 2010.
MAY
In May, Tom Elliot entertained us with his view on the economic climate. How many of you fixed your rates in as he did? How many of you would like to go back in time and get the rates that were on offer back in May?
JULY
During the middle of winter, Bushfires are not usually a subject we pay a lot of attention too. With the hot weather we have had in November, (funny how it is cold and wet now we are in summer), the threat of bushfires has again become our centre of attention. It was a great experience to have Christine Nixon talk to us on the impact that the bushfires had. It is a subject that will never go away and we can best appreciate the affect and devastation that it has on those affected. Let’s hope that we can avoid any devastation this year!
AUGUST
David Koch led a fantastic panel in guiding us to seek opportunities in the GFC. Many businesses had had such a good run through previous years that they did not know what to do when the bubble burst. With great support from the City of Melbourne and Small Business Victoria, MBN provided a major event for Energise Enterprise. For those of you who were lucky to attend, you do not often get an opportunity to talk, face-to-face with David and the panel members.
Melbourne day was then upon us. The Lawyers survived and we all had a great laugh, but get ready for next year when Melbourne turns 175 years old.
SEPTEMBER
Our new Public Transport System is in place and our Major Sponsor Metlink, had the Minister for Public Transport, Lynne Kosky, ready to go. Unfortunately, Lynne, due to personal reasons, could not make it, and as the saying goes, “the show must go on”. We were graced to get Jim Betts, Director of Public Transport Victoria. If you have not done so, just Google Jim and have a read! He has been described as the “Wackiest Public Servant” and after doing a bit of research, you will know why. Jim is a fantastic speaker, entertaining and informative and was a perfect replacement. Well done Burnie on getting him at short notice!
OCTOBER
Carbon Trading, ETS and the “Kyoto Protocol” may be a topic we all have tended to ignore, but Tim Wilson changed that. His insight and views on the effects that it will have on business was “eye opening” to say the least. Our sponsors, Victoria University, provided for a speaker that I have personally had a lot of great feed back about. Given that we have just had a Liberal Leadership spill, based mainly around this very topic, it is something we all need to start paying close attention too.
DECEMBER
We finished off the year with an Investment Cycle view by Rod North from Bourse Communications. Rod’s commentary is well respected in the financial industry and it was great to hear him talk about what he believes next year holds. It was a fitting end to a long and hard “business” year and the positive outcome that Rod provided, and should have us all looking forward and not back.
So, after such a fulfilling year, what does next year hold? We’ll have to keep you in suspense for most ofthat.
BREAKING NEWS
One thing that we do know is that the City of Melbourne is a great place to do business, but you can never rest on your laurels. Currently, the City of Melbourne has identified the need to develop a single entry point for business and ecconomic development within the Municipality. Enterprise Melbourne is designed to support the growth of new and existing businesses and the Melbourne Business Network is a fundamental part of that support. We are honoured and excited to be part of this new initiative and we are confident that this move will help MBN continue to develop, grow and assist along with the many other beneficial businesses.
February is our planned launch for 2010, so keep in touch.
I would like to thank our sponsors and partners for 2009, City of Melbourne, Metlink and VU for their support throughout 2009 and we look forward to building on our relationship again in 2010.
Whitelion has been our Charity Partner this year and we look forward to working with them again next year. They perform a thankless task of helping juveniles in the Youth Justice System, and it is only when you see it with your own eyes, that you appreciate what a difference they make. I am talking from personal experience and I hope that you all make some time to experience this yourself. MBN Member’s are currently working as mentors, (Greg Robinson from the Committee is one of them) and several Member’s businesses are part of the Employment Program.Let’s all give those less fortunate a second chance! I’m sure we have all had that luxury offered to us in the past! Please spare a thought for those less fortunate as we celebrate Christmas and the New Year .
I would also like to thank the MBN Committee for their hard work and dedication. It takes a lot of time and effort to do what we do and I know you will all join with me to thank John Stock, William Garigos, Greg Robinson, Jo Banks, David Markus and Harsha Cooray for being on the Committee. I would also like to thank Tracey Davis in the office for her help and hard work throughout the year.
My final thank you is for YOU! Without you we have no purpose and it is great to see so many members attending our events and getting the most out of their membership. Networking is about building relationships and you can only do that if you expose yourself to other business people.
From all of us at MBN, we wish you a joyous festive seasonand look forward to Bigger and More Exciting Networking in 2010.
Merry Christmas
Dave King
President