That’s a wrap on the 2023 Parks and Leisure Australia Vic/Tas Conference! Thanks to all who made their way to the Yarra Valley for the two-day event as we heard from industry experts offering inspiring and innovative content to address the challenges faced by industry today. After a rainy start the sunshine, and kangaroos, came out as the air was buzzing with activity across the three streams on offer – Parks + Projects, Places + Spaces and Policy + Planning.
It takes a collective effort to deliver this exciting event and we thank the over 90 presenters for volunteering their time to showcase the best our industry has to offer across the 60+ sessions held, along with the 21 trade exhibitors who took part in the event. A big thank you must also go out to our sponsors, who without their support we wouldn’t be able to host this event.
Opening the conference on day one we were lucky enough to hear from Yarra Ranges Shire Council Mayor, Jim Childs, along with a Welcome to Country from Uncle Perry Wandin, Wurundjeri Elder and Healesville local. The opening keynote Dr Debra Parkinson also provided insights into the field of gender and disaster, touching on how a “sense of place – and loss of place – looms over disaster recovery”.
As the leading learning and networking event for the Parks and Leisure Industry, and the only sector conference brought to you by local government for local government and its supporters, we hope you enjoyed your time at the conference, expanded your knowledge and challenged your thinking. Perhaps you were lucky enough to hear from our closing keynote, Cam Schwab, who inspired us to look at leadership from a new perspective and humbly reminded us that “it is the hard days that define us”. Or maybe you took part in one of the workshops exploring Climate Change. Whatever your journey we hope your experience was a successful one and we look forward to seeing you again next year.
A full conference photo gallery is available at the link below.
Thanks to our Gold Sponsors Green Life Group, Syngenta, Kompan, Skyline Landscape Services, and Lark Industries. And to our Support Sponsors – 106 architects who supplied the all-important barista coffee for the duration of the event, Terrain Group who provided a donation to the Healesville Living and Learning Centre on behalf of our speakers along with delicious Yarra Valley chocolates, Brand Architects who generously provided the lanyards, and Imagination Play sponsoring the delicious food and beverage served at the conference. Last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to SPORTENG who returned this year as our Program and Content Sponsor.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Thanks to our trade exhibitors:
