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  • 22-Oct-2014 13:53 | Anonymous

    PR and Marketing firm Hugo Halliday is pulling up stakes from its Gladesville office and moving to Parramatta.

     

    Managing Director of Hugo Halliday PR and Marketing Bill Pickering said the move is to keep pace with Sydney’s shifting business landscape.

    “No longer is the Sydney CBD or nearby suburbs considered as the heart of our State’s capital – Parramatta took this title long ago,” Mr Pickering said.

    “Businesses looking to prosper must consider making the move west to keep pace with where the action is in regards to connectivity and clients.”

    Mr Pickering said Hugo Halliday is a diverse public relations and media and marketing company that works with clients seeking advocacy with all levels of Government, media training and exposure and community relations expertise.

    He describes himself as a ‘corporate soldier’ ready to do battle with Government, Media and groups opposed to business interests to achieve desired outcomes.

    A corporate soldier? A number of former Defence officers have joined forces with large businesses to add firepower to boardrooms to assist with realising corporate goals and aims. Hugo Halliday Public Relations and Marketing Pty Ltd is one company that enjoys the military experience of two of its members.

    Mr Pickering is a former journalist and senior public affairs and media consultant who is at home wearing svelte suits or disrupted pattern camouflage uniforms. Bill is a former Regular Army Lieutenant Colonel and communications specialist who has been in some of the world’s hot spots working with the United Nations and the Australian Army. He has taken his war fighting skills to a different level by utilising them for corporations and businesses to achieve their goals and aims with Government, Media and the wider community.

    Bill has led national media campaigns, international public affairs in Asia and Africa, dealt with major national crises and co-ordinated sensitive national and international public information strategies. He has held senior appointments in Federal and State Governments, in the Media, and more recently in communications and PR agencies. Bill has a Masters degree in Organisational Communication and a Bachelors degree in Journalism and Media.

    Assisting Bill is Christopher Holcroft who is also a Media and corporate communications specialist; former journalist and senior public affairs and Media specialist. Christopher is an Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel who is also just as happy to wear corporate suits or a camouflage uniform to get the job done.

    He also brings a mix of corporate and military skills and leadership to the table to enable clients to achieve their goals. Christopher has led national media campaigns, international public affairs in Asia and the Middle East, dealt with major national crises and co-ordinated sensitive national and international public information strategies.

    Christopher has held senior appointments in Federal, State and Local Governments, in the Media, and more recently in communications and PR agencies. Christopher has a Masters degree in Organisational Communication and a Bachelors degree in Journalism and Communication Technology. He has also written five books – three aimed at teenagers and two for adults.

    Forming the rest of the operational team at Hugo Halliday is Nathaniel Smith whose expertise is Government advocacy and community relations and Jessica Craig, a graphic artist who helps brings life to company websites, brochures, newsletters and other media. Together they form part of the operational team at Hugo Halliday to help clients combat the jungle of Government lobbying; Media and community relations.

    “If you need something urgent to be done or a crisis hits your organisation which corporate soldiers are you going to call? Hopefully someone with experience in an operations room working for multi-levels of governance and Media – that will be Hugo Halliday PR and Marketing,” Mr Pickering said.

    “Some business leaders like to be called Captains of industry.  Step up the rank chain and call people who have actually served the country in uniform and know how to handle issues at senior levels.

    “Keeping cool under fire is a military trait Hugo Halliday espouses in crisis communications along with good strategic and tactical planning.”

    Mr Pickering said Hugo Halliday does not have former tank commanders who know how to drive tanks in paddocks and fields; infantry soldiers whose life revolved around fighting on battlefields or even naval warfare officers who can fire the big guns. Instead, Hugo Halliday has experts in fields you need to actually deploy in your boardrooms – Government advocacy experts; communications, Media, crisis management, public information campaign strategists and community relations experts.

    He said Hugo Halliday brings to Parramatta a kitbag of corporate skills including consultative leadership and empowerment for businesses to solve their corporate issues and concerns through a mission and command approach. This allows business to set the parameters of the agreed mission or goal for their ventures and for Hugo Halliday to effect what is required to achieve the aims.

  • 22-Oct-2014 13:06 | Anonymous

    Enjoy warm and fun filled Christmas Celebrations at PARKROYAL Parramatta this year.

     

    Whether it is to celebrate with your family or host your End of Year company Celebrations our experienced Meeting and Events Team is here to make it easy for you.

     

    With pricing starting from $55.00 per person there is a budget to suit everyone.

     

    Speak to our team today on +61 9689 3333 or email events.prsyp@parkroyalhotels.com

     

     

  • 22-Oct-2014 12:11 | Anonymous

    Using digital media to tell your story, to promote your products or services is now an essential part of your marketing strategy.  In partnership with WSBC, XVenture is pleased to present this exclusive offer to WSBC members. 

     

    Saving you $1,300, the production team of WSBC Platinum Partner XVenture will develop a powerful video clip demonstrating what makes your product or service unique and different.

     

    For only $1,200 + GST* a 60-90 second clip will be delivered in a format suitable for your website and/or social media environment.**

     

    In order to take advantage of this exclusive offer, you need to pre-book a 15 minute time slot with XVenture (details below). 

    We have secured only four time slots available in the hour following the WSBC lunch on the 6th of November.

     

    What’s involved: 

     

    WSBC Platinum Partner XVenture Productions will use their unique technique and world class production experience to:

     

    -       conduct a 10-15 minute interview with a member of your organisation (in the allocated time slot after the lunch)

     

    -       incorporate a selection of your photos, logo, website and any existing footage (if available), supplied by you 

     

    -       post–produce the clip and deliver within 7 days

     

    Places are on a first-come, first-serve basis, so hurry to secure you place for the 6th of November!

     

    Please contact dani@xventure.com.au or call 9415 1112 to book or get further information.

     

    * ($2,500 + GST for non-WSBC members)

    ** You can also discuss ‘upgrading’ the above package into a ‘business story’/ documentary about your business for an additional fee.

     

  • 22-Oct-2014 10:23 | Deleted user

    Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle this Christmas

     

    Novotel Sydney Norwest is the perfect place to host your festive celebration with beautiful menu selections and festive favourites to please everyone. 

     

    Unwind and enjoy our outstanding dining, impeccable service and traditional Christmas trimmings.


    Enjoy a delicious buffet or set menu along with an all inclusive beverage package.

     

    All packages inclusive of table centre pieces, bon bons, dance floor and private room hire. 


     

    For more information, please contact the Events team:

     

    Phone: 02 9634 9661

     

    Email: meetings@novotelnorwest.com.au 

  • 20-Oct-2014 10:25 | Anonymous

    PwC’s 2014 Family Business Survey: Building success for today and tomorrow provides insight into family businesses both here in Australia and on a global scale.


    Close to 2,400 family businesses from around the world participated in the survey, including 90 from Australia. The results found that, compared to their global counterparts, Australian family businesses generally appear to be falling behind on a number of areas critical to their future success including digital and technical innovation, succession planning, managing family conflict and innovative use of capital.


    Key highlights from the Australian results:

     

    ·        Just over half of Australian family businesses achieved sales growth in the last financial year, lower than the global average of 65%.


    ·        Despite this, family businesses remain optimistic with 84% aiming to grow in the next five years.


    ·        38% are planning to sell or float their business, while only 24% plan to pass it on to the next generation.


    ·        71% of Australian family businesses recognise the need to adapt to an increasingly digital world - but only 57% understand the tangible benefits of digital strategies and systems, or have a realistic plan for measuring them.

     

    Failure to keep pace with global trends will put Australian family businesses at risk of eroding the value in the business they’ve worked so hard to build.


    For further insights and to download the full report, please visit PwC's Private Clients website or call James McElvogue on 8266 8384.

  • 20-Oct-2014 10:08 | Anonymous

    TAFE NSW – South Western Sydney Institute (TAFE SWSi) is leading the way in creating a 21st century learning environment that is student-centred, flexible, interactive and attractive.

     

    TAFE SWSi Teaching and Learning Consultant, Leah Simpson, said a number of TAFE SWSi’s colleges were replacing the conventional teacher focused classrooms with Active Learning Centres – which shifted teaching and learning from a “teacher-centric model to a learner-centric one”.

     

    Active Learning Centres are largely unformatted, flexible learning spaces where the facilities for learning and teaching are modular. The furniture is on wheels so desks and technological tools can be easily changed and adapted to meet the students’ requirements. 

     

    The active learning process, which catered for collaboration, reflection, meeting and presenting, gave students a “tangible, hands-on” experience in solving issues and problems as they would naturally occur in a normal workplace, Ms Simpson said.

     

    In a typical Active Learning Centre lesson, the teacher would take a back seat. Once the lesson plan was explained or demonstrated and problems outlined, the students would “take over”.

     

    TAFE SWSi Liverpool College Head Teacher of Business Administration, Christine Schlegel, said: “I don’t do a lot of teaching in that the students are doing a lot themselves.

     

    “So as teachers, we are saying, these are the basics; this is what you’ll be assessed on, then they have to make it work. They have to put it into action,” she said.

     

    Among the more unusual learning tools offered by the Active Learning Centres is the ability to write on the glass walls which enclose each centre.

     

    “They use the glass to get their ideas; to brainstorm and then they transfer that onto the laptops, Ms Schlegel said.

     

    Attendance was “always high” for classes held in the Active Learning Centre at Liverpool, she said.

     

    “I’ve had comments like ‘we love working here’ and ‘we can get work done’,” Ms Schlegel said. “I’ve been able to use this room to get them to be engaged; to be in the moment because they’ve got ownership. They’re really working together in a way I haven’t seen before.”

     

    Active Learning Centres have been in operation since July 2014 at four TAFE SWSi colleges including Campbelltown, Granville, Bankstown and Liverpool; with more on the way.

     

    TAFE SWSi Director Peter Roberts said the Active Learning Centres were as much a learning retreat as they were a learning tool which more broadly promoted the new and modern TAFE.

     

    “The feedback we’ve had from teachers and students reveal that the Active Learning Centre approach totally engages the students,” he said.

     

    “We are listening to our customers and understand what they want. We are always looking to upgrade our facilities - hence the new Active Learning Centres - to enhance the TAFE learning and teaching experience.

     

    “At the same time the one thing that will never change is our commitment to provide education and training that students can trust.

     

    www.swsi.tafensw.edu.au

     

  • 14-Oct-2014 10:04 | Anonymous

     

     

    TAFE NSW - South Western Sydney Institute TAFE (SWSi) will host a series of business breakfasts designed to inform regional industry leaders of the changes taking place in the TAFE system but more importantly to also reassure them of TAFE SWSi’s ongoing commitment to provide excellent education and training for regional businesses.

     

    Three breakfasts are planned in the coming weeks at different TAFE SWSi colleges: the first at Campbelltown College on Thursday, 23rd October; the second at Wetherill Park College on Thursday, 6th November and the final one at Padstow College on Wednesday, 12th November.

     

    A delicious breakfast prepared and served by the Hospitality section will be followed by a presentation on change in the NSW training system from TAFE SWSi Director Peter Roberts who will then lead a Q & A session.

     

    Mr Roberts said his presentation would advise breakfast participants of what is changing and what is not changing in 2015 and how and the best ways for industry and community to access TAFE SWSi services.

     

    “The breakfast is also a chance for leaders in our region to tell us how they want TAFE SWSi to work with them to meet their needs and to find out how training excellence can improve the bottom line for businesses and build skills to increase employment in our communities,” he said.

     

    “TAFE SWSi would continue to respond to the changing demands of industry, students and the community and also review our own business practices and service delivery to accommodate a new funding structure and ongoing reforms.

     

    “We have the skills and the capability to deliver excellent services but we really need to know what business and community leaders want and how we can support them in this changing environment,” Mr Roberts said.

     

    TAFE SWSi gives local residents the chance to enrol in one of more than 700 courses across a wide range of industries such as community services, hospitality, business, finance, manufacturing, transport, design, IT, interpreting, building and construction, he said

     

    TAFE SWSi is one of Australia’s largest educational institutions, with 72,000 enrolments every year at nine colleges across South Western Sydney, in workplaces all over Australia and internationally.

     

    TAFE SWSi is also the 2013 National Large Training Provider of the Year.

     

     

     

     

  • 13-Oct-2014 11:48 | Anonymous

    Significant strides are being made in our $20 million upgrades to Parramatta Park.

    The works will conserve important heritage buildings and create new recreational facilities for locals and visitors.

    More than $9.5 million will be spent upgrading ‘The Crescent’ events space, making the park a more attractive venue for international artists and promoters, while work has begun on the $8.7 million picnic facilities and regional playground in ‘The Paddocks’ precinct.

    By the end of the year, a $2 million upgrade to the ‘The Gardens’ precinct will begin. This will include upgrading the heritage setting around the newly conserved George Street Gatehouse, conservation of a convict bridge and landscape works.

     

     

     

     

     

  • 13-Oct-2014 11:44 | Anonymous

    One million Opal cards have now been issued as almost 800 buses go live with Opal in Sydney’s Inner West and South West, and the Central Coast.

    The NSW Government is modernising the public transport system and with one million customers now using 
    Opal, Sydney is finally catching up with other global cities around the world. 

    Opal is rolling out to even more buses in Sydney – 285 buses in the Inner West and 200 buses in South West Sydney – taking the total number of Opal buses to 3,860. 

    On the NSW Central Coast, Opal electronic ticketing will go live on 263 buses from next week. Residents are already able to use their Opal cards on trains.

     

     

  • 13-Oct-2014 11:40 | Anonymous

    A $110 million medical research facility in Western Sydney opened this week. The new Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research building will be home to 400 scientists and clinicians and will bring all Westmead Millennium Institute centres of research under one roof. 

     

    The state-of-the-art building will allow the Institute to expand research in its core areas: infectious and immune diseases, cancer and leukaemia, liver and metabolic diseases, eye and brain-related disorders and heart and respiratory diseases.

    The new headquarters will enhance the scope of ground-breaking research undertaken in fields such as disease gene discovery, cell sorting and imaging, and new cellular and genetic therapies.

     

     

     

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