The Australian Turf Club has taken top honours at the 2016 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence – NSW in the category of Events Caterer.

The ATC beat out seven finalists to take home the award, recognising the hard work and talent of our Rosehill functions and catering team at the 60th Running of the Golden Slipper event.

The Awards for Excellence is a nationally recognised, independently judged awards program that celebrates exceptional service and culinary talent across the state. The Awards for Excellence is the only program in Australia where the judging criteria is determined by consumers who rank what is important to them in the dining experience.

With a recent $28million dollar refurbishment at Rosehill Gardens and rebrand of our events business, Events by ATC, The Australian Turf Club is proud to be showcasing and promoting its functions which are a reflection of our professional team of industry specialists. The award was accepted by General Manager, Function & Event Sales, Jimmy Busteed.

The Australian Turf Club will progress to the nationals held in Sydney on the 24th October 2016.

For function/event enquiries please contact The ATC team:

E:  info@eventsbyatc.com.au 

P:  1300 729 668

Author: Kylie Adoranti, Parramatta Advertiser

Click here to view online article

PREMIER Mike Baird has talked up the level of investment and attention his government has given to western Sydney while addressing 600 of the region’s business leaders.

Mr Baird today delivered his third State of the Region speech at the Western Sydney Business Connection at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse and boasted about the Liberal Government’s key projects and achievements for the region and the state.

“Starting with the economy, there has been real progress. The numbers came out yesterday for NSW as the fastest growing economy in the country ... It is the 22nd largest economy in the world.”

The Premier said there was good news regarding western Sydney’s growing housing market.

“Every weekend there are more than 500 new homes that are coming on the market. It is happening in a very significant way.”

He said Westconnex was just one of the important pieces of infrastructure the region needed.

“From Parramatta to the airport, you can get there 40 minutes quicker.”

Mr Baird said he believed moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta would boost livability and attraction to “the great parts of western Sydney”.

Infrastructure was also a big part of the Premier’s address. He said the government was spending more on infrastructure in the next four years than any state government had spent in the history of the country.

“We are giving opportunities to the future generation of workers,” he said.

In terms of health, Mr Baird said it was “a difficult area” but the health system was doing “an incredible job” and that he was proud of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the significant amount of money going towards the disability sector.

The government’s work with the environment was briefly mentioned, with Mr Baird saying he believed the introduction of the container deposit scheme would have a huge impact on reducing litter across the state.

Western Sydney Business Connection (WSBC) is pleased to welcome The Hon Mike Baird MP, Premier of NSW to the heart of Sydney for his annual State of the Region Address at Rosehill Gardens, 8 September, 2016.

This year’s event will deliver another bumper crowd with the Premier addressing over 600 of Western Sydney’s business leaders to share the NSW Government’s progress and future plans for shaping the state’s economic engine room.

The Premier will provide insights on the government's key initiatives to grow jobs in the west and to create cities with a liveability focus through continued investment in transport, health, education and the cultural economy.

Ticky Fullerton from ABC’s ‘The Business’ program will provide additional analysis of the region's challenges and opportunities and facilitate a panel discussion with four of Western Sydney’s key business leaders including:

Danny Rezek, Managing Partner, Deloitte Western Sydney

Duncan Ellis, Commercial Business Director, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute

Ross Jones, Vice President, Eastern Region, Jacobs

Jake Burgess, Managing Director, Sydney Zoo

Event Details

Tesla Motors is barely a decade old and enjoys a worldwide reputation and financial success. It started from scratch with a bright idea, like most start-ups and small businesses, and much can be gleaned from the way Tesla has managed its ideas.

Pre-orders for the latest Tesla Motors "Model 3" have exceeded US$14 billion in future sales and are testimony to the transformational effect it is having on the automotive industry. Intellectual capital, in the form of intellectual property (IP) rights, has helped steer the company from engineers in a garage to success on the commercial highway.

Here are three examples of how Tesla Motors was able to use IP rights to fuel its growth (without ever having to enforce them!).

1. Start up phase: attracting investment

To date, Tesla owns approximately 900 patents worldwide. But during early stages, Tesla focused only on protecting a few key solutions to problems faced by electric vehicles at that time. One of their earliest patents filed was simply for a method and apparatus for mounting, cooling, connecting and protecting batteries (see US patent application 2007/0009787).

Owning IP rights, however, enabled Tesla to approach the likes of angel and venture capital investors to attract the necessary funding for developing the Roadster model with British car manufacturer Lotus, and growing the business.

In exchange for providing the money to build and market your products, investors want to know that your point of difference cannot be easily replicated, and that the business has legal assets to protect it, in the hope that these will grow in value with the success of the firm.

2. Gaining momentum: protection is leverage

The Tesla Roadster was launched in 2008 with a string of IP rights behind its proprietary technology. These related to numerous improvements to the electric vehicle, including the battery life being extended to a range of 394 km per charge and the ability to supercharge without detriment to battery lifespan. For the first time, electric cars were both more feasible and attractive to a commercial market.

A small business with a well-protected idea or brand is in a much stronger position to negotiate with a large corporate - even more so if their idea has proven commercial market interest. Most competitors and organisations are all too eager to avoid the threat of infringement, which carries real legal, financial and reputational risks, in favour of either doing a deal with the rights owner or staying out of the market completely.

3. Reinventing the wheel: brand enhancement

In 2012, Tesla Motors launched the Model S and subsequently entered a more mature era of production, with sales exceeding 50,000 vehicles on the road. This level of success spurred Tesla Motors to continue using its IP rights to further growth.

Telsa’s CEO, Elon Musk, used the company’s early success from its patent rights to increase the value of its goodwill and trade mark rights (brand). Yes, you heard right. Musk made an unprecedented announcement in 2014 that anyone could use Tesla's portfolio of patent rights.

He was thereby supporting the development of the technology to help grow the mainstream market size for electric vehicles, while cementing Tesla's reputation amongst buyers as an innovator in the field of electric vehicles.

The ultimate end-goal for many businesses is to build a powerful and valuable brand that can be used as a competitive edge to distinguish present and future products and services in the market.

By protecting your ideas – your intellectual property rights – you have powerful tools at disposal that can be utilised in different ways according to the needs of each business stage.

Author: Jack Shan, Patent Attorney at DCC

© 2016 Davies Collison Cave

Over the years, as much has been invested into Nickaz as a company as has been invested in giving back.

We have been involved in a lot of charities; Ride to Conquer Cancer, hosting The World’s Greatest Shave, the PIF annually to raise money for homeless children, the City2Surf, the Steve Waugh Foundation Ride and more recently Kazan has been working closely with John Maclean and his foundation.

Then there’s everything behind the scenes - Kazan and Nicole don’t bat an eyelid to jump in and help out people in need directly - financially, with resources or connecting people to create a supportive network. I’ve never witnessed any consideration to receive acknowledgement or repayment.

It’s rare to meet individuals so adamantly open to giving, over and over … how are people that genuine shaped? I asked Kazan what it meant to him;

‘For many people that have been successful in business – do you know how many at some point in life have been told “How lucky” they are when someone gets a glimpse of their wealth?

The last time someone told me how lucky I was I thought to myself, isn’t luck when you win the lotto or Keno or find fifty bucks on the ground???

I wish that person was around when I had nothing. Living in a shed with my wife and three young kids, holes in the floors and walls, and in the bitter cold of winters and the searing heat of endless summers…when people I employed often earned more than me. Getting out of bed in the morning at 4:30, working on the tools till 12pm, changing into nice clothes to visit clients in the afternoon, getting home to see the family and help put the kids to bed, then working on designs and quotes until midnight before starting all over again.

Day after day. Year after year.

Or the times I had to do all-nighters…being so tired that I fell asleep on the floor of an office building with a cordless drill in my hand and a screw half in the wall.

NO, for me there is no “luck”, just hard work, perseverance, work ethic and many other things you need to get you to where you need to go.

One of the greatest things I have learned though - through my experiences and coming from a humble beginning having to work my way up - is a deep understanding of what people less fortunate than me now can go through.

As I get older and as I enjoy some of the success of years of hard work, it only deepens my sense and need to give back.

As a business owner and as I’m seen more and more as a leader in my field and the wider community, the idea strengthens that all of us who enjoy success for whatever reason should think about the people who need our help and try in some way, whether it be time or maybe financially but we should all try in some way to PAY BACK!!’

Kazan Hadden

Director

0416 024 369

kazan@nickaz.com.au

Board Member, The John Maclean Foundation jmf.com.au

www.linkedin.com/in/kazan-hadden-nickaz

Alison Meurant

Director of Sales and Operations

0450 608 804

alison@nickaz.com.au

www.linkedin.com/in/alison-meurant-nickaz

Address: Suite 101, 22 Brookhollow Avenue, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153

Phone: 02 9659 3387

Email: info@nickaz.com.au

Wesbite: www.nickaz.com.au (currently under construction)

Instagram: @nickaz_constructions

Facebook: Nickaz Commercial Interiors

THE leaders of the NSW office of Davidson collectively have more than 70 years’ experience in recruitment, technology and HR consulting.

Given their extensive experience in enhancing workplaces in Western Sydney, it seemed only fitting for the team to be a sponsoring supporting partner for WSBC’s State of the Region address luncheon on September 8.

Davidson is one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading recruitment and HR consulting companies with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland.

Their Sydney office focuses on recruitment in Projects & Operations, Executive, Technology and Project Technology and HR Consulting services.

The teams are led by Davidson’s state general managers, including:

• Tracy McClenaghan is the new General Manager of Davidson’s NSW Executive team. Over the past 11 years, Tracy has developed a strong reputation in executive recruitment across director, executive and board level and is proud to be on the NSW government panel.

• Amanda Sheard is the NSW General Manager for Davidson Consulting & HR Solutions and brings her combined expertise over 20 years in career coaching, leadership performance, organisational and learning development, consulting and leadership advisory to the role.

• With more than 17 years’ experience in recruitment, Gareth Broadrick is the General Manager of Davidson’s NSW Projects & Operations team. Gareth has worked extensively in property, construction, mining and engineering sectors across England, Australia and PNG.

• Roger Brant is the NSW General Manager for Davidson Technology and has worked in technology recruitment for more than 18 years. He has worked with many leading enterprise, technology companies along with numerous SMEs in finding their hard-to-find talent and leads the way in contractor care.

• Nathan Ierano is the Practice Leader (Project Services), which provides Cloud Services, Technology and Delivery Consulting, Project and Program Delivery and Professional Services for Monitor Consulting’s clients across Australia.

Between them, each team has years of experience within their field and have worked with some of the world’s leading brands to achieve more for, and with, their people to deliver real business outcomes.

We are dedicated to working with top talent in the market, as we understand that the right people can drive your productivity, build culture and enhance workplace performance.

Our micro-specialists possess in-depth knowledge in their fields to provide strategic business advice or career development expertise. With a strong and respected presence in their sectors and communities, our micro-specialists have particular experience working with key clients in Western Sydney and further.

Whether you need to find talent, develop or engage them, or set up the strategy, structures and processes to support them – we’ll help you achieve sustainable results through your people.

For more information call (02) 8093 0600 or visit www.davidsonwp.com.

Parramatta will be the focus of the global film industry next February when Tropfest relocates to its new home in Parramatta Park.

The move coincides with the 25th anniversary of Australia’s most prestigious short film festival, which is the largest event of its kind in the world. It will give the festival an opportunity to expand and make it more accessible for film lovers from across Sydney and beyond.

“Great cities have great festivals and this is a chance for the Parramatta community to be part of one of the world’s best-loved film festivals. Council is proud to partner with the Western Sydney Parklands Trust and the organisers of Tropfest to bring this world-class event to Parramatta,” City of Parramatta Administrator Amanda Chadwick said.

Moving Tropfest to Parramatta places the event at the heart of Global Sydney, and adds to the city’s growing reputation as a thriving centre for arts and culture.

It is expected that more than 50,000 people will attend the event, providing major tourism benefits for Parramatta and injecting at least $2 million into the local economy.

“Parramatta is a true events destination and I’m sure Tropfest will find a happy home in our city. Bringing Tropfest to Parramatta Park will give the event room to grow and prosper and will enable a whole new audience to discover the future stars of Australian film,” Ms Chadwick said.

Founder of Tropfest, John Polson said: “It’s difficult to put into words how excited I am about our move to Parramatta. As soon as I laid eyes on beautiful Parramatta Park, I knew we’d found our new home.

“Seeing the support and enthusiasm from our new partners at Parramatta only confirmed that belief. For me, this is an amazing opportunity to bring our loyal Tropfest audience with us as we embark on a new journey with new film lovers - and filmmakers - at our beautiful new home,” Mr Polson said.

The 25th annual Tropfest will be held in Parramatta Park on Saturday 11 February 2017. Entries for the festival open in September and the Tropfest Signature Item for 2017 will be ‘Pineapple’.

To find out more visit www.tropfest.com.au

Research shows that more than 70% of employees in Australia are not engaged at work, which means they’re not working to their full capacity. This is costing your business BIG TIME. The research is also clear that no-one affects an employee’s engagement as much as their immediate manager or supervisor.

Management and leadership drive culture, which drives your organisation’s performance. And your workplace culture shapes leadership too.

So, culture is the glue that holds an organisation together. It’s your organisational DNA.

In the Great Managers® Program, we say culture is everything we think, everything we say, everything we do in our workplaces. It is the expression of who we are together. Language, behaviour and relationships at work are the biggest influencers of your culture. 

Culture is the force that determines how people behave when no one is looking—it strengthens a workplace and can provide immense competitive advantage. Think Google or Apple - world renowned for their culture. People line up for job opportunities with them… and for their next product release.

The wrong culture, however, can be toxic and erode the confidence and effectiveness of people. Results can still be achieved but at a much higher cost and effort.

Improving your culture can deliver huge benefits to your business:

• Financial – the better the culture and employee engagement the better the bottom line results

• You’re more likely to attract and retain talented staff

• Morale is higher – staff are more energetic & enthusiastic

• Responsiveness to change is better

• There is more co-operation and teamwork

• Productivity is higher

• Physical and emotional safety improves - there tends to be fewer workers compensation claims and less grievances

• Reduced staff turnover and absenteeism

There are 2 ways that culture forms: Accidentally or Deliberately. You can be sure that Google’s culture did not form accidentally!

Culture happens – for better or for worse. Every organisation has a culture. Proactively choosing to create your culture in a deliberate and intentional way can build a high performing workplace – a great place to work!

At Great Managers® we have developed a 6 Step System for Deliberately Creating Your Culture and one of these crucial steps is to Bring Your Organisation’s Values to Life. Values are your standards of what is acceptable and unacceptable. People connect to values. They have intrinsic value... only IF you bring them to life.

They come to life through discussions, interpretations, and your team being able to make the values meaningful and connect them to your context.

As a leader, the challenge is to “unfreeze” established behaviours in your team that aren’t in alignment with your values and create the motivation to change so that employees can learn new productive behaviours. Then “refreeze” those behaviours over time through feedback and rewards. And most importantly, never tolerate behaviour outside your values!

I am coaching our members on this 6 Step Culture Building System in detail via a Great Managers® MasterClass. If you would like VIP access to one of these sessions, which are held monthly via webinar, please contact the team at info@greatmanagers.com.

Sandra Wood

Founder & Managing Director

W: www.greatmanagers.com

E: info@greatmanagers.com

P: (02) 9501 1457