Last week, I attended the Australasian Pacific Extension Conference (APEN) at Bussleton Western Australia. More than 200 people attended from all around Australia – and internationally – most of whom brought along a paper, poster or creative presentation to share their stories on bringing about change in rural and regional communities.
I was staggered by the enthusiasm of the presenters – and creativity of these sessions! One was called ‘the soapbox’ where presenters had 5 minutes (including questions) to make their point to those who clustered at their station. Some dressed up; some had gadgets (there was a great demonstration of improving communicaiton pathways by having marbles roll down plastic pipes!); and others just talked. Was great to see!
Meanwhile, I networked and promoted the Rural Survey Specialists and our introductory free survey design offer. I was happy to see the interest and comments from people about how much this rural focused market service was needed – and the value of the ‘survey cost calculator‘.