It was such a pleasure to bring together alumni from Melbourne and across regional Victoria in late October. The energy in the room was glorious, as was the space in which we met. Thank you so much to Fellow Andrew Monk, Chairman of Enervest, who generously offered up his boardroom and office as a place for us to meet.
Andrew was also the brainchild of the event and was keen to connect alumni and to showcase the advocacy work of ARLF Fellow and Foodbank CEO, Brianna Casey AM. We were also thrilled to have Telstra’s Head of Rural and Regional Affairs, Dr Ben Gursansky join us too. Telstra were Brianna’s Australian Rural Leadership Program sponsors back in 2003, so it was great having Ben along to learn first-hand about Brianna’s impact for positive change on the national stage and witness the ongoing and immense value of their leadership investment in Brianna from all those years ago.
Thanks so much to all those who came along. There was plenty of healthy discussion and questions about Brianna’s advocacy work. Just having a bunch of curious minds in the room meant that ideas and conversation flowed around some of the big challenges faced in terms of food insecurity.
Please check out Foodbank’s latest hunger report, released just three weeks ago. There is a very interactive web page, outlining latest statistics, trends etc.
Again – a big thankyou to both Andrew and Brianna! Lucky to have you both on our team!
We are also gathering alumni and some of the broader network in Sydney in mid-November to hear Brianna speak again. This event is being generously sponsored by Telstra and so the ticket price will be donated to Foodbank. If you live in Sydney – or travelling through, we’d love you to join us.
Upcoming events
Sydney alumni gathering
Date: Tuesday, 12 November
Time: 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm
Location: Telstra Sydney Customer Insights Centre (CIC) Level 2, George St, Sydney.
Cost: $25 per head. Drinks and nibbles provided
As Telstra have very graciously stepped in as hosts for this event, all revenue from the tickets will be donated to Foodbank
Toowoomba alumni gathering
Date: Thursday, 14 November
Time: 5.30pm – 7.00pm
Location: Fitzy’s, 153 Margaret St, Toowoomba City
Cost: $20 per head with nibbles provided.
This gathering has been driven and inspired by local alum keen to meet with others geographically close. Locally based ARLF staff member Louise Adcock will be in attendance. And her passion is impact networks so be prepared to connect with purpose!!
ARLP Fellows – use your post nominals
If you are a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program and elected to become a Fellow of the Australia Rural Leadership Foundation, then we would love to see more of you using the post nominals FARLF after your name on your social media profiles, or e-signature blocks on email.
They’re just an easy way to show the world what you have done. They can be a great conversation starter and another way to immediately connect you with others who have also undertaken the challenge of ARLP.
Post-nominals also help others quickly understand a specific area of your expertise, which is helpful in a professional setting.
So, FARLF is all you need to know. If you need a hand to set it up or just curious to know more about this, please reach out at julias@rural-leaders.org.au.
ARLF Lunch & Learn series
We’ve started a new webinar series, featuring alumni who are having a huge impact in their communities. Running bi-monthly for an hour, you’ll have the chance to explore fresh leadership insights and hear inspiring stories from others in the ARLF network.
Our first session kicks off on Thursday, 14 November at 1pm (AEDT), featuring alum Tanya Stevenson, who will share her journey of improving children’s literacy through the ‘Read Bear’ project.
Tanya will also talk to the importance of prioritising youth initiatives within organisations, stressing the need for young voices in community planning and leadership roles. She’ll also shares strategies to ensure that young people, especially those from marginalised backgrounds, are included in decision-making.
We’ll also wrap up with a casual chat, just like catching up around the coffee station for those that want to stay on the call!
Register now and be part of this exciting new series. We’d also love your input for future sessions—feel free to share any speaker or topic suggestions with us.
Mighty Networks – alumni connection platform
Mighty Networks is our online alumni communications platform for all current participants, and we are ramping it up as a place of connection for our alumni network too.
We have made some big changes over the last few months to help us better organise the information/resources contained within it, to make it easier for you to navigate, find and connect with other alumni and ultimately, to be a place of value for you. A one-stop shop for all things ARLF if you like.
Our plan is to reach out to all alumni and start inviting cohort by cohort onto the platform in the coming weeks.
But if you are one of those who like to jump in first – or as we say an ‘early adopter’, click the link below and register your interest. We will be in touch in the coming weeks to help you get started. This is an exciting tool that supports greater connectedness between ARLF alumni. We look forward to seeing you in there!
What happens when 20,000 people dive into adaptive leadership?
We had the pleasure of having Julia Fabris McBride, Chief Learning and Development Officer, from the Kansas Leadership Centre (KLC) deliver a webinar for our alumni recently.
The session was a bit of a history lesson on how the KLC started its journey in leadership development and how Kansas is starting to see results, both at local and state level with over 20,000 having undertaken one of their adaptive leadership programs. They are witnessing how building leadership capacity can drive meaningful community change.
So – the good news is that if you are keen to check out what was discussed, the KLC team were happy to have the session recorded and shared with the network. Watch back on the recording. And if you like the sound of all things KLC, sign up for their newsletter.
