I would like to be able to tell you about all the great sessions on Day 2 of BC World – but the truth is I didn’t make it to that many.
It wasn’t because I went out to party with the impressive list of Aussie winners at the Global Awards – which included;
- David Porter, from the ATO – Continuity and Resilience Professional (Public Sector) 2015
- Linus Revive – Continuity and Resilience Provider (Service/Product) 2015
- Hall of Fame (for winning the Australasian awards 3 times each)
- Linus
- The ATO BCM Team
- and the award of Honorary FBCI to Peter Brouggy and David Parsons
One of the few sessions I attended was the first one of the Day – Melanie Irons keynote. Very glad that I did, she is a great speaker and this was an inspirational story.
For those who don’t know, Mel is from Tasmania and was motivated to do something to assist during the Tassie Bush Fire emergency in 2013. She set up and managed the “Tassie Bushfire we can help” page on Facebook. If you want to know more about what Mel did, you can watch her episode of Australian Story.
You can also hear from Mel Irons, and others, in this weeks Beyond the Black Stump Podcast recorded live at the BCI World Conference.
Recording segments for the show, meetings and catch ups consumed most of the day. I did make it to the two sessions I was scheduled to participate in fortunately – the 2020 Group Leads panel and the “Inspire the Future” panel.
It was inspiring to hear these young leaders speak, to share their hopes and aspirations. Also interesting to hear from some current students in the audience about what they are looking for. As a discipline we need to change to accommodate the needs and expectations of new generations as they come in – that will include new ways of working and new techniques.
One of the more interesting sessions on Day involved the demostration of a BC/IM app for Smart Phones. It was not interesting because of the technology – but beause of the story Jacqueline Howard from Marks & Spencer told about the impact of the app. (Incidentally she went on to win BCI Newcomer Award, to some extent de to her efforts in getting this app operational). The real story was how the app changed the perceptions of M&S management towards the BC team, and how the BC team (and their processes) suddenly became relevant to how M&S managers responded to BAU incidents.
Important, and essential, changes that need to be widely understood and appreciated.
I also made it to the last session of the day, another inspirational session by Steve Cunningham. Steve became blind at age 12, but has gone on to set land speed records, water speed records and to fly a plane around the UK. A great way to wrap up the conference.
If you want to read more about the sessions, there is a preview in the BCI World supplement to Continuity magazine – my piece is on page 4.
There will also be a post-conference showcase publication out shortly.
Did you attend? What did you think?
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