Leadership conference inspires South West businesses to never stop learning

The 2024 South West Leaders Leadership Conference helped inspired Bunbury businesses about ways they can improve and never stop learning. About 100 people gathered at the Mantra Bunbury Lighthouse Hotel on Thursday to hear from panels of leaders, and asked questions of some of the South West and WA’s most inspirational people. Hosted by the Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the event had the theme of “never stop learning” to inspire businesses to never settle for one way of operating. Guest speakers included Bunbury app-creator Lexy McDonald, general practitioner and creator of MAN Health Clinic Lloyd Evans, Department of Fire and Emergency Services assistant commissioner Kate Vivian and human behaviour specialist Amy Jacobson. The day also featured a panel of Bunbury leaders mayor Jaysen Miguel, Bunbury Catholic College principal Michael Pepper and Work Force Australia Local Jobs South West leader Kate Monaghan. The panel was a chance for those in high places to open up and discuss issues they faced in different roles of leadership, how to best handle criticism and the importance of listening to the community. Event organisers from the BGCCI Claire Anderson and board lead Julie Broad said these types of events were important in regional towns and cities like Bunbury. “It’s all about connection,” Ms Anderson said. “You can hear that throughout every message, throughout every speaker. “It’s really nice to be able to sit in a room with people who are having the same challenges.” Ms Broad said BGCCI tailor-made events to suit all different styles of businesses. “Not every person is going to necessarily resonate with every speaker,” she said. “We purposely designed it so there’s something for everyone ... so no matter what type of business you run, there’s someone in the room you can resonate with.” This is the fifth year the event has been running, with Thursday’s conference being the second consecutive year of its new larger-scale format. “It was initially designed as a mentor/mentee program, with a few events throughout the year, with the occasional leadership speaker,” Ms Broad said. “Last year was our first year of developing it into a full-blown conference.” The next round of applications to be part of the BGCCI’s mentor program will be announced in October via its social media channels.