Now our goals retreats are done and dusted really excited about my speaker program for the beginning of the year. My thanks to Bodhi Aldridge for providing some great insights into how Members move from “Distraction to Presence”
For those not familiar with the Vistage model our speakers are subject matter experts, not always the “big names"“, but we get plenty of them because they just LOVE talking to our groups.
Why do they love our sessions - because they get real feedback, in real time! With me as the Chair, I can fan the flames if there is a bit of controversy, stop if members are struggling with concepts and generally ensure its always a hands-on workshop. The origin of experts in our group meetings is from over 60 years ago where common themes with members merited somebody being invited to lead the discussion. Experts are chosen with the group in mind, not because they are entertainment, although we don’t mind some of that!
For the first part of the year, we have a mix of speakers from Interstate, Local and the USA
Ingrid Maynard, from Melbourne, kicks us off in March, speaking to all three of my groups. Ingrid is the founder of The Sales Doctor and author of “The Sales Revolution”. Last year she and I discussed the need for businesses to bounce back; more active BDM is essential for any business surviving the rapidly changing markets and qualities expected from the sales team. From that, her workshop, “Getting your Roar Back” was developed.
During April i have gone back to some tried and trusted local speakers.
Lucas Meadowcroft who has spoken already to my other CE group, has been working with businesses applying AI for years; his topic “Reimagining Business Capabilities through Artificial Intelligence” is a focus on the productivity opportunities available now. He’ll be using one of my members as a case study.
Dr. John Sing, is the master of helping non-financial managers understand the basic financial reports. I first came across John when he was leading the Australian Institute of Company Directors Finance Module. A potentially dry topic, “Financial Literacy for Senior Executives” covered with consummate professionalism.
And Mark Puncher returns after a gap of a few years. Mark, who is founder and MD of Employer Branding Australia, was introduced to me by a mutual client who was so proud of his newly crafted values he read them out lovingly to me. Mark went on to take Vistage (TEC as it was then) by storm with his Employer Branding workshops. His topic is now back to his original: “Authentic Company Values”
To cap the first half of the year, In May we have our first International speaker visiting the individual groups for a couple of years. Sean Flaherty from Rochester, New York, is bring his “Momentum Framework” topic to Australia. A very different take on culture, the Momentum Framework connects the intangible business fundamentals like customer trust and loyalty to the profitability of your business, while powerfully aligning your team.
June is historically one where we review progress for the year, classifying our meetings as “All Issues days”. With the rapid introduction of AI Agents, we may yet have a speaker on this topic then. As they say, “The future is already here, it is just not evenly distributed”
While these sessions are reserved for Vistage members and their guests, we sometimes have room for CEO guests especially if you genuinely interested in Vistage membership.
