On behalf of the fabulous YTN committee I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you, our valued members, the most wonderful festive season and thank you for all your support this year!
2016 has been a great year for YTN following the excitement of the network’s 10th birthday in December last year. Since then we have welcomed a brand new partnership with the iconic Eureka Skydeck; successfully delivered our 3rd Professional Development series, partnering with the incredible team at Crown Melbourne and Crown College as our venue sponsor for the series.
We were lucky enough to have the inspiring Mel Neil from Mind Fitness open the PD series in April again with a fascinating session on how to bring our A Game.
On the hot topic of the sharing economy, we hear from experts at our second event, The Power of the Shared Economy, Matt Denman from Uber Victoria, Jodie Willmer and Rob Nagy from Guest Ready and Geoff Stooke from the Airbnb of storage space, Spacelli.
At our third event we heard from experts in what could be considered ‘The Untapped Industry’. We welcomed Kirby Leary from Echidna Walkabout, Sarah Kelly from State Library Victoria and Shannon Beveridge of Earthcore Music Festival.
Our final event was run by the team at Crown Recruitment who generously gave their time to provide one on one advice through mock interviews and resume reviewing. Some of our attendees were even successful at landing new roles on the evening!
I’d like to thank the team at Crown Melbourne and Crown Recruitment and Crown College once again, and in particular Shane Thomas, Grainne Strickland and Kim Manning for their support this year.
We’re incredibly grateful to this year’s speakers and thank each of them for being so generous with their time, knowledge and expertise.
The PD series will return again in 2017 for the fourth year in a row and promises to bigger and better than ever. The feedback that you have provided us this year is currently being used by the YTN Events Team to develop the program so keep an eye on your inboxes in the new year for more details.
YTN celebrated Tourism Week in September at the MTIE, run by Destination Melbourne and with our networking event at Transport Bar, Federation Square. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to network with industry colleagues and we look forward to a similar event next year.
YTN is grateful for the ongoing support of our partners, Destination Melbourne; Visit Victoria; VTIC; Eureka Skydeck; La Trobe Business School; William Angliss Institute; and Victoria University and I’d like to thank them for yet another great year.
I’d like to thank and acknowledge this year’s outgoing committee members, Daisy Jenkins, David Johnston, Ebony Flett, Seth McDonald and Samantha Holcombe and welcome incoming committee members Madelene McWha, Michelle Dall’Ava, Sam Crowther, Bennett Pascoe and Mark Latham; and a big thank you and shout out to our ongoing committee members, Danielle Phyland, Kate Rickwood, Robert Ratcliffe, Jess Derham, Gerry Kennedy, Ryan Marsh, Richard Masawi and Ellana Katos.
An absolute highlight to finish off 2016 was celebrating our Christmas party with the very awesome yATEC team at Tonic Bar, Crown Promenade. It was such a great night with Little Cupcakes sweetening up the evening with their donation of 100 cupcakes. We were also lucky enough to have the talented Rat and Dragon Productions in attendance capturing the essence of the night. Check out the awesome video, along with some of their other great work here.
We were delighted to that the Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Hon. John Eren was able to join us and it was wonderful to hear of his continued support of industry and the next generation of leaders.
To top off a great night, 7 lucky attendees walked away with prizes generously donated by Zoos Victoria, Global Ballooning Australia, Queen Victoria Market, MTB Adventures, Get Lost Travel Group, Gray Line Australia and Intrepid Travel.
Thank you once again for a great year! We look forward to seeing you again in 2017.
Take care and have a wonderful Christmas and a spectacular New Year.
Amelia Maher, Chair