Worth the Wait

This year’s Awards were held in the beautiful town of Blenheim centred at the Marlborough Events Centre in Alfred St. For the majority of attendees the Events Centre was within walking distance of wherever they were staying, making for a relaxed start and finish to each day for all.

The opening guest speaker on the Thursday afternoon was Trevor Slater who spoke about ways and means of dealing with complaints. There were some really good tips on what to do to bring about a good outcome. For those inclined there was then a local tour run by Nelson Marlborough JMA members. At 6pm there was the Gathering in the trade exhibition hall which is always a great opportunity to catch up with fellow members and old friends made even more so by the fact that this was the first such meeting for some two years. It was worth the wait!

Friday was the big business day which kicked off with an inspirational session from Dr Paul Wood who by using his own personal journey showed us how real leadership is achieved despite and because of change, challenge and adversity. The afternoon programme was noted for the breakout sessions looking at health & safety and succession planning, creating alternative pathways or building value creating teams and the one of personal interest to me, the catchup on the latest for compliant timber joinery and kitchen cabinetry. All these sessions were well attended. This was followed by another guest speaker in Stephen Nelson who leads Maycroft Construction: an interesting look at operating high performance teams in business. The Friday night Pub Quiz was a real highlight of the Conference: a noisy, liquid filled evening of laughs and befuddled brains. I had the honour of being in the team that came dead last!

After breakfast in the exhibition hall on the Saturday morning we heard a really motivating message from Simon Reiter whose story of recovery from a shock tragedy was truly amazing to hear. On that note we all headed off to our respective Saturday afternoon excursions. There were six events: the Framington Lunch & Wine Blending event, the Marlborough

Sounds Cruise, Wine tasting tour and lunch at St Claire, Queen Charlotte guided kayak and lunch, the Pelorus Kenedpuru Sounds cruise & lunch and the Monky Bay walk and lunch at Allan Scott’s. A great list for everyone. I had the privilege of being on the Marlborough Sounds Cruise which was truly amazing as all on board will attest. We had the thrill of seeing dolphins (I think they were Hector’s Dolphins – the smallest dolphin specie) chasing fish and then joined by dive bombing gannets as the fish came to the surface – another team effort!

The Saturday night was of course Awards night. Held at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre with all the vintage aircraft it made for a fascinating venue for a memorable occasion. Congrats to all those who entered and even more so to the winners especially the Supreme Award winner Cutting Innovations Ltd with their truly superb staircase: a technical marvel. Thanks as always to the people on the ground who made this all happen. Paul Ingram, a past NZJMF President, made for a great MC and a special thanks goes to Operations Manager Allison Delaney and her team for the smooth running of the Conference event. I note next year’s conference is in Wellington. Look forward to catching up with everyone once again.

Bob Nordgren