PRESENTERS**
Keynote
Speaker
Robyn Moore**
Robyn Moore has been changing people's perception through "the power of the word" as an educator, in advertising, syndicated radio comedy, animation series and as Australia's most in-demand female speaker. Robyn's highly entertaining, inspiring and thought-provoking presentations are designed to "transform" our perception of communication and the power we have to empower us (and others) to create lives we love, personally and professionally. Robyn understands the privilege celebrants have to be THE VOICE in the most important moments of our lives. With more than 40 years as a Voice-Over artist, the Conference Theme "You're the Voice" resonates deeply for her, because she has a unique relationship with "the power of the word", enabling her to weave together humour, powerful stories and insightful distinctions to create experiences her audiences never forget.
Robyn's presentation aims to -
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Re-engage Celebrants with their whole life.
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Re-align everyone with their vision, values and goals as Civil Celebrants.
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Re-invent attitudes and behaviours. The bi-products are Leadership, Integrity and Authenticity.
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Re-generate Passion, Energy, Productivity, Laughter and Work/Home balance.
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Re-mind delegates about what they wanted to contribute as Civil Celebrants through their words. Their spoken "gift" to others will create more possibilities, optimism and satisfaction and inspire others.
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Re-store confidence in the future for Families and Relationships in Australia.
Robyn will provide handouts to all participants at the end of her presentation.
Penny was born in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Her family moved to Australia in 1976 when she was eight years old, and settled in Adelaide.
In 1992, Penny graduated in law and arts from the University of Adelaide. Before entering politics she worked for a trade union where she took part in campaigns to improve the pay and conditions for members, including poorly paid female migrants working in upholstery workshops.
She moved to Sydney in 1995 to work as a Ministerial Advisor and as a Lawyer. She was elected to the Senate for the Australian Labor Party in 2001. She has held the positions of Minister for Climate Change and Water, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Leader of the Government in the Senate and, after the change of government, she became the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate - the first woman to hold both these roles. She is the Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment, a member of the Parlimentary Joint Committe on Intelligence and Security and duty Senator for the South Australian electorates of Hindmarsh and Mayo.
Penny lives in Adelaide with her partner and their daughters. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, shopping for fresh produce at Adelaide's Farmers' Market and, from time to time, enjoys one of South Australia's great wines.
Main Group
Presentation
Penny Wong**
Main Group
Presentation
Barbara Chappell**
Barbara Chappell from Simply Speaking presents a unique and diverse concept that will bring delegates together in multiple conversations about the things that matter to them, as Celebrants. Participants will be guided through rounds of conversation in response to defined questions, giving opportunities to have conversations - that matter.
An opportunity to share "your voice" to enrich your practice as a celebrant and to add value to our community by providing meaningful ceremonies to celebrate important milestones in life.
Barbara holds a Masters of Conflict Management, a Diploma of Human Resource Management and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment. She specialises in the research and practice of community connections and engagement through the Australian Community Engagement Foundation.
Her background in hospital services management, qualifications in Human Resource Management, extensive study and a commitment to community volunteering add to Barbara's diverse knowledge base, enabling her to bring value and integrity to the groups and individuals with whom she works.
Increasing the Quality of Couple Relationships.
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We know that if we could create the formula for successful relationships there would be a massive spin off for the wellbeing of our society. However, formulae and complex human relationships are not an easy fit. In this presentation Janet will explore, from a research and practice perspective, what works in relationships and what some couples do to enhance the quality and longevity of their relationship. She will assist you to understand the role of counselling in facilitating change.
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Janet Muirhead has woked for Relationships Australia for 23 years, both in the Northern Territory and Ssouth Australia. Janet has specialised in individual, couple and family counselling and is currently the Practice Manager of Relationship Counselling at RASA. Janet is a registered psychologist and an accredited mediator and is particularly interested in ensuring that couple relationships - and separations - work to promote the wellbeing of the children involved and working with couples on their sexual concerns. Janet teaches in the Diploma of Counselling in the Australian Institute of Social Relations and has studied Systemic, Narrative, and Gottman therapies.
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Main Group
Presentation
Janet Muirhead**
Senior Legal Officers from Marriage Law and Celebrants Section.
The topic for discussion will be "Complaints Handling and Enforcement"**.
We are delighted to welcome representatives from the Attorney-General’s department.
The department’s regulatory role is aimed at enhancing the professional standards of marriage celebrants and ensuring compliance with the legislative framework. It is important that marriage celebrants provide high quality services that comply with their legislative obligations and do not result in invalid marriages. Officers will discuss complaints handling, recent Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) matters, handling of criminal allegations and ongoing compliance obligations.
OPD** The 2 hour OPD Session will be provided by AssentTECS
CONCURRENT SESSION PRESENTERS
Trish Pollock
CeleBRAND
for Success
Having graduated from QCA, Griffith University with a Bachelor of Design (Graphic), Trish has developed and honed her skills into a well-grounded, creative and respected designer. Her experience has included working for one of the world's largest publishers, high-end design studios and printing companies. Her strengths lie in her ability to conceptualise and develop briefs and provide solutions meeting client, budget and market requirements.
Designtp Brand Communications are specialists in brand strategy, development, management and visual identity creation.
Working with small to medium enterprises located in Adelaide and Australia wide, the Designtp Brand Communications focus is to create designs with purpose. "As a small business we understand what it takes to successfully develop and implement communication strategies that help build brand awareness and generate leads with a cost conscious approach."
Objectives/Outcomes:
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Your holistic selling proposition (HSP/USP)
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Defining your target audience
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Branding your Marketing and Your Message
Education / Qualifications: Trish holds a BA Design (Visual Communication / Visual Culture) and a BA Business (Advertising)
Website: www.dtpbrandcommunications.com.au.
How to craft a creative, personal and meaningful ceremony.
Before her retirement in 2014, Chris Horsman worked as a business writer and editor for 15 years. Her clients included small and large businesses, academic and government departments. In that time, she wrote factual articles, press releases and marketing materials for a range of industries, and was a joint editor of a manual for eucalyptus growers. Chris also worked with a respected Marriage Celebrant for seven years, helping to craft many creative, personal and meaningful ceremonies.
Chris's love of creative writing came further into play when she was contracted to write scripts for social comics, which promoted various health messages in an entertaining and engaging way. In 2013, she published her book called Furry Tales - the life and times of Leroy the Dude. Leroy, her " cat with attitude", tells the story of his many adventures on a flower farm, and shares his perspective on the joys and sorrows of the people he lives with.
Chris has wide experience as a presenter. As National President of the Australian Flora and Protea Growers Association from 1997-2002, she spoke at state, interstate and national flower industry conferences. She was a member of Toastmaster International for 14 years, achieving the Advanced Communicator Gold Award, and winning several speaking competitions at club and area levels. As well as giving presentations and workshops within Toastmasters, Chris was involved in several Speechcraft courses, where members of the public paid for speaking training.
Chris Horsman
Getting to
the heart of things
Gillian Potter
Developing the
professional edge - what does it look like in practice?
This session will be an inclusive, collaborative workshop that aims to:
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Engage Celebrants in critical reflection on their perceptions of professionalism.
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Facilitate the thoughtful and meaningful analysis of professional behaviour and attitude.
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Identify the levels /aspects of professional engagement in celebrancy work.
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Create a model for professionalism in celebrancy practice.
The session will focus on the valued contribution of each person to a small group whose mission is to be professionally thoughtful and reflective. The experience will be based on key adult learning principles of discussion, debate, recording and information sharing. It will be a fun, dynamic session that will contribute to participants' understanding of professionalism in action.
Gill Potter is a practising Marriage Celebrant, she has worked in the University sector as a teacher, researcher, writer, leader, public speaker and administrator for many years. Among the diverse roles she has had in Australia, UK, USA, SE Asia and China
is working with professionals and developing-professionals in the areas of leadership, management, ethics and professionalism. She has undertaken collaborative research, written for refereed journals and spoken widely in Australia and internationally, on the power of critical reflection on the professional development and growth of the individual.
Gill brings this vast experience and understanding to her Celebrancy work.
Selling yourself on Facebook
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This session will be interactive and will allow participants to engage and ask questions about all of the issues they have faced with building a profile and getting work through Facebook.
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It is an opportunity to demonstrate ways to schedule posts in advance, reduce time spent online while increasing visibility.
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The participants often range from wanting to create a Facebook business page, to people who are already using their pages, but are having some difficulties.
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All levels of ability are catered for.
Susan has been a practising Civil Celebrant for 10 years and has extensive knowledge of rituals and symbolism in ceremony. She is also one of the few South Australian Celebrants contracted by The Gordon TAFE Victoria, to provide yearly Ongoing Professional Development. Susan has been employed with The Gordon as a trainer across Australia for seven years and is a published author and social media expert. She has produced session content for The Gordon including a 3 hour Social Media Presence session and re-writing their "Writing for a Range of Media" unit. She is also their online trainer who marks student content in the Social Media online course.
Susan has a Cert IV in Training and Assessment and is a 3rd year Communications student at Uni SA.
Susan Gallina
Selling yourself
on Facebook.
Jane Ledgard
The Quick and the Dead!
Funerals are different
to Weddings.
After working in a financial institution for over 25 years, Jane has had life experiences working with customers, solving complaints, working with colleagues and sitting on the management board, as well as facilitating at conferences and workshops. Registered as a celebrant since 2008 and a funeral celebrant since 2010, Jane has conducted over 650 funerals to date and is a full time celebrant.
Celebrancy provides Jane with the opportunity to do what she loves. To help create from the very beginning a ceremony which will become a vital memory in the circle of life and death. She loves working with people to create something so special, written with words of love as well as the use of music, literature, sayings, and special requests for different cultures. As a funeral celebrant she has helped many families celebrate the life of their loved one by providing support - no matter how young or old, she always makes sure their life is celebrated.
Funerals provide her with the ability to connect with families at the saddest of times and experience the many different ways families react. This has inspired her to start on the journey of writing a book!
The final part of life is intriguing and sometimes confrontational and as a celebrant she finds grief is shown in a multitude of ways. Coping and finding the right way to overcome and proceed so the ceremony is exactly the correct way to say goodbye is demanding, emotional and sometimes exhausting, however, the end result is the "thank you" that makes everything worthwhile.
Standing between us and our goals is the gauntlet of our mindset. Often we have good intentions - we know what we need to do - but something holds us back.
This presentation explores seven common pitfalls that stop us achieving what we could each day, using a combination of storytelling and personal-development theory and research.
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Learn how to recognise the mindset gremlins holding you back.
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Understand what this is costing you.
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Embrace the power of small steps in getting things done.
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Feel empowered to move through tasks more quickly.
Audrey is an experienced and accredited coach and facilitator, and has a strong background in Learning and Development, Project and Change Management, Human Resources and Operations Management. Having spent many years in the corporate sector working with a diverse range of teams, she has a long history of delivering performance and success coaching. She worked in the UK, Europe and North America for a number of years for the world's leading premium drinks company, primarily in global project and program management roles. This experience has been invaluable in working with clients from all walks of life and with diverse needs in terms of their professional and personal development. Audrey loves working with teams to improve productivity and cohesion. She is also a mentor for the Polaris Business & Innovation Centre's Mentoring for Success program, offering support and expertise to business owners across a range of growth and development areas.
In addition to running a successful small business since 2009, together with Emma Grey of WorkLifeBliss, Audrey was co-creator of the popular and life-changing "My 15 Minutes" program in 2013. What started as a simple idea has now evolved into a global online business, offering a range of programs to meet the needs of busy people, at work and at home.
Audrey holds a diploma and Certificate IV in Coaching, along with Diploma and Certificate IV qualifications in Training & Assessment. She has been a licensed Insights Discovery Accredited Practitioner for over 13 years.
Audrey Thomas
The Seven
Mindset Gremlins
that hold us back.
Lance Tapsell
60 technical tips
in 60 minutes.
The concept of the session is to present 60 technical tips in 60 minutes in a light-hearted manner. The session will be presented as a race to get through the 60 tips in the time allowed. The tips will be a mix of useful, technical and practical information, e.g., how to keep information secure, options on how to store client's information, more effective use of your computer and much more.
Lance has been a practising Marriage Celebrant since 2007 based in Western Australia and a Justice of the Peace. Patron of the AFCC and previous President (6 years) of the AFCC and CoCA for 1 year.
Lance has 30 years experience in the IT industry, ranging from application development to operating systems configuration to network configuration and administration to application deployment to software consultation. Lance has used his extensive knowledge in the IT arena to streamline the processes of the AFCC using technology as the basis to increase productivity of the committee. Lance has encouraged Celebrants to use technology to work smarter and not harder in their Celebrant businesses. He was instrumental in ensuring that a Celebrant management software package was made available for all members of the AFCC as a benefit of membership.
In addition, Lance spearheaded the development of the AFCC Celebrant app to advertise AFCC Celebrants to prospective clients. Lance has also on numerous occasions delivered training sessions on the use of online services to manage and streamline Celebrant businesses and provide superior services to their clients.
Education / Qualifications:
Certificate of computer programming. Certified Novell Engineer, Certified Novell Instructor. Microsoft Certified Software Engineer, Certificate IV in Adult Education, Prince II project management certification.
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Learn some inside secrets on how to approach funeral companies in an extremely competitive industry.
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Explore the complete process of preparing for and delivering a funeral service.
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Discuss how the role of funeral Celebrant differs from a Marriage Celebrant.
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Participants will receive templates of funeral services.
Fiona Talbot-Leigh
Fiona has worked in the field of celebrancy, starting up her own company "Forever Yours Celebrancy" 7 years ago. She works for some of the most reputable funeral companies in Adelaide and has been able to make a successful career in this very competitive industry.
She has a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the many varied aspects of funeral celebrancy and over the years has gained a broader perspective of life and what is truly important as she supports hundreds of grieving families annually.
Her experience as both a marriage and funeral celebrant has given her strengths and grounded her in a way that she never would have expected and she now uses her skills to help others and to empower celebrants who would like to go into this field of work.
In addition, Fiona is a Jazz and Cabaret singer and part-time actor in commercials. As an extra in movies and film, she uses these acquired skills to add to her lecturing capacity and her ability to engage an audience.
Both she and Steve have a wonderful sense of humour which you definitely need in this industry so don't let the course title fool you ..... there will be some laughter along the way.
Fiona holds a Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training, a Certificate IV in Celebrancy and has been a Marriage and Funeral Celebrant for 7 years.
Steve Gregory
Steve's role for the past 15 years as Regional Manager for Simplicity Funerals SA, has encompassed all normal provisions of funeral services for deceased and bereaved families from all walks of life, religions and cultures. As the Regional Manager in Australia's first national and now international funeral company he is still very much "hands on" with arranging and conducting funerals. However, he is primarily driven in running and developing the Simplicity Funerals brand as the most innovative and contemporary funeral company in the market, in addition he provides advice, assistance, education and support to families within the health industry and the community.
Steve has developed and delivers practical and targeted programs in loss and grief and industry awareness and education to community organisations, hospitals, church groups, TAFE, Adelaide University as well as to residential and nursing homes and schools.
Steve's background in the military, United Nations, outdoor education and the disability sector have given him a unique perspective of life challenges and experiences. Steve loves his sport, theatre and a quiet coffee with his wife Svetlana, but his sanctuary is home where he tries to "relax and keep up" with his three daughters!
Steve's (and the famous Star Trek) motto is : " Live Long and Prosper"
So you want to be a
Funeral Celebrant
Fiona Talbot-Leigh
and
Steve Gregory
Jacky Dakin
Confident Ceremony
Presentations
Confident Ceremony Presentations will examine
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Managing anxiety before presenting.
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Speaking and thinking confidently.
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Using visualisation techniques to build calm and confidence.
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Preparing with mental rehearsal.
Jacky has been a practising Marriage Celebrant for over 8 years. She very much enjoys using her writing and public speaking skills in a different arena to assist couples to make their special day memorable and to provide a range of other ceremonies.
Jacky has worked as on Organisational Psychologist for over 25 years. She has run Halifax House Consulting since 1995 providing services in both organisational and private psychology. In the corporate arena she specialises in leadership development, executive coaching, conflict mediation, dysfunctional teams, workplace wellbeing and career advice.
Jacky presents many professional development programs and is a sought after public speaker. She is also a principal of Coach Partners, a consortium of professional organisational consultants providing services in Executive Coaching and Organisational Development. She is active on various boards and committees, frequently mentors younger colleagues and was a former finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year.
Jacky has published several books: Short Poppies Can Grow. Confidence at Work (co-authored with Kathryn McEwen), a well-received e-book. How to be Successful Despite Yourself and the recently published Learn to Dance on a Moving Carpet: how to create a balanced and meaningful life. She was previously a columnist in Saturday's Advertiser Review, writing on personal and professional wellbeing. Jacky's qualifications include:
University of Adelaide: Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours Psychology)
Graduate Training in Applied Psychology, Currently, Adjunct Senior Lecturer in School of Psychology, University Of South Australia: Master's Degree in Organisational Psychology (all course work completed), Enterprise Training Company: Certificate IV in Workplace Training.
Make it Clear - Conducting outdoor ceremonies and dealing with the elements.
This session will commence inside with an overview of the topic and relevant Code of Practice Requirements and will then move outdoors to the Glenelg Rotunda, rain or shine.
The session is designed to demonstrate practical activities via a mock ceremony, Demonstrating methods to adopt under different weather conditions and review the external elements to ensure that any adverse impact is minimised on the quality of the service and sound.
The session deals with three key features of the Code of Practice.
Sandie has been a practising Marriage Celebrant since 2008. She has had a diverse career including secondary physical education teaching, sports administration at a national level, event management, marketing and project management.
She started the program Kindergym, the first in Australia with a dynamic group of women in 1980 and ran the Unley Kindergym for it's first 10 years. She currently manages projects for a building company, a collision repair business and an automatic car wash, all of which are family businesses.
Sandie has qualifications in Physical Education degree and Dip Ed: Certificate IV in Celebrancy.
Christine has been a practising Marriage Celebrant for over 12 years and a Justice of the Peace for 20 years. She has worked within the Human Resources arena for over 20 years where she was responsible for developing policy, procedures, payroll and remuneration benefits, managing and the training of staff.
Over recent years she moved into the IT area where she has held positions in project management, business analyst, and technical consultancy. In the community she has held various volunteer roles in country, regional and suburban areas. Christine has many experiences that she shares with colleagues and puts to good use, her knowledge, training and learned skills.
Christine has qualifications in Adv.Dip in HRM; Dip Superannuation; Cert IV Business Management; IIBA.
Make it clear
Dealing with the
Elements
Sandie Eblen
and
Christine Byrnes
Introducing our MC ......
......... Michael Elwood
Michael Elwood has had a career of more than 35 years as Chief Executive of various arts, charity and disability organisations including the 1978 National Italian Festival, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Australian International Documentary (Film) Conference and Market, Down Syndrome South Australia, and as a senior manager of World Vision Australia (SA & NT), and Multiple Sclerosis (SA & NT). He retired from fulltime employment in 2013.
Michael was appointed a celebrant in 2009 and is now a busy Wedding and Funeral Celebrant conducting approximately
70 ceremonies a year. He is very committed to raising and maintaining the professional standards of Celebrants, and is a member of the AFCC Celebrant Education sub-committee.
Michael is an experienced and successful public speaker, presenter and Master of Ceremonies. He brings to his work the ability to adapt to any occasion, flexibility and empathy and an easy going good humour to ensure that all people feel relaxed, confident and comfortable.
Michael has been married to Cheryl for 34 years and they have two adult children. We are fortunate to have Michael as our Master of Ceremonies for the 2016 National AFCC Conference.
Ron Thomas ......
...... our "Time Keeper Extraordinaire!"
You may not notice him at first among the crowd of Celebrants, but you can't help but hear him.
At 84 years young Ron Thomas has been ringing the bell at AFCC National Conferences since 2003.
A foundation member and now Patron of the AFCC we are indeed privileged to have Ron keeping a watchful eye over us.
Ron has spent his lifetime serving the needs of his community. In the early 90's under the inspiration of Dally Messenger, Ron, along with fellow foundation members formed the AFCC. At that time they could not have forseen the growth in the fledgling association or the development in the role of the Civil Celebrant, but they did have the foresight to give the Association a very appropriate name.
Ron has served in many roles through his working life, a fitter and turner with the Victorian railways, a minister of Religion for 26 years, a public relations officer at Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne, a fashion photographer, a part time lecturer at TAFE Colleges, a grief counsellor in the funeral industry and he has managed a 250 bed men's refuge for the Salvation Army in inner city Melbourne.
He is a funeral celebrant and has been instrumental in creating bonds between the AFCC and the Australian Funeral Directors Association as the AFCC funeral industry liason officer providing quarterly articles for the past 20 years. He has his own garden maintenance business ( smalll now !! ) which he has operated for more than 30 years.
Ron has held a number of positions in the AFCC. Secretary for 3 years and a committee member for 7 years, he has the record for serving the shortest time as treasurer ( 20 minutes !! ) For an insight into Ron's philosophy please be sure to read the forward in the funeral resource guide.
Ron married Noreen in 1958 they have three grown children and he still manages to find time each year to attend the annual national conference. Ron has not missed a conference in 22 years.
Ron holds a BA in Theology, Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations, Post Graduate Diploma in Health Education. He was a pioneer in conducting personal " stop smoking " programmes from 1963 in Brisbane, from 1964 in Hobart, 1970 in Melbourne and 1976 in Perth. He currently acts as a volunteer chaplain for the Upper Yarra Valley RSL and assists in their Anzac Day Services and high school services sponsored by the RSL.
We are indeed privileged to have Ron, dressed in all his sartorial splendour and ringing his bell and keeping us on time. Be sure to say " Hello " and " Thank you " to this man who has done so much for the AFCC.