Tasmanian volunteers to learn leadership from world’s best

The business of leading a team of enthusiastic volunteers is no mean feat, yet for many, stock-standard
business advice is all that’s on offer in the volunteering sector, until now.

Volunteering Tasmania (VT) is celebrating its 20th birthday by welcoming some of the world’s best trainers,
speakers and mentors in volunteer management and leadership, to the Volunteering Tasmania Lessons in
Leadership Conference being held from 29 –30 October 2013.

VT Chief Executive Officer, Adrienne Picone said volunteers across the State were expected to flock to
Launceston for the conference, featuring VT Ambassador and former Australian cycling champion, Louise
Yaxley-Padgett.

“Tasmania has over 158,000 volunteers who give 49,000 hours on any given day to around 5,000
organisations across the State, highlighting the importance of strong leadership and management for a
sustainable volunteering sector,” Ms Picone said.

“With Tasmania’s rapidly ageing population, high unemployment rate and new found awareness about the
importance of preparing for emergency and disaster situations, the conference will provide a timely insight
into innovations in motivation science and volunteer engagement strategies.”

Ms Picone said the conference also featured special guest presenters; motivation expert Dr Jason Fox who
assists organisations to transform poorly designed processes and traditional business models; and
consultant, facilitator and trainer Helen Rees, who has a strong focus on performance, engagement and
alignment as the keys to transforming workplace culture.

“In addition, we welcomed Volunteering New Zealand CEO Vanisa Dhiru, who is renowned for her work with
the Young Women’s Christian Association and Wellington Trade Aid, as well as her volunteer projects in
India, where she developed work training programmes for women in slums and taught English to orphaned
children,” she said.

“It’s a rare opportunity for Tasmanians to receive such powerful, practical tools and hear from experts on
volunteer management and leadership and we hope the conference helps our volunteer organisations secure
sustainability and drive growth and creativity within their often limited budgets.

“Volunteering is the fabric of Tasmanian communities, so it’s vital that effective and inspiring management
and leadership skills are developed in order to keep the state of volunteering in Tasmania strong and
sustainable well into the future.”
VT Chief Executive Officer, Adrienne Picone