A Report by Helen McCall, Executive Director, NSW Co-operative Federation

The Co-operative Federation of NSW Ltd ran a very successful conference on the theme of "Making Your Co-operative Status Work for You" in November. The Keynote Address, given by Ian Reid, Executive Director of the New Zealand Co-operatives Association, tackled practical approaches to member communications, one of the least successfully achieved aims of all co-operatives. As Ian said "'Effective communications' is the glue that binds a successful co-operative." The theme that continued to be heard throughout the two days centred on the fact that the power of co-operatives is at the same time their greatest challenge - our members are also our customers, so to allow an owner to lose interest may result in the loss of not only an owner but probably a customer as well.

Particularly well received by those present were the sessions on governance issues. Terry Kilmister of BoardWorks gave an excellent talk on how to go about selecting and training good board members. A later 'role play' featured many of the good and bad practices we have all seen displayed in board meetings. The following workshop examined these and other habits that impact upon the quality and success of our board room deliberations.

It was a very busy couple of days. The Minister for Fair Trading, the Hon John Acquilina, not only provided most of the funds that enabled the conference to be held, but also opened it, acknowledging the growing role and success of co-operatives in NSW. Gary Moore, Project Director, Strengthening Local Communities, NSW Premier's Department, spoke on Community Capacity Building - facts and fiction at the informal barbecue dinner. The Federation noted its appreciation for the financial assistance provided by the Premier's Department.

The conference also featured topics on recent and planned developments in co-operative law, how this interacts with the Corporations Act, how the Privacy Act impacts upon us, ideas for FBT and salary packaging, a very good explanation of the importance of a website from Ojars Greste of the Independent Liquor Group Co-operative, and an introduction to the possible relevance of the Franchising Act.

Ian Langdon, Chairman of Dairy Farmers Group, helped us consider benchmarking for co-operatives. Many co-operatives will currently be gaining from the practical ideas that their representatives learned in this session. Heather Cooper, from Hastings Co-operative, gave a personal and engrossing evaluation of the differences of doing business with members and non-members. And the conference closed with the tale of a very successful co-operative: Bega Co-operative Society. Its Chairman, Barry Irvin, used this example to make us all go away with a clearer view of the benefits of being a co-operative.

The variety of topics available at the conference provided something of interest to all and the comments made by those attending were very positive and demonstrated the usefulness of such an gathering. The Federation is planning to hold a series of targeted regional seminars this year, as soon as sufficient funding can be organised. Another annual conference will also be organised, probably earlier in the year than in 2002. The Federation will endeavour to earn more comments like this one in 2002 - Great conference - I gained much information & am going away with many ideas for contributing to our co-op's continuing success. Thank you.