AUSTRALIA'S
PREMIER DAIRY
CONFERENCE
ANNUAL SMART
CONFERENCE
EVENTS
40 ISSUE 23 MAY 2010 RI WORLD
From left to right: Dutch dairy farmers Ad and Annette van Velde; Pam Swain,
Australian Dairy Conference Director; Thos Gieskes, Rabobank Regional Manager
Australia New Zealand.
What?2010 Australian Dairy Conference
When? 23-26 February 2010
W/wrfWollongong, Australia
dairy sector, and the challenges the industry faced throughout
2009 in terms of price, water and environment.
At the end of February, over 360 delegates gathered in Wollongong,
south of Sydney, to take part in two days of lectures, seminars
and pre- and post-conference dairy farm visits during the 2010
Australian Dairy Conference. Rabobank, a platinum sponsor of the
event, organised a trade stand for the duration of the conference
and hosted a delegates dinner.
Conference attendees, which included dairy farmers, milk proces
sors and sector suppliers from both Australia and abroad, enjoyed
presentations from industry experts on the global vision for the
Tim Hunt, a senior dairy analyst with Rabobank's Food Agri-
business Research and Advisory (FAR) network, introduced the
opening 'Dairy Visionaries' session which explored three global
dairy case studies - Ireland, China and Australia.
Rabobank's dinner for delegates and their guests gave Thos
Gieskes, CEO and Regional Manager for Rabobank Australia
New Zealand, his fïrst opportunity to represent the bank at
a public speaking engagement in Australia. Thos reflected
on the changing face of the dairy sector and the knowledge
and strength available through the bank's FAR network.
What? SMART Conference
When? 22-23 January 2010
Where? Bandung, Indonesia
Towards the end of January, Rabobank
Indonesia held its annual conference.
This year's theme, SMART (Strategie,
Management, Annual Review and Targe-
ting), was an opportunity for Rabobank
Indonesia to take stock of the previous
year while looking ahead to the rest
of 2010.
Flenk Mulder, president of Rabobank
Indonesia, spoke about the bank's
achievements in Indonesia over 2009,
and outlined the bank's strategie focus
for 2010. Geert Embrechts, Rabobank
Indonesia's Chief Financial and Risk
Officer, discussed the bank's wholesale
and retail banking results in 2009.
Day one ended with group discussions
on the staff's views about Rabobank
Indonesia's 2010 strategies,
which challenges they
face, and their sugges-
tions on how to achieve
these strategies. Day two
included a team building
session, which used games
and outdoor activities to
develop team cohesion.
Speeches, group discussions
and team building sessions
were organised at
the SMART Conference.
