Work has well and truly begun on Seafood New Zealand's Conference for 2025 and we can now reveal the headline names that will be gracing the stage.
Times are tight for everyone. We know that. This year's Seafood New Zealand Conference in Nelson has been designed with tighter budgets in mind. For example, we are starting a little later in the morning on day one to potentially enable same day travel as well as bring down accommodation costs.
However, our recommendation would be that this is not the year to decide to stay home. We're confident that the line up for Conference 2025 is compelling enough to make attendance worthwhile. Not to mention the opportunities to catch up with industry friends and colleagues that you can't get anywhere else.
Our theme is Seafood For Thought, and there will be plenty of both seafood and thinking. As always, we are looking forward to welcoming the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries to open our Conference. If you're there, you will have the chance to interact with a range of politicians and officials from across Government over both days. Whatever industry perspective you bring, we know that decisions-makers will benefit from hearing a variety of views.
We know you all know Shane Jones, and many of you will also have heard the name Harold Hillman. New Zealand based Hillman has been an advisor to over 150 big name businesses here and in eight countries including the US, Singapore and Australia.
Seafood New Zealand Board Chair Greg Gent worked with him during their time at Fonterra and says "Harold is a fantastic and inspiring guy. He has a pretty incredible back story, which he'll share and which I think will make him of real interest to the seafood industry. He has decades of experience with business and managing change. Executive coaching is his sweet spot and he's coached top leaders here, in Australia and in the States. He's seen up close the big changes in our businesses and economies over the last five years, and he'll have some pretty strong ideas on how we move forward and make things better."
Harold makes frequent appearances in the media and so does one of our other guests - Mary Lambie, former television and radio host and now a media commentator and one of New Zealand's foremost media trainers. Mary will join us to talk about how we as an industry and as businesses and individuals can tell our stories. We all know that our sector can be badly misunderstood in the public arena. Mary will talk to us about how we change that.
For those of you who enjoy a tech talk and a bit of indulgence in the biggest of big boys' toys, we will be joined by ship builders Skipsteknisk. These Norwegian experts, who have built a number of big-name vessels for New Zealand companies, will talk to us about the future of fishing vessels. Even if you're not in the business of commissioning (or dreaming about) an on-water investment, it will be fascinating to see how the technology is changing and what the future holds.
We'll also focus on the economic and trade picture and we'll be joined by experts who can help us plot the way forward in rapidly changing times. These include Sharon Zollner, Chief Economist at ANZ and a range of high profile and expert thinkers on global markets.
So whether you are interested in the big picture around politics and trade or you want practical information about sales or purchasing decisions or perhaps you're focused on tech and innovation or how we take control of our social licence - there will be something at Conference for you.
Seafood New Zealand understands the pressures we are all under. We also believe that this is a fantastic industry, which has a future which is both bright and strong. We see Conference as a way to share inspiring but also practical and useful information - Seafood for Thought. And as always, an opportunity to come together for the bonding, networking and information sharing, that can only happen in person.
Now that we have announced just some of our fantastic guest line-up (and more will be revealed over the coming weeks), we are extending our early-bird offer with a discount if you grab your Conference tickets in the next week.
We really look forward to seeing you in Nelson on August 6 and 7.
