Ready to dive into how digital can work for your business?
Wednesday 1st September 2021, 8:45am - 4pm
The 2021 Regional Growth Summit (RGS) is all about online business and expanding digital knowledge, fostering collaboration and encouraging action in your local business community. Be inspired to make small changes for maximum impact!
We shared stories of inspiration and change and met our fellow regional and rural business owners in interactive workshops and networking sessions.
This one-day virtual event brought together business leaders from across regional, rural and outer metro communities to share stories of inspiration combined with practical actions that you can implement immediately to help your business grow.
You can access the recordings for free by signing up to our Champions community with your email below.
Event Overview
The Regional Growth Summit is all about regional success stories and sharing their journey, lessons and practical actions that local businesses can take away, implement and ultimately thrive.
The full-day online event has a huge list of inspiring entrepreneurial speakers rooted in regional areas, ready to expand knowledge and encourage action!
In 2021, the Regional Growth Summit celebrated:
Keynote: An aspirational and inspiring perspective on connections to regional proving impact
How digital has enabled connections - with partners and/or opening new channels to market
Digital marketing - the process of developing a strategy and implementing an action plan with results
Digital transformation of a business - using digital to support your business
How the local community have worked together with digital to support each other and create impact
How technology can make your life easier
Practical sessions with facilitated case studies to help you apply learnings
An entire day full of Regional and Rural stories and showcases
An around the table on location out to the DIF Hubs, networking and support going forward
Register for access below to catch up on the content!
This one-day virtual summit is based on our 'Teach, not tell' philosophy, where you can hear from other businesses who have used strategic thinking, technology and marketing as an enabler to create positive change in their business.
Join and meet fellow regional and rural business owners in interactive sessions with networking opportunities. Participate in a marketing Masterclass or Workshop, or simply be inspired by stories of regional and rural Australian businesses (see the full agenda below).
We recognise that many business owners have limited time, money and resources to work on their business, so this event is focused on creating change using simple steps and providing the inspiration and support that is traditionally hard to access in Regional areas.
Based on the current challenges across the country, there are many opportunities to listen to online events that provide theoretical ways to help build a healthy and sustainable business. However, the greatest impact comes from not simply being told, but getting practical help with real-life explanations and examples.
Watch the replay for free using your email
What you can get out of the day ?
Experience the benefits of connecting with the regional community.
Our goal is to create a community of like-minded business leaders who come together around common challenges and ambitions to build better business outcomes.
The success of the Regional Growth Project is measured by growing the number of healthy, sustainable and scalable businesses throughout Regional Australia. We want to create the opportunity for you to connect with your regional peers and share your actionable stories to impact the regional economy.
Through new and reinvigorated connections, collaborations and inspiring stories we can build a thriving network of regional champions, ultimately increasing the competitiveness of regional and rural communities.
Agenda
8:45am - Event opens for attendees on Zoom
9:00am - 9:10am - Event kick-off and Welcome
9:10am - 9:15am - State Government Welcome (Minister Jaala Pulford)
9:15am - 10:00am - Keynote: Building Capability Through Connectivity (Jo Burston, Inspiring Rare Birds)
10:00am - 10:30am - Insights: The impact of 2020 and 2021 on small and medium-sized businesses and what this means for the future (Rob Hall, .id & Sam Hurley, 25eight)
10:30am-10:40am - BREAK
10:40am - 11:10am - Regional business showcase: BuyFromNorthEastVic: A Regional collaboration story (Catherine Macmillan, Benalla Rural City Council; Rohan Webb, Issimo; Kate Clark, Rural City of Wangaratta & Ilena Young, Startup Shakeup)
11:10am - 11:40am - Regional business showcase: Building a community that loves what you do with digital (Stefi Kerby, Celia Loves)
11:40am- 11:50am - BREAK
11:50am- 12:20pm - Regional business showcase: Scaling your business globally: using culture, values and people as a foundation to grow (Roslyn Hames, Clear Dynamics)
12:20pm - 12:30pm - Regional support: Hear from Regional centres on how they are supporting small to medium-sized businesses across the state (Paul Dillon, The Hive @ SW TAFE & George Osborne, Hume City Council)
12:30pm - 1:00pm - LUNCH BREAK
1:00pm - 1:30pm - Regional business showcase: How digital can help you transform your business (Ash Bent, Sketch & Etch)
1:30pm - 2:00pm - Workshop: Demystifying digital tools for your business (Emma Van Smale, 25eight)
2:00pm - 2:10pm - BREAK
2:10pm - 2:40pm - Regional business showcase: Panel: Digital success favours the brave. Real stories of digital adaptations (Josh Cauchi, Arkham Fitness, Kelly Petering of Kelly Petering & Linda McNeill, eTACO, hosted by Sam Hurley, 25eight)
2:40pm - 3:10pm - Regional business showcase: REAL: Discovering the strength in an unwavering message (Kylie Treble, REAL Pizza Pasta Salads & Kim Fernandes, 25eight)
3:10pm - 3:30pm - Regional support: Hear from Regional centres on how they are supporting small to medium-sized businesses across the state (Alison McKenzie, City of Greater Bendigo; Kate Clark, Rural City of Wangaratta & Amanda Aldous, Wangaratta Digital Hub)
3:30pm - 3:40pm - Next Steps: RGP Masterclass series and other opportunities
3:40pm -4:00pm - Interactive networking: (Virtually only now in Breakout Rooms) Meet fellow regional business leaders and build your network of support
4:00pm - Event Close