Wednesday July 1st 2009 was a special day for Best Buddies Australia with the High Schools Program holding their first annual leadership conference for all young leaders and supporting teaching staff.
The day at Macquarie University was well attended by representatives of 6 schools, many of whom arrived in style having been collected by a vintage Double Decker Bus, a Stretch Hummer and a Monster Truck (with karaoke?!)
After morning tea and a warm welcome and introduction from Executive Director Mark Trevaskis, groups broke off to workshop particular themes related to their roles, including public speaking, event planning, leadership, social inclusion and vision for the future. Our corporate partners were volunteers from the leadership team of construction firm Kell & Rigby who devised a multitude of fun and creative games to get the team thinking differently around some of these topics. Our Buddy Director group were fortunate to be joined by special guests Robert Strike of Self Advocacy Sydney and BBA Ambassador Deborah Hutton who joined forces to lead a hands-on workshop about public speaking. By the time we broke for lunch, everyone in the group had made their first public speech!
Lunch was a working one, with each school participating provided with a brief and a box of potential props as well as drinks and sandwiches. Their mission? <cue drum roll>: after lunch put on a 3 min show about Leadership and Inclusion as part of BEST BUDDIES GOT TALENT! Groups were soon noisily rehearsing inside and out trying to incorporate as many of the props as possible (not easy when you've been given small model animals, a feather boa, some empty toilet rolls and a party hat, amongst other things!)
And the verdict? Well let's just say they have talent by the bucket full! And Reece missed his calling as a Britney impersonator! The audience was roaring with laughter as each school demonstrated their talents. A difficult task lay ahead for our official judges; Naomi Simson from Red Balloon; James Kell from K&R; Deborah Hutton and Andrew Bucchanan (BBA Chairman). After some fierce debate a number of awards were given including; Most Creative (Airds); Most Inclusive (Sir Joseph Banks); Best Use of Props (Fairvale); Funniest Performance (Kellyville).
The day ended on a high after an insightful talk from Naomi Simson about her experience as a leader and the announcement that Red Balloon is to provide a the spectacular prize of a helicopter ride over Sydney to the winners of the new Best Buddies Buddy Of The Year Award! (<click here> for more info).
A short certificate presentation ceremony then took place for all volunteers involved before everyone returned to their transport to be whisked back to their respective schools!
A big thankyou to everyone who participated on the day, we couldn't have done it without you! For more photos from the day please go to Buddy Up and visit the photo gallery.
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