The RVA Conference, June 13 - 15, Langham Hotel.

I drove to Auckland to arrive, after the rush-hour, on Tuesday, Some excellent presentations:

1. The National Bank chief economist, who was able to paint a picture of slow improvement, such as the fact that external debt has dropped from 92% of GDP to 80%.

2.from Colin James, and very astute political commentator who has called 13 of the last 14 general election party results correctly. He was not wiling to call this weekend's Te Tai Tokerau election.

3. Diana Crossan the Retirement commissioner, who became somewhat controversial with the presentation of a research report that was plainly flawed, as evidenced by the president of the Retirement Villages association, after Diana's presentation.

4.Cam Ansell, from the Australian RVA association. New Zealand is much lest regulated that Australia.Proportion of people in retirement villages in Australia=5% in the USA=12%

Cam also introduced the U-bend of happiness which is an interesting read, as this re-enforced the presentation I missed first thing on Tuesday, where the speaker was talking about the fact that the only thing that matters is how happy people are.

Wednesday started with a gifted speaker
1. Amanda Stevens talking about marketing to women. An entertaining and very informative presentation, I would be happy to hear her speak again.
2. Jeremy Simpson on investing in retirement living. His bottom line was that people are prepared to pay for quality.

My presentation @ 2.30p.m. followed on from some rather dry presentations and went as well as I could possibly have expected. In addition to getting all of my material across, including video of participants' comments, and video of the Hilda Ross Glee Club's performance level from initial standard in 2006, to the 8 - 80 showstoppers concert in February this year. I concluded with getting them all to stand and sing, and the feedback given via conference feedback was that they enjoyed the chance to sing!!

My next post will be John Collyns feedback email to me. It was a MOST worthwhile event for me!