BITS BREAKFAST PHOTOS 2008

The Guest speaker on Tuesday, 18 March, 2008 was Justine Linley the Regional Manager - Grampians Region for Regional Development Victoria. Through her presentation Justine provided attendees with information on RDV program and support measures for SMEs, within the "Moving Forward in Provincial Victoria" policy inititative. The Moving Forward program is the Victorian Government's new $500 million blueprint for action and achievement that will drive growth in provincial Victoria over the next five to ten years.

Background on Regional Development Victoria

RDV was established as a statutory body by the Regional Development Victoria Act 2002, and began operation on 3 March 2003. The primary purpose of RDV is to facilitate economic, infrastructure and community development in provincial Victoria.

RDV delivers a broad range of economic development programs and business referral services through its Melbourne office and eight regional offices located throughout the State.

Participants

Organisations represented among the 35 attendees included Action Ads, Aviarc, City of Ballarat, Collaborative Centre for eHealth, Colourfield Creative, Commander Centre Ballarat, Committee for Ballarat, Grampians Integrated Cancer Services, I Glass, The Laminex Group, Lake Imaging, Lateral Plains, Jalapeno eBusiness Consulting, Visionary Events & Marketing Partner, Grampians Industry Capability Network, SED Consulting, Shane Bicknell Chartered Accountant, Telstra Countrywide and the University of Ballarat.

Feedback from participants

* 93 percent plan to attend future UBTP and BITS breakfast events

* Top two things that people liked:

1. Networking - 'great mix of people', 'a good networking opportunity', 'the ability to meet with other IT professionals'
2.  Breakfast:

• Best suggestion for future events (that we'd like to implement)
• Provide an opportunity for attendees to be able to showcase their business offerings to the other members, maybe a random 30 second introduction (2-3 business cards drawn out of a hat).. especially good for new businesses wanting to promote themselves.