ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Annual Report.pdf · Babinda State School 101 Bentley Park College 415 Cairns...

ANNUAL REPORT 2018 For the year ended 31 December 2018

Business Liaison Association

BUSINESS LIAISON ASSOCIATION ANNUAL REPORT 2019 For the year ended 31 December 2019

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.bla.org.au

Tel: 0431 022 249

36 Shields Street, Cairns

Business Liaison Association’s Annual Report 2019

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Corporate Sponsors 2019 ____________________________________________________ 3

Introduction _______________________________________________________________ 4

Sponsorship _______________________________________________________________ 5

Strategic Plan and Strategic Review ____________________________________________ 5

Key Objectives for 2020 - 2023 ________________________________________________ 6

Success and Achievements ________________________________________________ 7-12

Aspire Award Sponsors _____________________________________________________ 7-8

DATTA Award Sponsors _____________________________________________________ 9

Executive Officer __________________________________________________________ 13

Corporate Sponsorship _____________________________________________________ 13

Financial Management _____________________________________________________ 13

Corporate Governance _____________________________________________________ 13

Marketing ________________________________________________________________ 14

Business Networking ______________________________________________________ 14

Newletter ________________________________________________________________ 14

Sponsors Booklet _________________________________________________________ 15

Website _______________________________________________________________ 15-16

Social Media _____________________________________________________________ 16

Meetings ________________________________________________________________ 17

Conclusion _______________________________________________________________ 17

Office Bearers __________________________________________________________ 17-18


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PARTNERS 2019

ELITE SPONSORS 2019

PLATINUM SPONSORS 2019

GOLD SPONSORS 2019


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INTRODUCTION

In presenting the 23rd Annual Report of the Business Liaison Association, I would like to thank

the Executive Committee for its efforts in the management of the Association and Working

Groups for a highly successful year.

The annual budget of the Association balanced out $370,569 and this was made possible

by substantial sponsorship and donations from the Cairns business community,

government grants, secondary schools donations, both public and private and through

fundraising.

Funding was allocated to the following activities organised by the Association:

• Careers programs including the Cairns Youth and Careers Expo

• Business industry seminars, breakfasts and workshops

• Awards and competitions

• Executive Officer and casual Administration Officer wages

The Business Liaison Association’s footprint spans 33 schools within the region from Tully to

the Cape, 11,000 students and actively engages 36 local businesses and educators.

OUR MISSION

To encourage and provide secondary students with relevant up to date knowledge, skills and

resources to meet the current and future challenges of the business community.


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SPONSORSHIP The Annual Networking Cocktails function for 2019 was held for sponsors past and present,

and members. It was well attended by corporate sponsors. The Association presented gifts

to the following 36 corporate sponsors in recognition of their commitment and

contribution. We also recognised our long term milestone corporate sponsors for their

loyalty – Tong Sing (15 years) and Alive Pharmacy (10 Years)

STRATEGIC PLAN AND STRATEGIC REVIEW

Following a review of the activities and structures of the Association in 2019, a new

Strategic Plan (2020 – 2023) was developed to progress the findings and outcomes. The

Association continues to source new initiatives to maximise opportunities for all

stakeholders. This plan focuses on the following key success areas and is reviewed

annually. Our sincere thanks to Deputy Chairman, Mr Sandy Whyte for undertaking the

Strategic Review with Executive Members and preparing the new Strategic Plan.


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KEY OBJECTIVES FOR 2020 – 2023

1. Succession and Planning

2. Technology and Change

3. Awareness

4. Corporate and Finance

5. Value Adding

An action plan was developed to progress these areas over three years.

The following activities were carried out in 2019:

• A Youth and Careers Expo;

• Employment of a new Administration Officer – Ms Wendy Finegan, Permanent Part-

time to replace Ms Kym Copetti – Casual;

• The Association diversified its services to schools by offering a Young Entrepreneurs

Breakfast, Science Workshops, Hutchinson Builders, Cairns Hardware and Ergon

Energy Site Visits, TAFE Marine Careers Forum, Young Architect and Engineer

Workshops, BDO – Big Day Out, Legal Studies Workshops, Enterprising Workshops,

Financial Management Workshops, CQUniversity STEM Sampler Day and Aspirations

Day;

• During 2019, several rural and remote schools accessed our Visiting Experts Program

including Ravenshoe State School, Kuranda State College, Herberton P-10 School,

Tagai College and Dimbulah P-10 School;

• The Annual Aspire Awards Presentation night to recognise student achievement

and success. This event is expanding, and a new venue will be sourced for 2020 to

cope with numbers. The number of awards is also growing;

• More networking functions for corporate sponsors and supporters including a Sunset

Cruise and Cairns Cup Event;

• Expansion of sponsorship opportunities for corporate sponsors to include event

sponsors, lunch sponsors, industry visit sponsors and raffle sponsors;

• Recruitment opportunities for award recipients;

• The annual DATTA awards has offered expanded categories and the venue, Cairns

Central Event Cinemas has proved to be suitable;

• Trialed a Social Sciences Conference in partnership with JCU;

• Regular meetings were held by the Finance Working Group;


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• Offered a very successful DATTA Teachers Workshop for Vocational Education at

MiHaven.

SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS The Association is very proud of its achievements and successes. These include:

• Our annual budget balanced out to $370,569;

• A highly successful one day Cairns Youth and Careers Expo with 61 exhibitors and

the event attracted over 3,000 secondary school students, plus parents, careers

advisors and job seekers;

• Several new awards and competitions were offered – JCU Mediation Competition,

Cairns Show Association Billboard Competition and Brett Moller Legal Studies

Awards;

• Approximately 3,000 students participated in 19 Business Liaison Association awards

and competitions with $60,000 (in value) being awarded to students for further

studies. These were generously sponsored by:


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• Another highly successful presentation of the DATTA Awards (Design and

Technology Teachers’ Association) at Event Cinemas at Cairns Central. Over 250

entries were submitted by students. These 2019 awards were sponsored by:


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• Aspirations Day was successfully trialed at Innisfail State College;

• Financial Management Workshops offered to St Augustine’s College;

• The Association was able to attract and finance high profile motivational speakers

for our breakfast seminars;

• The Association continued to offer three-day visits by high profile speakers to cover

Cassowary Coast, Cairns and Tableland schools. In some cases, with funding

assistance Visiting Experts are able to visit schools for five days eg. Wonder of

Science assisted with funding for Young Science Ambassador;

• Over 10,000 students accessed our programs through 2019 – these are allocated

below:

SCHOOLS TOTAL STUDENT

ATTENDANCE 2019

Atherton State High School 145

Babinda State School 101

Bentley Park College 415

Cairns School of Distance Education 75

Cairns State High School 1,184

Dimbulah State School 92

Djarragun College 103

Freshwater Christian College 172

Good Counsel College 158

Gordonvale State High School 333

Herberton State School 75

Holy Spirit College 15

Innisfail State College 572

Kuranda District College 77

Malanda State High School 56

Mareeba State High School 377

Mossman State High School 288

Mount St Bernard Catholic College 95

Northern Peninsula Area State College 14

Peace Lutheran College 226

Ravenshoe State School 135

Redlynch State College 573

St Andrew’s Catholic College 166

St Augustine’s Catholic College 413


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St Mary’s Catholic College 502

St Monica’s Catholic College 255

St Stephen’s Catholic College 93

Smithfield State High School 480

Tagai College 44

Trinity Anglican School 520

Trinity Bay State High School 496

Tully State High School 283

Woree State High School 546

Western Cape College 5

Yarrabah State School 1

Other 1,103

TOTAL ATTENDEES 10,188

• The Business Liaison Association fundraised for Headspace (youth mental health)

and donated $1,000;

Set out below is a snapshot of activities for the 2019 year and attendances.

EVENT TOTAL

JCU Careers in Health Breakfast 8th March 2019

228

Young Entrepreneurs Breakfast 14th March 2019

187

Visiting Scientist Workshops Amy Chan 1 – 3rd May 2019

547

National Young Engineer of the Year Stuart Cook Workshops 1 – 3rd May 2019

264

Flying Scientist Visit 2nd May 2019

100

Refuel 2019 11th May 2019

53

Mock Court Competition 15th May 2019

62

Visiting Architects Leah Gallagher and Marjorie Dixon 16 - 17th May 2019

215

We Will Remember Forum 17th May 2019

182

JCU Social Science Conference 20th May 2019

104

Youth and Careers Expo 2019 28th May 2019

3094

Qld Sentencing Advisory Council Workshops 20 – 21st May 2019

180

Visiting Author 27 – 31st May 2019

270


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EVENT TOTAL

Try a Trade Day 29th May 2019

58

Regional Readers Cup 14th June 2019

137

Senior Dance Day 18th July 2019

160

Evie Willsteed Young Fashion Designer Visit 22 – 24th July 2019

187

JCU Legal Conference 25th July 2019

116

Suzanne Nguyen Social Entrepreneur Visit 1 – 2nd August 2019

235

BDO Big Day Out 9th August 2019

64

RACI School Visits 12 – 16th August 2019

625

QIMR School Visits 21 – 23rd August 2019

465

Finance Workshops August 2019

77

DATTA Teachers MIHVAVEN Workshops 10th September 2019

25

Marine Careers Forum 4th October 2019

25

Prof Anthony Gary PD Session with Teachers 17th October 2019

16

Prof Anthony Gray Legal Studies Workshops 14 – 18th October 2019

375

Breakfast with the Law 18th October 2019

111

Wonder of Science Student Conference 18th October 2019

50

University of QLD Maths/Science Workshops 16 – 18th October 2019

557

DATTA Awards Presentation Night 31st October 2019

421

Hutchinson Builders Site Visits June – October 2019

56

Ergon Energy Site Visits August – October 2019

61

Cairns Hardware Site Visits June – October 2019

59

CQU Stem Sampler Day 5th November 2019

115

Annual Awards Presentation 2019 28th November 2019

537

Aspirations Day 6th December 2019

170

TOTAL 2019 10,188


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EXECUTIVE OFFICER Our Executive Officer, Kerrie Stanley has introduced several new initiatives to increase

Fundraising.

The focus for 2019 was improving administration systems, increasing corporate sponsorship

opportunities and exhibitors at the Cairns Youth and Careers Expo, raising the awareness

of the Business Liaison Association within the community, improving marketing collateral

by creating a consistent corporate image for the Association and profiling the Association

through a selection of Social Media platforms.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP The following sponsorship information includes cash and in-kind sponsorship.

2019 2018

Sponsorship In-Kind $ 97,760 $ 104,402

Awards Sponsorship $ 63,530 $ 54,066

Rotary and School Donations $ 36,295 $ 37,848

Cash Sponsorship $ 60,098 $ 78,402

TOTAL $257,683 $ 274,718

These figures are extracted from Grant Thornton Financial Statements, Quick Books

software.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Jessica Bugno – Treasurer has meticulously monitored financial records throughout the

year and has also presented very comprehensive Financial Reports at the Executive

Committee Meetings. Judith from Careful Books has generously contributed a Platinum in-

kind sponsorship for the Associations bookkeeping. Judith carries out checks on finances

and supervises accounts. There have been regular meetings of the Finance Working

Group, chaired by Brent Kelly to monitor the Financial Reports. It is pleasing to report that

the Association has traded a surplus for 2019.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The Association has completed/reviewed policy and procedures documents to enhance

corporate governance. All members of the Executive undergo training in this area. Policies

and procedures have been reviewed at Executive meetings throughout the year. The

Governance Working Group Meetings chaired by Sandy Whyte have met to consider the

corporate governance requirements for the association and complete the Governmence

Checklist, along with the Terms of Reference for the Governance Working Group.


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MARKETING The goal for 2019 was to continue to raise the awareness of the Business Liaison Association

and the services that we provide to the students in the region. To do this the Executive

Officer increased the networking opportunities by joining Cairns Business Women’s Club,

the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, and ad hoc networking events.

The new Website was completed and launched in March 2019. It has a modern look and

is consistent with the Business Liaison Association’s new corporate image. It has some

fantastic new features including

• Meet the team – staff and committee

• Social media links

• App link

• Calendar (printable)

• Testimonies from past Alumni

• Statistics

• Expo Video

• More info about the Visiting Experts and Breakfasts programs

• FAQ

• All our sponsorship proposals online

The Executive Officer has continued to increase the Business Liaison Association’s

interaction on the FaceBook page which has resulted in an increase in the likes to 1,298

followers. The Executive Officer successfully designed an interactive app for the Youth

and Careers Expo in 2019. This app kept all the exhibitors, teachers and students up to date

with what was happening at the Careers Expo.

BUSINESS NETWORKING

The Executive Officer attended a variety of business networking events during 2019. Some

of these were fruitful securing corporate sponsorships that provided the Business Liaison

Association with IT and Communication, App Development and Media Marketing. In

addition, the Executive Officer secured further Aspire and DATTA Awards sponsorships and

Event Sponsorships.

NEWSLETTER

Four newsletters were produced in 2019 and distributed electronically to around 750

sponsors and supporters. The newsletters keep readers updated on what the Business

Liaison Association is doing, what events have been held and what events are coming up.

We will continue to publish frequent newsletters in 2020 and increase distribution wherever

possible. Within the confines of the newsletter, we were also able to promote events that

sponsors held.


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SPONSORS BOOKLET

The Biannual Sponsors Booklet promoting all the 2018/2019 Corporate, Award, Event and

Raffle sponsors was re-designed with a new layout, printed and distributed at the 2019

Annual Aspire Awards Presentation Night. It will also accompany the new sponsorship

packs in 2020.

WEBSITE

The Business Liaison Association is grateful for the ongoing in-kind platinum sponsorship of

Mindwire web designers.

The Executive Officer redesigned the website with Damian Codotto in 2018/2019. Our new

look website below…

The Website now has a

• Home Page that includes

o Updated information on the Business Liaison Association

o Download the Business Liaison Association’s Annual Report

o Scrolling banner of Upcoming Events

o Invitation to follow us on Instagram

o Testimonies from our Alumni

o Statistics

o Option to subscribe to our newsletter

• Awards and Competitions Page

o Aspire Awards Page – Lots of images to support the success of the event

o DATTA Awards Page – Video and images to support the event

o The ability to apply online – Not activated

o View individual Awards Prospectus


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• Youth and Careers Expo

o 2 x videos

o Copy of the current floor plan

o Event Sponsors Logos Listed

o Instructions for the App

o Download the Expo Application Form

o Images of the previous year’s expo interaction

• Events

o Industry Breakfasts – videos and images on our breakfasts

o Visiting Experts – information about the program

o Sponsors Events – How we say thank you

o Annual Calendar

• News

Which is a blog of each event that we host and support.

• About us – Updated

• Board – Meet our team including past committee members

• Sponsors – Meet out Family

• Contact us Page including a map of our location

SOCIAL MEDIA The Business Liaison Association’s FaceBook page also received a lot of work in 2019. The

FaceBook page was redesigned to mirror the website in terms of consistency of the

Business Liaison Association’s corporate image and keeping the community up to date

with our events.

FaceBook Page Year Likes %

Increase

FaceBook page 2015- 2016 529 likes

FaceBook page 2016 -2017 680 likes 151 +29%



FaceBook page 2019 -2020 1,298 likes 336 +35%

MEETINGS Meetings of the Executive Committee were held every six weeks during 2019. The focus of

these was:


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• Refining accounting systems and procedures – regular monitoring of accounts

receivables;

• Implementation of new initiatives;

• Ensuring accountability and responsiveness to stakeholders’ needs;

• Progressing the strategic plan and reviewing the action items arising from it;

• Corporate governance and Finance;

• Technology and change; and

• Reviewing Marketing collateral.

All Executive Committee Meetings during 2019 were held at the Business Liaison

Association office, JCU Building meeting rooms, 1st floor, 36 Shields Street, Cairns.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, the Business Liaison Association sincerely thanks the sponsors from industry

and community who support this association. Without their generous sponsorship, we

would not be able to do what we do for the young people of Far North Queensland.

Sincere thanks must also go to the Principals, Teachers, Co-ordinators and Volunteers.

Sincere thanks also to the members of the Executive who are not seeking re-election. Your

professional contribution will be sadly missed. Gifts were presented to

1. Andrew Hayes – 7years – Instrumental in securing the JCU Partnership

2. Andrea Ambrosio – 6 years – Alumni and Grants

3. Stephanie Thomas – served twice totaling 6 years – Active Committee Member

4. Les Searle – Treasurer 2018

OFFICE BEARERS Chairperson: Angela Toppin

Deputy Chairperson: Joylene Ireland

Deputy Chairperson: Sandy Whyte

Treasurer: Jessica Bugno

Executive Officer: Kerrie Stanley

Committee Members Brent Kelly Kelly Wealth Services

Brett Moller Solicitor

Chris Johnson Skill360 Australia

David Craig JCU

Edna Galvin St Monica’s College


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Hugh O’Brien Education Consultant

Jacinta Perry VPG

Lesa Pershouse Mareeba State High School

Ryan Arthurson TAFE Queensland

Shannean Moncrieff Secret Direct Australia

Virginia Cullen Community Consultant

___________________________

Angela Toppin

Chairperson

31 December 2019

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ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Annual Report.pdf · Babinda State School 101 Bentley Park College 415 Cairns...

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