Blowing our own trumpet

As the saying goes…
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“If you don’t blow your own trumpet, you won’t hear any music!”

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Anyway I want to blow the trumpet loud and clear for our Gilligan Shepard team. We have just returned from a conference on Great Barrier Island. It was great!! Lots of learning, challenges and fun as well as a team that made every effort to ensure each team member was included in activities. There were also friendly, interested and respectful to our hosts and their team.

We started off at Auckland Airport (domestic). We were seated in planes that were able to take 9 passengers and luggage (which was all weighed carefully).  This in itself was an experience for most and apart from the hand holding and squeezing during take-off and landing all was fine. We had great weather and views down to Musik Point, Browns Island and Waiheke. The landing was also unique as we all saw the run way approaching but the plane landed to side of it on the grass to help protect and save tyres.
4 Rental cars were required and it has been a long time since I drove on a metal road with so many corners. But because I had precious cargo I kept the drive nice and slow and didn’t slide its back end out – although it was very tempting!

We arrived at Great Barrier Lodge, situated at Port Fitzroy.

We were immediately welcomed by Angeline (our host).  Room allocation had already been done back at the office so no surprises for anyone there.  Our rooms/units were clean, bright and well equipped for our needs.  The restaurant/bar and conference area were perfect for the casual yet business side of our seminars and team building activities.
Special note to the baker and chef as we all returned just a little bit heavier than when we left.  And having access to the shop (with a tab) meant that ice-creams, cold drinks, snacks and ice blocks were welcome at different times during the day.
Some of us enjoyed the sea for a swim (the water was quite warm). Some enjoyed a walk to a waterfall, others a walk to a hot stream, kayak use and one of the partners even got out for fish.  We enjoyed freshly baked bread and fresh smoked fish.
Theme for our Conference this year – “enriching lives”.  This started off with a brain storming session on how we do this both internally and externally.
Richard Ashby – one of our Partners setup a case study which had the teams receiving complex issues to identify, mock interviews to attend and a report to write.  He also had an “it’s in the bag” type of tax quiz. It had full engagement from the team including admin who were very interested in some of the issues being raised.

Team Building

And of course the team building helped energise the team at different times during the three days.
Before long our conference had finished and we headed home. Again, it was a beautiful day for a flight.
Thanks to all who helped to make our conference on Great barrier a great success:

• Great Barrier Lodge – Ang, Clive and team (our fantastic hosts)
• Go Great Barrier – Steve (for booking and organising everything)