Ita Buttrose to headline Geelong Small Business Festival

ITA Buttrose will be the star attraction at this year’s Geelong Small Business Festival, which will see 50 events take place across the region during August.

Ms Buttrose, a legendary media trailblazer, businesswoman, best-selling author, committed community and welfare contributor and 2013 Australian of the Year, will speak on the topic “the resilience factor and why it’s crucial for business success” at a dinner event at The Pier on August 1.

She has twice been voted Australia’s most admired woman and has a long and distinguished career in the Australian media with a number of notable achievements – the founding editor of Cleo, the youngest ever editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, the first woman to ever edit a major metropolitan newspaper in Australia as editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and the first woman director of News Limited Australia.

The long-running Westpac Economic Breakfast (presented by the Geelong Chamber of Commerce) with the bank’s managing director of economics Bill Evans pulls a big crowd every year, and in 2018 will change venues to the Brownlow Stand at GMHBA Stadium on August 3.

Another keynote event will be “The Power of Positive Culture” with Jem Fuller, who will bring a professional and accessible approach to the education and training of leaders (from front line through to middle and senior levels) in critical capabilities for exceptional performance. It will be held at the Deakin University Waterfront campus on August 6.

Taren Flowers from Times News Group will join representatives from Elders Insurance and Crowe Howarth on the couch at RACV Torquay Resort on August 21 for a session about “The One Secret to Business Success”, presented by Torquay Commerce and Tourism and the Surf Coast Shire.

On August 24, the Business Hub at Queenscliff Marina and the Borough of Queenscliffe will present a session where local entrepreneurs and regional business leaders will share their favourite TED Talks, and the core messages behind them that have been instrumental in their own business journey.

For the full festival calendar or to book, head to gsbf.com.au.