Over 300 delegates welcomed to ARV 2023 industry conference

Aquatics and Recreation Victoria (ARV) has reported on the success of its 2023 industry conference, with more than 300 delegates attending the three-day event at Melbourne’s Hyatt Place Essendon.

Supported by PerfectGym, the Industry Conference brought together those who own, operate, manage, supply and work within Victorian aquatics and recreation facilities while also welcoming  delegates from interstate as well as international guests from New Zealand.

Site Tours
The first day of the conference saw site tours to three metropolitan facilities.

Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre welcomed delegates and demonstrated its sustainability principles in action while the SPLASH Aqua Park and Leisure Centre showcased their new rising floor to adjust the depth of its 50 metre pool.

The last site tour, to the Fawkner Leisure Centre, provided delegates with the opportunity to view the under-redevelopment centre. The tour was conducted by the Active Merri-bek team alongside McConnell Dowell's Built Environs creative construction team who designed the new facility.

Sessions
The conference program on Thursday and Friday saw delegates learn from presentations on six key themes under the overarching theme: Building a sustainable future - with six key themes: leadership; communications/technology; workplaces; diversity, equity, inclusion; people and assets.

On Thursday, keynote presentations were delivered by from motivational speaker, Fiori Giovanni and Sonja Hood, President of the North Melbourne Football Club and Chief Executive of Community Hubs Australia.

The final day started with two energising keynotes from Broadcaster, Hamish McLachlan and demographer Simon Kuestenmacher.

This was followed by another day of wide-ranging content with presenters from both within and outside the industry sharing experiences, research, knowledge and thoughts for the future.

In addition, exhibitors in the Trade Expo displayed products, innovations and services.

Future Events
ARV’s next events are its Celebrating our Women networking dinner on Thursday 19th October (which is sold out) and its Fitness and Wellness Summit at Casey Fields on Friday 17th November.

For more information go to www.aquaticsandrecreation.org.au/events

Image: Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre, the site of the first site visit during the 2023 ARV National Conference.