News

The irony of holding a conference is to get people together under one roof with a view to expanding their business horizon.
And that’s exactly what happened in late in 2009 when Brian Harrower was engaged by a mega group of development industry planners to organise a one-day Queensland regional industry conference.
He called it ‘Turning Point 2010 – moving forward faster’ and it was a huge success in delegate numbers, sponsor benefits and his client’s profit from the experience.
And this is where the irony comes into it. Brian recruited Black Grace owner Anna Delaney to work with him in association. He’d only met her once by coincidence and was impressed with her vision and attitude about marketing nous plus her own event management experience that he saw her as a natural in partnering the responsibility.
Anyone who knows anything about organising a major conference knows that it’s a very stressful occupational hazard yet two professionals who hardly knew each other worked seamlessly without a single hiccup or bite of the bottom lip.
It was more than a ‘Turning Point’ issue for the development industry in Australia’s sixth largest city; it became a turning point for the Black Grace enterprise itself.
Two people, who hardly had a moment to talk socially in a hectic three and a half months of conference planning and implementation activity, afterwards saw the potential to merge their business strengths.
They decided to partner their skills and resources as one under the Black Grace label, effectively ending Brian’s short-lived enjoyment of life out of the fast lane after selling his PR company earlier.
Consequently too, the Sustainable Development Gold Coast Inc has called them in to stage the VisionChallengeLeadership regional development conference on August 10 this year.
So a turning point can be a turning point of different directions at the one time yet turn up to be the one direction.