ARCIA Industry Dinner and Comms Connect – Sydney.

Looking back at the Sydney events in late June it is very gratifying to see the level of involvement of the NSW industry in the events.

Comms Connect was a hive of activity over the two days and those with an interesting story to tell were kept busy. It had a terrific conference program and a wide range of exhibitors as well, but it is a pity that some industry players don’t support Sydney as an exhibition as there are many people who don’t get to Melbourne and comments were made on the missing organisations.

The ARCIA Industry Dinner was sold out and a great evening was had by all. Mark Crosland from RFI was awarded the Industry Professional of the Year Award, but unfortunately due to a family illness Mark wasn’t able to be there to accept his award in person. If you know Mark please give him your personal thanks and congratulations for being an excellent industry supporter.

We were also pleased to host ACMA senior staff at the dinner, James Cameron who is acting Deputy Chairman, and Giles Tanner, General Manager – Infrastructure section. Their attendance is an indication of the respect the ACMA give to ARCIA.

Our guest speaker, Insp (Ret) Lance Valcour OOM from Canada gave an insightful address on how the Canadian Public Safety Agencies came together to develop the vision and then the leadership to present a national combined communications plan for their country. He reminded us that there is indeed a role for industry to be involved as part of the process. ARCIA has had involvement in the PSMB discussions and believe that we should continue to be a leader in initiating discussions and planning.