our leaders feel confident, engaged and empowered. I think we spend too long focusing on challenges and not enough time celebrating our successes or giving positive feedback to others – to help create that positive MESSAGE CEO's • Why in-person conferences are essential for our leaders • How do we cut through all the red tape and get better ECE policies • Which is better – 20 Hours ECE or Family Boost? ECC as an organisation is vibrant, strong, focused on its future and making children’s futures brighter. Sound like spin? Well it’s not. We recently had our national ECC conference called 'Striving for Excellence'. It was in Wellington in late July. Despite the recession impacting on the number of delegates we hoped for, those who attended, over 500 people, got a massive treat. In the new state-of-the-art conference facility, Tākina, we presented a huge line up of inspirational keynote speakers, skilled workshop presenters and had a massive trade exhibition. Our keynotes included the world-famous (in the international childcare/ECE sector) Kris Murray (see photo). It was striking to hear Kris share some of her insights – about being clear about what distinguishes your centre or service from others and the importance of every centre or service having a firm grip on its own financial performance. The parallels between ECE in the USA and New Zealand amazed me. My bias or expectation was to see differences, so I was pleasantly disappointed. Of course parents in USA pay some of the highest fees for childcare services worldwide, but the industry continues to perform well. Kris reminded us that ECE is a competitive business, even if you are owned by a charity or community-based provider and that this is a fact and it’s ok. Kris also recognised the risks our people are taking every day – having the responsibility of caring for thousands of children across New Zealand is a big job. Kris set a “can-do” and upbeat tone for the conference and helped August 2023 { 8 }
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