EO Melbourne March Chapter News

Dear EO Melbourne,

For all our Members, the last month has been difficult, unsettling, destabilising and heartbreaking. However, I am also cognizant that it is during times of crisis that great leaders, and feats of great leadership, emerge.

It is during times like these that people turn to us as leaders, and one message has been clear in my conversations with leaders whom I deeply respect and admire: Leadership requires us to make fast (and well-informed) decisions, leadership requires us to be present, leadership requires us to increase our pace of communication and leadership requires us to accept that we make decisions knowing what we know at the time and with the resources that we have available to us.

(Continue reading the complete March President's Update here.)

I include Melbourne-specific updates below and updates from Regional and Global. Please be mindful that our landscape changes every 24 hours, and so we will be increasing our pace of communication so that Members are kept informed. Please keep an eye on our Facebook group, WhatsApp group and your inbox for updates.

EO Melbourne updates

Events cancelled until the end of March to date and into April, and we will inform Members of further cancellations and changes. Given recent announcements, further communication pieces will be sent outlining our plan for the next 3 months.
COVID-19-related learning events being scheduled (with 2 runs over the last 2 weeks) to help Members plan and prepare
Coordination with Chapters globally regarding access to virtual learning events, and sharing of virtual learning events; particularly concerning COVID-19-related learning
Creation of "EO Melbourne-Together" WhatsApp group for fast dissemination of information amongst Melbourne EOers
An APAC-specific central repository of information for COVID-19 with links to EO Members sharing their experiences around the world, webinars, virtual learning, medical news, ideas and stories
Forum support, move to virtual and we encourage each Member to self-determine if they will attend Forum over the coming 4 weeks without penalty. Check Forum Best Practices Guide Link here.
The Board will convene this week to discuss further strategies, resources and support that we will provide for Members, with communication pieces sent shortly after

Regional and Global updates

Paid Zoom accounts for Chapters running learning events
APAC Business Conference will be held virtually and will be free of charge
Contents that are focused on how to survive 2020 physically, mentally and financially
Global virtual tours planned for speakers from the cancelled Global Leadership Conference
Pending updates on financial leniency on renewals and re-qualification
All APAC meetings to go virtual

Due to the global uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak, please be advised that we will no longer be holding the following EO events:

EO Drive Day with Mercedes-Benz Berwick (scheduled on 20 March 2020)
EOS Workshop (scheduled on 25 March 2020)
Mentorship Launch (scheduled on 27 March 2020)
Brad Stevens' "Adapting for Rapid Change" workshop (scheduled on 3 April 2020)
EO Accelerators Holey Moley Social Event (scheduled on 17 April 2020)

Please know that your safety is of utmost importance to us. We are continually assessing the current situation and we are looking into moving future chapter events online. We will be keeping you posted on any event changes or updates. We appreciate your understanding during these challenging times.

As a follow-up to the EO Melbourne breakfast meeting "Surviving and growing during the Coronavirus outbreak", the Melbourne chapter organised a webinar featuring Professor Justin Craig of Bond University who talked about "Leading business in times of crisis", plus David Kelly, Managing Director and Chris Gianatti, Employment Law Specialist of KHQ Lawyers who covered "Employment law issues in this time of crisis". This webinar was moderated by Kym Huynh and Carlo Santoro.

Recording of the webinar can be found in this link.

To usher our new Members to the EO Melbourne family, the chapter had a New Member Welcome Drinks held at Eau Du Vie on Monday night, 2 March.

New Members who attended the Welcome Drinks were John Liston, Kegan Harry, Dan Swart, Gary Lorden, Blake Brunne, Jasmine Zapka, Andy Easto and James Barone.

Those who were present to welcome them and share their EO experiences were Membership Chair Sheryl Thai, Mentorship Chair Ben Trinh, Forum Chair Jordan Fogarty and Finance Chair Socrates Capouleas.

As the Coronavirus epidemic continues to cause widespread disruption, it’s important for organisations to take precautionary measures and formulate action plans to mitigate risks on impacts on business operations.

To assist organisations, BDO hosted a webinar session outlying guidance measures to consider as part of your business continuity plan.

View the webinar recording to hear BDO Partner, Mark Cushing, and Associate Director, Joe Occhino explore:

Business continuity planning measures and action items for consideration (including impacts on sustainability, supply chain, health and safety and technology)
Planning your workforce effectively – guidance measures on preparing for employee quarantine periods
An engaging Q&A session answering questions from organisations across the nation.

BDO also has a full suite of articles devoted to helping businesses navigate this challenging time found at https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/covid19.

You can also find more information on Technical Update: Australian economic stimulus package in response to coronavirus includes tax measures at https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/insights/tax/technical-updates/australian-economic-stimulus-package-in-response-to-coronavirus-includes-tax-measures.

The Growth Faculty and Simon Sinek have made the very difficult decision to postpone Simon’s sold-out events until later this year. We are also rescheduling the Seth Godin LIVE events.

As a business, our priority has always been to delegate experience and wellbeing at our events. We have been monitoring the government health guidelines on the coronavirus closely and given that  the concerns around COVID-19 have escalated rapidly this week, we have decided to postpone our events.

In 16 years of business, this is the first time The Growth Faculty had to postpone our program of events. These are challenging times, and we must prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our community.

Here are the essentials you need to know: 

We expect to finalise the new dates next week.
For now, your delegates don’t need to do anything. Their current ticket is valid for the rescheduled event.
Once the new event date has been published, if ticket holders from your network are unable to make the rescheduled event, they can request a refund.

We apologise for the inconvenience that this may cause those in your community and thank you for your ongoing support in these unprecedented circumstances. Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll notify you next week with the new dates.

Should you have any questions please contact us at support@thegrowthfaculty.com. 

- The Growth Faculty

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