RCNZ life members Bryan Murray, Canterbury, and Colin Mackenzie cut the anniversary cake to celebrate 20 years of the association of Rural Contractors New Zealand.
RCNZ life members Bryan Murray, Canterbury, and Colin Mackenzie cut the anniversary cake to celebrate 20 years of the association of Rural Contractors New Zealand.
It may be tight in the rural sector but that didn't stop a record turnout of 153 contractors from all around the country flocking to the Bay of Islands for this year's Rural Contractors NZ (RCNZ) annual conference.
RCNZ national president Steve Levet was delighted with the turnout at theCopthorne Hotel and Resort, in Paihia - which was up from the previous best of 135 attendees - given the current economic climate.
"This is the largest turnout that I can recall and it seems many rural contractors have decided to ignore some of the doom and gloom merchants and are clearly focused on looking forward to better times."
He said the venue for the three-day conference may have had something to do with the large turnout and was looking forward to seeing if next year's conference in Queenstown had a similar response.
Mr Levet said the conference had an exciting agenda of relevant and pertinent issues to the rural contracting sector, with a number of top-line speakers. This year's theme was Your Business from Start to Finish, and it also celebrated the 20th anniversary of RCNZ as an organisation.
"We had an agenda chock-full of presentations focusing on how to get smarter in running your business and the use of the latest technology," he added.
Presentations, over the three days, covered myriad topics including: fuel management; insurance; taxation; ACC; machinery valuation; employment law; succession planning; and employers looking after staff and themselves.
The association's annual charity auction at the conference raised more than $21,000 for the St John ambulance service in the Bay of Islands.
