Dunedin hosting South Island Dairy Event

Former All Black coach Sir Graham Henry will speak at the South Island Dairy Event.

Dunedin will host the 20th anniversary South Island Dairy Event (Side) in June.

About 450 people are expected to attend the event, on June 25-26, which will be held at the Dunedin Centre, with the theme It Starts With Us.

Registrations are open and numbers are limited due to the capacity of the venue.

The organising committee, headed by North Otago dairy farmer Robyn Williams, was excited about the programme which had been condensed to two days. There had been a mandate to change Side and it was fresher, Mrs Williams said.

Mrs Williams and fellow North Otago dairy farmer Nicola Neal received confirmation in September last year that Dunedin had been given approval as the venue, and the first planning meeting was held in October.

Mrs Williams was thrilled with the diversity of the organising committee, saying people had strengths in many different areas.

Side was always looking for new people and they did not necessarily need to be involved in day-to-day milking, but had other skills to contribute.

The programme was "not just going to be cows and grass". Side would start with workshops on personal wellness, followed by innovation and technology, people, business and growth, and media, community and environmental engagement.

Keynote speakers included former All Black coach Sir Graham Henry, Animation Research Ltd founder Ian Taylor, NZME managing editor Shayne Currie, and multisport couple Richard and Elina Ussher.

Mrs Neal said it was about catching up with colleagues, meeting new people, learning new things and "having a bit of fun too". A new feature of the event was TecNIV8, which involved sponsors showing new innovations and technologies, along with some other organisations and companies, not necessarily confined to farming.