Dear Colleagues,
I trust everyone is staying warm during this relatively mild winter and looking forward to the spring months around the corner! The Board is continuing to work on TEFMA’s strategic objectives, including our premier annual event, the TEFMA 24 Conference in Auckland. We have commenced discussions on the Association’s 2025-27 strategic plan, preparing to acknowledge the fantastic work done by our members at the TEFMA Clever Campus Awards and Gala Dinner event in Auckland, and farewelling our departing Board members and welcoming our new Board members.
Since our last Newsletter, we have convened our Leaders Forum and Smarter Data Workshop in Adelaide. Many thanks to Flinders University for the excellent venue, catering and overall support provided. Thanks also to the Local Organising Committee, which play a crucial role in bringing these events to fruition, and to the expert presenters who provided attendees with valuable insights into best practice and the challenges ahead. Feedback from delegates attending both events was extremely positive.
Our scholarships and awards assessment process has been finalised. Winners will be announced at the Gala Awards dinner in Auckland. It was fantastic to receive so many applications this year - participation is going from strength to strength. Our Knowledge Services Committee is working hard to bring new publications to you, with a refreshed Space Planning Guideline, Scope 3 Emissions Guideline and the annual Benchmark Insights publication, all due for release in the next 6 months or so.
The TEFMA Board has undertaken a deep review and analysis of the TEFMA Event schedule and determined that two workshops per year, plus the annual conference and the webinar series, is a more manageable schedule given resource availability, alignment with institutional member availability and priorities and enables a stronger focus on bringing high quality offerings to our members. Accordingly, the Townsville workshop scheduled for November this year will not proceed. The 2025 workshops will be held in February and June, with the Leaders Forum moving from June to February. The Event Calendar is currently being updated to reflect the 2025 events and will be available on TEFMA’s website shortly.
Changing of the Guard
As per the TEFMA Constitution and By-Laws, we recently completed our Board nomination process and just in case you missed our announcement in June, I am pleased to inform you of your new Board members that will take up office following the online Annual General Meeting (AGM) in early September:
- Incoming President – Jo-Ann Riley, Deakin University
- TEFMA Director - Simon Briggs, University of Canberra
-
TEFMA Director - Danika Head, Southern Cross University
- TEFMA Director – Danielle Rostan-Herbert, University of Melbourne
- Co-opted Director - Ennis La Torre – Victoria University
As this is my last newsletter as your President, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our hard working and diligent Treasurer, Hilary Kavanagh from James Cook University, who will leave the Board after the AGM. Hilary has steered us down a financially sustainable path and implemented many financial process efficiencies. On behalf of the Board and TEFMA members, I deeply thank Hilary for his dedication, wisdom, sense of humour and friendship during his six years on the Board.
Things to look out for!
TEFMA24 Conference – 15th-18th September 2024. The conference is nearly upon us! We have approximately 370 delegates registered to attend to date which is fantastic for TEFMA and Auckland alike. The Education Services Committee and the Local Organising Committee have done a stellar job in convening a thought provoking, informative, exciting and fun event for us. Huge shout out to our sponsors, exhibitors and presenters – you are amazing! Registrations remain open so if you haven’t got a ticket yet, please go to the official Conference website.
Monthly Webinars. The monthly webinar programme continues to exceed expectations, which is a credit to all members. The next webinar, on 30th August, will be presented by Blair Daly from Auckland University of Technology on AUTs journey to activity-based working. Lee Hutchinson, from our TEFMA Charity Partner, On The Line, will present on 4th September and provide members an insight into how to be OK at work and at home. You can register for the webinars here.
As always, we remind our institutional colleagues to have a look at the TEFMA Business Partners listed on our website here to see if they can assist you with the goals and objectives of your institutions. As always, we extend a big thank you to all our Business Partners for their continued support - you are crucial in bringing relevant services to the TEFMA membership.
Can I also remind all members to take the time to go online and view the TEFMA Community portal with the aim to foster a culture of collaboration through sharing and engaging with the resources available in the library. The information is intended to generate discussion, build relationships with peers and learn from one another.
As mentioned above, this is my last newsletter as your President and can I say it has been an absolute honour to serve. I have benefited from the experience in so many ways, trying to list them would be an injustice. I have met wonderful people not only in the TEFMA President role, but in the Sector as a whole. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can in Auckland in September. I wish Jo, as the Incoming President, the Board and the Executive all the best for the future.