Booking international speakers and facilitators that are already coming to Australia can give you a great draw card for your event, a fresh point of view, as well as substantially reducing the cost of bringing in an international speaker or facilitator yourself. To see who else will be visiting our shores click here.

Sir Ken Robinson Visiting from: UK Dates: June 2010 Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems. MORE			Gordon Ramsay Visiting from: UK Dates: June 2010 Gordon Ramsay, is coming to Australia to make a reality series about opening a restaurant and finding his head chef. MORE			Stephen Lundin Visiting from: US Dates: June 2010 The man behind New York Times and International best-seller "Fish! Philosophy" will be calling Australia home shortly. MORE			Ngahihi Bidois Visiting from: NZ Dates: June 2010 Ngahihi Bidois brings his experiences of being a manager of a multi- national oil company to a leader in the tertiary Education sector. MORE

"IQ determines 20 per cent of our chances for success. The other 80 per cent is determined by our social skills, interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence." Kirsty Spraggon, Professional Speaker and Author

NATIONAL SPEAKER SHOWCASE 2010

In a new initiative for the events industry, Ovations has announced dates for its National Speaker Showcase 2010 road show. The biggest event of its kind will showcase over 30 of Australia’s finest speakers and entertainers. In partnership with mice.net, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, the events will run for half a day inclusive of lunch.

SHOWCASE SUCCESS AT THE IVY ROOM

Ovations would like to pay special thanks to everyone who made this event possible: The Merivale Group and The Ivy Room staff for their remarkable service and scrumptious breakfast spread, Haycom Staging for their flawless AV management and equipment hire, Speex for the video sessions – what a great new way to communicate and Eventpix for the event photography.

To re-live the event, you can view all the photos here.

THANKS FOR VISITING US AT MEA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Ovations International is a longstanding supporter of MEA and we were thrilled once again to be involved as a Directors Club Sponsor. It was wonderful to meet many of you at the Ovations exhibition stand, the conference sessions and evening events.  Our three speakers Tony Wheeler, Chris Helder and Lisa McInnes-Smith did a terrific job and we thank them enormously for their time. If you missed them, please click on their names to visit their profiles and demo videos.

Interrupting Interruptions by Siimon Reynolds

Want to improve your productivity in one second? Make a decision to not accept being interrupted.

Interruptions are one of the greatest destroyers of productivity there is. Yet most of us meekly agree to talk to whoever walks into our office, calls us, or even worse, emails us.

As a result it often takes us ages to complete key tasks. It's not just the time wasted while we listen to the interrupters' usually trivial issues. It's the time it takes to re-concentrate on the job we were working on. I read research recently that showed it often takes people ten to fifteen minutes to get back into the same focused state of mind they were in before being interrupted.

All added up, the cost of interruptions is massive. The solutions are simple, but not easy. Block out periods of 30 minutes, one hour, even 2 hours where you do nothing but the task at hand. If someone walks into your office while you're concentrating, tell them, firmly, that you will meet them at another time. Or put up a sign saying you'll be free from a particular hour. Or best of all, leave the office and work in a park, a cafe or at home. Frequently.

This will be challenging for some people, as their bosses and fellow workers will put pressure on them to be available all the time. Of course, there are times when, for the sake of the relationship, you will have to relent and speak to the interrupters. But to consistently give in to these people, is to accept that you will be functioning far below your real potential. And to anybody serious about excellence, that is unacceptable.

Siimon Reynolds' new book, Why People Fail has just been ranked Number 3 on the Business Bestseller List, and Number 2 on the Self Improvement bestseller List.

Siimon has been a highly successful advertising entrepreneur for 25 years. He is the co-founder of Photon Group, now the 15th biggest marketing communications group in the world, with 52 companies employing over 6,000 people. For more about Siimon, please click here.

For anyone wanting to go into a draw to win one of Siimon's new books, please email your details and let us know your tactics to avoid distractions in the office.

SPEEX VIDEO PACKAGE GIVEAWAY

Anyone who books a speaker with us in the month of May 2010 will go into the running to win a fantastic video package to the value of $1,500+. You could use this for your next event invitation, conduct a filmed interview or communicate with your clients in a new way.  The Speex video package includes a 1 hour video recording session at the Speex Sydney studio and 1 hour of post production including compression for internet delivery. We will announce the winner in our June newsletter. Good luck!

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