We have brought together an amazing group of presenters across our four conference themes. If you'd like to know more about them you can check out their profiles below.​ They are listed in order of appearance in the program.

Toolbox Session	Session Outline	Presenter/s
Building and Protecting Your Farming Business and Personal Wealth	Your business is one of your greatest assets so it's important you have the correct structure and plan for now and into the future. This session will include discussion on: • Business Structuring • Tax planning • Asset protection • Succession planning • Accumulating off farm assets for retirement/children’s schooling • Personal insurance • Estate planning	Paula Liddle & Janine Williamson Paula Liddle is a Business Advisory Director at William Buck Accountants and Advisors. Growing up on a family farm in the Mid North and having her own small farm in the Adelaide Hills, Paula is no stranger to the business issues that farming families face. She has more than 20 years’ experience helping clients manage their tax and accounting obligations, cash flow, and strategizing on matters such as business structuring and succession planning. Janine Williamson is a Wealth Advisory Director at William Buck Accountants and Advisors. For more than 20 years Janine has been providing investment strategy, implementation and management advice to a client base consisting of high net worth individuals, retirees, executors of estates, trustees of superannuation funds and protected estates. Her other areas of expertise include aged care, deceased estate administration and retirement strategies.
Raising the Citizens’ Voice – pioneering Democracy from the ground up	Our country and our world are in unprecedented territory. Declining trust in the institutions which have significant impacts on us is in free fall, while our society are polarised like never before. We are facing some of the biggest challenges of our time. On the flipside the Bushfire Crisis in the Summer of 2019/20 has shown us how powerful our collective voice can be.  Now more than ever we need a new type of democracy – one which brings us together as opposed to divides us. The story of democracyCo is one of two South Australian women taking a leap into a type of work that has never been done before. This workshop will give you an insight into the power and potential of the work that’s done by democracyCo to raise the citizens’ voice while inspiring you to raise your voice!	Emily Jenke Emily Jenke is one of Australia’s most skilled engagement professionals and an accomplished and talented facilitator of over 20 years. Her facilitation experience is broad – including processes around the SA Strategic Plan, Murray Darling Basin Plan, recovery from the Black Saturday bushfires, and the worlds largest citizens’ jury on Nuclear Waste Storage. Equally Emily is quite at home working with a variety of local community groups. With a long-standing passion for and commitment to the environment, especially for enabling people to be better environmental stewards, Emily is currently the Presiding member of SA’s Native Vegetation Council, and a member of the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s ‘Basin Community Committee’. Her contribution for the last 12 years in South Australia has been to support institutions to have stronger, more meaningful roles with their communities, especially in decision and policy making. Emily runs a boutique food business Talinga Grove with her family (husband Paul and three great kids) on the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula.
Chasing your dream and overcoming obstacles	Clare’s work ethic and “no excuses” attitude has been key to confronting the many challenges she has faced chasing her dreams in the tough and competitive domain of the Australian Racing Industry. On November 1, 2008 Clare Lindop steered 100-1 outsider Rebel Raider to victory in the Victoria Derby at Flemington. Five years earlier Clare’s life had changed when she drew attention for becoming the first Australian female to ride in the Melbourne Cup, going on to ride a total of thee times in this prestigious race. With no family or background in horses, Clare’s passion began with her love of animals and living on a hobby farm in Wangoom, (country Victoria), learning to ride at St Marys Pony Farm at the age of ten. Clare recently retired from professional racing with over 1,400 winners in Australia and abroad, including four group 1 winners, three SA Metropolitan Jockey Premierships and is the first Female Jockey inducted into the South Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Clare will share the story of her journey in an industry she is passionate about, the skills she developed to help her overcome the many obstacles and challenges in her way and what she feels were the key personal attributes that lead to her success.	Clare Lindop Clare Lindop’s horse racing career began in the early 90’s in Warrnambool (Vic) when female jockeys were few and far between. Moving to to Adelaide’s Morphettville Racecourse in 1999 to complete her Jockey Apprenticeship, Clare made a name for herself as one of Australia’s leading Jockeys, through hard work and sheer dedication. She is currently a Councillor in Local Government at the City of Holdfast Bay, she loves red wine, a good steak and has appeared on “Who wants to be a Millionaire as both a “question” and a contestant!
Finding and Keeping your Thrive	Based on Nic's book published late last year, thriving over surviving in life is a journey that requires intention and focus. Join Nic Henry Jones as she shares some powerful strategies on how to not only prioritise you, but how to live a life of thrive, not just survive.  Nic uses a live cheeseplatter as her talk analogy, describing how both are a work of art, a ‘masterpiece’, and something worth spending time creating.  She pulls together all the different aspects of a thrive including creating space in your world, preparation, Intention, Foundations, Balance, Beauty, Rest, Joy, Gratitude, Colour up, Change, Life’s Luxuries, and Time + Focus.  It’s a powerfully interactive workshop that will leave you inspired in life and cheese!	Nic Henry Jones Nic Henry Jones is a passionate and purpose driven visionary with a unique ability to engage, empower and inspire people to be their best whatever the context. Nic has embraced intention to create a powerful masterpiece out of her life, and inspires others to do the same in order to live their best life and truly thrive. She loves to use her experience from her 'survive to thrive' season to teach women how to thrive. Nic is an Entrepreneur, Business Strategist & Thought Leader, Educator, Keynote Presenter, Coach and Author.
Board Readiness to Board Effectiveness - Navigating the Next Step	The role of a director, whether of a small family company, SME or large corporate, can be very rewarding but it also brings with it many challenges, risks and demands.  In her interactive workshop, Bianca will explore the basics of directorships and good governance and will cover a number of topics, including: - the role and function of directors - duties and legal responsibilities - managing directorship risks, and will provide a practical case study for participants to work through as a group. For those who are looking for their first board role, Bianca will also discuss the fundamentals of positioning yourself for a board position and ensuring that your CV is board ready. For those who hold current board positions, she will touch on board effectiveness, good corporate governance practices and how you can add value to your organisation.	Bianca Jennings As a Corporate and Commercial Partner at Piper Alderman, Bianca Jennings has a focus on the food, wine and agribusiness sectors.  Bianca has positioned herself as a trusted adviser to a large variety of Australian and international clients ranging from small family businesses to large corporates.  The majority of her legal work involves advising clients operating and investing in primary production businesses and businesses adding value beyond the farm gate.  Bianca is corporate governance expert and is also a board member of the Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association Inc and the deputy chair of Potatoes South Australia Inc.
Finding Your Inner Mentor	Sharon has spent a lot of her adult life seeking the wisdom of formal and informal Mentors. Secretly hoping they will tell her what she wanted to do and where she wanted to be (as she certainly didn’t know!). Sheryl Sandberg challenged her thinking by writing in ‘Lean In’, that searching for a Mentor has become the professional equivalent of waiting for Prince Charming.As Sharon strived to comprehend what would happen if we let go of Mentors and drew on our own inner voices, she had the realisation that "no-one knows better than I, what I want to do." This reflection raised the following questions: • What if we held the answers to our questions about the future? • What if our best Mentor is actually inside of us? • What is possible if we could tap into that Mentor? This interactive workshop challenges society’s expectation to rely on others and will explore your inner Mentor. Looking within will leverage your inner wisdom to answer your questions, drive your aspirations and support you to embark on your ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goals’.	Sharon Honner ACC, CPF Sharon Honner’s passion is championing women to dare to dream. As a skilled communicator she is passionate about supporting people to identify their skills to create, communicate and deliver on individual and organisational aspirations. Sharon’s background spans a variety of industries including travel, education, banking, not for profit, agriculture and the government sector. This has given her experience in a range of positions from farmer through to Directorship on a Global Board. Sharon is a certified professional facilitator and coach, Founder of Spectra Coaching and current Chair of WoTL.
The KISS Method For Creating Your Visual Voice	You’ve started your own side-hustle and you’ve got a logo designed on the cheap. You’ve gone online to design yourself a business card and thought a website looks easy so you’ve thrown that together and now you have a business! But something isn’t quite right, you can’t put your finger on it. Something is out of alignment. The vision you had is lost.  You are not attracting the right clients or customers, if any at all. You’ve noticed yourself cringing when you get asked for a business card or you know people are looking at your website. We get it. And the crazy thing is that so many people feel that same sense of shame and embarrassment about their branding and websites. When you feel like that, you are basically hoping people do not look up your business online! Meet Kylie and Karen, who will walk you through the Keep it Simple Sweetheart method for creating your lasting visual voice so you feel aligned with your business and it’s values. Kylie will explain why branding is so much more than your logo and how using the right colours and fonts will help attract your dream clients. Karen will help you discover who is your target market and why it’s important to really know your audience. You will gain an understanding of how to uncover your unique visual branding to attract your ideal client and how to put it all together to create your lasting visual voice that has meaning (not just look pretty!!) while keeping it simple!	Kylie Martin & Karen Leslie Kylie Martin has had over 20 years experience in the design and print industry. She moved from the Mallee to the city where she completed her trade in Pre Press Graphics in 2002 and then went on to an advertising agency working on Harris Scarfe and Bi-Lo advertising accounts. She moved back to the Mallee in 2004 with her farmer husband. They live on 12,000 acres, have three children and raised Diamond the now famous sheep painted on the silos in Karoonda. Kylie now runs her own design studio helping rural organisations and small businesses create their visual identities.  Karen Leslie has been in the Informational Technology (IT) Industry for many years, first working with large corporations and then going solo as an analyst programmer. In large corporations, she found that she had to be loud to be heard in a male dominated environment. For the last 10 years she has been running her own business in South Australia, designing effective websites to help small regional businesses be heard above the internet noise. She lives outside Mount Gambier on 8.32 acres with her husband and loves watching her neighbours - the four-legged neighbours who are alpacas.
Leading and communicating with authenticity	This session will explore the importance of embracing your authentic self in order to lead and inspire those around you. Leading this important conversation are two of agriculture’s most authentic leaders and communicators; Deanna Lush (2019 AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award South Australian winner) and Belinda Allitt (AgriFutures Australia General Manager, Communications & Capacity Building). They will be discussing how authenticity and communication can build trust in agriculture and what it means to lead with authenticity.	Belinda Allitt Belinda Allitt took up the role of General Manager of Communications and Capacity Building at AgriFutures Australia, after moving from Melbourne to Wagga Wagga in 2016. AgriFutures Australia is a research and development corporation that aims to grow the long-term prosperity of Australian rural industries. With twenty years’ experience in marketing, public relations, brand and community engagement roles, Belinda is excited about connecting her knowledge and experience to the agricultural industry. Belinda grew up on a rice and sheep property in Deniliquin, NSW and her particular interests are around attracting capable people into careers in agriculture, building the capability of future rural leaders and positively impacting the image of agriculture. Deanna Lush Deanna Lush is Managing Director of AgCommunicators, a consultancy which coordinates communication, marketing, event and education projects for rural and regional Australia. Deanna and her husband Steen Paech operate a 4500ha mixed property in SA’s Murraylands region. She started her career as a journalist, writing for the former Fairfax rural weeklies across Australia, before becoming editor of Stock Journal. She spent three years as media adviser to the South Australian Minister for Water during the millennium drought. Deanna completed a Churchill Fellowship in 2017, studying how farmers and supporting organisations in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada are building trust in agriculture. She won the 2018 Australian Farm Institute John Ralph Essay Competition and the 2019 AgriFutures South Australian Rural Women’s Award and was named one of SA’s young business leaders in the InDaily 40 Under 40 Awards. Deanna is a board member of Foodbank SA and committee member of Rural Media SA and Murray Plains Farmers.
WHS - Practicality Over Paperwork	‘Compliance’ is a dirty word. To be ‘compliant’ with work health and safety legislation is more often than not associated with policies, penalties and procedures. Box-ticking, dust-collecting, perceived as costly and convoluted – and yet we forget – that the intent of compliance, is simply: just don’t kill someone. With a focus on personal narrative, practicality and prevention, this session seeks to re-calibrate the value proposition of work health and safety from ‘box-ticking’ to empowering rural women, reducing risk and ultimately preventing people from getting hurt in rural industries.	Alex Thomas A pastoralist’s daughter with over thirteen years’ experience in work health and safety, Alex Thomas is the 2018 AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year (SA), the winner of the 2018 SafeWork SA Augusta Zadow Award and the proud Director and Principal Consultant of her own work health and safety consulting business, Alex Thomas Pty Ltd. Having worked with over 90 businesses across a multitude of different industries, Alex’s core objective is to help her clients re-calibrate the value proposition of work health and safety from ‘box-ticking’ to empowering people, reducing risk and ultimately preventing people from getting hurt.
Learning to Thrive in Adversity	Simple steps to thrive in adversity. This session will provide simple strategies to improve psychological flexibility and wellbeing.  Drawing from both evidence-based psychological approaches and her lived experience of farming and rural life, Steph provides an accessible, easy to understand, interactive experience. Participants will learn a basic understanding of the brain and behaviour as well as simple, evidence-based strategies to improve their wellbeing and look out for others, such important skills for life.  Recommendations on where to get further assistance or support through local and online resources will also be provided.	Steph Schmidt Steph Schmidt is a Clinical Psychologist and farmer in the eastern agricultural area of South Australia. She lives with her husband and two young sons on their mixed enterprise farm (sheep/cropping). Steph is passionate about developing a thriving rural Australia, supporting individuals and communities not only to grow but to thrive.  Steph shares her time between her work as a psychologist, working alongside her husband on their farm, and looking after her family. She loves spending time on the farm with her husband and sons and is grateful for the opportunity to work together as a family.
Five Ways to Think about the Future	How do you think about the future? Did you know that there are five ways to think about the future - yet most people only use one! In this workshop, Kristin will build on our natural inclinations to think about the future by providing a set of perspectives and frameworks to extend the breadth, depth and effectiveness of futures thinking. A range of future-orientated issues will be surfaced and made relevant to personal, work and society-level futures.	Dr Kristin Alford Dr Kristin Alford is a futurist and the Director of MOD. at the University of South Australia. MOD. opened in May 2018, welcoming more than 150,000 visitors and winning innovation and design awards. It is a future-focused museum for young adults, provoking new ideas at the intersection of science, art and innovation. Prior to this role, Kristin was the founding director of foresight agency Bridge8, facilitating futures on water sustainability, nanotechnology, health and climate change, as well as producing 40 short animations on related topics. She is a sought-after speaker on issues relating to emerging technologies and the future of work and learning. Kristin has lectured foresight at the University of Adelaide and Dubai Futures Foundation. She was the inaugural licensee and host of TEDxAdelaide and is currently President of the Australian Science and Technology Engagement Network  and an advisor on science engagement to the State Government of South Australia. She holds a PhD in process engineering, a Masters of Management in Strategic Foresight and is a Fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation.
7 Simple Ways to Change Your Life	Utilising practical illustrations from her blog, "Kerry Swan Blog; real life experience and management theorists" Kerry will outline the Seven Simple Steps, which are 1. No care given 2.Move. Breathe. Exercise 3. Self-Discipline equals Self Love 4. Mindset 5. Find your tribe 6. Persistence 7. Start with the end in mind. Kerry will bring energy and enthusiasm to an interesting and engaging session where you will learn tips, tricks and tools for 7 simple ways!	Kerry Swan Kerry Swan started her career in State Government, learning the fundamentals of project management and administration. Later moving into Regional Development where she built a 20-year career as self-employed management consultant.  While working in the consulting space Kerry developed her adult education skills and taught project management, governance and grant writing for many years. Making the jump five years ago, she moved into Property and Business Development. This entrepreneurial ride has taught her so much about humans, business and growth. These days, Kerry combines entrepreneurship with thought leadership and a blog about life + leadership + modern wisdom.  Living your best life starts the day you make a choice to take the scary, creative and audacious road. Kerry has spent a lifetime making choices that take her down this rocky road, which has been bumpy, scary and simply the best thing she has ever done! Kerry has spent a lifetime solving problems. Business problems. People problems. Leadership problems. And, of course, these days, property problems!
Planning for the future of your family farming business	Strategic planning is a process used across the world to assist businesses small and large to set their Vision, Culture and Goals and yet most farming businesses don’t think this applies to them!   Jeanette will lead you through some of the tools she has developed from her many years of experience guiding families through strategic and transition planning.  She will share the fundamentals of developing a simple, easy to understand strategic plan and then implement it!  With family communication often at the heart of successful planning Jeanette will share her tools and tips to help improve family communication skills, as well as outlining how to use Family meetings to provide a forum for open and clear discussion from all members of the family with professional support.	Jeanette Long Jeanette Long farms with her husband and son on Eyre Peninsula and the Mid North. She works as a facilitator, trainer and coach in leadership, strategic planning and extension in Ag Consulting Co. Jeanette is passionate about developing people and leadership skills in agriculture and regions. She has accumulated an impressive range of experiences on a variety of boards as well as facilitating groups across Australia and New Zealand.
The Power of Influence	Do you want to get to the next level in your career?  Are you on a board or committee, but too shy to say what’s on your mind?  How many opportunities are you missing out on because of fear of public speaking or presentation?  In this presentation, learn how to: - use the power of influence to build your business or career profile - find your voice - use storytelling as the key to your success Regardless of whether you’re just out of uni, or you’re one of the many highly experienced South Australia women working in agribusiness today – this is your chance to stand up and be heard. We’ll cover topics such as public speaking, storytelling, presentation, and relationship building, Ditch the self doubt – it’s so 2019!  With over a decade of experience in television, radio, and hosting live events, media professional Stacey Lymbery will share her tools to help you transform into a confident and influential woman in business.	Stacey Lymbery Stacey Lymbery has over a decade of experience in media as a television and radio presenter and producer.  Stacey came to South Australia in 2016 as the Breakfast Presenter at ABC Riverland, before buying an almond orchard and two vineyards with her partner.  Stacey's communication and networking skills are well honed through her experience as a journalist, and she's got a way of making people talk!  As of August 2019, Stacey is the Media & Marketing Manager at Behind Closed Doors, a professional women's peer mentoring business.
Carbon Conscious Communities	How did we got to this point? What's real and what's not? There is so much 'information' around - what are the facts? Where can we influence the future and where can't we? Nic will touch on all of these questions, as well as providing direction on where we can start as a family, a community and a society to take on a role that will get results, from changed habits that will stick! He asks "What will our descendants thank us for in 250 years? and how can we do these things?" Join him to mindmap and trail blaze a conversation that has real meaning beyond today.	Nic Kentish From vegetable farming, grazing, training and coaching, Nic Kentish has gained a broad range of experience from Rural Australia. As a family, community and biosphere member, Nic's aim is to develop an holistic approach to food and fibre production and how this enhances or detracts from our regional communities. Having been fortunate enough to work and travel among many agri-cultures and hold leadership roles in his Hills community that have benefited from this broad experience, Nic has always had the intention of energising his community by playing his own part in bringing people together with knowledge and common goals.
Women’s Voices – “Keeping it Real”	As Farm Production Manager at Jurlique International, authentic leadership is one of Cherie’s passions – how do we show up as authentic leaders in the variety of roles we undertake in our lives? Drawing from the variety of life experiences Cherie has been through, she will outline the challenges she has encountered and the strategies she has learnt along the way to be successful in her roles as a manager, employee, student, mother and more! Experience has taught Cherie it is important to hold tightly to your values, be honest, communicate openly and have an empathetic ear! She will share her story of juggling employment, studying, maternity leave and the complexity of hitting targeted forecasts for cosmetic herb usage – all while ‘keeping it real’!!	Cherie Hutchinson Cherie Hutchinson began her career in human resources managing a small recruitment company, with Jurlique being one of her major clients. Seeking change she applied for the role of Production Leader in Jurlique’s filling department – with no manufacturing experience on her CV she wasn't sure how she'd fare, but it was Cherie's people management skills and experience, along with her knowledge of the business that got her across the line! Fast forward nearly two years later, and the Farm Production Manager role became available in the company, following a small restructure.  Cherie was asked to help the farm settle, now coming into her sixth year at the farm, and eighth with Jurlique! In this time she has learnt much, including completing a diploma in Horticulture in 2017.