Carbine Media Year Planners provide a simple way to enhance your media strategy by distributing its spread throughout the year. Reach is excellent, with a national distribution that targets your chosen planner segment and a high frequency of exposure through consistent planner utility. This reinforces awareness to aid retention of your brand and its benefits. Through your company's contribution, Carbine Media Year Planners also provide an excellent means of aligning your company to an industry through the support of a product that is tailored to its members. In this way it is similar to sponsorship, with the added advantage of daily exposure in a relevant environment - the work place. Most importantly - unlike journals, diaries and calendars - a planner is never closed.

Benefits to user

• Receive a free professional resource
  
• Useful information e.g. school terms, public holidays
  
• Industry events e.g. seminars, conferences, meetings
  
• Tailored to their industry for professional use
  
• See the entire working year at a glance
  

Benefits to sponsor

• Target market through a direct channel
  
• Align company/brand with chosen industry
  
• Gain high frequency of exposure through regular use
  
• Gain extended reach through multiple planner use
  
• 12 months exposure for 1 annual spend

The unprecedented surge in New Zealand's tourism in 2015 until the end of February has been attested by Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler, who explains the record-breaking spurt in tourist arrivals as a combination of two factors--Chinese New Year and ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Bowler pointed to the strengthening of micro parameters including the lengthening of New Zealand guest nights that rose for five consecutive months till the end of November 2014. Data from Statistics NZ shows that in November 2014 compared to the previous year, Northland was the biggest gainer as a favourite destination where tourists spent more time, with a 15 percent increase in overnight stays, even as Auckland retained its allure with a 4.1 percent jump in guest nights.

Global Destination
The international outlook on New Zealand tourism is shared by Paul Carberry, who is a New Zealand expert, associated with U.K.-based New Zealand In Depth. He noted that New Zealand has been a favourite long haul destination for Brits and its pull is manifested in the overall 5 percent increase in international arrivals showing up since 2014.

Among the international tourists flocking to New Zealand, Chinese tourists are topping the charts. The numbers from China showed a 100 percent hike from 27,500 to 56,000, while the arrivals from America jumped from 5,000 to 36,700. Arrivals from Taiwan also doubled, backed by flights from Taipei to Christchurch via Sydney. Bowler said the growth is remarkable as a real-time spurt in high-value holiday visitors, whose arrivals for February, were up by 24.2 percent.

The organisation has seen a jump in tourist arrivals from key markets such as Australia (1.6 percent), the U.K. (1.8 percent) and India (36 percent). Other important markets of holidayers also showed a big spurt for the year ending February 2015, including Asian markets Singapore (9.2 percent), Japan (11.6 percent) and Korea (12.2 percent). The emerging markets, too, were exemplary in sending more tourists, with substantial year-on-year growth for Brazil (12.4 percent) and Indonesia (13.3 percent).

On Target
Tourism Industry Association New Zealand is also upbeat that international visitor spending has jumped 7.4 percent in 2014 and the number of international visitors rose 5 percent. TIA chief executive Chris Roberts is delighted that his members are experiencing "an outstanding" season. The association believes the industry is on the way to achieve the targeted tourism revenue of NZ$ 41 billion by 2025. The influx of high-spending travellers shows that New Zealand's tourism industry is on track to achieve the goal of doubling tourism revenue, he added. Roberts referred to the latest statistics and pointed to the 14 percent spurt in international tourist arrivals in February 2015, at 343,500, which is "exciting," compared to the same period in 2014.

Amazing Potential
Roberts told International Business Times exclusively that Tourism 2025 envisages the rapidly growing middle class in the Asia-Pacific region as a huge opportunity for New Zealand. Markets like China and India are showing strong growth, while Indonesia and South America are growing markets, he noted. The TIA also launched a Tourism 2025 growth framework in 2014 to meet the industry's aspirational goal to double New Zealand's total tourism revenue by 2025. Roberts said his organisation is making all out efforts to influence and propose policies in the government and regulatory settings to support that goal and identify barriers within the industry.

The TIA's strategic plan for the next three years will include projects to address workforce and infrastructure issues in order to ensure that New Zealand meets the demands of the growing visitor market. The association has recently released its "State of the Tourism Industry 2014" report. The TIA is bullish that the tourism industry is on track and is getting aligned with the goals of Tourism 2025 with its focus on volume as well as value.

For feedback or comments, contact the writer at kalyanaussie@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on International Business Times and was written by Kalyan Kumar.

The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) is a member based organisation which exists to improve the theory, practice and use of evaluation in Australasia for people involved in evaluation including evaluation practitioners, managers, teachers and students of evaluation, and other interested individuals.

The AES Awards for Excellence in Evaluation are awarded annually and recognise exemplary evaluation practice, evaluation systems or evaluation capacity building in Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacifica). Awarded annually, the awards provide significant peer recognition for leading evaluators, leading evaluations and evaluation best practice. The award recipients represent best-in-class for each Award category.

Evaluations are a partnership between the commissioner, the evaluator, and the participants of the project. For evaluative projects, the Awards recognise the role of all the partners, not just the evaluators.

The Awards are announced and presented at the AES International Conference Awards Dinner each year. All nominees are invited to attend the conference or nominate someone to attend on their behalf. Recipients are published on the AES website (click here for previous recipients).

We encourage all recipients to play an active role in promoting excellence in evaluation. Award recipients are encouraged to consider ways in which their knowledge and experience may be shared with others.

Closing date: 30 June 2015

Awards nomination information

Awards categories

How to nominate 

Previous awards recipients

Here’s a question for you: is a sprinter more productive or harder working than a marathon runner? Sure, the sprinter will cover a lot of ground fast. A great sprinter will cover 100 metres in a matter of seconds. Over the first 100, 200 or 400 metres, the sprinter is far more productive than his or her long-distance running counterpart.

Over a short distance, Usain Bolt will easily win the race. But beyond that initial burst, by distance covered and average speed, it’s the marathon runner who ends up in front. A Usain Bolt might well be catching his breath after sprinting to the 600-metre mark while a distance runner like Samuel Wanjiru is already 42 kilometres down the road. In running, beyond a certain critical point, pacing becomes far more important to covering a large distance in a given span of time than simply running as fast as possible off the starting blocks.

This is all quite self-evident. And yet, in the office, it’s amazing how often working hard and working productively is equated to sprinting. The workplace equivalent of sprinting is encouraging people to cover as much ground in as short a time as possible – without looking at how it’s paced.

Many motivational and business coaching techniques encourage sprinting. So do many workplace cultures. And too many entrepreneurs push themselves to sprint to the point they burn out. The problem can quickly become overwhelming, causing a burnout. This is the workplace equivalent of Usain Bolt grabbing his side after getting a stitch from trying to sprint too far, while Samuel Wanjiru jogs past while barely breaking a sweat.

The answer lies in knowing your limits, being smarter with your time management, breaking big jobs into small, manageable tasks, taking a break when you need to and getting a proper night’s sleep. And then making sure your team does likewise. After all, there’s no gold medal for a runner who tries to sprint through a marathon!

Please see full article here.

LinkedIn Pulse Post by Heather Dauler

Influencing others. Sometimes we think of this concept negatively, through the lens of manipulation. But that’s our perception laid over what is really a neutral idea. Influence wielded correctly allows us to move projects, lead teams, or affect change. It allows us to manage up and to cut through internal bureaucracy.

Applying thoughtful, positive influence is an important tool, one that can help us gain allies and champions at work, in our community, or even at home. Laying the right foundation is important as successful influence takes time. Here are some tips to help:

• Develop a relationship. This is key. We cannot influence people without enjoying some kind of positive relationship with them. This starts with listening more than talking, sharing experiences, and engaging with others. For example, inquire about the family of your coworkers; learning the names of children and grandchildren goes a long way.
  
• Work towards trust. Trust doesn’t happen overnight, but it can start quickly. Accountability is an important aspect in building trust - do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. Don’t overpromise and if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, communicate your oversight early and ask to discuss alternative strategies.
  
• Ensure consistency. When you behave differently each week, those around you never know what to expect. This erodes trust and stymies influencing efforts. Become known as someone who is dependable, whom others can always count on, even in small ways. Those small ways will lead to large pay-offs.
  

Lastly, know that some people are simply harder to influence than others. We all have a past history that shapes our current experiences, and building trusting relationships may simply be a lot to ask of some. All we can do is try. In the end, that act alone may prove to be a turning point.

LinkedIn Pulse Post by Jon Bisset FSAE (Chief Executive Officer at Community Broadcasting Association of Australia - CBAA and AuSAE Board Member)

How does an organisation build member value? How do you stay relevant? How do you integrate social media wisely? How do you identify major trends within association management? These were just some of the questions tackled as part of a panel session in which I participated at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) conference Great Ideas Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong earlier this week. 

It was a pleasure to be joined on the panel by executives from the Project Management Institute China, The Hong Kong Management Association and Korean MICE Association, as well as moderator Peter O'Neil, of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, who lead the dialogue. It was fascinating to hear such a culturally diverse group of association CEOs from around the world discuss their own organisation’s challenges and successes, especially in terms of change management and the process of transforming “great ideas” into action.

Diversity provides a lesson for each of us to be okay with and open to those things that set us apart – race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical and mental ability, language (the list goes on) and understanding and accepting of people for who they are. Being culturally aware provides an opportunity to stand back and consider that there are certain backgrounds, personal values, beliefs and upbringings that shape the things we all do. Learning about and listening to people from other cultures helps us relate to one another and be okay with different perspectives.

I saw this quote recently, and it’s stuck with me.

"Diversity is the one true thing we have in common."

Now that’s something to embrace.

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn here (click on link to listen to a CBAA podcast on diversity).

It is invaluable to have experienced people guiding your organisation. How can you obtain this help? A senior employee is a considerable investment, and you may not need long-term permanent help. An external consultant can provide invaluable expertise, but may be short term and costly. A board of directors gives the company direction, but being a director is a commitment that comes with considerable legal obligations. There is another alternative – appoint an advisory board. What is an advisory board, why should your business have one, and what issues need to be addressed?

What is an advisory board?

An advisory board is a group of individuals who provide know-how and strategic advice to the business’ co-founders, managers, and board of directors (if it has one). There is no hard and fast rule about what level of experience the members have or in what field they specialise. An advisory board is made up of whoever the founders choose.

You should choose people with the skills, experience and/or connections to help you grow your business. Advisory board members with contacts in the industry are of very high value to your business. When choosing your advisory board, try to find experts with different skills and experience to the founders. Having a broad skill set is generally more valuable to the business than having expertise in the same area.

How much will an advisory board cost?

Members of advisory boards typically provide their expertise free of charge. Some organisations might offer certain members a small amount of equity in exchange for a longer-term commitment to the business and as an incentive to stay on board.

What makes an advisory board different from a board of directors?

A board of directors is a shareholder-elected body that governs the company. The primary goal is to make decisions in the best interests of the company. Directors are in charge of business strategy, setting business goals, inspecting company accounts, and appointing senior executives, such as the CEO, to run the business. Board decisions are binding on the company.

An advisory board offers general advice on strategy, such as making directional recommendations based on their assessment of the business plan and offering ideas to test. Advisory board guidance is not binding on the company. Under the law, members of an advisory board do not have to comply with directors’ duties.

What liability does an advisory board have compared to a board of directors?

It is crucial to know the important distinction between directors and advisory board members, so they understand the risks, duties and liabilities of each role. Directors have director’s duties under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the general law and the corporate governance documents including the Shareholders’ Agreement. Directors have fiduciary duties to the company, which include exercising due care and diligence when making company decisions, and acting in the best interests of the company, and to endeavour to ensure that the company does not trade while insolvent.

These duties are a risk for directors. If directors do not uphold these duties, they can be expelled from the board, face legal repercussions, and be penalised under the Corporations Act. Directors need to know their obligations and duties. It is good business practice to take out insurance for directors and officers of the company.

Advisory board members need to be careful that they are not inadvertently acting as directors. Under the Corporations Act, directors are defined in two ways: (i) people appointed to be directors, and (ii) people with sufficient influence and power over the decisions of a company. The latter are de facto or shadow directors. De facto or shadow directors can be held to have full directors’ duties and liability.

Key legal agreements – terms of reference and an Advisory Board Agreement

In setting up an advisory board, it is important to have an Advisory Board Agreement that establishes expectations, roles, and legal protections for the business and its advisory board members. This includes confidentiality, and that all intellectual property generated by the advisory board for the business belongs to the business. Your Advisory Board Agreement should clearly set out that members have no power or influence over the running of the company, and the advisory board is not empowered to instruct or direct the directors.

The more clearly this distinction is set out in the agreement, the more protected your advisory board will be from inadvertently taking on the liability that comes with director’s duties. It is also a good idea to have a Terms of Reference, to give each member an overview of the other advisory board members, roles and obligations.

In conclusion, advisory boards can be an invaluable asset, and can assist in accelerating your business growth. A solid understanding of how an advisory board, and a strong Advisory Board Agreement, will allow you to protect the members from exposure to liability, and help your company benefit from their expertise.

This article first appeared on startup smart.

The recent 2015 Intergenerational Report illustrates that we need to take continued steps to boost productivity and encourage higher workforce participation to drive future economic growth. While the report projects income growth will slow, it also shows that Australia can continue to prosper by making the best of our circumstances and opportunities. Tax reform is a critical part of the Government’s policy to create jobs, growth and opportunity.

The Federal Government has released a new tax discussion paper which begins a dialogue on how we create a tax system that supports high economic growth and living standards, improves our international competitiveness and adjusts to a changing economy and new opportunities.

This paper specifically targets the Not-for-Profit (NFP) sector asking if the current tax arrangements are appropriate - raising issues around the ongoing availability of Fringe Benefits Tax concessions and other foregone tax revenue. Governments provide a number of tax concessions to support the NFP sector. While these tax concessions help increase the level of activity in the NFP sector, the value of revenue forgone from the concessions is significant and growing steadily. Tax concessions for the sector can also increase complexity, in part because they vary according to the type and purpose of NFP organisations. In some cases, NFP tax concessions provide NFPs with a competitive advantage over their commercial competitors.

Please find the full NFP chapter of the tax discussion paper here. For more information about this process and discussion please click here or check out the interactive website. 

The Treasurer opened the conversation on tax by releasing the tax discussion paper on 30 March 2015. The Government is seeking submissions on the issues raised in the discussion paper. You have until 1 June 2015 to lodge your formal submission.

Business travel is a significant cost area for any organisation and with help from a Corporate Traveller expert, you can take control of your expenses and boost your bottom line.

As the official travel manager and Annual Partner of AuSAE, Corporate Traveller is offering up to $1,000 business travel credit* to all AuSAE members who become clients before 30 June 2015.

When you partner with Corporate Traveller you can take advantage of the Flight Centre Travel Group's global negotiating strength. Corporate Traveller clients benefit from dedicated 24/7 service, access to flexible payment options, local personal service, clear financial reporting and no lock in contracts.

They specialise in business travel management for a range of industry sectors. Their service, expertise and travel management strategies have been tailored to suit each market to ensure you achieve the best results from your travel.

For more information, visit the AuSAE Corporate Traveller special offer page or call them on 1300 732 280.

*Refer Terms and Conditions on Corporate Traveller website

Corporate Traveller is a leading Australian business travel management specialist. They are a wholly owned division of Flight Centre Limited and offer a unique combination of expert advice, local personal service and global negotiating strength to maximise your business travel savings.

Despite the tough funding environment facing the Australian Not for Profit sector it’s time to start talking about and investing in the exploration of sustainable business models, writes NFP strategy expert George Liacos.

As we approach the time of year traditionally dedicated to strategic planning, Not for Profits face pressure unlike many of us have seen in a long time. Although existing funding is under question for thousands of NFPs, planning for the future still (perhaps now more than ever) needs to happen.

Don’t make the mistake of searching for new grants, or rushing to rebrand. Instead, this year, take a fundamental look at your business model - this may help to unearth new opportunities where your organisation can deliver value, and accordingly may open up new avenues for financial sustainability.

There is no point regaling you with all the factors at play. Suffice to say, funding is hard and getting harder. So what’s changing? The sector is now not just talking about, but investing in, the exploration of sustainable business models. That’s what’s changing. There is a real sense of momentum. The Big Mo (as they say in US presidential races) - The point where the conversation turns from ‘what if’ to ‘how to’, where it’s harder to swim against the tide than keep moving.

If you only do one thing this differently this planning season – catch this wave - make it the year to start seriously addressing long term financial sustainability – don’t only talk about funding models or fund raising this year, talk about your business models. Whether your company hosts a formal planning session, a 2 day retreat or just updates last year’s numbers, dedicate at least 25% of your planning time to exploring and stress testing your future business model and sustainability and see what funding models appear.

Here are a few tools and techniques that might help you guide your team on the sustainable business model journey:

1. It’s time to start from a different place
   
   Put some things on the bench – don’t do SWOT, PESTEL, environmental analysis yet. Also bench quantitative analysis – revenue lines, price per service, funding per person. We will go through these – but later on.
   
   
2. Redesign around what social problem you will solve
   
   a. What’s your Value Proposition? What’s your Impact Goal? Question what problem you exist to solve (or will have solved in 5 years) with your customers, stakeholders, partners. This will generate modifications to existing services and may uncover new ones. Be prepared to let go (in the workshop at least) of the major current funding source in pursuit of delivering value (the key to sustainability).
   
   b. Using tools like the acclaimed Business Model Canvas, develop a business model around these value propositions & services.
   
   
3. Go even further
   
   a. See if digital innovation can fundamentally transform either the external or internal dimensions of your organisation – or both.
   
   b. Run same logic over partnerships. Outsource, co-source etc.
   
   c. Look to innovative payment models to not just alter your funding stream but as a way to keep you afloat.
   
   
4. Break your new model
   
   a. Use old school strategic planning tools to try to break your shiny new model. These tools have a place and it’s right here.
   
   b. Get your Excel on! Model out your changed and new income lines, weave in your expenses and use your innovative payments ideas to massage the cash projections.
   
   c. Develop an appropriate budget. Run through some scenarios: shoestring, surplus, steady.
   
   
5. Find, and then Line up, the ducks …
   
   a. Create your roadmap/action plan. Try a simple four step mode for creating usable roadmaps
   
   i. Get down all the projects you need to do to reach a sustainable model
   
   ii. Sort them into the four rows Financial Projects, Client Projects, Internal Projects and Growth & Development Projects (thanks, Balanced Scorecard!)
   
   iii. Sequence them into three columns, this year, next year and later. No one really keeps the roadmap past two years anyway so this little technique keeps the team happy that they have been heard but pushes less important projects backwards
   
   iv. Chose no more than 2 projects per year per category… doing less can be more
   
   b. Most NFP’s don’t have one or both of these skills: Commercial / Business development OR Technology. Find them. Secure them. Put them to work.
   
   c. Set the cultural tone and tempo to one of change and engage already well-documented change management techniques.
   

The transformational journey to sustainability is as uncomfortable as it is inevitable and delaying the outset is simply irresponsible. 2015 is the year to be taking the first step towards a sustainable business model. There is a large and growing community of organisations that have already begun. It’s time for you to embark.

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Step out with purpose. Keep your feet.

About the author: George Liacos is the Managing Director of Spark Strategy, an agency that works with Not for Profits and Social Enterprises to realise their social mission objectives. Liacos has advised Not for Profits, Social Enterprises, Governments and Commercial organisations for over 18 years in the areas of new business and funding models, business and digital strategy, and system transformation. He has also held roles as the National Lead Partner for Transformation at Grant Thornton, Program Director for the Department of Premier and Cabinet as well as Chairman and Non-Executive Director on a number of technology and service businesses. 

This article first appeared on ProBono News. Please see the original article here.