Past Conferences 2007 & 2008
Experts define winning formula
The CIPS Australia 4th Annual conference, 14-15 October 2008
Success in procurement was analysed by means of an analogy to Physics at the recent 4th Annual CIPSA Conference in Melbourne, with CIPS managing director Jonathan Dutton setting the scene.
He used Einstein’s E=MC2 equation to define procurement Excellence as Meeting business needs with Category management in the context of a Changing global economy – topics explained in the plenary presentations.
The agenda, he said, was about “finding the winning formula to convincing stakeholders that we can secure supply, still get a better commercial deal and broker real value for the organisation in other relevant and strategic ways at the same time”.
The first element, meeting business needs, was discussed by CIPS’s new UK chief executive, Simon Sperryn, in a presentation titled “The CPO, the captain and the goal”.
In a series of references to the round-ball version of football, Sperryn argued that procurement is about more than being a goalkeeper. He held up former Manchester United goalie, Peter Schmeichel, as a shining example. Not only did Schmeichel manage a 43% clean sheet career record, he also managed to score 12 goals in his career as a goalkeeper.
Sperryn urged his audience to choose between procurement as a business function and as a strategic role in the organisation, saying procurement professionals have the opportunity to take leadership roles if they approach their tasks correctly.
The looming recession, he said, “puts the spotlight on procurement” and with reliable supply likely to become a top concern, procurement is approaching top-of-mind for the CEOs.
In this environment, he said, procurement staff need to have the “Schmeichel mindset” to grasp the opportunity....
Read the full article here.
Pictures from the conference are available below.
Click here to view images from Day 1
Click here to view images from Day 2
Click here to read about the winners of the 2nd Annual Procurement Professional Awards.
Click here to view images from the Awards Ceremony night.
See the full programme of the 4th Annual conference here.
2008 Adelaide and Perth CIPSA conferences score well
The week commencing 18th August saw the CIPSA Conferences team hit the road to present back-to-back conferences in Adelaide on 19 August and Perth on 21 August. Both events scored high satisfaction ratings from delegates – 98% in Perth, 99% in Adelaide
The inaugural CIPSA Strategic Procurement and SCM Forum in Adelaide at the Stamford Plaza attracted 65 delegates, a good turnout for a first major conference in SA. Featuring a diverse range of speakers, including Greg Tunny, CEO of Australian Submarine Corp [ASC], as well as CPO’s from Lion Nathan, Santos and BAE Systems the conference was scored well by delegates.
Detailed programmes can be found at the CIPSA Conferences website www.cipsaconferences.com.au
On to Perth for the 3rd CIPSA Strategic Procurement Forum on the 21st August at the Novotel Langley and feedback was very similar. Presentations included contributions from major resources players Alcoa and Rio Tinto. As in Adelaide, the comments from delegates were overwhelmingly positive regarding the conference.
Delegate numbers increased significantly from previous years, with 115 delegates attending – a reflection perhaps on the growth of the Perth market and the ongoing receptiveness to and relevance of the CIPSA Conference programme.
Both events featured excellent networking opportunities, with formal seated lunches and cocktail functions at the end of the day hosted by the local CIPSA regional committees, both of which were well attended. Our thanks go to both the speakers and sponsors for their support of these conferences, and to the delegates, who continue to demonstrate strong interest in the content.
Our final event of the 2008 conferencing season is our flagship event - the 4th CIPSA Annual Conference on 14-15 October 2008 at Crown Towers in Melbourne. Last year 560 people attended, hopefully this year even more will attend to understand THE WINNING FORMULA. Full details are at www.cipsaconferences.com.au
See the full Adelaide conference programme here.
See the full Perth conference programme here
Women in procurement conference
Melbourne - 19-20 June 2008
No sooner were we finished in New Zealand than it was off to Melbourne for the Women in Procurement Conference. While we acknowledge that the decision to stage this event did polarise opinion - people either loved or hated the idea – the resounding feedback from delegates was that the event was a major success. Indeed the overall marks for the event were the best yet recorded.
The programme was a balanced mix of pure procurement sessions and professional and personal development topics. With such a diverse range of speakers presenting, the only problem we really faced was a lack of time. Many of the sessions were so engaging that they could have run significantly longer.
Another first with this event was the fact that we made it a residential style event with guest speakers at both the dinner and breakfast. Sue Barrett gave us a fascinating insight at the dinner into how sales people view procurement, while Carmen Parnos sent delegates on their way from the following mornings breakfast inspired to become “Superleaders of Australia”.
Another major hit at the conference was the opportunity we provided to delegates and speakers to have their photograph professionally taken during the networking breaks. Most of our attendees took up the opportunity, even the males! On that note I should again thank all of our speakers, our Platinum Sponsor Vertical Talent, and a special mention should go to Jonathan Dutton for chairing the Conference. It was never our intention that he should do so, as we really felt that any “bloke” getting up in front of an audience of women would be on a hiding to nothing! Most delegates thought he handled it very well, controlling the sensitive issues with aplomb.
See the full programme of the conference here.
Nigel Wardropper
Event Director - CIPSA Conferences
2nd CIPS NZ Strategic Procurement Forum
12 June 2008
The 2nd CIPS NZ Strategic Procurement Forum at the SkyCity Convention Centre Auckland on 12 June attracted 160 delegates to hear a broad range of speakers. The conference was formally opened by the Hon Lianne Dalziel, Minister of Commerce, Minister for Food Safety and Associate Minister of Justice, who stressed the important role for procurement in driving both the public and private sector sustainability agendas. This was followed by a rousing speech from John Allen, the CEO of NZ Post, who not only painted the audience a fascinating picture of his view of the role of procurement, but also demonstrated his Maori speaking skills.
As somebody who has attended every CIPSA Conference since inception, I would have to concur with the marks on the evaluation forms which indicated that John was the most engaging speaker we have yet seen in terms of his delivery. Indeed the overall marks for the speakers were extremely high (54 per cent:‘excellent and 36 per cent:‘good’). This was a reflection not only of the speakers, but I believe the enthusiasm of the audience.
Unfortunately I don’t have space to name them all here, but thanks to all those speakers for their input to what was a very successful day. Thanks also to our sponsors, whose role should not be underestimated. Networking is a key part of attending conferences such as this and just like last year, most of the delegates seemed to take advantage of those opportunities.
APCC launch new capability guide at Public Sector Conference
The 3rd Public Sector Procurement Forum - Canberra May 21-22
The 3rd Public Sector Procurement Forum (PSPF3) proved another successful CIPSA conference event at the National Convention Centre in Canberra on 21-22 May 2008. Although developed and run by CIPSA, this event is endorsed and supported by both the Australian Procurement and Construction Council [APCC] and the federal Department of Finance & Deregulation [DoFD] – Minister Lindsay Tanner’s department.
More than 200 people attended the event, with 94% delegates rating the event as Excellent or Good. Highlights included excellent case study presentations from three governments (WA, QLD and NZ) as well as an introduction to new federal procurement initiatives from John Grant, first assistant secretary at DoFD. A fascinating comparison of the private sector approach to strategic procurement from Craig Lardner, CPO at George Weston Foods also impressed delegates. Although after-dinner speaker Bob Carr stole the show, proving his mastery of public speaking at the event dinner on the evening of 21st May.
This was the first PSPF event that included seminar streams in addition to the 11 key note speakers presented. 13 seminars covered learning topics relevant to public sector procurement practitioners day-to-day challenges with the aim of helping people do a better job as soon as they get back to the office.
The APCC officially launched their new ‘Building Government Procurement Capabilities’ guide. Introduced by Chair of the APCC Skills Committee, John Tondut, Exec Director, OGP, WA DTF, this Guide is an aspirational document and has been produced to provide direction on the development of public sector capabilities and professionalism as well as to set target benchmarks for Australian and New Zealand public sector procurement workforces. It succeeds the earlier version first published in November 2006 and includes in a supplement a useable and comprehensive capability matrix for public sector procurement professionals, which was developed with significant input from CIPS, and benchmarks well against global best practice standards. A PDF version of the Guide and Supplement are available for free download at www.apcc.gov.au
Plans are already being developed for next year’s event, which will be even larger and is likely to move to a new time slot in the calendar. Ideas for inclusion in the event are welcomed by CIPSA producer, Nigel Wardropper at nigelw@bttbonline.com . Further details of the PSPF4 event will be available on www.cipsaconferences.com.au as part of the 2009 programme in due course.
See the full PSPF conference programme here.
The category management forum- Sydney
13-14 March 2008
The Grace Hotel, Sydney
Conference a full house! Is Category Management the next big thing?
The CIPSA Conference programme for 2008 kicked off in Sydney furing March with The Category Management Forum. Taken by surprise by the level of interest and bookings for the event, CIPSA was forced to close off registrations for the first day two weeks prior to the conference. Notwithstanding the squeeze, the feedback with regard to the sessions was almost universally positive, with 91 per cent of delegates giving it a satisfaction rating of good or excellent, and virtually all delegates indicating that they took significant learnings away with them. With Category Management now confirmed as a “hot topic”, plans are already underway to develop a bigger, broader programme for next year and to move the Category Management Forum to a much larger venue.
Don't forget the CIPSA Open Training Category Management course, running in Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. To book a spot on this course, or if you would like this course run in your city, or at your workplace as In-Company training, email your interest to training@cipsa.com.au
See the full programme of the conference here.
3rd Annual CIPS Australia conference a great success!
An impressive line-up of international and domestically based keynote speakers shared their views and experiences with 560 participants at the 3rd Annual CIPS Australia Conference – held on 16-17 October 2007 at Crown Towers in Melbourne.
Four seminar streams offered 24 different seminar topics each directly or indirectly relevant to the central theme and the four sub themes of the conference.
The central theme of the conference was: “Its’ not just about cost!”
Traditionally, the procurement profession has been seen as cost focused; latterly, focused on full-life time cost or total cost of ownership (TCO) more than up-front price. But senior practitioners have continued to stress there are much broader benefits of better procurement practices, such as: security of supply, reduced risk, improved quality, greater efficiency, better processes, more innovation and real added value. Proving it, however, has been more difficult.
But these simple goals no longer do justice to the fastest growing profession in business. This conference suggested four possible new challenges for the profession. Four ways in which the profession may well be measured in future:
• Influencing better outcomes – for the organisation;
• Procurement led solutions;
• Socially responsible procurement;
• Improving organisational performance.
Each of the 10 keynote speakers and the 24 seminars at the 3rd Annual CIPSA Conference addressed, directly or indirectly, one of these four sub themes.
The Conference has once again increased in popularity and status since last year’s event. The 560-strong attendance was up by over eight per cent on last year. A total of 385 guests sat down to dinner, while the Conference was also better supported by sponsors with 10 Gold Sponsors compared to six in 2006 and exhibitors in Purchasing Exchange were also up to 45 this year.
Stand-out speakers included Dr Nicolas Reinecke, Will Parsons and John McGagh. Early feedback from participants has very positive with 99 per cent of delegates rating the conference either Excellent or Good.
The venue looked grand for both the Conference and the Dinner and many CIPSA members have already expressed their enthusiasm for the 4th Annual Conference to be held in 2008. A full report on the 3rd Annual CIPSA Conference will be published in the December/January edition of Procurement Professional magazine.
View the Photo Slide Show from Day 1 of the Conference here.
View the Photo Slide Show from Day 2 of the Conference here.
And the winners are…
The Procurement Professional Awards were presented at the Gala Dinner held in conjunction with the 3rd Annual CIPSA Conference and the winners were:
• Special Achievement Award (for recognition of the Procurement Change Management effort across a range of award categories): University of Sydney;
• Best Supplier Partnership: Insurance Australia Group (partnering BlueStar Print Group);
• Best Cross-Functional Teamwork Project: British American Tobacco Australia;
• Best People Development Initiative: BAE Systems;
• Best Process Improvement Imitative: Office of Government Procurement (Dept of Treasury & Finance WA);
• Best Improved Procurement Operation (Dual Winners): Parmalat Australia and Office of Government Procurement (Dept of Treasury & Finance WA);
• The CIPS Leadership Award: John Tondut (Executive Director, Office of Government Procurement, Dept of Treasury & Finance WA).
CIPSA congratulates all winners and is sure that the quality of this year’s entries will inspire even more high-quality contenders in 2008. CIPSA would also like to thank the Awards Judges and the Sponsors of the Awards for making it such a successful event.
Michael Page Procurement & Supply
ProcureNet
inLogik
Portland Group
Xchanging
View the Photo Slide Show from the Procurement Professional Awards evening here.
PERTH 2007: CIPS Strategic procurement forum in Perth a real success!
Almost 100 people attended the CIPS Strategic Procurement Forum at the Novotel Hotel in Perth on 22nd August 2007, including practitioners from organisations such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, BP, Wesfarmers and the WA Department of Treasury and Finance.
The forum structure to the conference allowed a diverse agenda offering a wide range of topics for delegates.
CIPSA Managing Director, Jonathan Dutton, established the context for the event by introducing the five emerging trends facing the procurement profession:
• Performance optimisation
• Supplier relationship management
• Socially responsible procurement
• Talent scarcity
• Globalisation
The speakers were segmented into pairs covering different aspects of the trends facing the profession – all directly or indirectly related to these five key emerging trends.
Other speakers included: Craig Lardner (GWF); David Henchliffe (Santos); Josh Gluckman (Portland Group); Cliff Stagoll (BHP Billiton); CIPSA Regional Chair, David Lunn (Woodside); Craig Rooney (Coles Group); Michael Kirk (The Faculty), Peter O’Brien (Russell Reynolds) and David Ward (Xchanging).
Feedback for the event was extremely positive with 98 per cent of delegates rating the event as either good or excellent. This follows hot on the heels of the Sydney conference in March 2007 which recorded CIPSA’s first ever 100 per cent approval rating.
Suggestions for topics for next year’s conference in Perth are always welcome by e-mailing info@cipsa.com.au
See the full Conference programme here.
Inaugural New Zealand conference proves a big winner!
Auckland 14th June 2007
The Inaugural CIPS New Zealand Conference, held on June 14, was an unqualified success. The Conference had distinguished speakers, including The Hon. Lianne Dalziel, Minister of Commerce for the New Zealand Government, who officially opened the event. Ms Dalziel said that linking New Zealand procurement practitioners into a global community of over 42,000 members in 120 countries has got to be good for
the profession.
The Minister also went on to say that accepting the invitation to open the conference was an opportunity to explain why we need good procurement capability within government now more than ever and secondly to give a quick overview of the Labour-led government’s sustainability agenda and what this means for
government procurement practitioners. She used the analogy of a leaking bucket to help procurement professionals explain to others in their organisation why so often the benefits of negotiating great deals do not reach the bottom line.
Fonterra CPO, Eduardo Teisaire, gave an empowering presentation on the ‘glories and miseries’ of being a procurement professional. He described how identifying and focusing effort on two or three low hanging fruit can have a big payoff in terms of establishing credibility and gaining respect for your skills inside your organisation.
David Freeman, Strategic Sourcing Manager, TelstraClear and Chair of New Zealand and CIPS Council member, closed the event with a reminder to all attendees that the journey in New Zealand has just begun and that all NZ CIPS members must continue to strive for the betterment of the profession in the country. The full transcript of the speech by The Hon Lianne Dalziel, can be accessed at: www.beehive.govt.nz or on the direct link here.
See the full conference programme here
Canberra 16-17 May 2007
Procurement Professional Article - The Problem with Probity in Public Sector Procurement
White Paper - Seven Issues Facing The Public Sector Community
Conference Wrap-Up (from Procurement Professional 14)
PSPF2 a success!
Over 150 people from Australia & New Zealand attended the 2nd CIPS Public Sector Procurement Forum (PSPF2) conference, which was held in Canberra 16-17 May 2007.
This is the premier event for public sector procurement professionals in Australia. This year’s event was themed on a platform of the five emerging trends in procurement identified following CIPS research during the second half of 2006. These were: performance optimisation; socially responsible procurement; talent scarcity; supplier relationship management; and globalisation.
Each of the presenters at the forum directly or indirectly addressed an aspect of best practice public sector procurement within the context of these five emerging trends. During the event, a series of clear, identifiable and ubiquitous trends, specific to public sector procurement emerged from the 18 different presenters, the panel debate and, the many discussions between the delegates during the networking sessions and two additional seminars after the event.
These were:
- the need to set clear objectives at the outset; agreeing a pre-set procurement strategy for the
- organisation; focus on outcomes not process;
- collaboration speaks volumes: sustainability is a new driver for professional procurement;
- the goal is for the public sector to become a customer of choice; and
- solving the talent scarcity problem.
PSPF2 follows the success of the Sydney conference, held in early March at the Shangri-La Hotel. In fact, over 100 delegates attended the Sydney event and heard from two different speakers on each of the five emerging trends. Contributions from the Coles Group, BOC Group, BAE Systems, Fuji Xerox, DHL, Pacific Brands, Westpac, The Stockland Group, BOMweb, The Faculty, Accenture and Xchanging were appreciated by the delegates.
Both events were rated highly by attendees. The Sydney conference was rated as either Good or Excellent by all 100 per cent of attendees (65% excellent, 35% good), while 88 per cent of PSPF2 attendees rated the events as Good or Excellent (31% excellent, 57% good).
CIPS will develop work on the seven emerging trends that emanated from PSPF2. They are sure to be the topic of discussion at future conferences and seminars.
See the full conference programme here.
Sydney 7-8 March 2007
Procurement Professional articles covered from Conference:
The Five Emerging Trends In Procurement
Westpac's Journey Into Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Procuring Reputation Green
Coles Group Case Study: Many Brands, One Trolley
Speaker presentations
The speaker presentations are available for delegates who attended these conference. If you would like to receive the link to the presentations please email cipsa@bttbonline.com who will confirm your attendance and send you the link.