I’m still thinking about a great 2 days at the Insources Australian VET Conference 2026 in Sydney, 2 weeks ago.
Conference sessions included something for everyone!
VET system
The Hon Andrew Giles MP featured prominently, as segments of an interview he conducted with Javier Castillo were played between speakers. He spoke of the need for even ‘deeper’ industry engagement for VET.
On Day 2, I moderated a panel with 5 JSC reps. Who’d have thought we could chat for 2 hours – in the final session, of the final day – yet had to wrap up before all audience questions could be asked. This could not have happened without the panelists’ conviction, energy and sense of humour. Aaron Hines, Alison Wall, Paul Humphreys, Anthea Middleton and Joshua Rayner, thank you for a spirited and insightful chat!
Scary stuff
I was enthralled by presentations by Zmarak Zhouand and Peter Doukas, both legal professionals. They warned us of the dangers of non-compliance with the 2025 Standards for RTOs and did so with a zeal that was both compelling and frightening!
Practical insights
Dan Hill encouraged RTOs to be more intentional about how they evaluate training. He reminded us of some useful evaluation models – traditional models like CIPP or Kirkpatrick, and newer models, like the Phillips ROI model and Will Thalheimer’s LTEM.
Sadly, I missed Marc Ratcliffe’s presentation, but happily, I did not miss him. He did a magnificent job a conference MC.
Something just for us
I was grateful for sage advice from Annie Harvey and Jay Pottenger. Annie invited us to consider, ‘What would we attempt this year if we trusted ourselves more?’ This simple question reminded me that we are often our own worst enemy. Jay reminded us that ‘burnout is contagious.’ I found this an invigorating wake up call, as I considered my overwork so far in 2026. I ended up feeling good about the idea of trusting myself more to try things that are important, and doing so with a healthy perspective.
Other standouts
In addition to the JSC panel discussion, 2 other things also stood out for me:
First there was the Awards Night, where I enjoyed a ‘front row view’ as MC. It was great to see such wonderful examples of quality practices in our sector. I was also reminded that one must never compete with animals or children (one winner brought their 12-month-old child onto the stage – naturally, they stole the show in all the right ways)! To winners like Tom Fraser and others, congratulations!
What stood out the most for me were conversations with attendees and exhibitors. Alicia Holker, Matt Peachy, Jason Ash, Irena Morgan, Liesl Fitzpatrick, Scott Rogers, Tim Weir, John Liddicoat, Patrick O’Reilly, ICD.D (all the way from Winnipeg, Canada, via Ireland), Chris Schwager and more, thanks for the chats!
To Javier, Redmond and the Insources team, well done and thanks for inviting me to be part of this conference.
