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Big names onboard bus conference

A stellar line-up has been confirmed for the 2012 Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo

March 14, 2012

By Sean Muir | March 14, 2012

Former Prime Minister John Howard, football legend Leigh Mathews, and comic mastermind Will Anderson have something in common.

They are all attending the 2012 Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo.

Add music legends Kate Ceberano and Ian Moss to the bill, and you have a conference rivalling the grandest of events in any setting.

Bus Association Victoria Executive Director Chris Lowe says the event, held July 2- 3 at the Moonee Valley Racing Club, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, is shaping up to be the biggest yet.

“We want to prove to the world that nobody puts on a bus show like Victoria,” he says.

“And that’s what this events all about.”

Lowe says for an event to be great it has to have two things: a ‘kick-ass program’ and a-grade entertainment.

He
says this year’s conference has both those things, not to mention a sizeable exhibition.

“We wanted to have a kick-ass program, and I believe we have got that in terms of management and technical streams,” he says.

“And we’ve got great entertainment and some very big names.”

“So it’s a very attractive event.”

Lowe says Howard will talk about the global economic environment and the virtues of family business, while Matthews will talk about leadership and direction.

He says Ian Moss, Kate Ceberano and Will Anderson will head the evening entertainment.

“We approached them and said this is our event, would you like to come and connect, and they said yes,” Lowe says.

The 2011 event attracted over 1400 delegates from around the world, as well as 70 bus and 120 exhibitor displays.

Lowe says, this year, 1500 delegates are expected
to attend the conference, which will have an extra 1000m2 of undercover display space.

“They come from all over the country, all over Australia and New Zealand to attend this conference,” he says.

The conference will cover management topics including industry recruitment, workforce retention and wellbeing, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, sharing of road space and road condition reporting, accreditation, and bus and coach accessibility standards.

The conference will also cover technical issues, such as reducing the road worthy certificate defect rate, the future of workshop and vehicle technology, and preventative maintenance.

“It’s a forum where bus managers can flesh-out any management or technical or management issues that are live in the industry at that point in time,” Lowe says.

“Each year we just try to take it to a new level, and I think we have done that with this year’s speaker line up, with the program, and with the entertainment.”

Visit www.busvic.asn.au for further details or for registration.

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