FRANCHIZE CONSULTANTS PARTICIPATE IN AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE
Highlights from the 2005 FCA Convention

Win Robinson and Callum Floyd just returned from attending the Franchise Council of Australia's annual convention, held in Canberra from October 9-11.

The FCA convention, Australasia's largest franchise event, featured a wide range of educational and networking events.

Key highlights of the conference included:

• Full day educational session entitled ‘Towards World’s Best Practice - Franchising Lessons from USA,’ organised by Greg Nathan and involving a panel of USA franchising specialists
• Presentations by both John Howard (Prime Minister), Kim Beazley (Opposition) and Fran Bailey (Minister of Small Business) recognizing the contribution of franchising in the Australian economy
• Presentations by Mary Ellen Sheets (IFA Entrepreneur of the year) on Two Men and a Truck’s national and international development
• New Zealander Bill McGowan’s presentation on Fastway’s expansion
• John O’Brien’s presentation on PoolWerx (2004 Australian Franchisor of the Year)
• Jack Cowan’s fascinating [inside] account of Hungry Jacks’ and Burger King’s history in Australia
• Chairman's Dinner in the Australian War Memorial

Win and Callum both participated in the conference. Win gave a presentation on ‘Minimizing Franchisee Liability’ as part of a CEO Session on Franchise Operations. Meanwhile, Callum was involved in a panel asking questions during the ‘Franchising Lessons from the USA’ session. Later in the conference, Callum also led a series of Round Table discussions on ‘Determining the Optimal Franchise Structure.’

Both Win and Callum found the conference incredibly valuable. The myriad of concurrent sessions on Franchise Operations, Growth, IT, Education and CEO Management, all related to franchising, and led by key industry figures, were excellent.

Time was also found for networking, fun, and interacting with alliance partners from throughout the world. Cocktails in the National Museum and an FCA Awards dinner in Parliament House [obviously] provided a civilized counterpoint to the pedagogical aspects of the conference ;-).

Finally, whilst in Canberra, we also took the opportunity to sample the services of three highly regarded Australian franchise systems. Slurp! Slurp! Yum!