Recap of the 2023 LIWA Conference
August came around very quickly this year and this meant one thing – the WA Aquatic Recreation Conference and Trade Show, presented by LIWA Aquatics.
The festivities ran over two days at the Perth Exhibition and Convention Centre with a number of different panels, trade talks, keynote presentations and break out rooms.
Many organisations presented and held booths at the conference including Technogym, Fluidra Commercial, Shenton Pumps, PhloZone and much more.
The first day started with a Welcome to Country and Executive Officer of LIWA Aquatics, Steve Good, opening the first session with an address to delegates and honouring those who were unable to attend the LIWA Awards earlier this year by presenting them with their awards.
Professor Fiona Wood gave a keynote speech focusing on leadership and communication and the different ways to apply this throughout your personal and professional life as "motivation is contagious and negativity is disproportionately so", she says.
There were many opportunities for attendees to attend a variety of sessions including ones on youth mental health, immersion therapy, swimming strokes, sustainability and product and sales pitches.
LIWA also had Peter Klinken, Chief Scientist WA and MX Misty Farquhar OAM deliver presentations to round out a jam-packed day one.
As the day came to a close, a Workforce Industry Panel took place addressing staffing issues and other industry concerns from a variety of different professionals and perspectives, before the networking drinks and sundowner.
Day 2 started with bright and early with Panadol in hand for many delegates along with an interactive activity of building a card tower.
Former Perth Wildcat and A Stitch in Time founder, Greg Hire detailed his ongoing journey with mental health and the need to normalise the stigma associated with it and its counterparts such as going to therapy.
Greg had many helpful tips of daily coping mechanisms and the importance of practicing daily habits such as mindfulness and gratitude to contribute to a positive state of mind and longevity in life as "vulnerability is a superpower."
The second day had a strong focus on educating our Swim Schools with talks on cultural awareness, social values, body language and behaviour, disability and how to evolve the future of the aquatics industry.
This was the central theme of the conference and the need to acknowledge "The New Normal" of the industry and how we must all collaborate and learn together to adapt post-COVID-19.
Throughout the day, there was also aquatic industry heroes floating around like former Australian Olympic Swimming Coach, Laurie Lawrence and who could forget about the infamous Watch Around Water mascots, Walter and Wendy.
The conference ended with Paralympic gold medallist, Ben Popham sharing his journey to Toyko, his charitable work with Telethon and his recent Order of Australia medal.
It was an intense two days which allowed many people and industry figures from across the WA regions and as well as international and national delegates to meet with one another in-person (in some cases for the first time).
There were many great discussions had, future plans made and sharing about past experiences to teach everyone how we can continue to improve the industry and work towards a nation free from drowning.
We can't wait to do it all again next year, but before then, we have the World Conference on Drowning Prevention on December 4-7 at the Perth Exhibition and Convention Centre. If you haven't registered yet, be sure to follow the link below.
