Issue date
Over 80 Yacht Clubs had their commodores attend the 2012 Commodores Conference in Auckland on May 19th.
Each conference session was facilitated by Yachting New Zealand staff, but was guided for commodores to share information and best practice where appropriate. Up first was a choice of sessions for the Commodores; Communication or Advocacy. The Communication session focussed on publicity, websites, social media and other communication tools. The Advocacy session explored the process of resource consent, funding and aquaculture initiatives in Northland and the Marlborough Sounds.
After lunch, commodores all joined conversation on growing fleets, in separate rooms for ‘big’ boats or ‘small’ boats. Best practice and case studies were presented from around the country, and this information will be collated and distributed to all clubs to learn from within two weeks.
The final session surrounded YNZ initiatives for growing club capability, such as the Sport New Zealand Organizational Development Tool, the Yacht Club Manual, and a presentation on the Flavell Bill regarding proposed changes to Trust Funding.
Bundles of positive feedback have been received already and a survey will be sent to all participants to further collect feedback on a number of aspects of the conference.
A package of information on all sessions of the conference will be mailed to Yacht Clubs by June 11th, and with this will be a copy of the popular YNZ compiled sailing video. 
