As part of the industry’s brightest and best young professionals took part in a one-day intensive public speaking workshop held by David Marshall from Talkforce Communications, where they polished and perfected the art of confident presentation skills, thinking on their feet in a number of impromptu speeches, and mastered the art of persuasive gesturing and stage presence.
Federal Minister for Resources and Energy the Hon. Martin Ferguson and Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright addressed delegates, forecasting the future of the industry and the exciting prospects that lie ahead for those willing
to take advantage.
Senior industry professionals were also present as mentors and presentation adjudicators, including Australia Power and Gas Wholesale Gas General Manager Shelley Reed, S.I.T. Gas Controls Managing Director Andrew Creek, TRUenergy Regulatory Manager Mark
Frewin, Rinnai Executive Technical Advisor Chris Blogg, and APIA Policy Advisor Steve Davies.
The second and third days of the event allowed delegates to present 20-minute speeches on a topic of their choice.
Stand-outs for this year included APA Group’s Jayne Arthur who presented on the issue of the natural gas industry’s ageing workforce and Rubi Turna of GHD
Engineering who addressed pipeline construction in developing countries.
The Tuesday evening saw delegates and mentors mingle at the Boat House by the Lake, and all were inspired by guest speaker Tristan Miller, who in 2010 successfully ran 52 marathons in 52
weeks across the globe.
The final day of Gas Speak ended with some outstanding impromptu speeches that highlighted skills. The award for Best Presentation was bestowed upon Josh Wickham of GPA Engineering for his presentation Environmental challenges in construction and operation
in North America. The Encouragement Award was presented to Peter Lather of OSD Pipelines for his presentation Challenges in CSG Gathering System Design, see page 22 for more information. Finally, the award for Best Impromptu Speech was awarded to Oil Search’s
Kila Pidi, who presented earlier in the week on CSG exploration drilling in Papua New Guinea.
