Coolum Bizfest

Yesterday I spent some time at the Coolum Bizfest hosted by the Coolum Christian International College.   Though I don’t live on the Sunshine Coast, I grew up in the area, my parents still live there and I visit regularly, so I feel I almost qualify as a local!  This was a great opportunity to network with other businesses – and have some fun with my family at the same time.

There is something special about the Sunshine Coast businesses, it may be the wonderful lifestyle there, or simply the fact that the beauty there attracts lots of amazing people.  Whatever it is, seems that people are very friendly and supportive, with so much inspiration and innovative businesses.  So this event was a great opportunity to catch up with a lot of local businesspeople all in one place.  The business expo hall had a number of displays and a great line up of keynote speakers.

I found out about the event through the effervescent Sue Murphy, who was one of the MCs.  Sue is one half of the dynamic duo behind Red Hot Events & Seminars, and along with Toni-Louise Forsyth, this business creates and showcases a powerhouse of business  talent on the Sunshine Coast and beyond.  They run monthly networking events on the coast, as well as promoting expert speakers on a variety of topics.  Visit their website via the link above, or the Red Hot Events & Seminars Facebook page for info on upcoming events.

My girls (aged almost-4 and almost-2) spotted some brightly coloured windmills as soon as we arrived and at only $3 each I was happy to buy them something to carry around.  We also felt like they were part of the Kitefest which was taking part on the oval.  One amazing kite was shaped like a tiger and my youngest was just fascinated.

There was loads of entertainment scattered throughout the college on the Friday evening and all day Saturday, from battle of the bands, to a talent quest to seniors morning tea  to multicultural master chefs challenge.  We were just there on Saturday morning at around 10.30am and thankfully the rain held off.

We visited the mini market and had a chat to Vicky from Flamecat who showed us a great non-messy way to capture your child’s handprint, and we also had time for a very quick look at Rice Jewels before my girls were off again.  We had a snack (mini muffins) and then went to the Business Expo hall.  Just caught the end of keynote speaker presentation, Annie Infinite from Saucy Social Media, and the good news is if you missed it, looks like she’ll be presenting a lot more soon and has some of her own workshops coming up.  Stopped by theBYO Kids Stand, great site to visit if you’re planning a family holiday. Had a chat to the lovely trio Krishna (Healthy Marketing), Natalie (Enlightened Goddesses networking) and Jeanne (Witch Words design and copywriting), all worth finding out more about if you don’t yet know them!  As those with young children know, when they’ve had enough, it’s a little hard to stay and chat for much longer so there was just time to grab a flyer from Storks Nest and have  a very quick word on the way out to Fabe and Narelle from What Working Women Want).  I would have really liked to have stayed for presentations by Goal Power Training and The Creative Collective but had to head back to Brisbane.

Unfortunately after heavy rain the SES closed the carpark so this did make parking a little difficult, especially with two young children to juggle along a busy road to walk to the entry.  However this was of course beyond the organisers control and the rest of the festival seemed to run smoothly.  With a sea of volunteers in their special shirts helping out everywhere, there was an absolute feast of food, activities and more.

Overall, though we only stayed for a short time, we enjoyed our visit and hope it becomes a regular event.