CECC client forum

24 March 2004

A CECC Client Forum and Networking Session was held at the Greenhill Enterprise Centre on Wednesday 24th March 2004. This was the first time our diverse client group has come together to share experiences and explore new opportunities for utilising online technologies.

The Forum program included presentations from a number of clients:

Greg Jakob of Moorabool Shire Council spoke about three linked initiatives: MCOnline (community portal of the Moorabool Shire); the Cultural Heritage and Artefacts Database; and MtEgerton.com, the first township portal launched within the MCOnline portal framework.
Larissa Fawcett of the Birchip Cropping Group (BCG) spoke about the benefits and challenges of effectively servicing members via online services. She also spoke about the 'Virtual Agronomy' project which CECC has recently been engaged to implement.
Emily Downie from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) then outlined the evolution of the Young Australian Rural Network, a project which was first launched during August 2002.

During the afternoon session, CECC Team Members presented information on a number of new initiatives and highlighted recent product developments including community skills audits/surveys and content syndication.

Despite their organisational diversity (business, community, education, non-government and government sectors) clients found they shared significant common ground and lively discussion continuing throughout the day.

In reviewing the day's activities all attendees identified it had been valuable to come together to review outcomes, evaluate benefits, identify challenges and explore future directions. Given the positive response from clients, CECC Client Forum and Networking Sessions will continue to be scheduled on a regular basis.

One action suggested as on outcome CECC Client Forum and Networking day was that an online client forum be established to continue discussion and interaction between attendees and other CECC clients. This has now been implemented. The new forum can now be accessed through the 'Support' menu of the CECC website. We encourage all clients to register and start posting topics to the forum.