Woolstock 2009

On Monday I attended the NZ Merino Company's "Woolstock 2009" Conference in Christchurch. The conference is largely a showcase of what the NZ Merino Company has achieved for its shareholders - NZ's Merino Growers. Their main goal is to increase the price of Merino wool on the world market, and they seem to be making some headway. They do this through their excellent brand partners such as Icebreaker, and excellent marketing campaigns like the Zque brand which combines natural performance wool with an accreditation program ensuring environmental, social and economic sustainability, animal welfare and traceability back to the high country NZ source.

The latter half of the day saw a series of talks and a panel discussion from Sam Morgan (of TradeMe fame), Jeremy Moon (Icebreaker), and John Allen (former NZ Post CEO, now MFAT CEO) about the future of NZ. All were amazing, but a highlight for me was John Allen's talk. I've seen him speak on a couple of occasions now and he always inspires me with his passion for NZ and his big picture thinking. I fully agree with him in that we must start celebrating risk takers in NZ and be more confident in who we are as a country! I also love how he challenges us to work together, and scientists to "get out of the lab and talk to the people", which I think is critical in advancing science, and in a way forms part of the reason for this blog.

Check out one of his talks from last year, its only 7 minutes!



Thanks again to the organisers for a great day!