Fellow Skålleagues,

In just a short few weeks' time, delegates from Australia, NZ & Asia will travel to tropical Far North Queensland for our 110th National Assembly co-hosted by the Cairns Club. We are very much looking forward to re-connecting with colleagues and friends for what will be a productive weekend of networking, collaboration and social events showcasing the very best of Cairns whilst celebrating the Club's 40th Anniversary.

There is still time to register! Our National Assemblies provide an important opportunity for Skål members to connect with other members from Australia, Oceania and Asia, build on your professional profiles, expand your network of contacts and maximise new business opportunities in a unique atmosphere of friendship. There is also the opportunity to participate in our Skål Australia Expo, this is a great way to maximise the return on membership investment by showcasing your products and services, increase awareness of your business, explore partnership opportunities, generate new business leads and is complimentary to members attending. We hope you will join us in Cairns!

I am very pleased to advise that the Singapore Airlines HighFlyer Business partnership and Virgin Australia Business Flyer program for Skål International Australia have been finalised. A separate communication will be sent out to members in the coming days with all of the information. I would personally like to thank Perth members Nicola Strudwick, General Manager Sales at TravellersChoice, Michelle Cook from Michelle Cook Travel & Cruise and Gemma McCourt from Brisbane who have all played an integral part in bringing these partnerships together. We do hope that our Australian members will benefit from these programs and hope that both Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines will be front of mind when choosing to travel for business.

Our Australian Sustainability Sub-Committee met for the first time on the 7th August and I thank those club champions who attended for their participation. The aim of the meeting was to identify exisiting sustainability projects across our clubs (there are some fantastic projects already underway) and to identify future projects at both local and national level. Other key takeaways from the meeting included the encouragement of members and businesses to enter the Skål International Sustainable Tourism Awards and promoting a sustainable focus at upcoming national events. The sustainability efforts of clubs and businesses will be highlighted in our monthly newsletters and the committee will convene for quarterly meetings. I would like to thank Past National President and Global Skål Sustainability Champion for Region 12 Alfred Merse from Hobart for facilitating the meeting as our appointed committee liaison.

The World Congress in Izmir, Tůrkiye is only 9 weeks away! If you haven't registered to attend then please do so as soon as possible. We currently have approximately 35 members travelling from Australia and New Zealand. If you haven't been added to the communications group then please email me at president@skal.org.au.

For those travelling to Sydney for the mid-winter ball, I will see you next week, otherwise see you in Cairns next month!

Yours in Skål,

Ash Munn

National President - Partnerships & Technology
Skål International Australia