Invitation to the Women and Firefighting Conference

Welcome to the 4th Australasian Women and Firefighting Conference being held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor on Hindley Street in Adelaide on the Thursday 26 – Saturday 28 July 2012.

The theme of this year’s Conference is ‘Achieving Success: Courage and Confidence under Fire’. Women within the fire industry contend with a variety of personal and professional challenges that may impede career development, however, the most crippling of these is often self inflicted – the lack of belief in our own skills and experiences and what we have to offer.

The Conference aims to provide a variety of skills and knowledge that will assist delegates to better negotiate successful careers in the Australasian fire fighting industry and we will also look at those who have achieved success in the industry on both personal and operational levels.

The conference provides invaluable networking opportunities for delegates both formally and informally.

Achieving Success: Courage and Confidence under Fire

There are four themes under this overarching banner that will be explored within the Conference:

Barriers – real or imaginary? Some barriers to promotion are very real eg family responsibilities, deficits in skills/experience and others are imagined but no less effective such as a lack of self belief – discover strategies to break down career barriers and to deal with the demons within;

‘Bull at a gate?’ We all know the expression, but we also know that there’s almost always more than one way to approach a situation – find out how the cows can find another way around and get where they want to go in their careers;

Networking It's more than just a ‘buzz’ word – find out how to make it work for you in your personal life and for a health career; and

Stories of success Within this theme, we will have the privilege of hearing first-hand the achievements of colleagues within our industry in often challenging and stressful situations.

Who should attend?
We look forward to welcoming salaried and volunteer members of the fire fighting industry, from active fire fighters to senior management to administrative staff, and men and women alike to the 2012 Women and Fire fighting Conference.

Conference Venue
The Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide on Hindley has been chosen as the venue for this year’s Conference due to both its excellent facilities and services. It is conveniently located in downtown Adelaide, just 3 minutes walk from the parklands along the Torrens River and a short stroll from the vibrant Rundle Mall.

WAFA Objectives

The objectives of the Association are:

• To facilitate and support women in taking an active role in defining and shaping the role of women in the firefighting and emergency services industries by promoting the expectations of and contribution by women to the sector.
• To provide a vehicle for women, in conjunction with their colleagues in the industry, to:
• foster and promote increased understanding and awareness of the contribution and capabilities that women bring to the firefighting and emergency management sector;
• create opportunities for frank exchange and discussion of the challenges, issues and opportunities for women in the sector;
• facilitate change through solutions and actions cooperatively developed with our colleagues in the sector; and
• generate opportunities for the development of knowledge and practical experience in roles of leadership and management.