Dean Seeley, from Bizy Global, was MC for the night, introducing the event and explaining the importance of events such as these for the town of Goulburn. Goulburn Connect encourages collaboration and innovation, providing a forum for local businesses, including start-ups, to voice their ideas, thoughts and goals.

Kay Rudd gave the first pitch of the evening. Kay is the chair of the Goulburn Community Consultation Committee for Health Services and emphasised the importance of community input when it comes to health care in Goulburn, including the hospital redevelopment.

Next up was Tennille Skelly from Dream Admin services. Tennille spoke about her ‘Dream Team’ of staff who helps businesses with bookkeeping, administration, personal assistance and social media support services.

Elly Spark, from Kingsdale Wines, made a passionate speech about the importance of buying local. Kingsdale Wines is a winery situated 7 kilometres from Goulburn, offering a range of cool-climate, award winning wines. The words ‘buy local’ were articulated numerous times by Elly, encouraging locals to not only buy local wine but also local produce, in order to support farmers and reduce your food kilometres.

Finally, Catherina Pappas, from the Canberra Institute of Technology, spoke about their collaboration with Workspace 2580 and Goulburn Mulwaree Council to deliver a Diploma of Project Management and a Diploma of Sports Development in Goulburn.

The overall goal is to deliver better local training options to Goulburn and Catherina encouraged the group to offer their input into where they think further training gaps exist.

Following the ‘pitches’, guests were encouraged to network and introduce themselves to those unfamiliar faces in the room. Guests were also able to enjoy some food provided by Harvest Goulburn and delicious local wine, generously provided by Kingsdale Wines.

The next Goulburn Connect will be held on June 5 from 5.30pm at The Collective. Next month, businesses are encouraged to come along and bring a friend.