Are you ready? Ready to treat yourself to a weekend in beautiful Ballarat?

The 2023 District Conference will take you to various parts of our magnificent city, so that you get a taste of the different parts that make up our community.

Friday

On Friday afternoon, register from 4pm and stay on to enjoy catching up with friends or making new ones. This part of the conference will be held in the newly completed Alfredton Sports & Community Club 89A Cuthberts Rd, in the suburb of Alfredton – DG Kathy’s home suburb.

We will provide canapes from 6pm and a multicultural market for you to peruse and to discuss their wares with our community members, A choice of meals will be available from the food truck, catered by members of our African community. The cost of the meal is included in your conference fee of $220. Drinks are available at bar prices

Saturday

On Saturday we will meet at the wonderful Mercure Ballarat – Hotel and Convention Centre - 613 Main Rd, Golden Point, Ballarat 

The Mercure is set amongst three hectares of beautifully manicured gardens and complete with its own ornamental lake. Conveniently located opposite the multi-award winning Sovereign Hill, the Mercure provides an extremely convenient location in close proximity to the historic centre of Ballarat.

During the day you will be inspired, informed and entertained by a variety of speakers, all with the theme of Imagine. Speakers who have survived life-changing events and those who have assisted them and speakers who have seen a need, imagined what could be, and done something about it.

The post lunch session will include renowned author and educator – John Marsden followed by Jelena Dokic, former world class tennis player and current commentator who has triumphed over many hardships to be where she is today. The day session will conclude with afternoon tea leaving you time to have a quick look around Ballarat before preparing for your evening entertainment.

Dinner dance

Join us for a night of fun, food, frivolity and fancy footwork!

The Mercure will be transformed for the evening into a myriad of travel destinations, so get in the travel spirit by dressing ready for your favourite travel destination and be in the running for individual and group prizes.

Pre-dinner drinks and canapes will be served from 6.15, courtesy of The Mercure. As you chat and renew acquaintances, pre-dinner entertainment will be provided by Jack Stacey. Neurodiverse since a young age, as a child Jack enhanced his understanding of the world around him and expressed himself through the connections he made with music. He has since travelled and studied abroad and completed his degree of Bachelor of Music at the University of New England, Armidale in August 2020. He has performed with David Helfgott and more recently with the Ballarat Symphony.

A two course dinner will follow with music provided by local legends – Mad Cow! Mad Cow have enjoyed a reputation for delivering fun, dynamic and professional entertainment to Ballarat and regional Victoria for almost 20 years. DG Kathy will send a list of songs to each club, so make your choice before the conference and it will be added to the set-list! Then be prepared to groove the night away to the selected songs from the 60’s until today.

Sunday

Come fly with me.  No, not really, but we will take you to the Ballarat Airport – Airport Road Wendouree, Ballarat for our Sunday sessions. You will have pre-booked your two choices of three options for the morning, so you will be doing two of – a Rotary Mystery bus tour, a hands-on project with Lyndon Galea, founder of Eatup, making sandwiches for hungry kids, or learning from the Firefighting Vocational Training Team to Portugal.

The RC Ballarat East Book Fair will also be open all morning, so you can also grab a bargain or two to take home with you.

After the morning sessions you can sit and enjoy some last minute catching up, or grab your boxed lunch to go with you as you head home.

Of course you are most welcome to make it a long weekend or week in our beautiful city – check Visit Ballarat for ideas of things to do and accommodation options.

We can’t wait to see you and share our fabulous community with you.