First four panellists at highly-regarded Illawarra showcase revealed
Plus, members toast Shellharbour's newest networking group
It’s widely regarded as one of the must-attend networking events of the year and the next i3net Industry Showcase is just weeks away.
There’ll be two panels at the showcase’s 14th annual dinner - one of high-powered collective of energy industry reps, the other a four-strong panel discussing “The New Engine Room: Energy, AI and Australian Capability in Action”.
The line-up spans four sectors central to the region’s economic transition - major infrastructure delivery, mining services, port logistics and utility-scale renewables - and offers a rare read on how those sectors are approaching AI adoption and capability development.
Here’s the quartet:
Daniel Chaplin (Downer): has worked in transport project delivery for more than 15 years, including roles on Sydney’s Waratah Trains and the Parramatta and Newcastle light rail projects.
Gabrielle Foodey (GM³): has over 15 years in engineering and capital project delivery across mining, infrastructure and construction, with a focus on regulatory compliance and multidisciplinary team leadership.
Peter Ernst (Port Authority of NSW): brings a background in port and maritime operations management, though his public profile offers limited detail on specific projects or tenure.
Mandy Allonby (X-ELIO): works on large-scale solar, battery storage and hybrid energy project development in Australia, with a stated background spanning ecology, grid connection and commercial project management.
Port Authority and X-ELIO’s presence points to continued industry interest in NSW’s renewables and ports infrastructure pipeline; Downer’s involvement reflects its ongoing major-projects footprint in the region.
The event, at the Novotel Wollongong North Beach on August 25-26, is sponsored by EnergyCo.
Tickets, selling as fast as you’d expect, are available here.
Shellharbour’s newest networking group launches
Shellharbour’s newest networking play isn’t a business chamber. It’s Toastmasters.
The region’s first new club in over a decade launched last month at The Shellharbour Club, and its inaugural president wants to make one thing clear: this isn’t a retirees’ hobby group.
“What I wanted to do was to attract young business people who wanted to use Toastmasters in their careers, rather than retired people who had spare time to go along to kill time,” says Tracey James, a marketer of 40 years and the club’s founding president. Members skew between 20 and 50, drawn from small business, corporate roles, government and the not-for-profit sector.
The club’s origin has sat dormant for years — James likens it to a mouse-ear seed, dormant for decades and germinated only by fire. The spark came in February 2025, when four members decided to act. A demonstration meeting aimed at recruiting new members drew a room full of existing Toastmasters and no one else — a signal, James says, that the pitch needed to change. She ran a Facebook campaign instead. Members started arriving, and — by James’s account — the club chartered faster than any other in Toastmasters’ local history, though The Pulse has not independently verified that claim.
The commercial pitch is direct. Toastmasters’ “Pathways” program cycles members through prepared speeches and unscripted “Table Topics,” with structured feedback after each one. James says the shift from first-timer to confident presenter — one that shows up in workplace performance — typically takes three months or less.
James, who has run Toastmasters clubs in Sydney and the Illawarra for two decades, argues Australian corporates leave the skill largely untaught compared with the US. “In Australia, we don’t do that at all,” she says — an observation from her own experience rather than a claim The Pulse has tested against curriculum data.
It isn’t all spreadsheets and elevator pitches. At the club’s launch event, “Table Topics” saw members improvising on Stonehenge, Captain Cook and the Titanic - the latter, James says, among the best extemporaneous speeches she’s heard.
Membership runs $120 for six months (“about one and a half cups of coffee a week,” James says) capped informally around 20 to 25 to keep speaking slots available. The club currently sits at 22 members. Shellharbour Toastmasters meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at The Shellharbour Club.
On the good news front …
Three frontline homelessness organisations received 100 emergency Backpack Beds this week under a 13-month-old partnership between One Agency Elite Property Group and charity Backpack Bed for Homeless — a scheme tied to the agency’s property sales.
Wollongong Homeless Hub, St Vincent de Paul Society Coniston and Kind Hearts Illawarra shared the latest allocation, handed over during Homelessness Week. One Agency says the donation takes its total contribution past $50,000 since the partnership launched in July 2025, under a model where it donates one Backpack Bed per property sold.
The handover lands against a backdrop frontline services describe as worsening. St Vincent de Paul’s Vinnies Van coordinator Hineana Dando said the service had supported close to 7000 people over the past 12 months, many sleeping rough. Wollongong Homeless Hub’s Kelly McGarrity said outreach teams continue to encounter people sleeping directly on the ground.
Randomness
How does freshly baked treats and a lazy beachside brunch sound?
Head to The Boathouse North Wollongong on the first Sunday of every month, from 8am to 11am, for a delicious pop-up featuring Andy & Karl’s favourite baked creations, from savoury classics to irresistible sweet treats.
Big ticket
If you’re a Taskmaster fan, you may have seen Urzila Carlson on the Australian edition. She’s been one other TV shows, too. Tonight, August 7, she’ll be at the WIN Entertainment Centre - and there are tickets available: right here.