ASSIST Conference 2010

26th & 27th August
Fairmont Hotel, St Andrews

2010 saw the tenth anniversary for ASSIST. And yet again the conference surpassed expectations. Fergus Chambers, MD of Cordia stated ‘I’m not sure how you can beat this next year but this year’s event was a huge success.’

There were some fantastic speakers and many new exhibitors to ASSIST. We were also grateful for the sponsorship of Wiseman Dairies and Brakes which helped us provide an extremely competitive delegate price.

The keynote speaker was John Mundell, Chief Executive Officer, Inverclyde Council and he did not disappoint. His session on Transformation of Local Government touched on his own experiences at Inverclyde, transforming what was called one of Scotland’s ‘worst’ councils into a shining example of positive action.

Pat Watters, Chair COSLA, gave his views on what was ahead for Councils’ in his own inimitable style, and language! He entertained the audience whilst getting over a very serious message on the challenges that lie ahead.

There followed a debate on shared services. Each of the three speakers, Paul Dowie of The Improvement Service, Ken Wilson, of North Lanarkshire Council, and Craig Hatton of North Ayrshire Council, outlined their thoughts on the Shared Services Agenda and gave examples of what was actually happening on the ground.

The afternoon session was split between Paul O’Brien and Andrew Spowart delivering APSE’s top ten efficiencies, and Steve Boon of Newcastle Council who presented changes in the way SCOTY (School Chef of The Year) would be run this year.

On Friday the session was dominated by a Masterclass given by Jack Black. Jack had the audience on the edge of its seat, literally! Giving us exercises to reduce stress and make us more effective in meetings. He mixed his session with humorous anecdotes and targeted his presentation directly at the audience.

Robin Gourlay, currently seconded to the Scottish Government, gave us an update on the food and drink policy, whilst John Lynchehaun presented a session on how Amey have transformed Cleaning at specific UK airports.

This year also saw Ken Campbell launch Scottish School Meals Week – more details of that on this website soon.

This year’s awards went to:
ASSIST Chair Award – Alan Russell, Wiseman Dairies, for services to industry and continued support of ASSIST.
ASSIST Best Achiever Award – Suzanne Duncan, North Ayrshire Council (Suzanne won SCOTY this year).
ASSIST Best Stand – 3663 Foods/Catering Equipment.

Congratulations to them and thanks to all who attended this year's conference - your support is very much appreciated.

Speakers' Presentations

Below you will find a selection of PowerPoint Presentations* shown at the conference. These have been converted into PDF format to reduce file size. Click on the links below to view.

 John Mundell
 Paul Dowie
 Ken Wilson
 Craig Hatton
 Steve Boon
 Robin Gourlay
 John Lynchehaun

*Note: In order to view the presentations above, Adobe Reader must be installed on your computer.
If you do not have this, you may download it for free by clicking here.