2025 Zone 8 Conference a resounding success

PDG Ingrid Waugh
2025 Zone Conference Chair

What an amazing weekend we had at the Zone 8 Conference in Coolangatta, Qld, from 31 October to 2 November 2025. It was great to see people connecting with old friends and meeting new ones.

We were able to share loads of new ideas – from our speakers, through breakouts and amongst ourselves in conversation. And there was a wonderful spirit of looking to the future and how we can grow our impact and presence in our communities.

I would like to say a huge thank you to our speakers, who gave their time and thoughts so willingly and eloquently. A highlight was having our recently appointed RI President-elect Olayinka (Yinka) Babalola and his wife Prece with us, together with General Secretary John

Hewko and Marga, plus many of our RI staff who support us every day.

Yinka urged every Rotarian to look back on our past seven years, choose our best one, then ask ourselves how we can do better than our best. He also urged us to share our own personal Rotary story when asked ‘What is Rotary?’ and explain how Rotary has brought transformative change within ourselves.

Michael McQueen shared inspirational and scientific evidence on ‘the stubborn mind’ and how we can overcome obstinance by reducing the cost of change. And we heard about a myriad of amazing projects led by our members.

Our heartfelt thanks go to the 20-plus exhibitors who showed us the many opportunities for service out there and also to the committee, who worked so hard to pull everything together into one seamless and inspiring experience.

Finally, special thanks to all those who attended. No event can deliver without participation, and with more than 400 attendees we certainly had plenty of that.

For the full photo gallery of how we connected, shared and grew over the weekend click here.