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MCEI Marketing Awards I was honoured to be asked to judge the National MCEI Marketing Awards in October.  What an exciting event to be involved in.  The quality of the entries was remarkable!  It made me realise how fortunate I was to have received a Highly Commended when I was an entrant myself.  From home based businesses through to those who have many employees, the creativity and uniqueness made judging a very difficult task.  What did shine through though, was the passion that these entrants have for their businesses.  From the smallest to the largest there can be no doubt that their enthusiasm and dedication was equal.  Having never been involved in judging before, I guess, like most, I had a cynical view when judges said, it was such a hard decision to make!  Now I know what they are talking about!  What this experience showed me was that Australians and Australian businesses have a lot to offer the world!   Do you know about AUSIT? I was honoured to be the guest speaker at the AUSIT Annual General Meeting.  Like most, until I met someone from there, I had no idea what this group does.  What a fascinating group of people!  Either as an interpreter or translator, this group covers every language imaginable!  It is not often in our lives that we might need one, but as a professional celebrant I'm now thrilled to be able to sound knowledgeable enough to refer my clients to a reputable group.  Their website is www.ausit.org  We had a great night in a government initiative building, allowing reduced rents under their Arts progam, regulators get enough bad press, it's nice to see them doing something good!! One of the things I spoke about was my wonderful experience of working with an AUSLAN (signing for the deaf) interpreter at three funerals I have done.  8th International Conference on Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Society: "Consequence of Loss - Resilience and Complications in the Grief Experience" What a wonderful experience it was to present at this conference.  Meeting researchers from around the world as well as people who also work with people in grief.  My presentation on 'The funeral - a positive (or negative) experience in the early stages of grief' was well received.  As is common with most conferences there were similtaneous presentations and sometimes you wished you were able to split yourself to be present at three presentations at the same time!   At the start of each plenary session, a personal account of a grief journey was given and on more than one occasion there was a great search for tissues by the audience!    Children's Memorial Service On Sunday December 9th, I was fortunate to be to asked to conduct a Memorial Service for children who have died and will be missed at Christmas.  The service was put on by Lilydale Memorial Park and over sixty people attended.  One of the many comments that were made after it, was that it was that it was good to know that they weren't alone, that other families too find Christmas a difficult time.  We listened to the beautiful John Williamson song 'Flower on the Water', if you get a chance, have a listen to it. I shared a poem that I wrote in the hope it would give families some comfort (a copy is in the Funeral Poetry section).  I would like to personally thank Lilydale Memorial Park for putting on the service and to the many families who joined me on that day to honour our children who died before us, but whose love remains and sustains us, I thank you for sharing that special time with me.  With my warmest regards to everyone, Robyn I'm on TV! Well, I finally made it to the television screen and now I know why I prefer radio!  *laughs* (they told me it would put weight on BUT!)  However, I was given the opportunity to be interviewed by Mike Ryan for HBBA the Home Based Business Association of which I am a member.  This was a fabulous opportunity to have a panel discussion about being a home based business but also the opportunity of having my own interview done.  To my own amazement, I was able post it on You Tube and the link is as follows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-V9sEvXK1Q