Connections, Conversations and Competition
Photo: L-R: Mayor Ry Collins with members of the Chamber Board and Conference Committee, Jannah Baker, Doug O’Connor, Fiona Erquiaga, Kath Barker, Sue Birch, and Berny O’Connor.
At Whitsunday Chamber Of Commerce & Industry’s 2026 Business Conference
A successful business conference should leave people with more than a notebook full of ideas.
It should start conversations, create opportunities and send attendees back to work ready to put something new into action.
By that measure, the 2026 Whitsunday Business Conference delivered.
Organised by Whitsunday Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the conference brought together 120 attendees from 77 businesses, filling PCYC Whitsunday and Club Whitsunday with some of the region’s biggest operators and ideas.
That buzz was backed by a strong program of speakers, led by award-winning media and communications expert Ian Cohen.
Drawing on his experience in the high-pressure Olympic environment, Cohen delivered a presentation attendees described as inspiring, timely and “totally on the money”.
Another highlight was the inaugural Rising Stars Panel, which handed the microphone to five local employees, trainees and apprentices under 25, giving business owners a rare chance to hear directly from the next generation about their vision for the workplace.
After a lunch full of networking, Mayor Ry Collins revealed the 46 businesses in contention for the 2026 Whitsunday Business Awards, placing some of the region’s standouts now firmly in the spotlight ahead of the awards night in October.
Once the presentations wrapped up, things turned competitive.
The inaugural Chamber Games took over Club Whitsunday, bringing local businesses and community teams together for an afternoon of friendly competition, enthusiastic cheering, creative costumes and tactics that occasionally tested the meaning of “friendly”.
Blocklaying Airlie Beach proved the team to beat, claiming gold. Club Whitsunday made home-ground advantage count with silver, while Whitsunday Regional Council took bronze.
Accountancy Plus Whitsunday may have missed the medals, but their team spirit earned them the title of Best Dressed.
Created by Airlie Beach Men’s Shed and Whitsunday Laser Creations, the Chamber Games Perpetual Trophy now carries its first engraved name.
Blocklaying Airlie Beach has the bragging rights, but also a target on its back when the Games return on August 26th next year.
With new ideas now in motion, the countdown is on for the Whitsunday Business Conference 2027.
