International Water Safety Conference Kicks Off with Splash

Queenstown kids at today's ActivePost Have A Go Day learn water safety survival skills from local Alpine Aqualand instructor Elena Dal Pra'.

INAUGURAL INTERNATIONAL WATER SAFETY CONFERENCE KICKS OFF WITH A SPLASH
Eighty local Queenstown kids learned vital water safety skills – and had some fun - at the ActivePost Have A Go Day, held at Alpine Aqualand today, ahead of this week’s inaugural International Water Safety and Aquatic Education Conference.

The primary and intermediate aged children learnt a variety of swim and survival skills from qualified swim instructors, as part of a joint Water Safety New Zealand and New Zealand Post initiative.

Today’s activities come just two days out from the inaugural International Water Safety and Aquatic Education Conference, hosted by Water Safety New Zealand and AUSTSWIM and held from this Thursday to Saturday (October 3-5) at the Rydges Lakeland Resort in Queenstown.

More than 300 international water safety delegates will attend the first-of-its-kind event, including AUSTSWIM ambassador and Olympic gold medalist Brooke Hanson and water safety professionals from around New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Japan, US and United Arab Emirates.

Featured in the impressive line-up of guest speakers are international water safety experts:
• US coastguard and Chief, Boating Division, Jeff Hoedt – who will speak on Friday afternoon (Oct 4) from 3.55pm-4.55pm
• UK life jacket expert Peter Chennell – who will speak from 3.20pm-4pm on Saturday, Oct 5.
• Paul Thompson, owner of the world’s largest swim school for babies and toddlers, Water Babies, who will speak from 8.40am-9.20am on Saturday, Oct 5.
• Acclaimed New Zealand comedian Oscar Kightley – who is currently learning to swim - will deliver the first keynote speech, after the powhiri and welcome from MC Frankie Stevens. (Friday, Oct 4, 9.45am).

Other speakers of note include:
• Lost at sea survivor Rob Hewitt (Saturday 11.30am-12pm).
• Quantum Events managing director and former competitive swimmer Scott Rice (Saturday 9.20am-10am)
• Plunket’s Sue Campbell, who will talk about the bath mat project – an initiative with Water Safety New Zealand aimed at reducing the drowning toll in under fives (Friday 12.45am-1.15pm).

The conference will conclude with a gala dinner on Saturday night at Queenstown’s Skyline Restaurant where the winners of the 2013 Sealord New Zealand Water Safety Awards will be announced.

“This is gearing up to be an incredible event with international and Kiwi experts sharing invaluable water safety knowledge with delegates from around the globe,” says Water Safety New Zealand Chief Executive Matt Claridge.

“This is a great opportunity for countries to learn from each other and share knowledge and expertise as they work to address their common challenge of reducing their nation’s drowning toll.”

AUSTSWIM is Australia’s national organisation for the teaching of swimming and water safety. The AUSTSWIM accreditation is internationally recognised and is the industry standard for swimming and water safety teachers in Australia.

ENDS

A full programme of events can be found here: http://www.nzconference.co.nz/watersafetyconference2013/WSNZ-brochure4.pdf

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