BusyBee

Last night I went to the WA business News 40under40 awards. The event was held on a soon to be commissioned car and passenger ferry bound for Istanbul in the next month, with the sit-down dinner for 754 being held on the car deck of the enormous ship. The evening was a night of ego’s, young gun’s, success stories, and a breakthrough for the girls, with Julie Smith-Massara taking out the First Among Equals Award from the field of 40 winners.

The evening was MC’d by Tim Gossage from Channel 10, who realised very early that he was going to have his work cut out for him because no-one in the crowd stopped talking while he was introducing the event. But he can take some solace from the fact that the crowd at least kept it down to a dull roar while he was speaking. WA Business News Executive Director, Elton Swarts had to ask the crowd for their attention more than once, and his requests were largely ignored. Poor guy, I felt really sorry for him.   The event has been run for six years now, and offers an impressive list of previous winners.  Some, however have raised eyebrows, and conversation on our table drifted to the likelihood that some of the names would hit the headlines in the future but not perhaps for their business prowess, but more their fall from grace.
The black tie event had lots of glitz and glamour, although when it came to the girls dresses, it would seem that black is the new black. On a balmy evening, the guys found little use for their tux jackets, especially during dinner when the airconditioners were working overtime to keep the crowd cool. The ferry, however, really showcased the skills and quality of the boatbuilders at Austal Ships, and Chairman John Rothwell had every reason to feel proud of his talented team and their latest project. The only thing that perplexed the party-goers was how to negotiate the squat-toilets in some of the bathrooms - a few alcoholic beverages and a tux or long dress proving a tricky combination!! Needless to say queues for the Western toilets were long…

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 8:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.