Welcome to World Camp Milano 2019. The first speaker of today is Ivana Chupovic, Digital Marketer, PR, and self-assertant. She has been an organizer of World Camp Europe Berlin, 2019. Thank you. And is an active member of the World Press Community. Today, she will talk to us about web storytelling and how to do it properly both for humans and for science and science. So, let's start. Thank you very much. So, bon giorno tutti. And that's about it with my Italian. I'm very happy to be here today. This is my first time at World Camp Milano and the city of Milano. So, I'm very happy to be here. I have a little stage fright because I'm opening today's camp. But at the same time, I'm very happy because my talk is, oh, hi there, my talk is about storytelling, which is something that brought us all here today. And throughout the day, you will hear many stories. And I invite you to pay attention to what people are saying, what kind of stories they are sharing, and try to discover the type of story they are talking about, which is something that I will share with you in a little bit. So, we are here today to talk about stories, in a way to use them to promote yourself, your businesses, your work, and to get benefit of it, whether it's self-recognition or promotion of your work, your business, your attracting new clients, whatever that might be. And at the very start, I would like to begin with this quote from another tech guy, Paul Jarvis, who said that everything can be a story, you just got to tell it. And I truly believe that each and every one of us has a story to tell. And it's something that we've been using from the beginning of time. Like, we grew up with stories through our parents, through our grandparents. Even today, this is my kind of story, something I share with you. So, we are gathered here to talk about how to use the structured story to tell your business, to tell what it is that sets you apart from your competition, and to get results, driven results. Now, I'm sure you've heard about this sentence, this claim. But have you ever wondered, what does it mean? Like, for me, I find this sentence a bit called too generic, and this claim is like uninspiring even for me. Because what is behind this sentence, content is king? For me, it's about the context, not the content itself. Because any type of content, whether it's photo or visual, any kind, combination of words or video, it's the context that matters. And that context is actually storytelling. The way we use our words, our visuals to share, whether it's our emotion, or to explain some complex information, shared knowledge, useful tips and tricks, which we all will do here today. So, when I hear this content is king, actually I'm talking about storytelling, because it's the core essence of every content, is and should be at least storytelling. Now, this is something I came up with some time ago when I was searching how to portray how people see storytelling, people who are not familiar with this subject. So, for the outside world, storytelling is portrayed as something, a bit of bragging self-promotion. But the truth couldn't be much more far from it, because storytelling is a skill. It is a skill that you use to provoke emotion, to get people to act upon what you're saying. And it's not something like, hey, look at me, I'm the great performer, I'm killing with making websites or I do great copywriting, no. Show people the way that you do business or your product or your services are helping people. And that's the core of storytelling. To persuade people how by using your special skills, your products, your services, is actually helping them solving their problem or making their lives even better. And with that in mind, oh, this is okay. Apple, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Lego, Nike, the one thing they all have in common is that they all built their businesses with stories because Apple doesn't sell devices, it sells power and a lifestyle as well as Coca-Cola. It's not a drink, but like vivid lifestyle. Lego doesn't sell toys, it sells imagination. And I would add one more brand on that equation and that is WordPress, because WordPress doesn't sell platform for your websites, but as I think of it, reliable and safe home for your stories, whatever they might be. And because we are here on World Camp Milano, there is a big part of WordPress that is engaging in storytelling, which we'll talk about a bit later. And knowing all that, what is, how can we use those tips and tricks I will share in storytelling itself to promote ourselves and to get value from it? There are like basic seven types of stories you can use to portray your visions, your goals, your businesses and to promote them through storytelling. Now these seven types, it's not something that I invented, it is based upon a research of the thousands and thousands of professionals and writers. So they came up with these basic seven types, which are the underdog or the hero story, which is something that you will use to describe you or your business as a hero and some problem or the way you are conducting your business or some obstacles are the villain and how are you overcoming those obstacles and becoming the better person or better professional or the obstacles can be something, some problem or issue your customer or target audience has. Describe, use this type of story to describe the way you and your business is solving problem to your customers and then you have this hero or the underdog story. Then we have the quest story, which is a story about let's say you have some goal, desire, some idea and you want to make it happen. Describe the ways or the steps you use to make this dream come true. So that would be the quest story and it is informational type of story. It is something that your target audience can learn from.  Then you have the classic journey return type of story and that is the story you coming out of the comfort zone. It can be something like my story. I wasn't from tech industry.  I am totally in the marketing industry and somehow along the way, I started learning about the ways I can share my story and be more out there to the target audience. So I discovered after many, many other platforms, I discovered WordPress and learned to use it in a way that helped me share my story to more people and to more targeted people. So that can be the journey return type of story. Then we have Rags to Riches story type of story. That is Cinderella or ugly duckling or even opera. Like how think of the ways their path is and how they bloom out of nothing. So again, it can be something that you found yourself in the totally unknown situation and rise above. Comedy type of story. That is something that can be funny anecdotal story about your business, your beginnings or something just for fun because no matter how hard we try to inform people about ourselves, our businesses, what we do, sometimes it's just fun and helpful to share something that is not all that business related.  Then we have a tragedy type of story which is a classic story like don't do this or you will regret it. That's the type of story you will use if you perhaps crashed your client's website. So describe the steps, what did you do wrong? It's a classic failure story but also it's something that people can learn from and you are helping them along the way to not make the same mistakes you did. Then we have a rebirth type of story which is a classical tragic story but with a happy ending like how you did mess up your client's site but you learn to quick fix it and how you did it. Then those are like tips and tricks you can include in that story to help again help people understand it better and along the way you are showing them that you are human. You are not some developer robot who are just doing codes and numbers but you are making mistakes and you learn from them. So by sharing those type of stories you show yourself as a good professional but at the same time you are educating some future developers or business owners with the stuff you did. And those types of stories you can use any or each of them to portray what it is that you do but it's not enough. Those stories that you tell needs to have some more elements and it is something that I will share now. Good story is something that first of all, good story is simple. You tell your story by using tone of voice your audience uses.  So use the tone of voice your target audience uses. Make your stories very easy and easily readable and understandable. Again, good story provokes emotions whether it's happy you want to make people happy or you want to rage them. Whatever your end goal with the story is provokes some kind of emotion. Those are all triggers that will make your story more memorable. A good story is honest and trusting. You don't want to and it's real or at least it sounds real because you don't want to make your story a bit of fairytale and sci-fi that no one will connect with or believe it. So always talk about from your perspective but always think about the end user or the reader, the target audience.  How can it help them in their lives?  Again, if you are building websites and you are building websites like niche targeted websites for let's say photography professionals, you don't want to talk for and to share stories for mommy bloggers because it's not relevant for them. So make your stories as more specifics as you can to reach that target audience. Now we covered the typo stories and the necessary elements but is it enough? Like you will, you know what to write about, you know who are you talking to and you came up with great typo story to share but is it enough? Of course not. Because your stories, we are talking about online storytelling. Internet opened us a huge amount of possibilities to and it's helping us share our stories even wider. So with that in mind, we need to optimize our stories for both people and search engines because no matter how great story you came up with, if it's not optimized for web search, you won't get the results that you need because you might miss the opportunity to get discovered on Google or any other search engine. Which is why I want to share some quick and easy, semi-easy, on-page SEO tips and what it is that all of you can do with your stories to polish them up and make them even better and more discoverable on Google. And this is something that I came up with during recent years, like the anatomy of the perfectly written text, no matter is it your story, blog post, an article, the basic necessary elements, every type of story needs to have in order to be discovered on search engines. Now, this is part of on-page SEO and it is something that you, any of you, can do with your content on your websites, on your blogs. But just doing this, it's not enough. Your website needs to be like, hosting needs to be fast, servers needs to be fast, technical SEO needs to be done properly.  Of course, if you did your keyword research right and get the right target audience. So let us start. The headline is the main thing you need to worry about. After you've written your story based upon the research and the right key phrase that your target audience uses and that you want to compete for, you need to think about the way to use that key phrase in the headline to be reliable, relevant and natural in the headline. Headline doesn't need to be click bait because it's something, you all seen it, it's something Daily Mail and all other Daily News use to grab people's attention, but they don't provide value. If you use click baits, be sure to deliver the promise from that click bait itself. So the headline needs to be very concrete, very specific to have the desired key phrase in it. And it needs to be, the length of it is about 60 characters. Or the key phrase needs to be in that 60 characters because it's the length of the visibility in the search result. Then we have meta description, which is something many people overlook, like, okay, I will put one or two sentences in it and that's that. Meta description is like a hook. It is something that promises to reader, to people who use search engines that they will find the answer if they click on your result. So make sure that, and the length of it is about 140 to 160 characters. Make sure to put the key phrase in it as well, if it's natural, and to make it stand out, give people the reason to click on your result and not on someone else's. Then the content itself. Your story, if you did your research well and you know what you're talking about, don't shy away from the length of the story. People, no matter how busy we all are, if it's something that interests us, we will find the time to read no matter the length of the article or the story is. So put yourself out there and write as long as you can or as long as it needs to be written, like whatever that is that you want to say, don't shy away from the length of it because people from ones want to know. And the other thing, Google likes longer articles. There was in 2016 a research of about 10,000 result on the first page of Google and approximately length of the articles that are on the first 10 spots on Google, on the first page are 1,600 words. So Google likes longer articles. Another thing, you need more space to go as much in details as you can. You can say and share your expertise or whatever is that you want to say with your story in like 300, 400 words. I mean, that doesn't bring you value. Not to mention that the story with less than 300 words is considered to be a spam, doesn't provide value. So make sure that your content is well written it takes you don't shy away from the length and use, don't just use words. Use the help of the photographs or other kind of visuals like infographics or video because you can even tell more specifically your story with them. People connect with the photograph much easier than the words sometime, but also it's another benefit because you can get discovered with images as well by explaining your what it is on that image, image alt tag that is called. Describe what it is on that image and maybe you won't get discovered via regular search but via Google search people will find you. So that's a bonus as well. And then when you wrote your story in that way provided value for the target audience like answer the question, help them understand what it is that you do and how that what you do can benefit them and make their lives easier. Then and only then at the end you will put call to action, ask something in return whether it's you want them to share your story or to ask you some questions or you want them to sign up for your newsletter or buy an e-book whatever is that you want with that story and from them, you will put at the end because you have to give something first in order to ask something from them.  So whatever type of story you use this is the way to polish them. Also when you write longer articles it's helpful to use bullet points to like break those big chunks of text with some subheadings and bullet points to make people easier to scroll and to like read your story because if you have just a chunk of text it's not very engaging and people will lose interest like the break it with a photograph with the bullet points and subheadings also that is something that Google likes and it's more easier for their algorithm and spiders to like scroll it and to index it in that way. Now that we done that there's also numerous tools we can use to further polish our stories and to help us stand out even better because and the very first I use I mean it is something that is very helpful to you all I'm not an English native speaker so I need to rely on tools I can use to help me in proof reading and English grammar. So Grammarly is a tool I use on a daily basis because I have numerous foreign clients that I write for so you can use it either free or premium to correct your grammar and your writings on English I highly recommend it it's really a life saviour if you are writing content on English. Hemingway app also it is something that it's free tool that you can use to scan your story in a way if it's readable enough easy understandable to your audience it checks if the length of the sentence is too long if it's too complex it will notify you with the different colors help you make it more understandable. Canva and picture picture charts are tools to help you make better visuals and to make infographics whether you don't have a designer or you don't want to pay them sorry you can use tools like this to really help you if you are just starting your business and don't have a budget Canva and picture charts are tools to use to help you with your any type of visuals for that accommodate your story and of course talking about shareability because even Google needs help in that matter social media some say are not SEO type of signal but I think it is because the more people share your stories it indexes Google itself some kind of signal that that story matters and it will give some more juice to it and more visibility in time. So go on social where your target audience is connect with them and share your stories there as well. Pinterest and Snapchat are a way to discover relevant topics and to see what type of stories people want to connect with today because we are getting younger and younger target audience like today's kids will be our tomorrow's customers we need to understand the way they want to connect and interact with the content in order to serve them our stories properly and I would like to add one more tool there which is something that I've been using since 2012 and that is WordPress not because this is a work camp Milano but I've been using all sorts of CMSs out there I started with the blog spot like in 2005 and six then went on to Joomla I worked with type of three like I've been all over the place and I really couldn't connect with all those platforms in a way that I did it with WordPress which really makes made my life and my work that much easier. Today I have about 10 websites that I own and work with my own not my clients and then client websites so I really needed a reliable CMS that I could use that I could let's say share my knowledge about with other colleagues so that I wouldn't need to rely on programmer for any type of work that I needed to done. Joomla didn't work for me, I worked with it three years and it was really, really disastrous and the moment I transferred my sites on WordPress like that was the beginning of everything and exponentially rise for me what I like about WordPress is that it's initially free you don't need any money to work with it you can like only buy a domain and buy hosting and start building your site you can build your site on WordPress yourself like there are tons of useful tutorials and thanks to you to open source community we can all learn to do it ourselves. The amount of themes of plugins or widgets we can use it's really something that is made my life easier not to mention that WordPress is very SEO friendly which is also something that I debate with other SEO professionals because they tend to say that WordPress is not SEO friendly but I know for a fact that it is because all of you are doing and making it better by following Google's tips and tricks and ways to make the code reliable not to mention Yoast uses day-to-day collaboration with Google to make their products SEO friendly so really it is something that made my life very easy and of course thanks to Gutenberg it all made me make it and work within it with more fun. Now I don't know the backend of story with Gutenberg and what it is that it drives developers crazy but for me as a content creator Gutenberg really helped me to play around with content much more than the old WordPress editor did so there's a plus another two and in a way to let's say put money where my mouth is American expression I want to show you few examples to know that the system works the stuff that I talked to you about briefly now really works you've all heard about Yoast and their Yoast conference SEO conference and when you type Yoast Con SEO tips the very first two results are my results that I did for a client of mine so not Yoast, not Yoast Con conference me like this is 10 days ago I did a hidden like Google search and this is articles I wrote for colleagues of yours max team developers which are my Serbian guys that I discovered while using some of their teams and then we got to know each other started working together so I did the research what it is that some of their target audience needs to hear to know wrote about these very specific yes, Yoast Con conference tips because people want to know what it is that is relevant in new and to implement it on their businesses so by using type of stories that I described and by optimizing the articles and the stories in that way I managed to not only for 2018 but for 2019 as well to go on the first two results on Google but there's an even better example like search snippet it is like you can't pay for this Google search snippet is something that Google puts above the result one so again, an article I did for max which is embed Facebook video on WordPress and Google found it so much trustworthy that it put it as a top result when people search for it and as you can see there's me then people also ask and there's WordPress beginner which is alpha and omega in the content world and in the world of sharing stories and I somehow was managed to go even higher than them also by using the type of stories I told you by doing my research to the right target audience using the tone of voice those people use and by using the tools I've described such as Grammarly it is a huge, huge help if you are working with the international audience and you want you are talking with them in English use Grammarly or any other relevant and similar tool because people really pay attention to the way you talk and share your stories you don't want to be misjudged or to sound unprofessional so Grammarly is a must if you are working in English and just not to think that this is a mistake here's another snippet again for max photo licenses because they have one of their premium teams is targeted to photography professionals and of course it is a huge, huge deal to know about photo licenses or even for bloggers too often we see that people just go on Google search type something relevant for them and take any photo from Google but it's wrong, it's not legal and you can get fine for it so this is an article that was really informational for targeted audience to understand what are photo licenses and how they can use knowledge of this to discover free photos they can use or in what amount they can use them so now you know the system works if you implement anything that I told you today about and try to write your stories in a way to use typo stories I shared to use elements and include them in your stories then there is no way you can't be that good as I did again I'm not native English speaker but I somehow, not somehow by my knowledge managed to get these and many other results in the first, on the first page and among top three, top five results on Google so if I can do it, all of you can just you need to know how and this is something that we briefly discussed now and I would like to finish this talk with another quote started with quote finishing Seth Goding, big entrepreneur from America who said that marketing is not longer about the stuff that you make but the story is you tell people don't trust advertising they don't trust commercials and promotion over promotional content but they do tend to trust the stories that you share don't, when you share your stories don't talk about your products and yourself per se talk about solution you bring talk about the way you can ease people's pain and help them in their everyday's lives and in that way, in that matter if you can do it then you are one or two or three steps closer to turning those target audience into future prospects your clients, your colleagues, whatever so I hope you enjoyed in this talk as much as I did thank you for your time and now we have some briefly time for questions if you pick my brain we can sum up something more, thank you yeah, she took come on, don't be shy, questions I love questions I'm for a small question thank you, you have a very good talk very interesting and informative points thank you one question I have is about the technical SEO so, you know, they say Google is too smart in like recent years that it does it does semantic understanding of the content of the pages so, some people say SEO is not relevant anymore which I disagree, of course but I wanted to know what is your idea okay, I disagree as well I mean, people who say that SEO isn't important are the people who don't have time or knowledge or willingness to work with it because it's something that scares them and possibly something that they don't want to mess up with but the truth is SEO is really highly important from the technical point of view which is something that you need to have clean code a well-developed website that needs to be responsive quick load, all of those stuff are important as much as this on-page SEO to make your content stand out because if you have a slow website people will go away and then there is a higher bounce rate and they won't come back then if it's not responsive everyone of us uses mobile phones so we want our information very easily visible on mobile so all of that is important like it's essential just like Google Analytics you put at the very beginning of building a website and sharing content you need to have all SEO aspects in order for your website to work and your content to be visible and shareable and they wouldn't have that good results they would possibly come on, I don't know third or fourth page of Google but not on first it's not possible to get without optimization because Google works on search queries and it is our job to understand that and to guess and to research those search queries from our relevant targeted audience in order to produce content in a way that they would like to read it and also to optimize it in a way that Google understands it and to put that with the specific keyword in a search query and to show it on top thank you more questions? Thank you very much


Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present.


Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this Faculty of Business and Economics graduation ceremony for the University of Auckland. Our official proceedings will begin shortly. In a moment your graduands will enter the auditorium and you'll be invited to stand. They will then be followed by the academics and our official party. As the official party enters we invite you to join the singing of the traditional graduation song, Gaudi Amos. Please take your seat as the Chancellor takes his seat. If you're carrying a cell phone please ensure it's either turned off or made silent and whilst you're very welcome to take photographs please move back to your seat once you've done that and please don't stand in the aisles. At the end of the ceremony the Chancellor will invite the gathering to sing God Defend New Zealand for the first time with your new graduates. Please then remain standing following the end of the anthem as the processions leave the auditorium. Once the last graduates have left you will also be invited to leave. Ladies and gentlemen please stand. Please be seated. As Chancellor of the University of Auckland I extend a warm welcome to you all on behalf of council members and staff of the university. I welcome our guest speaker Ms Catherine Courage. I also acknowledge the recent passing of Dr Mette Mette Penfold who was a long-term member of the University of Auckland staff, a distinguished Māori scholar and for many years the coupier at our graduation ceremonies. This is a meeting of the Council of the University of Auckland for the purpose of conferring degrees and awarding diplomas. This week we will be conferring and awarding more than 6,572 qualifications on some 6,478 students in person and in absentia. At this ceremony 464 students will graduate in person and 171 students will graduate in absentia. I will be assisted by Mr Peter Kiley, Pro-Chancellor. This is a happy and memorable occasion for you the graduands as well as your families and friends have supported you during your studies. We congratulate you all. Equally your achievement brings pleasure and satisfaction to the academic and professional staff of the university who have played their part in your success. Capping is a time for celebration. The graduation procession today brought academic flavour and colour to the streets of Auckland and in this ceremony you will experience the pomp and tradition befitting your well-deserved day of celebration. Over a period of 130 years the University of Auckland has become a comprehensive research-led university with a strong international reputation. Today there are more than 40,000 students and 5,000 staff. Moreover we are New Zealand's largest research organisation with one third of the country's externally rated world class researchers. Within New Zealand only our university is ranked within the top 1% of the world's universities. We also have a strong commitment to Māori education. Of all the Māori degree graduates in New Zealand each year, 25% come from just one institution, the University of Auckland. The quality and international reputation of a university are fundamentally driven by the achievements of its people and last year was an exceptional one for our academic staff who won almost every form of recognition available to them in New Zealand. In July, Professor Allison Jones and Associate Professors Bryony James and Keith Simpson won National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching. These awards mean that for 11 of the last 12 years our teachers have been recognised as among the very best in the country. In November, engineers distinguished emeritus Professor John Boyes and Professor Grant Kovac won the Supreme Award at the Prime Minister's Science Prize Awards for their work in inductive power transport. Dr Ben O'Brien from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute won the McDiamond Emerging Scientist Prize for his groundbreaking work on artificial muscles and Dr Suzy Wiles from Molecular Medicine and Pathology won the Science Media Communication Prize. Our staff also excelled at the 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Awards winning four major medals. The most notable was distinguished Professor Dame Ann Salmon from Maori Studies winning the Society's highest honour, the Rutherford Medal. This was awarded for her eminent work on Maori social structures and interactions within the European world and on European exploration in the Pacific. She was also named Kiwi Bank New Zealand of the Year for 2013. These achievements reflect the outstanding quality not only of our academic staff but also of the students who work with them and the many professional staff who support them. A key part of our challenge for the future and one that has clearly reflected in our strategic plan is to continue to invest in a community of highly accomplished staff and students. An important element of that investment is ensuring that our teaching facilities are of the highest quality. To this end the Council completed in 2013 the purchase of the former Lion Brewery's site in Newmarket as the basis for a new campus which will be integrated with the existing city and grafted campuses. At Newmarket workers well underway on construction of the engineering research laboratories. These buildings represent an investment of approximately 88 million dollars to support our engineering research and postgraduate teaching for the benefit of all New Zealand. We will occupy the first of these new facilities in July this year. Workers also began on the New Science Tower on the corner of Wellersley and Simon Streets. This major construction project represents an investment of more than 300 million dollars. It will allow us to upgrade science teaching and research and integrate the school of psychology and the school of environment into the main science precinct. This will in turn free up the human sciences building for refurbishment as the center of the arts faculty. Constant innovation is the cornerstone of a university such as ours. Innovative teaching and research is vital for long term sustainable economic growth of our country and social cohesion of our nation. This has never been more so than in the testing times we face in the wake of the global recession, the Christchurch earthquakes and the yet to be defined effects of global warming. Universities equip graduates like you not simply for the jobs of today but for future careers not yet imagined in a never changing world. So as you graduate today please reflect on the ongoing learning opportunities and consider the wide range of postgraduate options available to you at this university. Reflect on the changes in technology you have already experienced in your lifetime and remember that most of the technology you will use in your future working career has yet to be developed or commercialized. I ask you to do this because we can never rest on our laurels especially in a challenging and ever-changing world.  We rely on our graduates for support, moral, political and financial. Funding constraints are a perennial problem for New Zealand universities who are being asked to do more and more each year with less and less. In fact we should be spending more on universities not less but don't worry we will be in touch with you and when we do please lend us your support. But that is enough of the substantial issues facing us all as members of a 21st century university with high aspirations because today is your day the focus is firmly on your achievement and at the ceremony we honor your success along with the support of your family, far now and others who have sustained you through your studies. I congratulate you and trust that you will long cherish the memories of your graduation today. I am pleased to introduce this afternoon's guest speaker, Catherine Courage. She was the very talented founder and chair of the Systock Group, a high-tech services company with operations in four countries. Catherine leads global strategy and development of new markets. She's also currently launching a cloud-based technology company to offer business transformation products to the global marketplace. Under her stewardship Systock has grown into a global business delivering business change programs for major international corporations and offering advice and expertise to many public sector organizations in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Catherine also shares her time and expertise with a number of organizations dedicated to the advancement and welfare of women, at-risk children and disadvantaged families around the world. Her leadership of performance-based philanthropy including a current project designed to increase child protection and reduce child abuse is groundbreaking. She's a regular guest lecturer at the University of Oxford's said Business School Advanced Management Leadership Programme and she won a Vino Business Woman of the Year and was a finalist in the UK National Business Awards and has twice been awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The company has also won major awards for innovation, best practice and knowledge management and was named in the top four most innovative consultant companies in the United Kingdom MCA Awards. Catherine, we look forward to your address. Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, members of council, members of university, graduands, family and friends. Today is the time of celebration for you all. Graduands, you started a journey that culminates today in considerable personal achievement. It's been hard work for many of you and your achievements are here on show today. Congratulations to each and every one of you. Standing in your shoes, I recall many years ago receiving my first degree and then my second degree and each time realizing that it was the beginning of a new journey. I had lots of nerves, lots of excitement. What would the future hold? Let me reassure you that in completing your degree you've planted the seeds of a wonderful future. Excellent education offered by the University of Auckland will help you transform seeds of knowledge into calorie trees of experience. New Zealand ranked number one this year in the 2014 social progress index. It ranked New Zealand on basic human needs, foundation of well-being and opportunity. That's a great global achievement for our country. Building on these foundations, imagine what our nation could achieve if we design businesses with social change outcomes. Outcomes that are good for citizens, good for our families, good for communities and good for the planet, finally also feeding the souls of our staff. We have the potential to do this and all of you graduating here today hold the key to our new future. Whether you choose to lead the team or be part of the team is not what's important. It's that you play in that team and you're prepared to make positive change. We live in a world that's in desperate need of role models, disruptive business models and positive leadership. Leaders who inspire and connect people to make changes and deliver a sustainable change. Businesses that our children and their children would want to work for because they protect our environment and they strengthen communities. Your contribution is just beginning. You have the power in your hands from today onwards to make the difference but my advice to you is draw deeply on your own personal values. Think about what has made you, you're upbringing your parents, your friends, your families and build on those personal stories that have given you strength because it is these personal stories, the small moments in your life that will help you to really define who you become as a business leader or as a social leader as you choose. Doing this will unlock your true potential. I want to share with you just three moments in my life and they literally are all moments but they've helped to define who my company Systock is today. It's helped define the DNA that's enabled us to globalize and transform large corporations around the world. At the moment in Britain we're leading the largest business change program in the automotive industry. We're working with an organization that has helped take Britain out of recession and the key thing for me is that our values are drawn from the small moments. So we grew 80% last year in the UK in a time when in recession people would say that's not possible. We did it because we have five tenets of operation, honesty, courage, conviction, partnerships and skill. So let me take you through just a couple of these honesty, operate always with integrity because it will pay dividends, big dividends in business. As a child my family lived in Western Samoa. We were sent there as my father was chief pilot, lent by the New Zealand government as chief pilot to Polynesian Airlines. When we arrived our suitcases didn't arrive and we had six weeks of wearing just swimming costumes. After six weeks my father said well this is a bit ridiculous we should probably claim insurance our suitcases aren't arriving. Some time later, some months later our suitcases did arrive with stickers that they had been via Bolivia and Mexico. The very first thing that my father did as he said to the children right we need to make a trip to the insurance company and we said now why is that and he said because our suitcases arrived therefore the money that we claimed is not rightfully ours and he returned it. Now that for children is a defining moment. The second is courage. If you believe in something regardless of what other people are telling you if you believe in it have the courage to actually take the risk and deliver on what you believe. Systock's first major contract in the United Kingdom was 15 years ago and overnight we had to onboard a very large team for a telco telecommunications business change program. Within a couple of months our monthly payroll was a million New Zealand dollars. A million New Zealand dollars for a small New Zealand company is a big risk. It's quite scary and you have a huge responsibility to your staff but we decided to self fund from our New Zealand business. We decided to self fund because we knew that if we did that we would always deliver results we could not afford to bring down our New Zealand business. So we did that as a young New Zealand company we took a risk. So the principle on which we now build our business is that we're debt free with the ability to fund global expansion because we have only ourselves to account to. The final example I want to share with you is one of conviction. Life is not a rehearsal. Believe in what you do and have fun doing it. In 1991 my father died very suddenly following a misdiagnosis in a hospital. It rocked our world. My mother and father, brothers and sisters couldn't see a way forward. Our first reaction was anger and a desire for retribution but a few wise words from our mother absolutely catalyzed our lifelong response.  Your father had a good life and his greatest joy would be for you to make a difference. Live a life that he would want you to live every day and make positive changes every day so that no one else experiences what we've been through. How can you turn such positive anger and turn such anger into positive action? Examining what failed in my father's case I vowed and decided to devote much of my activity in Systock to optimise operational processes in healthcare and other industries. If we could save one person then it would all be worth it. We know that we've done that in work in the oil industry in Kazakhstan, banking in Asia and automotive in Britain.  Two final that I mentioned were skill and partnerships. Keep learning every day of your life so it's probably the most vital piece of advice that I can share with you. My staff, my leadership team and myself are constantly putting ourselves through learning and development programs because we believe that we need to change and move with the times and partnerships. Think very carefully about who you want to work with and who you share your life with because a life of shared values whether it's the people you choose to work with or whether it's your life partner will make all the difference to how you can live your life and achieve your potential. So as you graduate today build on the great education that you've received. We extend thanks to your professors, tutors, mentors, family and supporters who are celebrating your success.  If you came to study in New Zealand for it from another country thank you for the gift that you've given us of sharing your culture and your country with us may our connections be strong and enduring and in the words of Nelson Mandela there is no passion to be found in playing small and settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Go forth and make positive change happen and congratulations to every one of you. Thank you Catherine for challenging and motion state speech. This is a meeting of council and convocation of the university at which the Pro-Chancellor Peter Kiley and I will be conferring degrees in awarding diplomas. I invite the Pro-Chancellor to award the diplomas and confer the degrees in the first half of this ceremony. By the authority vested in me by resolution of the University of Auckland council I Peter Kiley Pro-Chancellor award the diplomas and confer the degrees stated upon those who within the Faculty of Business and Economics have satisfied the requirements of this university. I call upon an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics Mrs. Lawrenceon to present graduands in that faculty. Pro-Chancellor as Associate Dean I have the honour of presenting to you the students qualified for the award of a diploma or conferment of a degree in the Faculty of Business and Economics. Graduate Diploma in Commerce. Muhammad Alfan Bush. Andy Faw. Thomas Cox. Rodney Britt Gerald Rodriguez. Justin Peter Turnock. Brandon Allen Twigley. Yu Ting Wang. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce. Bin Yuli. Shemein Kha Yuli. Hui Li. Jenny Li. Jia Li. Liran. Renji Li. Shuei Li. Shijuan Li. Jiang Li. Jinhui Li. Chen Liang. James Lin. Julian Lim. Jutatip Lim Trako. Junjin Lin. Mike Hinchwing Lin. Zhengfen Lin. Zhenxiang Lin. Laura Jun Little. Fuyang Liu. Mingxi Liu. Rui Liu. Zhutin Stephanie Liu. James William Locky and a Graduate Diploma in Commerce. Vishal Pratik Lodia. Simone Zoe Lopez-Parara. Senior Scholar Business and Economics. Kate Elizabeth Lohan. Zhiyi Liu. Zhashi Liu. Vanessa Waikit Lum. Clifton Raui Chi Lunt. Ying Liu. Louise Fern MacNaughton. Matthew James McQueen. Emilio Maharaj. Muhammad Falil Satwika Mahmud. Matil Makanji. Stephen David Mail. Sai Manalal. Nathan Morinko. Harrison Louie Marquet. Donna Rose Martin. Andriyoputra Mazuki. Sophie Elizabeth Mason. Hamish Maud. Bradley Daniel Maxwell. James Michael McCormick. Braden Gregory McCulloch. Carmen Giselle McDougal. Oliver Andrew McDowell. Andrew John McComb. Ryan Scott McInnes. Emma Courtney McKenzie. Campbell Ian McMillan. Zane Sean McCray. Ruyan Meng. Emma Brooke Mercer. Oliver Gregory Myers-Smith. John Drake Min. Given Charles Miranda. Nahul Mistry. Mo Zhijin. Senior Scholar Business and Economics. Isabel Jean Monk. Duane Ignatius Montero. Hans Christian Montalalu. Rose Owen Morris. Nicole Louise Morrison. Adam James Moss. Clinton Motipali. Amanda Prattana Mui. Jasmine Muller. Daniel John Murphy. Vignesh Rajesh Murti. Devaran Srivannadu. Jaywin Rameshnana. Ahmed Atalesh Narayan. Sheika Narayan. Juan Rafael Nebres Nepalmemikeno. Matthew Carrot Newman. Max Peter Newton. Eugenia Chuan-Ukng. Ng Kailap. Phae Jin Penit Ng. Victor Chi Wei Ngai. Auntie Nguyen. Mi Hang Nguyen. Jiao Yu Nhi. Bridget Claire O'Donnell. Feisuan Jing Ong. Adam James Osborne. Brendan Taman McDesmond O'Sullivan-Winther. Yu Zhangi. Shamadapuva Oza. Raveena Payee. Matthew Ma Wuli Parma. Kamenjoy Wenyi Pang. Jun Young Park. Anjanika Nalini Patel. Avinash Bharat Patel. Kapisha Ben Ashkopi Patel. Mital Patel. Shirena Patel. Sunita Rina Patel. Samantha Louise Patterson-Horse. Tessa Ann Pemberton. Peng Ian. Pierre Jeremy Roland-Perez. Matthew John Petit. Steve Phillip. Courtney Anastasia Beatriz-Piazzin. Pauli Melleoni Pickering. Charlotte Nalmi Pahegia. Marta Margozata Plenza. Mark Sugeshevich Plucinoff. Vianti Polaya. Hamish Roderick Polson. William Luan Paul. Navneet Noel Prasad. Sunia Leroy Poluiku. Wujin Ji. Yan Wenqiang. Kailin Chu. Kojin Tkwek. Penelope Mary Quirk. Boun Thomas Manas Radburn. Paya Raiz Rosaini. Nikita Renuran. Katrina Helen Rasmussen. Mansi Natikumar Nathod. Manakshi Devi Viri. Luren. Derek Peter Reni. Michael Paul Rippon. Fraser William Roche. Rebecca Roygaard. Jamie Lee Rollins. Gladys Cecilia Roundtree. Lachlan James Russell. Margi Rani Sarri. Ayesha Sarjdeva. Nathatsalim. Mayim Taufik Sala. Andrew William Sargent. Surat Sawadee Satsanapiti. Gharav Dinesh Satia. Krugakal Ma'alfu Shonkel. Stephanie Ntuyya Sebastian Yohendrian. Shivaneeta Devi Aap Selvaraj. Chuan Yinso. Yuzhya Xia. Yuzhya Xia. Aveshume Shama. Ekta Shama. Jessica Lee Shuo. Leon Goheng Shen. Yucheng Shi. Lacey. Jan Ling Siu. Min Chul Sin. Oliver Thomas Simon. Guilpa Singh. Hakaran Singh. Joshua Singh. Karandeep Singh. Manpreet Singh. Salvendra Karanesh Singh. John Paul Smith. Glen Thomas Smith. Cathy Irene Smith. Matthew Peter Smytherham. Zet Weissner. Audrey Leonita Maria Soegiato. Jamie Hong Song. Ha Rim Song. Ha Won Song. Qiong Jay Son. Swayam Sanjay Soni. Kira Sonnery Sokru. Tenaz Kelly Sotti. Senior Scholar, Business and Economics. Belinda Jane Spree-Wenberg. Aveshka Srirazathar. Monique Stander. Blair Patrick Stevenson. Jessica Emma Stewart. Laura Ann Stitchbury. James Peter Stolten. Joy Jian Siu. Dupika Silek. Yajuan Sun. Lance Robert Talbot. Nigel Keane Hoctane. Ji Zhang Tan. Jingjie Tang. Le Tong. Miriam Toffek. Michael Wei Kiatay. Matthew Andrew Taylor. Zee Che Ting. Sagan Shukuma Tamala. Jaya Tapah. Nicholas Joseph Thomas. Qianse Miao. Stephanie Chiu. Shona Chi Ying-Tiong. Melanie Timmer Te Katch. Rob Shi-Tiong. Wing Fai Tong. Mabelia Taupah. Katie Ann Louisa Topping. Jordan James Tran. Frances Maria Trebuhovic. Jordan Timothy Vitale Swerth-Tuala. Flamel Michelle Turner. Huesiliani Malay Lekin Ualasi Tuolata Malela Unasa. Justin John Joel Young Yu. Thank you, Pro-Chancellor, for conferring the degrees and awarding the diplomas in the first half of this ceremony. One of the great pleasures of graduation is the opportunity to hear performances by students from our acclaimed School of Music. Sylvia Zhang on piano will now form Transcendental A2 number 10 by Lyft. Can you all join with me in thanking Sylvia once again? By the authority invested in me by resolution of the University of Auckland Council, I, Ian Parton, Chancellor, award the diplomas and confer the degrees stated upon those who, within the Faculty of Business and Economics, have satisfied the requirements of this University. I call upon the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, Professor Greg Wichred, to present further graduands in that faculty.  To the degree of Bachelor of Property, Blair-Steward Botherway, Samantha Meredith-Built and a Bachelor of Commerce, Dylan Neville Carmichael, James William Cole, Timothy Shae Dockety, Jared Glen Felton, Logan Simkin-Holyoke, Rajiv Kumar Joshi, Song Li, Sophia Mao, Hillary Christine McNaughton, Caitrin Ellen Pask, Benjamin William Phipps, Jack Theodore Reville, Monju Saka, Graham Roche Shearer, Conor Patrick Joseph Taylor, Justin Tinghua Hien, Peng-Hui Yin. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce Conjoint, Charles Ma, and a Bachelor of Engineering Honours with Second Class Honours First Division in Civil Engineering. Alicia Kate McKinlay and a Bachelor of Property, Lucas Conor McWilliam and a Bachelor of Property, John Bertram Midgley, Bachelor of Property, Jan Barry Miller and a Bachelor of Arts, Sam Yeoh, Florence Ng and a Bachelor of Arts, Amy Francis Osborne and a Bachelor of Arts, Harshal Narendra Patel and a Bachelor of Arts, Lucas Predriere and a Bachelor of Arts, Stephanie Monique Perrin and a Bachelor of Science, Gunjan Vijay Panjabi and a Bachelor of Science, Vincent Paul Q and a Bachelor of Arts, Monique Joy Richardson and a Bachelor of Arts, Annabel Lisa Dulu Robinson and a Bachelor of Arts, Nuhard Hibasad and a Bachelor of Arts, Natalie Julia Saunders and a Bachelor of Arts, Teresa Virginia Scandrette and a Bachelor of Arts, William Kwok Sidnam and a Bachelor of Arts, Kirsty Elizabeth Simpson and a Bachelor of Arts, Anton Karl Albert Smith and a Bachelor of Laws, Natalie Jane Smith and a Bachelor of Arts, Senior Scholar, Business and Economics, Yu Kaiso and a Bachelor of Science, Danielle Jane Stephanie and a Bachelor of Arts, Joseph Alexander Sweeney and a Bachelor of Arts, Sarah Jamie Lee Taken and a Bachelor of Arts, Tara Louisa Toman and a Bachelor of Arts, James Tsai and a Bachelor of Arts, Paramita Turner and a Bachelor of Arts, Senior Scholar, Business and Economics, Sanjit Utam and a Bachelor of Science, Kathleen Nicole Palmeano-Virano and a Bachelor of Arts, Senior Scholar, Business and Economics, Kirstie Lea Vervoot and a Bachelor of Property, Wei Ji Wang and a Bachelor of Property, Stephanie Claire Waterman and a Bachelor of Arts, Kristine Nicole Wilson and a Bachelor of Arts, Jack Xu and a Bachelor of Arts, Min Yue Xu and a Bachelor of Science, Teresa Ganming Yi and a Bachelor of Arts, Roderick Hongshun Yin and a Bachelor of Science, An Qi Yin and a Bachelor of Arts, Tang Jui Yin and a Bachelor of Arts, Simon Kai Sun Yun and a Bachelor of Arts, Nie Zeng and a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Property, Conjoint, Holly Rae Ash, Ash and a Bachelor of Commerce, Milicini Banyayan Brickel and a Bachelor of Commerce, Andrew Ferguson Brown and a Bachelor of Commerce, Shannon Marie Douglas Dunn and a Bachelor of Commerce, Tian Yi Du and a Bachelor of Commerce, Daniel Thruan and a Bachelor of Commerce, Ryan William Larson and a Bachelor of Commerce, Yun Li and a Bachelor of Commerce, Daniel Bain Milmine and a Bachelor of Commerce, Rahul Anil Patel and a Bachelor of Commerce, Mira Avin Desima and a Bachelor of Commerce, Samantha Rose Stratton and a Bachelor of Commerce, Kili, Kei Ning Wong, and a Bachelor of Commerce. Postgraduate Diploma in Property with Merit, Huy Young. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce Honours with First Class Honours, Postgraduate Diploma in Property with Merit, Huy Young. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce Honours with First Class Honours, Benay Mahant in Commercial Law. Sobya Mughal in Marketing. Lisa Roseanne Puke in Management. David William Quig in Accounting and a Bachelor of Commerce. Christian William Inner Surround in Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce. Rebecca Amy Richards in Accounting and a Bachelor of Commerce. Joshua Benjamin Tan in Finance. Tanjian Xiang in Accounting. Finn Matthew Templeton in Finance. Sylvie Marjorie Thrushmarsh in Management. University Graduate Scholar, Andrew James Twart in Economics. Alexander Benjamin Chee Siong Won in Finance. Senior Scholar of Business and Economics, Nicholas Stuart Wilkes in Accounting and a Bachelor of Commerce. Philippa Jane Wright in Marketing. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce Honours with Second Class Honours First Division, Bhavisha Ben Maheshbhai Patel in Marketing. Lekamagi Uvina Mantila Pereira in Economics. Priya Shuresh Prakesh in Marketing. Kate Lynn Tan in Commercial Law and a Bachelor of Commerce. Mikler Nadine Thebo in Commercial Law and a Bachelor of Commerce. Karen Ng in Management. Thomas James Wills in Finance and a Bachelor of Commerce. To the degree of Bachelor of Commerce Honours with Second Class Honours Second Division, Alexander Glenn Watson in Commercial Law and a Bachelor of Commerce. Cheng Xu in Economics. Akadius Zaiwat in International Business. To the degree of Bachelor of Property Honours with First Class Honours, Vincent Shi Yangfeng. To the degree of Bachelor of Property Honours with Second Class Honours First Division, Kou Yul Bajpai, Adam David Curtis. To the degree of Master of Commerce with First Class Honours, Amy Emiko Aolani Bonham in Management. Emma May Fitzgerald in Marketing. University Graduate Scholar Yi Ting Huang in Economics. Menglong Huo in Management. Elena Jane Jacobs in International Business and Rita Lal Marketing. Jessica Yi-On Lee in Marketing. Tian Wern Leong in Economics and a Postgraduate Diploma in Commerce in Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce. Yang Liu in International Business. Elena Andrievna Obushankova in Management. Sarah Elizabeth Pigou in Management. To the degree of Master of Commerce with Second Class Honours First Division, Sir Peter Chattavadi in Management. Nan Li in Finance. Su Ji Li in Finance. To the degree of Master of International Business with First Class Honours, Manas Nanda. Kessie Nia Andrievna Nicha Yava. Miriam Seyfert. Kaitlyn Ann Tatum. To the degree of Master of International Business with Second Class Honours First Division, Danielle Bosch. Rahul Chopra. Xin Tong Geng. Qi Mai Huang. Yu Min Li. Fahad Nahal. Dayana Ramirez Gonzalez. Natalie Amanda Roy. Dominic Schmitz. Yu-Yi Ming Kim. To the degree of Master of International Business with Second Class Honours Second Division, Yu Ling Cheng. Liu Yun Chu. Xiwen Jiao. Vanak Kiet. Fu Mai Nguyen. Yin Xing Piao. Yu Yi Chuan. I now call upon the Vice Chancellor to present the doctoral graduands. Chancellor, I have the honour of presenting to you the doctoral graduands. To the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Sam Mullerfe and Economics. Sam analysed and investigated current New Zealand policy related to the development of geothermal resources. He identified areas of improvement and suggested economic policies that contribute towards reducing depletion rates while allowing electricity generators to operate at a profitable level. Brad James Austin McKenna and Information Systems University Doctoral Scholar. Brad investigated how people use virtual worlds to lobby for social and political change through collective action. His research explored the differences between physical world and virtual world social movements and how technological evolutions impact the way in which they are organised. Parizad Muller in Management and Employment Relations University Doctoral Scholar. Parizad explored generation-wise use of social networking sites and impression management strategies in work context, a phenomenon that is essentially new and evolving in the social world. Her pioneering research explored the developing implications of social media use for individuals and organisations from socio-psychological and demographic perspectives. Parizad. Frederick Chang-Yu Ning an Accounting University Doctoral Scholar. Frederick created a taxonomy to classify patterns of decision-making by firms in relation to their revenue management behaviour and validated this using a comprehensive survey of New Zealand firms. This classification system enables best practice to be identified as well as offering tools for businesses to assess and improve their own revenue management practices. Manuel Jose III Delos Reyes-Oyston in Management. Manuel studied the internationalisation of small New Zealand firms and the role of the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial thinking in internationalisation. His research provides an entrepreneurial perspective on how such firms discover, create and exploit opportunities in international markets. Manuel. Max Eric Rode in Information Systems University Doctoral Scholar. Max designed, implemented and evaluated a software platform which allows the development of applications in a more knowledge-friendly manner. Yongyang Xi in Operations and Supply Chain Management. Yongyang investigated third-party purchase as a value-added service offered by third-party logistics providers based on transaction cost theory. The primary contribution from this research is to help third-party logistics providers gain sustained competitive advantages through offering third-party purchase services. Sharper Vadanovich in Information Systems. Sharper's thesis sought to understand and explore the impact of ubiquitous spaces such as social networking technologies on the wellbeing and development of young people. And in absentia, all those other persons named in the official record qualified for the conferment of a degree or the award of a diploma in the Faculty of Business and Economics. Teaching Excellence Awards. The university places considerable significance on excellence in teaching. It recognises this by making awards each year to teachers who have demonstrated excellence in aspects of teaching. These awards are contestable across the university and signify a truly superior achievement. An award for excellence in any early career excellence in teaching has been made to Mr. Rob Batty in the Department of Commercial Law within the Faculty of Business and Economics. I call upon a student of that faculty, Jim Thompson, to read the citation for Mr. Batty. Everyone who takes commercial law knows Rob. Mention is named to a student who took part of his intellectual property class or was involved with the Honours Course and you will receive a warm response. They will describe him as friendly, approachable, interesting, caring, but most of all they say he was interested. Rob cares about his students. He wants them to perform well, not just because it's his job, but because he wants the students to get the most from their education. One of the criteria for this award was that Rob's teaching was student-centred, inclusive and promoting of engaged and effective learning. It takes special effort and a genuine desire to be a good teacher in order to meet these criteria. To me that describes Rob's teaching very accurately. Law is a dense subject and for most business students the intricacies of the law are not of great interest. They aren't going to go on and sit the bar exam or be lawyers and Rob recognised this. He engaged students by making the content relevant to their interests. His courses focus on what an accountant, business advisor, business owner or analyst needs to know about commercial law. Rob would set assignments with broad guidelines that tackled real life problems. They weren't always popular but they required students to think critically and identify potential legal issues you face in a business world. This is exactly the ability that students need as they go out into their careers and Rob understood this. Under his guidance students are being very well prepared for the careers they head into. As a postgraduate supervisor, Rob was understanding of how students worked through their assignments. His supportive nature was appreciated by all of the Honour students who were inevitably faced with challenges during their research. As a teacher Rob did far more than merely pass on knowledge and this is the key to his success. To receive this award so early in his career is exceptional and a credit to Rob's talent and commitment as a teacher. We are nearing the conclusion of the formal part of the ceremony. On behalf of the university I invite all today's graduates to stand and receive the congratulations of us all. And while you are standing it would be a good time for the graduates to show their appreciation of their families and supporters and staff of the university who have helped them as they achieved their qualifications. This concludes this meeting of council and convocation of the university for the confirmative degrees and the award of diplomas. I now invite you all to stand and sing the first verse of God Defend New Zealand in Māori, then in English. The words are printed on the reverse of the program.