The greats of Ray White Rural gather and connect

RAY White Rural members from every corner of the country gathered on the Gold Coast to share stories from the outback and hear from some of the highest performers in the group’s history.

Ray White’s Connect Conference 2022, the biggest of the 120 year old company’s history, saw almost 3000 attendees gathering for the first time in four years.

Pip Courtney, a doyen of regional journalism in Australia and longstanding host of the ABC’s Landline, drew in a big crowd for her breakout session.

Ms Courtney, who is one of the foremost rural journalists in the country, shared some of her career highlights and stories that have been most memorable.

“One of the joys of my job is showing city and country people what goes on in Australia's rural and remote communities; the beautiful, the harsh, the vast and the wild,” Ms Courtney said.

“Farmers need to be understood and valued by their customers, and people need to have an appreciation for where their food, drinks and fibres come from,”

“Australian farmers are actually some of the least subsidised in the world, and because of this, they have become the most innovative and creative,” she said.

“Often the media portray farmers as not very tech savvy, stuck in their ways, and disconnected. But the farmers I meet are innovators and risk takers, who are at the forefront of change and progress in their industry.”

Ms Courtney said that she had followed the career of her father into journalism, after connecting with him about his work at a young age.

“I inherited the belief from my Dad that journalism could change communities, hold politicians accountable, and really provide insight and unlock emotions for people,” she said.

“My job is endlessly interesting; I am always learning and often in awe of the subjects in our stories,”

“Our audience is incredibly loyal and they really back the farmers that we profile. My aim is to blow the incorrect trope of ‘whinging farmers’ right out of the water,” Ms Courtney said.

Following Pip Courtney and her beautiful collection of tales from the outback, three high performers from the Ray White Rural network opened up and imparted some of their own wisdom.

Matt White, Executive Director of Ray White Rural and Livestock and great-grandson of Ray White, interviewed agents who were high-performing athletes in a former life, and what lessons they learnt to apply to their businesses.

Ben Emms, a Chairman’s Elite agent for two consecutive years and director of Ray White Emms Mooney based in the Bathurst region, is a champion shooter.

Mr Emms represented Australia in several rifle categories and competitions including the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

“I grew up rurally and was surrounded by shooting, which is a sport really that you are born into; My grandfather had captained New South Wales, and my father also was a shooter,” Mr Emms said.

“I made my first state team in 2009, and it became something that I really loved and wondered how far it could take me,”

“You have to set your goal and plan out your goal. When I started to aim high in my shooting career, I had to lay out all the steps along the way to figure out how I needed to get there.

The commitment and drive that you have to put into elite sport is immense; hours and hours of preparation and training,” Mr Emms said.

The pro-shooter spoke about real estate and how it can be a very individualistic career, but stressed the importance of working as a team.

“My biggest learning of sport that can be applied to real estate, is that if you work well together as a team, you will always perform better than if you were working by yourself.”

Fiona Neill was in the Australian Equestrian team and the 1988 Olympic squad. Ms Neill commenced her real estate career in 2015, has consistently achieved Premier status, taking enormous pride in her service levels with a current NPS score of 100.

Fiona grew up in Wahroonga in the 1970s where her passion and love for horses grew. With a number of ups and downs in her equestrian career, Ms Neil certainly learned how to ‘get back on the horse’.

“Ray White really hands you all the tools to succeed. In the same way you prepare for a sporting event, if you don’t prepare for a listing presentation how can you expect to win it?” Ms Neill said.

Anthony Stevens, known for navigating some of the largest property sales on the eastern seaboard, is an AFL hall of famer, having been inducted for his stellar career back in 2017. The North Melbourne great played 292 games for the Kangaroos, winning two premierships, and two club best and fairest.

“As a young kid growing up on a dairy farm in the Golden Valley area along the Murray River near Shepparton in Victoria, we had some hard times. We were paying 22 per cent interest on the money borrowed for the farm, and milk prices were rock bottom,” Mr Stevens said.

After climbing through the AFL ranks quickly as a teenager and eventually being drafted for North Melbourne, Mr Stevens went on to win two grand finals.

“The biggest thing in any type of sport is to reach your peak and talent, but then keep that consistency going over a long period of time,”

Having only been in real estate for five years, Mr Stevens has applied the same strategy in his career.

“You will find success if you have the processes and goals set up correctly for your business,” he said.

“If you work as a team, you will get better results. Look after your team, that’s what’s important.”

To close off a brilliant afternoon of rural content, some of the finest young auctioneers showed off their skills at the national livestock auctioneering championships.

Hosted by Paton Fitzsimons, national livestock manager at Ray White Rural & Livestock, the contest saw three budding young auctioneers take to the stage.

Baden Chaffey, Liam Kirkwood and Blake O’Reilly competed and ultimately helped raise $11,200 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Liam Kirkwood was crowned champion.

Ray White's Connect 2022 Conference was held at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre from August 8 to the 9th.