TripAdvisor at SW Focus

Small to medium businesses will benefit from the advice and knowledge on offer at this year's South West Focus Conference, according to South West Development Commission's strategic manager of industry and business, Patrick Warrand.

The conference, based on the South West Regional Blueprint and associated opportunities for businesses and industries, will run from July 1-2 at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre.

Mr Warrand said small to medium businesses from Busselton to Harvey and even Manjimup would receive advice and learn about opportunities to maximise their outputs and profits as the region grows.

"There are some good key industry experts who will talk about how business and industry can grow," he said.

"If you run a small to medium business, this is a good opportunity to learn how to expand and grow."

A special workshop by the Australian representative of TripAdvisor has also been recently announced.

TripAdvisor is the world's biggest travel site, reaching 340 million unique monthly visitors and containing more than 225 million reviews and opinions of more than 4.9 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions.

Mr Warrand said the workshop would help people in the restaurant, catering and tourism industry maximise their use of the website as well as basic internet skills.

"If you're one of these businesses, this is the thing to come to," he said.

A number of guest speakers have already been announced to speak at the conference.

These include renowned finance and economics commentator Michael Pascoe, futurist and leadership expert Gihan Perera, Quantum Market Research's Australia SCAN strategy planner consultant David Chalke, and WA's Regional Development Minister Terry Redman.

Mr Warrand said the key experts were coming to talk about the Australian economy as well as give quality advice.

"There are some good key industry experts who will talk about how business and industry can grow," he said. "This is a wonderful opportunity for businesses to get in the know."