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With a record number of attendees, a good time was had by all at the 2026 NSW Volunteer Managers Canoonference. This year for the first time we had volunteer managers joining us from out of state, with two coming up from Tassie and one coming down from Darwin. It was also the first time we tried running the conference concurrently with the State Palliative Care Conference giving us the benefit of a nicer venue.

Conference opened for both us and state attendees with a powerful story of culture and connection from mob up in South West Rocks. Volunteer Managers came back to their conference room to find it full of pettable pooches brought in by Nepean Therapy Dogs.

Professor Megan Best then shared with us some insights from her ongoing research into volunteer-led volunteer biography programs. Emerging findings demonstrate the incredible meaning and value clients get from such programs and highlight the need to better resource the volunteer managers spearheading them.

We learned about practical ways to connect with multicultural communities from Dipti Zachariah and how to build a volunteer workforce that reflects the diversity of the community served. Dr Patricia Mackey from Charles Sturt University and Kate Bowman then shared early findings from their ongoing research into the impact of palliative care volunteers.

Next up was an interactive workshop delivered by Melanie Liddell from Volunteering WA. She showed us simple ways of identifying intended outcomes, developing meaningful indicators, and practical approaches to collecting evidence designed to demonstrate the impact of volunteers.

Day one of conference concluded at the Sydney Cidery bar where Volunteer Managers got to enjoy each other’s company without having to learn anything at the same time. Dinner and drinks in good company was a great way to end a very full day.

Day two kicked off with Tracey O’Neill’s The Expert Nobody Consulted workshop. She helped us learn ways to advocate for our programs and be rewarded with resources. Following that we had three managers from our network present on their own research projects. Janet Pearce from FWLHD shared how volunteers have been making a difference in Broken Hill, Maree (Monty) Montgomery from Murrumbidgee LHD talked about patient experiences gathered using the new ConsideRATE tool, and Kylie Clark talked about the powerful changes brought about by music therapy in Nepean Hospital.

The training resources swap meet led by Sarah Potter was a conference favourite with a variety of videos and tools being shared by the group. Everyone seemed keen to add these novelties to their own training repertoires.

To close conference we came back together with the state conference attendees for a powerful plenary. Nadine Champion is an inspiring speaker, author and awarded martial artist who knows what it means to use “10 Seconds of Courage” to overcome obstacles and reach her potential. An energetic, dynamic and uplifting presentation, it was the perfect way to conclude our conference and leave equipped with some new tools.

A big thank you to all the volunteer managers who joined us for conference this year. Your engagement helps drive the network and build a fantastic community of practice. Another big thanks goes to Friends of Palliative Care who generously sponsored the registration and accommodation for three regional manager’s. Palliative Care NSW covered the accommodations for four volunteer managers with our regional managers subsidy.

The 2026 NSW Volunteer Managers Conference was supported by the NSW Government.

See some of the fun we had by checking out this short video. Click here.