Sarah Moore's Farewell Speech for Peter Harper on behalf of the Staff

Peter Harper Retirement Speech - delivered by Sarah Moore, on behalf of the Visual Connections team – 28 November, 2024.

 You have heard from Mitch on Peter Harper from the Board and industry perspective but I would like to share with you a little about Pete from our side, the team who work with him every day. Members of our team have been working with Pete for over 18 years. You don’t work with a person for that long if you don’t respect them and enjoy working together, and all members of our team certainly feel this.

Sarah Moore, GM - Exhibitions & Events, spoke on behalf of the Visual Connections team.

 Pete, you are going to have to hold on here, as Mitch also mentioned, we know you don’t like the spotlight, but tonight is all about you, your achievements, what you have built and from our perspective the great boss and friend you are. You deserve this, so try and enjoy it.

When Peter told our team that he was going to retire at the end of this year, there was shock and tears around the table. Definitely not shock, as Peter has been thinking about it for a little while now, but shock that he has committed it and we were going to lose our boss.

In preparing for this speech, the team and I have put together some insights into the boss, Pete, we know.

Call it sales, call it persuasion, call it negotiation, call it collaboration - whatever you call it, Peter is a master of the art. He has secured the exhibitors and sponsors which have made our exhibitions and events so valuable to the industry. He has sold advertising so we could keep the industry informed through our publications. More recently, he pulled off one of the greatest coups of all time when he secured the agreement of all our fellow industry associations to support our Careers Initiative- Sign & Print Career Connections. It was a common discussion in our office about what deal Peter has done now!

The Sign and Print Careers Connections initiative that started many, many years ago and has been Peters pet project through his time at Visual Connections. Peter would still be able to tell you stories about driving the bus around with the original groups of students, what businesses they visited and stories of particular students like the one who still haunts him whose parents chose for him to stuff pillows, as the hourly rate was better than being an apprentice in the sign industry.

Peter worked so hard to convince them about the long-term career in our industry, which pillow stuffing did not have. 

But there are also many wonderful stories too like the mother and daughter who both signed up as apprentices and more recently at the Brisbane show this year the young man who visited our stand at the Brisbane careers expo and loved it and brought his parents to VI Brisbane and signed up for an apprenticeship.

People trust Peter. They know they can rely on his word, because he has proved it, time and time again. That's a rare quality, and in stark contrast to many who operate in business today. Peter has the industry knowledge and experience to back this up. 

Peter will tell you black and white how something is, sometimes with some colourful language but there is no way you can misinterpret what he says.

Personally, Pete and I have not always seen eye to eye on some things, and have had some very honest and some would say interesting discussions on certain topics. But Peter has always listened to my crazy ideas and in the few times we have not agreed we have always worked out the right approach. I don’t think Pete will miss me walking into his office saying “Hey Pete, I’ve had an idea!”.

Our Editor, Rob. remembers Peter once saying that managers and CEOs need to lead by example, they must get their hands dirty. That typifies Peter. What many don’t know is that he’s one of the first onsite at the trade shows for bump in, and used to be the last to leave. This means for a trade show that we get access at midnight, Peter is there, and in Pete’s typically fashion, probably half an hour early, and meets with the venue and contractors. Charly and I have tried so hard to convince him to share the midnight bump ins with us, but there is no way he would let us be there. This is also the Peter/dad protection mode and making sure he looks after us. Despite ill-health, surgery, and physical pain, Pete puts the needs of others before himself. 

There is also a wide variety of stories from show days, at a lot of these fall into the category of what happens at a show stays at a show, but some little snippets we would like to share are Peter standing on the catwalk of the old SCEC with a microphone naming exhibitors who were too slow to put their hi vis on and were holding up opening the loading dock doors for bump out, or the show when I had just had a baby less a month and half before and Peter had delayed his knee surgery for the show, so if you walked into our organisers office I was in one corner breastfeeding my baby Rylan and Peter was in the other corner with his pants rolled up icing his knee. You did not want to go to the fridge in that organiser office as it was filled with ice for Pete and breastmilk from me. But, in true Pete fashion we made it work and the show went off without a hitch!

We have large crates that take all our organiser goods to our shows, I have been working with Pete for over 16 years and its only in the last couple of years he has let me pack these crates. The first time was he was terribly sick and I did it when he was at home in bed. He sneakily comes into the office the weekend before we have to do the crates, pulls them all out of storage, packs everything in them and has them ready when we come back to the office the next week. Its not that he doesn’t trust us, but it’s a dirty, physical, hard job and Pete will get in there and do it to save us having to do it. It has been a challenge sometimes with some of the interesting things we have pulled out of the crates at the show, but nothing is ever forgotten, we just might have some additional items thrown in too, because you never know!

Pete has a wicked sense of humour. If you are lucky enough to see that side of Pete we know you would agree. Some of you may also have hear the raucous laughter from our organiser office at shows or our office in Epping, most of the time from something Peter has said!

Working with Pete you know he has your back, no matter what. Unfortunately, none of us are perfect, but Pete has always supported us when things go wrong and we are never afraid of going to him when something has been messed up. He works through any issue with us and having a boss who backs you up like that is invaluable and so appreciated by our team. 

Peter trusts each and every one of our team and makes sure we know that. He supports us when taking on new challenges and we all know he has confidence in us.

A number of our team are lucky enough to get called Kiddo from Pete, which is the best kind of endearment, as for Pete, family always comes first, which he proved to us from day one. His family comes first and he makes sure ours does too. 

The major common theme from all of our team is Pete’s personal support to all of us. We each have our own many, many stories of this when we have been going through tough times. Our whole team experienced it during COVID, when Peter skilfully managed internal finances and government aid to keep our team together, and worked tirelessly to lead us through with innovative initiatives. And all many of us have felt it during tough times in our own lives, when we have been given the grace, patience, encouragement and support we needed to balance our professional careers with our personal lives and losses. The value of this can't be overstated and Pete’s support and love for our team made the most difficult times for all of us a little easier to manage. Our Pete does have a big, beautiful soft heart.

Peter is one of those rare individuals that you constantly learn from, admire, and see really make a difference. For our team, it’s been an honour and pleasure to work for, and with him. 

Peter is more than a boss to us. He is a mentor, advisor, supporter and friend. And we will miss him.

Thank you.