The SRCWA Be Connected Get Online Week Seniors Tech Expo, now in its sixth year, is part of the worldwide “Get on Line Week” movement 16th -23rd October 2023.
Once again we partnered with The City of Vincent who provided the venue The Vincent Community Centre in Leederville Western Australia to present this year’s Expo on Friday 20th October 2023.
Through the Good Things Foundation, we were fortunate enough to secure a Be Connected Grant, which enables SRCWA to once again run a very successful event.
SRCWA State Vice President Graham Bennett officially opened the Expo at 10.00am, which included an introduction to each of the exhibitors. Exhibitors gave a short presentation on their products and services and explained how they can be of help to seniors in their day-to-day life. Martin Yates – TSS Program Manager talked about redundancy and what to do in a power outage to keep digital devices operational. Our guest speaker for the event was nbn Local’s Ashley Merrett Community Ambassador – South West WA. Ashley presented on “Your Digital Legacy”, an important topic and could help your loved ones manage your online accounts after you pass.
Here are some extra resources to help you:
- BeConnected: Managing Passwords
- BeConnected: How to prepare your digital legacy plan | Cyber safety tips | Be Connected (esafety.gov.au)
- ACCAN: How to prepare your digital legacy (accan.org.au)
- The Digital Legacy Association: Digital Legacy Association – Home
- The Digital Beyond: Digital Death and Afterlife Online Services List | The Digital Beyond
- Choice Consumer Advocacy Group: A guide to digital estate planning | CHOICE
There was 10 exhibitors on hand this year to provide help and advice to those in attendance, they included:
- Innogreen Technologies – Technologies for end-to-end smart home solutions as well as training and support with the goal of improving quality of life and technological inclusiveness.
- Injury Matters – Online resources to “Stay on Your Feet” and Online Community Connect Program
- ANZ Bank – Digital literacy support for online banking and account management.
- City of Vincent Library – using the Be Connected Network Free Digital literacy lessons.
- Camera Electronic – Cameras, accessories, and options for seniors, how to digitise old photos and share them.
- Live Up – a free healthy ageing online platform to help older Australians stay independent for longer.
- SRCWA Cricut – How technology can be used for crafting.
- WA Seniors Card – the Safety and Security Rebate. Technology to help keep you safe at home and how to enter the Golden Lens Competition.
- Be Connected Network Partner SRCWA TSS – log on and learn more about using the Be Connected free learning resources or find a Be Connected Partner near their home.
- Telstra – all things 3G 4G and 5G check your device.
On exploring, the benefits of getting online participants received an entry from the sites they interact with into the draw to win a $100 gift card. The winner John was very appreciative of his prize and had visited the Innogreen stand where he was able to explore video doorbell technology and plans to implement it at his place of residence. Remember to visit the WA Seniors Card website to find out about the Safety and Security Rebate.
Our second prize a Camera Electronic Store Card won by Tina who visited the Camera Electronic site and learned the benefits of a dedicated camera as opposed to a smart phone.
Participants enjoyed a healthy and delicious lunch as well as tea coffee and water at the event.
Our grateful thanks go to the organisations and government departments who supported this event, which helped to introduce and encouraged the participants to the wonders of being online and encouraged then to “Try One Thing”. A big thank you to the SRCWA staff and volunteers who worked very hard to facilitate this event.
