100th Birthday for course

This March marked the l00th staging of
NZIM’s Executive Staff Course, now known as ESCO, The Discovery.
From humble beginnings in 1966 when 23 participants from throughout the South Island and Wellington attended the inaugural Executive Staff Course, it now has six stagings year and attracts people from as far afield as Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Singapore, the USA and even Poland.
The courses were held in Hanmer for the first five years, after which Lincoln University became the venue until 1985, and since then it’s been shared between the Quality Commodore Hotel in Christchurch and the Sovereign Hotel in Methven.
The £100 price tag to attend in 1966 was considered expensive given that one day course at that time was mere £3-£4, but even back then companies considered it good value for money (as indeed they still do today).
Around 3000 people have accepted the challenge of this life changing, personal development experience to date, making it one of the most successful programmes of its type in Australasia.
A major contributor to its success is the group of men and women who’ve given of their spare time to be directors, faculty and facilitators. The other strength of the course is the continued revision of content to meet the changes in management in today’s rapidly changing environment.