WorldSkills champ hunt
A TAFE teacher for the past 15 years, he is the 2019 joinery skills competition manager at the event which is known as the ‘Olympics of Skills’ and is responsible for devising the project to be tackled by joinery competitors from 24 countries, including Australia.
Utilising social media with help from translators to coordinate the joinery section of the competition, he first visited Russia in January for face-to-face meetings where he was met by temperatures of -23 degrees, and admitted with a laugh that it was the first time he’d ever seen snow.
“In that week we sat down with the workshop managers there and nutted out everything,” he said.
Mr Iori says the competitions are about giving young apprentices the opportunity to put their skills up against other young people from around the world and to challenge themselves.
“They learn to think for themselves and trust their instincts,” he said.
“They might start as a green apprentice at regional level but they grow and have an opportunity to represent their country and their skill level advances at every level of competition.”
Refusing to give any hints as to what joinery competitors will be faced with, his only comment is that with some 130 elements to each be judged, it “is definitely going to be challenging project”.
