IABC - International Association of Business Communication, Wellington, New Zealand

Speech notes for Simon Pleasants speaking at the AGM of IABC Wellington. Confidential bar, The Terrace.

Thanks

Lucy has been an amazing inaugural president. It’s been largely down to her guts, determination and sheer chutzpa that the Wellington Chapter of IABC got off the ground, got sprinting, and got to this signifant milestone in such good shape.

Posted on the website is Lucy’s speech from last year’s official launch where she gives the genesis of IABC’s Wellington Chapter – it’s a worthwhile read. I came into the frame in the National Library auditorium at the end of a session held by the Network of Public Sector Communicators in November 2006, where we had heard about ‘international trends in communication’ from IABC Director Asia Pacific Bish Mukherjee, and about trends in internal and change communications from Melissa Dark and Adrian Cropley from IABC Victoria. They clearly knew their stuff and how to apply it in their professional lives, and they invited anyone interested in IABC to join them afterwards for a chat.

The smallish group of people who sidled down to the stage at the end included Lucy (who had already laid the groundwork), me, Shona Brown, Julia Napier, Anna Kominik and Paul Rayner. Turfed out of the Library, we wandered along Lambton Quay talking about the serious need for an organisation specialising in satisfying the professional development needs of senior communications practitioners in and around the capital. We thought it might be nice to set up a chapter in Wellington in the fullness of time, after careful consideration, after perhaps a steering committee had been formed …

Adrian — with impish grin, infectious positive attitude, and mischievous eye-glint — said, “Now’s good.”

The Kiwis agreed to meet a few days later for coffee, and Lucy had caught Adrian’s strange glint … there was no avoiding the momentum.

So we all owe a vote of thanks to Lucy.

Where we are going

As I see it, satisfying the senior and management level professional development needs of the capital’s communicators sees IABC Wellington focussing on three main themes:

• Personal/career: General management skills; written communication; problem solving and consulting; working with technology and online publication
• Project management: project planning; measuring and communicating our effectiveness, managing client relationships; assessing risk and counselling; budgets; time management
• Organisational knowledge, culture and politics – planning; organisational systems and processes; what the military call ’situational awareness’; marketing strategies and trends;

What we can do

To do that, we’ll be rolling out a range of activities over this year. Among them, I hope to see:

Masterclasses and major seminars – around five or six, with international speakers and useful cases studies addressing topics such as:

• measurement and proving your value to your organisation;
• leadership and communications management
• online communications and new technology
• internal communications

Be Heard networking sessions – around six of these. Informal networking gatherings at a venue like this one, each featuring a kick-off conversation topic, such as:

• the state of communications careers,
• the social science of persuasion, and
• The power of sounds and images.

Corporate social responsibility – the Board has yet to discuss this, but I feel it would be great for the chapter to end the year with an activity where we deliver practical professional help to one or several community groups, charities or volunteer groups.

Mentoring – for those interested in IABC’s internationally recognised qualifications such as:

• Gold Quill Awards – ideal to get serious recognitioon for a major communications project from concept, through planning to implementation, measurement and expansion. Also as a kisk-off for …
• The Accredited Business Communicator ABC – takes 2 years, exam, worth it.

What do you, the members want?

But that’s only a few ideas – I’d like to hear more from you the members – and in tune with IABC’s ethos of setting measurable and achievable goals and knowing one’s audience, we’re doing our own research on what you members of IABC Wellington want out of your involvement. We want to know how IABC Wellington can deliver events that best meet our members’ needs in terms of communications professional development. All members are invited to complete a quick survey AND go in the draw for a $50 PrezzyCard.

This survey will only take a few minutes and your responses are anonymous – but for the prize draw you need to enter your email address. The survey will close on 13 March and the results will be used to inform IABC Wellington’s event plans, newsletters and website developments. We will provide a summary of the feedback in our next newsletter.

By this time next year I would like to be able to stand here and report to members that the chapter has met and surpassed expectations.

That brings our AGM to a close. Thank you very much. Please help yourselves to refreshments and we’ll introduce our speaker in about 5-10 minutes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Meetings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.