Address by 2005-2006 International President

Kay E. Enlow CPS/CAP

2006 International Convention and Education Forum

International Association of Administrative Professionals

Reno, Nevada, August 8, 2006

My theme this year has been "Creating Excellence," and with my theme being creative in nature,

I wanted to culminate my term by reporting this year-end address in a little different way. Imagine that, ME, being different!  I'm so excited about the information I'm about to share because this has been such an awesome year. 

To give you a true flavor of what's going on in your association, I'm first going to briefly touch upon the work that's been done by each department at Headquarters, because I feel it's important for the members to know and understand the depth and breadth of staff's involvement in our association's success. 

Executive Director Don Bretthauer touched upon some of these points in his address, but there is just SO MUCH great information that I wanted to expand upon the key points as well. Then, I will give you a brief overview of some of the opportunities I have had, personally, to represent the members during my presidency.

There is an art form in the world of painting called pointillism, where the artist uses small dabs of colors, strategically placed side by side so that the brain blends them together to create the image. This is a well-known work using pointillism by an artist name Georges-Pierre Seurat titled, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” (or more commonly known as Sunday in the Park). 

It's hard to see each little brush stroke used to create this piece of art, but if you look closely,

you'll see each tiny stroke of paint a little better and how they blend together to form the big picture. This morning I am going to use a "pointillistic" approach to my President's Message. 

As I share our 2005-2006 highlights, think of each "point" shared as a brush stroke of color...

and I think you'll all agree that, by "Creating Excellence" in each area of our association, we've truly created an IAAP masterpiece! 

It is impossible to celebrate our successes without celebrating the PEOPLE - so what better place to begin our masterpiece than Membership. I am SO excited to report that, for the second consecutive year, membership in IAAP has shown positive growth, with a net increase of 480 members over year-end 2004-2005. The total number of members in IAAP on June 30, 2006 was 27,911. I think it's exciting to note that the last time membership exceeded 27,911 members was 15 years ago, at the end of the 1990-91 fiscal year, when membership stood at 29,039.

And...Talk about "Creating Excellence,"...Thirty of our 36 divisions finished with a net gain in membership and 12 divisions finished with a net gain in new chapter development. A record was broken during our 2005-2006 year for the number of Distinguished Division Presidents, with a total of 15, representing EVERY District in our association...all 15 of them are here with us in Reno! They will be receiving their Distinguished Division President rings at Thursday evening's banquet.

The IAAP Student Chapter program had a very successful growth year in 2005-2006, too, with 24 new Student Chapters chartered. Our association now has 149 Student Chapters, encompassing 1,932 students and advisors.

What would an IAAP year be like without a few competitive games? "Great results" was definitely the name of the game for the 18th annual Avery Great Results Chapter Achievement Awards again this year.  A record 298 chapters participated in this prestigious awards program which recognizes chapters for attaining excellence in strategic planning, chapter programming, membership recruitment and retention, chapter operations and other areas. And this year, Avery added an award for divisions called the Division Prestige Award. A total of 27 divisions applied for this first ever award. The criteria for the division award were based upon succession, leadership and strategic planning; offering speakers' bureaus; supporting and attaining membership growth; and promoting education and professional certification.

IAAP's Information Technology Department  has been very busy with projects that are both challenging and exciting, one of which is focused on improving the month-end reporting system to make it more intuitive and useful to our leaders. Those of you attending the Post Convention Leadership Workshop will hear a great deal more about the revised and improved reports system.

Another area I/T is working on involves creating new and inventive systems to solve association issues. At the top of this list is creating a solution that gives chapters the ability to create and maintain a professional website with no technical knowledge needed. You'll hear more about this advanced community web-based software when Executive Director Bretthauer and I conduct our presentation on the 2006-2010 Strategic Plan Wednesday morning.

In the area of Certification, during the 2005-2006 IAAP year, 300 candidates tested in the CPS and CAP exam programs. Since the first CPS exam was administered in 1951, more than 64,000 individuals have achieved the CPS rating and approximately 27,000 have remained current through recertification. More than 3,800 individuals have achieved the CAP rating since its inception in May 2001, and over 3,700 have remained current through recertification.

Many IAAP chapters and divisions have assisted their CPS and CAP holders in gaining recertification points by providing continuing education programs at their monthly meetings. I'm pleased to report that more than 1,000 chapter and division educational programs were approved for recertification points during this fiscal year. 

Also this year, IAAP partnered with Microsoft to provide a series of Web casts, each of which provided recertification points for CPS and CAP holders... and our Certification Manager developed an online form to aid in the tracking of recertification points. I'd like to take this time to thank our Institute for Certification's Educators Group for their tireless efforts in overseeing the certification exams and developing new exam questions.  They do so much for us - ALL on a strictly volunteer basis! 

IAAP's Communications Department  also had an eventful year. Our Bits & Bytes newsletter was renamed IAAP Connections. Delivered bi-monthly, IAAP Connections now comes directly to members' e-mail inboxes, with a new format and style designed to allow a quick read for today's busy admin!  

Our Communications Department also continues to do an outstanding job reviewing daily Bulletin Board discussions, offering timely responses and pertinent information to members' questions.

In addition, the Communications Department leads the publicity and public relations for the annual celebration of Administrative Professionals Week (or APW), which remains our highest-visibility opportunity -- for both IAAP and the administrative profession.  The 2006 APW media campaign produced over 100 placements that named IAAP and supported our key messages, in newspapers reaching over 10.5 million readers.  In addition, our chapters continue to do an extraordinary job promoting IAAP and the profession through APD and APW events!

Our IAAP HQ staff continues to focus on the important role of monitoring current trends and practices in the administrative profession, and serves as a clearinghouse for information and the latest research findings.  This year, IAAP and OfficeTeam partnered on a research study on the management/assistant relationship. Some of the key findings from that study are available in the 2005-2006 Annual Report, which will be accessible on-line shortly after your return from convention.

IAAP's Education and Training Department co-hosted a series of five Web casts with Microsoft Work Essentials, including topics ranging from Excel solutions to e-mail risks. A record-breaking number attended, wowing Microsoft's staff...and a Web cast on productivity is planned for mid-August with convention presenter Laura Stack- so watch for details by e-mail.

Many IAAP members learned more about handling "Grace Under Pressure" at their division meetings, as this year's Division Workshop was presented. With the increased time constraints being placed on our HQ Staff and the minimal number of requests for these division meeting workshops, the Board made the difficult decision that these programs will not be offered going forward, so that the programs' creator, Dr. Susan Fenner, can focus her energies on other more relevant projects. You can, though, still access past programs from the IAAP Web site. 

The Annual Briefing held on Administrative Professionals Day was another co-hosted event by IAAP, Targeted Learning Corporation and OfficeTeam.  I had the opportunity to share the stage with Dr. Stephen Covey, renowned author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and noted author and trainer, Jackie Freiberg. What an experience THAT was for me, personally -- rrom my professional "make-up call"...to the opportunity to see local IAAP members seated in the studio audience....to meeting Dr. Covey and Jackie Freiberg. It was awesome!  And I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet OfficeTeam's 2006 Administrative Excellence Award Winner, Nancy Brown, from Ontario, Canada. This year, more than 350 companies and 30,000 individuals participated in the satellite celebration of APD. 

The 2005-2006 year offered excellent opportunities for attendees to learn about Creating Calm Out of Chaos at the October 2005 Certification Conference, held at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Maryland. In addition, we maxed out attendance at the Professional Education Conference in Las Vegas entitled, ReWork The Future, where attendees looked at future trends and how they could reposition their careers to take advantage of them.

This was the first full year of the production of OfficePro magazine by our in-house Editorial staff, and we've used our flexibility to the fullest. I hope you received your copy of the FIRST ever OfficePro Executive Edition -- full of articles targeted at the people we support, and poly-bagged with the May issue of our magazine. This special edition has and continues to raise awareness about IAAP and the benefits provided our members, as well as how we can help employers and the workplace.  I hope you enjoyed this first Edition…and even more important, I hope you shared it with your executive! 

Last year, we made a decision to transition the sales and marketing component of our operations from a major advertising and publishing company to an in-house Corporate Relations function, and I'm pleased to report that this decision yielded success in two key areas for the Association. 

First, bringing this function in-house enabled our Corporate Relations Manager the opportunity to focus his energies on corporate sponsorships - with great results:  15 corporate sponsors that are investing $372,501 to support our mission. This represents a 40% increase over last year in new corporate revenue. 

Second, the 2005-2006 fiscal year finished with approximately $389,000 in gross advertising revenue for OfficePro magazine.  This represents the second-highest advertising revenue total in the Association's history coupled with a significant reduction in expenses associated with the sales and marketing of the magazine.

Our Accounting Staff continues to do an awesome job guarding our financial situation and Treasurer Shamali will provide details on IAAP's financial reports in her report tomorrow, but I did want to say how pleased I am that IAAP's combined statements only showed a loss of $400. 

And finally,  as I reflect back on this past year, I must mention one of the most challenging issues my team was handed.  It was August 31...when Hurricane Katrina struck the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with a vengeance, changing the lives of tens of thousands of Americans, many of whom are still being affected and trying to rebuild their lives.

Your International Board of Directors and Headquarters staff realized that this event would most likely alter our plans for the 2006 International Convention and Education Forum. Staff began assessing the situation immediately; keeping the Board updated every step of the way. Headquarters began communicating with the staff of the Riverside Hilton in New Orleans as soon as the situation allowed. Most of the hotel staff had been relocated and were working out of friends or relatives' homes outside of the storm-ravaged area.

We all saw those devastating images... and the International Board felt strongly that we needed to try and relocate our 2006 convention until New Orleans had a chance to recover. Our HQ staff worked diligently with the Riverside Hilton and (at that time) the Reno Hilton staffs to flip our convention dates for Reno and New Orleans.  Naturally, having to deal with this situation was not easy...it was a very difficult thing to do, especially given the lives impacted by the devastation. 

But I'm so pleased with staff's efforts to deal head on with this crucial development and sincerely appreciate the flexibility of the Hilton properties to allow us to be here now. This is going to be a GREAT convention here in Reno and I'm confident that New Orleans will be ready for us in 2008! 

Wouldn't you agree that our IAAP Headquarters staff has served us well this year? 

During my incoming president's remarks last July in Denver, I asked you to focus on four key areas during our "Creating Excellence" year. 

Using the I-A-A-P acronym, the first area was "I" - for Innovation, which had us continuing to step "outside the box" as we transitioned from President Peay's Innovation Advances Administrative Professionals year by identifying ways we could make a difference - both in the workplace AND in our personal lives.

The second area of focus was "A," becoming more Actively involved in our association... and then I asked that you "A" - Acknowledge others' accomplishments ...and my final focal point was on "P" - promoting a Positive image.

This past November your International Board and Headquarters staff managers spent a day and a half developing a very innovative strategic plan that focuses our energies on the "Career-Minded Administrative Professional." I am SO EXCITED about the opportunities this strategic plan offers our members, and I hope each of you will embrace it and become actively involved in the plan in the years ahead.  Executive Director Bretthauer and I will be discussing the plan and how you can personally impact it during Wednesday morning's business session. 

Even though most of the implementation of this plan will be initiated during President-Elect Chandler's term, the International Board has already used the established focus of "Career-Minded" admins as guidance for many of the decisions we've made this year.

Again, I am SO excited about the future direction of our association!

When it comes to Active Involvement, I certainly witnessed first hand many of you playing active roles in your chapters and divisions.  As I said at the beginning of my remarks, this has been quite a remarkable year for me, personally. 

I've been so blessed to have had total support of my company, Hallmark Cards, my current manager, Director of Employee Relations Darrell Dryer, and my husband, Steve, as I've personally been quite actively involved and away from my office a total of 39.5 work days and another 10 full weekends away from my husband since assuming the presidency last July...

and I've logged over 38,644 miles in the air and on the ground attending conferences and workshops, chapter meetings and anniversary celebrations, Board meetings, RTF Trustees' meetings, annual division meetings, strategic planning sessions, fund-raising auctions,

installations, chapter IMPACT recruitment meetings...the list goes on and on, and I can tell you that getting out among you members has been the very BEST part of this job. You have been so warm and hospitable, and truly made me feel like "Special K!"  YOUR active involvement has been evident every place I've traveled.

I've also had an opportunity to read many of your chapter and division newsletters... and you readily accepted the challenge I set forth to Acknowledge Accomplishments - and you did it in grand style!  Members were frequently highlighted in your newsletters and Updates, and I even observed lots of recognition taking place at the meetings and special events I had an opportunity to attend throughout the year - thank you for your efforts to recognize your peers, taking ownership in the Acknowledging Accomplishments portion of my theme!

Thank you so very much for REALLY embracing the true meaning behind my theme and palette logo - and that was to make it a COLORFUL year...have FUN, and yet remain focused on IAAP's vision to "inspire and equip all administrative professionals to attain excellence!"

And what a perfect segue way into the area of promoting a Positive image!  I believe this would be an excellent time to share four key opportunities where I feel I was able to promote a positive image and represent IAAP's membership during my presidency. 

I've already touched upon my involvement in the Administrative Professionals Day Satellite Briefing, but I wanted to just briefly report on my trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Executive Director Bretthauer for a two-day whirlwind trip dubbed the "Corporate Knock-Out Campaign" in early October, where we visited admins, executives and educators sharing the value of IAAP... then immediately following the Certification Seminar in Cambridge, Maryland October 17-19, we traveled to Nice, France, to attend the European Management Assistants' (or EUMA) Conference.  And the fourth opportunity we had to promote a positive image was just this past June at the Society for Human Resource Managers (or SHRM) Conference in Washington, D.C.

When Big D Chapter's Elaine Harrison CPS/CAP contacted Don and me in the spring of 2005, she advanced an idea she referred to as a "Corporate Knock-Out Campaign," in which she envisioned taking the benefits of IAAP "on the road" in her home town of Dallas, Texas... and while we're there, why don't we do the same thing the NEXT day in Fort Worth?  We talked with admins at one company for about an hour, then drove to the next location and spoke to members of management about IAAP... then we were off to the next company, with a brief stop to visit with educators at a nearby university. 

At the end of our day in Dallas, members from local chapters joined us for dinner. Then the next day it was a repeat of day one - on the Fort Worth side of the area! Little did we know how ACCURATE Elaine's title "knock-out" campaign would be...we were absolutely EXHAUSTED...

but, oh what an incredible opportunity to promote our association!  

So much so, in fact, that your International Board and HQ staff are prepared to continue this sort of activity in major cities going forward...and the concept has been included within the 2006-2010 Strategic Plan. 

My travels to the EUMA Conference in Nice, France was my first trip outside the U.S. and Canada, so I was extremely excited from the very start.  The city of Nice was absolutely beautiful and Executive Director Bretthauer and I were treated so warmly by the EUMA members. 

It was my good fortune to serve as spokesperson for a break-out session, reporting back to the entire assembly highlighting our group's discussions, and I was later featured in an article in EUMA's professional magazine, proActive regarding my first-time experience! The focus of the EUMA Conference this past year was on the Facing the Impact of the Aging Workforce, and the issues that go along with generational differences and the numbers of Baby Boomers in today's workforce. I found it interesting that they're facing similar issues in Europe that we face here in the U.S. and Canada.  Truly an awesome opportunity for me!

The fourth area that afforded me an opportunity to promote a positive image of our profession and the association was attending the Society for Human Resource Managers (or SHRM) Conference in Washington, D.C. this past June. A highlight of the conference for me was the chance to hear Retired General Colin Powell speak to the assembly.  What an inspirational

man he is...I felt as though he was speaking directly to ME - and he had me laughing and crying throughout his hour-long presentation! Of course, our reason for attending the SHRM conference, was to participate in the Office Expo.  This year, Executive Director Bretthauer, Education & Professional Development Manager Fenner and I worked the booth, promoting the benefits of IAAP to HR professionals attending the conference.  Their Expo is HUGE...and it was obvious that most of the attendees had specific vendors already "mapped out" to visit, most of which specifically related to their respective HR responsibilities.  Those who DID stop by our booth were very interested in what we offered the administrative professional.  They were especially interested in our certification programs, and were impressed when they learned that IAAP offered administrative professionals what SHRM offers HR professionals - an opportunity to network with others in our profession; educational seminars, workshops and conferences; and an avenue for personal and professional growth. 

Yes, this has been an extremely successful year... and for ME, it has been even better than I had ever expected!  Don't get me wrong...serving as your International President is a HUGE job - it's quite time-consuming and the decisions that must sometimes be made are not always positively received... but oh, what a learning opportunity! I have been so very blessed to serve in this capacity, so I'd like to wrap up my remarks this morning by recognizing the most super fantastic team anyone could ever imagine...and it's with a great deal of pride, passion, and sincere appreciation for a most excellent and exceptional "Creating Excellence" year that I thank each of you for your hard work and dedication to the team.   

First, to my husband, Steve, my manager, Darrell, and to my peers and management at Hallmark Cards:  I sincerely could not have fulfilled the duties of this role without your support and willingness to "share" me this past year! From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

To my own Hallmark Chapter members, thank you so very much for your support during all my years on the International Board...so many of you have been right beside me every step of the way, and I cannot thank you enough for the confidence you've shown in me! 

I'm excited about stepping back into chapter leadership immediately following convention as our chapter's newsletter chair...and yes, I promise to get the first issue out yet this month!

To the members of Missouri Division...thank YOU!  I has been such an honor to represent you this year as International President, and your love and support is sincerely appreciated!  I have to tell you...I even had one Division member offer to do my ironing!  And no, I didn't take her up on it -- I did my own…but the thought behind the offer was awesome!

And to my own Southwest District...you ROCK!  Although I've had to remain neutral while serving on the International Board, I've been watching you...and you have made me proud! Thanks for all of YOUR support over the years, too!

And to my 2005-2006 TEAM...my sincere thanks to our IAAP Headquarters staff. We are so blessed to have these individuals working for us...IAAP is so much more than just a J-O-B to our staff. They sincerely care about the members AND the future of our Association...Staff, you never cease to amaze me, and I can't thank you enough for always being there when I needed your help, expertise, and knowledge.

I had a wonderful group of members filling positions on our two International Committees --  warm thanks to the members of my International Bylaws & Standing Rules Committee, chaired by Sue Cordier CPS.  You did an incredible job throughout the year reviewing division bylaws and standing rules, and accepting and reviewing the proposed amendments on which we'll be voting during Tuesday's business session. 

And the second International Committee was REALLY utilized this year - with 32 candidates being nominated for positions on the International Board and Retirement Trust Foundation, the International Committee on Nominations certainly did a thorough and most excellent job insuring that all candidates met the criteria for nomination.

To my Division Leadership Team...what can I say?  From the first time we all came together for the Incoming Division Presidents Conference in Kansas City a year ago April, you've been a really close team!  You WORKED hard…AND you PLAYED hard ...and you have blended together your shades of red, blue, green, purple, yellow and orange to create a most incredible work of art...and that work of art is called "Friendship!"

Thank you so very much for a most super fantastic year! I think one of the best "finds" for me this year was an extraordinary writing called "The 50 Steps to Excellence," by Ralph Marston. These steps provided me the opportunity to communicate each week with my team, sharing Marston's thoughts on excellence and how it can be achieved...then I added my own ideas, giving yet another perspective for my leadership team to consider! If you haven't had an opportunity to read the "50 Steps to Excellence," please visit the IAAP Website after convention! 

And finally, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to my team on the International Board of Directors...my source of energy, passion and enthusiasm...a group of dedicated members who constantly kept me on my toes and who weren't afraid to make the tough decisions that had to be made in the best interest of our members and this association...they stood behind me ALL the time (even when they may have disagreed with me)…and they became a group who just, simply stated, defines the word TEAM!

Yes...it's been an awesome year...and I believe we're positioned to continue the extraordinary growth we've experienced this year as we transition into the 2006-2007 IAAP year. There's an amazing amount of energy among our members...we have an incredible 2006-2010 Strategic Plan to provide the path...and together, we "career-minded administrative professionals" will not sit still for anything going forward but SUCCESS!

I DO hope you "got the point" and enjoyed this artistic approach to our success...I think we've experienced a powerful blend of pointillism this year, utilizing my color palette of Canada's maple leaf RED...the vivid BLUE of the Great Lakes...the incredible forest GREEN of the Northeast...aand the majestic PURPLE of the Northwest!  We've been warmed by the YELLOW sunshine of the Southeast and the bright ORANGE of the great Southwest...and oh, how we've seen the impact of our Affiliates' shades of NAVY!

I know I can speak on behalf of the entire 2005-2006 International Board of Directors when I say it's been a most COLORFUL and super fantastic year "Creating Excellence" ... Thanks for the memories!