Forward Moving Lap # 7

Last month IAAP and administrative professionals all over the world celebrated the 57th Administrative Professionals Day and Week. Congratulations to all those chapters who sponsored events in connection with APW and APD. I know that there were hundreds of educational-based events all over North America and beyond that provided professional development and networking opportunities for administrative professionals. I also know that a great deal of volunteer time went into hosting and coordinating those events. For all of you who volunteered your time to advance our profession, thank you so much. I also want to remind you to continue your road trip to membership growth. Be sure to follow up with those non-members who attended your event by sharing additional communications about IAAP and the value of our association. This observance is the perfect opportunity to invite them to another upcoming meeting where you might be able to close the deal and encourage them to become IAAP members.

I also want to share my experience about my participation in the Annual SkillSoft APD Briefing, co-sponsored by IAAP and OfficeTeam. This year’s event was held in the Oakland Bay Area of California on Tuesday, April 22. About 40 California IAAP members were in attendance at the live event and about 20,000 admins tuned in worldwide. The show featured two fantastic speakers in Tim Sanders and Connie Podesta. Both were informative and very entertaining. You could feel the energy in the studio from where the satellite and web broadcast originated. But there is so much more about this experience than the program itself. I had the opportunity to meet with the program hosts, speakers and OfficeTeam executives for an off-site dinner the night before the broadcast. By meeting in advance, it helped relieve some the anxiety of the unknown. Upon arrival at the TV station on the day of the Briefing, we were whisked into professional make-up stations and rehearsals; again, helping to relieve the stress of speaking in front of TV cameras and an in-house audience. Immediately following the briefing, I had the opportunity to visit the OfficeTeam headquarters in neighboring Menlo Park, California. Joined by our IAAP Headquarters Education and Professional Development Manager Dr. Susan Fenner, we had a tour the facility and met with top leaders to talk about our great partnership and future options for growing the success of our members.

In addition to this worldwide briefing, IAAP is fortunate to receive a great deal of free public relations exposure for APD and APW, and this year was no exception. We won’t have the final figures that detail the impact of print stories and radio broadcasts that were generated for a few weeks, but I wanted to highlight some of our coverage.

This is the first year in memory that IAAP received coverage in the New York Times. We were fortunate to get placement in many other major daily papers and radio shows including the Wall Street Journal Radio Network. Here are links to some of this year’s APW coverage. Look for a summary report of APW coverage online in the next few weeks.

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/inc_com/inc1208260881749.html?ref=smallbusiness

Indianapolis Star: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804230411

Los Angeles Daily News: http://www.dailynews.com/business/ci_9021042

I am also excited to share that my own local Bellingham Herald Newspaper gave our association great coverage to readers throughout my own community. After calling me for an interview and coming to my workplace for an article photo, I was very excited to find they posted the article on the front page of the Sunday, April 20 issue of their Business Section. The feedback has been exciting as local business owners and executives mention seeing the article in phone and personal contact over the week following the posting. It’s just another win-win for IAAP at a local level.

The Bellingham Herald: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/477/story/385994.html

In closing, I want to thank you all again for your part in making the 2008 Administrative Professional Week a true road to success as we work together to share the benefits of IAAP. It is a truly Driven Action!

Sincerely,

Judy McCoy

Judy McCoy CPS/CAP
IAAP International President
"FORWARD MOVING"