Get involved in delivering the outcomes from the APAC Leadership Institute

The outcomes of the APAC Leadership Institute include a CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS for a Regional Conference Committee. Apply by 29 January.

In planning the 2015 APAC Leadership Institute several objectives were set by the regional Board. These were:

• To provide leadership development opportunities for current and potential Chapter leaders.
• To build stronger ties between the IABC Asia-Pacific Region Chapters through an exchange of knowledge and experience. To foster links between peers and chapters to find ways of working together towards mutual learning and professional goals.
• To share information about IABC’s Global Strategy.
• To collectively brainstorm and begin formulating an IABC Asia-Pacific strategy that takes into account the global, regional and local priorities of member countries and chapters.

A comprehensive report on the LI has been produced for all members. In addition to creating new connections between chapters, hearing first hand from the Global IABC Chair, a number of strategic priorities emerged as a focus for the Regional Board and Chapter Leaders.

There are a number of ways to get involved, create connection and develop your skills and networks. Highlights from the session have been blogged and shared by a number of delegates, as well as through other chapters and regions.
 
Strategic Priorities
Delegates identified five strategic priorities for the region as a result of the discussions at the LI.
 
1. Sponsorship
Improve our offering. Give opportunities to sponsors to reach IABC members across the region, not only at a local level. There are opportunities for greater scale and efficiency in how we approach sponsorship which can both benefit our members and raise the profile and financial strength of IABC in the region.

This will continue to be a discussion in 2016 between chapters. By the end of January, the Regional Board will reach out to each chapter’s Sponsorship Chair to facilitate discussions on opportunities in 2016. We acknowledge the support of Randstad in working with chapters and the regional Board to support the Leadership Institute.
In terms of partnerships, we are pleased that in 2016, IABC has again partnered with the Corporate Affairs Summit to provide members with a 10% discount (using code IABC10).
 
2. Professional development 
We need to continue to build awareness for our Global Standard certification. By doing this we can create demand while also increasing the credibility of IABC and value to our members. We need to work on local and regional deliverables to enable this.
 
The APAC Region has two its first two graduates of the GCCC CMP certification, Patricia Mallam, from Fiji Development Chapter, and Mardi Stewart from Canberra Chapter.
The next CMP Exams for the region are in Melbourne on 9 April 2016. Look out for a feature on preparing for certification in the coming weeks.
 
There are opportunities to extend skills through the Professional Development resources and the IABC Leadership Institute to be held in February.
 
3. Event support at international level
If we can focus on bringing high level, senior speakers to our regional and local events we can differentiate ourselves from other organisations.
Chapters are in the process of planning their 2016 events, with many using the Global Standard as a framework for topics and events. In addition, two initiatives to create connection through international events have been initiated:

• World Conference APAC Pre-program. To coincide with the IABC World Conference, a pre-conference event is being conducted on Saturday 4 June in New Orleans for all WC delegates from the APAC region. Further details of this unique opportunity to gather with other communicators from the region will be released soon.
• Establishing a Regional Conference Committee. Recognising the strong desire for a regional conference from many delegates, a Regional Conference Committee is to be established. We are calling for volunteers to participate in this, in order to identify feasability, potential locations and timings. If you are interested, please download the call for volunteers and submit your application by 9am Friday 29 January. 

4. Alignment and consistency
We should work on standardising the brand experience for IABC members across chapters. Each chapter should have its own value proposition and then work on delivering common levels of messaging reach and impact. It would be nice to have some format for the onboarding of new leaders within IABC.
 
The session on Value Proposition led to a draft of a value proposition at regional level. Additional skilling on embedding the brand values and consistent messaging are on the agenda for the APAC Board to consider in January.
 
Our members develop their communication knowledge by connecting with like-minded individuals, empowering professional development. Our members become industry leaders who are recognized for their outstanding communication work and contribution
 
5. Collaboration
Bringing closer engagement between Chapters and also with the regional board will help deliver more consistency to our work and help us spread knowledge efficiently. We should also make use of our alumni, getting insight and feedback from members who have previously served in a management role. It would be good to have a platform for information sharing
 
The development and delivery of the range of outputs from the LI represents the continuation of a collaborative approach across the region. While there is a role for the APAC Board to facilitate and create connection between roles, chapters and networks, IABC is an organisation where members will always lean in to support or help with a challenge. 
 
There is also a recognition of the diversity and breadth of chapter needs across the region. Finding ways of extending the opportunities for collaboration to all chapters and members at large – such as through participation in the Conference Committee is necessary to keep the ‘International’ in our region.
 
Platforms for communication across the region and tools for sharing information between chapters are being investigated. The review of this site is one aspect of that, and from February there will be ongoing outreach to each chapter to identify how best to collaborate around the initiatives on this list of priorities.