A message from our 2017/2018 President, Angela Anderson
Welcome to the 2017/2018 year for IABC/Calgary!
I wanted to highlight some of the amazing initiatives we have coming up early this year for our members. It’s going to be a fantastic year, full of professional development, networking, conferencing, and advancing, connecting, and developing to move our careers as communicators forward.
The reason I know this is because our hard-working board of directors and volunteers have been working through the summer to prepare for what we aspire to be our best year yet, delivering top-shelf opportunities and services to you starting right now, in September.
Let’s start with professional development – you will see there are two events already listed for this month and they are filling up so please register quickly to secure your spot! On Sept. 20, 2017, attend What Your Executives Wish You Knew, a panel discussion where you’ll hear from leaders on what they value most in communicators.
Then on Sept. 26, 2017, attend From Research To Practice: Building Values-Based Approaches to Communications, a workshop offered by Pembina Institute for our members, for outreach and communications professionals from a wide-range of sectors, including government, energy industry, health, education and civil society, focusing on climate communications. And we have a lot more coming up, but you’ll have to stay tuned!
Please also note all professional development offered through IABC/Calgary counts toward your Communications Management Professional (CMP) and Strategic Communications Management Professional (SCMP) maintenance. Which is a great segue to another focus of this year – that is offering exam sittings and support throughout the year should you be focused on validating your communications career this year through the Global Communications Certification Council (GCCC). This is how we as communicators can take our career to the next level proving to ourselves and our colleagues that we are truly professionals. Learn more by visiting gcccouncil.org. Mark your calendar as the first exam offered in Calgary is coming up Oct. 14, 2017.
And we cannot forget about the quickly approaching IABC Canada West Regional Conference coming up in Kelowna, BC on Oct. 22-24, 2017. Three days filled with connecting with Canadian communications peers, learning, and of course having a lot of fun – this is not to be missed!
Lastly (for now), I hope you will consider being a part of our Mentorship Program. This launches very soon, and several spots are still open for both mentors (with 10+ years experience) and mentees (with less than 5 years experience). This has been a hugely successful program since it began a few years ago, and has created lasting relationships and benefits for all attendees. Learn more and apply today!
These are just a few of the upcoming initiatives we have planned for our members. Please be sure to read The Current every week to keep up with everything, and I invite you to contact me directly with any feedback, comments or suggestions you have to help us advance, develop and connect you better to your profession. I can be reached at calgary-executive@iabc.com
Angela Anderson
2017/2018 President, IABC/Calgary
