Eth Lloyd outlines how your participation in the World Administrators’ Summit can benefit you and your profession
This article on the World Administrators’ Summit (WASummit) series describes the future expectations of the summit. It will start to outline the role you as an individual administrative/office professional can play and what benefits your participation will provide to the profession.
Future Expectations – World Administrators’ Summit
Each WASummit sets its own Agenda and discusses issues that are pertinent to the administrative profession at the time. There are some set topics, for example, confirming updates to Administra and selecting the next host country. However, before each WASummit, topics for discussion are called for from each country and these form the dynamic part of the agenda. Topics sent in from around the world are collated into groupings of similar subject matters to ensure the agenda is kept manageable.
Due to the changes to the focus of the Advisory Council, there will also be a portion of the discussion which is focussed on furthering subjects that have been investigated and discussed internationally between summits. This gathering of information is expected to lead to some recommendations or resolutions which will be shared and discussed with all countries who participate, and with all countries in the world, to seek their input and if appropriate their implementation.
This “between summits” period is when you as an individual administrative professional can contribute to these discussions. The only way that meaningful recommendations and resolutions can be developed is if information or data can be gathered to answer questions raised at the previous summit. This data can best be gathered and have validity through surveys and calling for the thoughts and opinions of administrative professionals throughout the world. If improvements that will benefit us all are to happen within the administrative profession, they must happen with the greatest possible input – this is where you can contribute to those improvements by providing your input.
The voices of administrative professionals have not been widely heard and certainly not as a united group. The WASummit is your voice in the world which is seeking to ensure your day to day work is respected as a profession. This is the opportunity to “speak as one voice” on matters that affect us all and the summit is the time for those voices to be raised and given strength internationally.
Advisory Council
Over the next months the Advisory Council will be confirmed and the subjects raised at the 2015 WASummit will be considered by them. To gather data to inform their considerations they will need to seek your input so keep an eye on the Facebook page for survey questions or opportunities to have your say on these matters.
The advisory council has two parts. It will have a single Chairman who will oversee both parts. The first part will be the considerations of the topics raised as the 2015 Summit. These topics will be worked on by small teams each with a single specific focus e.g. one team will be looking at international certification/qualifications, another universal position titles, etc.
The second part will be focussed on arranging the next WASummit in 2018. This will involve a team made up of two team leaders, one from the previous host country (Papua New Guinea) and one from the next host Country (in this case the organisation representing Europe – European Management Assistants (EUMA)). The remainder of their team will be supplied by EUMA as they best see fit. This team will liaise between the host country and the Advisory Council with regard to the agenda, documents and expectations. It will also be responsible for logistics of the WASummit in 2018.
In the next article I will focus on the Advisory Council make-up and the topics they are going to be working on in this “between summits” period.
