9th Public Sector Executive Assistant Congress Agenda

Canberra, 30-31 October 2024

Agenda

Day One

08.30   Registration

09.00   Chair’s opening remarks

09.10 Keynote address: 

Mastering Professionalism: The power of planning, preparation, and tenacity for unstoppable growth

  • Strategic planning for success
  • Using the art of preparation
  • Cultivating tenacity and resilience
  • Learning to back yourself

Leigh Sales AM is one of Australia’s most recognised and respected journalists.  For almost twelve years, she anchored the ABC’s flagship evening current affairs program, 7.30, as well as being the face of major news coverage for the network, including federal elections and budget nights.  She has been a foreign correspondent based in Washington DC, and worked for TV, radio, print and digital.  She is now the presenter of the ABC’s beloved Australian Story program.  She co-hosts a podcast called Chat 10, Looks 3 with her friend, Annabel Crabb. 

10.10 Building your network to support success

  • Developing high levels of trust and reputation to enhance your personal value
  • Sharing with and learning from your network to be the ‘early adapter’
  • Strengthening your social capital and your influence through your network
  • Leveraging your network’s talents to enhance your expertise

Corrie Fitch, Relationship Architect, Bond Builder, People Skills Mentor, Axiom Associates

10.50 Morning tea

11.15 Increasing your influence to lead as an Executive Assistant

  • Developing trust by promoting your integrity and reliability
  • Being the First Follower or Force Multiplier to amplify power and influence
  • Sharpening your strategic approach and business acumen
  • Building good relationships across the team to foster commitment to goals and objectives

Anne Lyons, Director and Founder, Challenge Your Thinking

11.55 Panel Discussion – Leveraging high-level administrative skills to change direction

  • Knowing your ‘why’ to inform the desire for change
  • Identifying your toolbox of skills and how they will support career change
  • Evaluating your transferrable skills against desired role descriptions
  • Demonstrating your broader expertise by showcasing adaptable skills to leverage opportunities

Hannah Rowe, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Department of Employment & Workplace Relations

LJ (Laura-Jane) Bourne, Executive Officer, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade

Casey-Marie De Veau, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Children and Families Division, Attorney-General’s Department

Linda Viskovic, Senior EA, Australian Public Service

12.35 Lunch

13.35 Becoming strategic as an Executive Assistant

  • Understanding what it takes to be strategic
  • Developing a managerial mindset
  • Managing your executive’s mindset to foster ready acceptance of your inputs
  • Strengthening business skills with training to create growth opportunities

Savannah Lukic, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, and the Arts

14.15 Understanding work design to improve efficiency

  • Identifying work demands to create a better work environment
  • Understanding different working styles to incorporate in work design
  • Designing work to encourage efficiency, collaboration, and collegiality
  • Demonstrating the value of good work design by walking the walk

Louise Carter, Leadership, Organisational Design, and Change Specialist, Independent Consultant

14.55 Afternoon tea

15.20 Mastering Overwhelm: Thriving in High-Demand Roles

  • The brain under pressure – understanding cognitive overload
  • Managing energy levels for sustainable productivity
  • Calm command through emotion regulation
  • Resilient decision-making

Tammie Horton, Speaker, Motivation Mapper, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advocate, Phynix Initiative

16.00 Senior Executive Panel – Meeting expectations – how does my Executive Assistant do this?

  • Knowing your Executive to act as them when needed
  • Forward planning, problem-solving, and communicating to prevent obstacles
  • Using outstanding interpersonal skills to build stakeholder relationships and improve office culture
  • Mapping processes to meet deadlines

Lisa La Rance, First Assistant Secretary, Department of Infrastructure

Mark Williamson, Executive General Manager, Clean Energy Regulator

Jennifer Anne, Branch Head of Liquid Fuels Security and Strategy Branch, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water

16.55 Congress photo

17.00 Close of Day One – please join us for Networking drinks

 

Day Two

09.00   Chair’s recap of Day One

09.10 Conducting difficult conversations to encourage progress and growth

  • Understanding the person to adapt conversation tone
  • Providing feedback that encourages improvement
  • Planning discussions to allow flexibility of approach
  • Ensuring a satisfactory outcome for all participants

Edwina Swan, Principal Negotiation Strategist, ENS – Negotiation and Influencing Experts

09.55 Panel Discussion – Thriving as an ‘exceptional’ Executive Assistant

  • Fostering strong and collaborative relationships across the organisation to build trust
  • Developing underestimated soft skills to enable greater organisational involvement
  • Finding your unique selling point
  • Developing your brand to enhance your value

Rachael Koorey, EA – Office of the First Assistant Secretary – Infrastructure Division, Department of Defence

Amanda Davies, EA to Acting Assistant Commissioner, Engagement & Assurance, Australian Taxation Office

Tamryn Marek, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Group Operations, Defence Digital Group, Department of Defence

Veronica Webster, EA to Chief Digital Officer, Vice-President – Digital, University of Canberra

10.40 Morning tea

11.10 Enhancing your strategic value using Artificial Intelligence as your ally

  • Shifting your thinking to embrace a 21st century mindset to boost productivity and performance
  • Exploring the myriad of AI offerings to help you create your AI support suite
  • Humanising AI for enhanced solutions
  • Creating a personalised reference library at your fingertips
  • Keeping up as AI evolves to continuously develop your career

Mario Halouvas, CEO and Founder, Mario Halouvas Productivity Professionals

12.10 Managing your relationship with your Executive more intentionally

  • Adapting different communication styles and ways of working to create a ‘dream team’
  • Gaining awareness of your Executive’s goals and objectives and those of the organisation
  • Thinking like your Executive to anticipate their needs
  • Ensuring mutual success using effective communication.

Casey-Marie De Veau, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Children and Families Division, Attorney-General’s Department

12.50 Lunch

13.50 Panel Discussion – Managing time and tasks to effect efficiency and productivity in your day for you and your Executive

  • Developing routines to prioritise your ‘best time’ to set up your day to allow you to tackle your ‘hit list’
  • Creating and triaging a ‘master list’ using strategic thinking, forward vision, and your executive’s consideration to focus on the ‘urgent’
  • Planning, prioritising and being goal-focused to demonstrate a can-do attitude and initiative
  • Establishing open communication, questions, and corporate knowledge to know who and what is important to timely completion of any task

Rachael Koorey, EA – Office of the First Assistant Secretary – Infrastructure Division, Department of Defence

Hannah Rowe, EA to First Assistant Secretary, Department of Employment & Workplace Relations

Lydia Milosavljevic, EA to Deputy Secretary, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Euphemia Chiriso, EA to the Interim Aviation Industry Ombudsperson, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

14.30 Combining confidence and knowledge to boost your assertiveness

  • Stepping out of your comfort zone to increase self-confidence
  • Understanding the part information plays in being assertive
  • Creating ‘thinking time’ strategies to push back the bulldozers
  • Asking open and investigative questions to support your capability

Sue Read, Psychologist, Life Unlimited

15.10 Afternoon tea

15.40 Close of congress