Agenda
Day One
09.10 Opening 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
Rachel Korziuk, Executive Assistant to President APAC/Africa, Ausenco
09.50 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
Networking Expert
10.35 Morning tea
11.05 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
Karen Corica, EO to the Chief Customer Officer, WA Department of Finance
Deb Robinson, Business Partner, International Operations, Self-employed (recently ex-Fortescue)
11.50 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
Work Design Expert
12.35 Lunch
13.30 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
Jacinta Altham, Senior EA, Mid West Development Commission
14.15 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
Mental Health Expert
15.00 Afternoon tea
15.25 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
Experience Executive Assistant
16.10 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
Paula Rogers, CEO, Committee for Perth
Judith Barker, CEO, Royald Flying Doctors Service WA
Day Two
09.10 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
Sophie Menezes, EA (ADG), Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage
Danica Kay, EA, AMB Holdings
Sue McComasky, EA to Chief Executive Officer and EA to General Manager – Western Australia Region, GHD
Corné Lombard, EA to the CEO, City of Busselton
Marnie Mowatt, EA to the Chief Executive Officer, Office of the Auditor General
09.55 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
Sarah Blake, Conflict Strategist, Sarah M Blake
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,
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.
Experience Executive Assistant
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
Rachel Korziuk, Executive Assistant to President APAC/Africa, Ausenco
Heather Bell, PA to Executive Director Corporate & Commercial, City of Albany
Yenta Hodgetts, EA, Australian Taxation Office
Lisa Dixon, EA, Alcoa
14.35 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
Assertiveness Expert