What a great first day of the 22nd
Annual Administrative Professionals Conference! The day was jam-packed with
fantastic workshops, networking, an amazing keynote, and a welcome reception (and
raffle prizes) in the Exhibit at APC
exhibit hall.
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| This is Kelly, one of our greeters this morning! |
Today was my day to sit in on some fantastic
sessions at the Executive Assistants’ Summit.
The EA summit runs concurrently with the APC. First up was Showcase Your Personal Brand With an Online Portfolio
presented by Julie Perrine (her online portfolio is here)
Julie highlighted how important personal
branding is to get yourself noticed both in and out of the office. A personal
brand, according to Julie, is “the process of taking your skills, personality,
and unique characteristics and packaging them into a powerful identity that
lifts you above the competition.” And again, this can benefit you in the office
“Betty’s a PowerPoint pro, I’ve seen her online portfolio!” and outside the
office: “Betty’s a well-known PowerPoint pro in the industry.”
Julie outlined three key strategies to boost
your professional visibility: a print portfolio (work samples, project plans,
even info from your performance review), a social portfolio (such as LinkedIn)
and a digital portfolio.
Julie gave an example of hiring an admin for a project, and how you could ‘wow’ a hiring manager with a print portfolio that provides "proof on paper” and is compelling and adds value. That job applicant would definitely be memorable! A social portfolio is becoming more and more important in the digital age; Julie mentioned that 93%of recruiters are likely to look at a candidate’s social profile. (Source: Jobvite)
Julie gave an example of hiring an admin for a project, and how you could ‘wow’ a hiring manager with a print portfolio that provides "proof on paper” and is compelling and adds value. That job applicant would definitely be memorable! A social portfolio is becoming more and more important in the digital age; Julie mentioned that 93%of recruiters are likely to look at a candidate’s social profile. (Source: Jobvite)
With a digital portfolio you don’t have to start from
scratch – you can pull elements from your resume directly into a digital
portfolio, with the added benefit of adding pictures, PDFs, and other ‘wow’
factors to showcase your skills and work. When a prospective employer or new
division boss (for example) can go to a professional site and see examples of
who you are and what you do, “they will fall in love with you before they even
meet you.”
She cautioned however to remove super-identifiable
info from a digital portfolio resume…after all people can contact you via a “contact
me” page for more information. Finally, Julie provided seven specific technical
steps for creating an online portfolio, including securing your own domain.
Provided 7 steps for creating an online portfolio including securing your own
domain. I learned a lot in the session, and I think others did as well as I saw
some fast note-taking going on!
After lunch, I was able to briefly pop in mid-presentation
to Corinne Hoisington’s session, The Latest, Greatest in Executive Office Technologies to share my
thoughts on Google Glass, and was excited to catch some great tech tidbits.
Corinne’s session was interactive, with
different audience members sharing their tech thoughts, demonstrating new
technologies, or “being” a technology example (such as a computer processor). I
learned about mix.office.com (available with Office 365 or Office 2013)
which allows you to insert video seamlessly into presentations (and much much
more). Corinne shared her thoughts on
Windows 8.1, and demonstrated the built-in Skype capabilities…which included
calling a local restaurant from the podium!
Corinne closed the session with a glimpse
into the future-present of schools and hospitals with technologies from photovoltaic
roofs to holographic telemedicine. It was definitely a “wow” session, with many
of us exclaiming that when the new (cool!) technology ideas were shared.
After an energetic conference orientation for
first-time and solo attendees led by Colette Carlson, it was time for Jon Petz’s keynote. And I’m not kidding when I say there was laughter, tears and
cheers in that keynote session!
With a lot of
audience participation, a $100 bill, some lemons, a “VP of WOW” and a very meaningful
seven of hearts playing card, Jon highlighted the theme of “showtime” and
taking the simple moments in what we do and making them significant!
He challenged the audience, asking “what are
you going to do to make a difference, rather than just meeting expectations”
and to “go for it when you want something.” In fact, he asked the audience who
wanted a $100, and only a few took him literally and approached the stage (ran
for the stage!). Jon reminded us to never use the phrase “just a” as in “just a
new person”, “just an assistant.” By sharing the unique gifts that we have, we
can share of ourselves and make moments special and extraordinary.
We closed out the evening with a fantastic
welcome reception at the Exhibits at APC and
the awarding of the first raffle prizes. Great food, great conversation, and
great networking had the room buzzing.
It’s an early morning so I’m off to determine
what sessions I’ll attend tomorrow. Stay tuned here on the blog for another
daily recap, and don’t
forget that you can follow #apc14nationalharbor on Twitter and Instagram for
up-to-the-minute coverage.
See
you tomorrow!
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