b'FEATURED ARTNIECWLESNetworking and professional development was wellDi Lawrence then handed the reins to Patrick Kelly. It established, however there were opportunities for trainingwas during one of the breakfasts at a board meeting in each of our pillars, so the following year we began whatin Perth that Patrick suggested a remodelling of our was to become our Certified Advancement Practitionermembership structure to enable us to serve a wider program. range of Advancement staff. In the following hours, the board developed a new membership model which added Institutional Membership and an Associate Membership The challenge here was that we were essentially startingcategory. As a result of this change, membership began a from scratch. The knowledge, skill and good will of seniorperiod of exponential growth, rising to over 2000.practitioners and consultants was harnessed to assist in the development of the initial courses. Significant contributors to the training program have included;During these years our International Conferences Ann Badger, Jeff Buchanan, Bruce Perry, Tony Pfeiffer,developed significantly, attracting up to 700 delegates Margo Bastow, Russell Davidson, Chanel Hughes andwith scores of partners and exhibitors. These flagship Tracy McNamara. We were not large enough to become aevents have enabled the organisation to develop a healthy registered training organisation, nor part of a university,corpus, fund an expanded staffing profile and establish so we branded the Certified Training Program as Industryan investment portfolio to support our scholarship and Recognised. In the ensuing years the training programbursary program.has greatly matured, to the point where we have begun writing our own resource materials. It is with a great senseUnder the Chairmanship of John Collins and Mandy of pride, that I observe that over 500 members have nowMcFarland we were challenged to ensure that everything participated in these training courses. our small team did was of such a standard that we could win one of our Excellence Awards. As part of this process we developed a new Style Guide, revamped the F2F magazine and expanded our Marketing collateral and use of the various media portals. This required us to expand our staffing profile, whilst ensuring we had highly qualified and specialist staff in each of our key roles.To reach our strategic goals, we extended our team. Todays team includes a full time CEO, Sheila Molloy, Marketing & Communications Manager, Sona Swindley, Events & Training Manager, Tina Fleming, Member Relations Manager and Michelle Strawbridge as our Finance Manager.Educate Plus 2014 Melbourne Conference As members will observe, the amount of work, professional development opportunities and The team at this time consisted of myself, Georgina Gainachievements from our organisation could not be who worked 15 hrs per week as the Administration &achieved by such a small team. This brings me on to Communications Manager and Michelle Strawbridge whovolunteerism, which is one of our organisations greatest worked 7 hrs per week as Finance Manager. strengths and assets. Educate Plus is unique amongst peak bodies in that it has literally hundreds of people serving on a voluntary basis in each of the Chapters and on the board to serve their fellow members. These people, ably assisted by our team, have seen our organisation flourish in its professionalism, reach and impact. NOVEMBER 2021 99'