Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 27 May 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are excited to welcome Paul Jones from Magneto Communications as our guest speaker for our May discussion.  Paul is a professional copywriter and will be talking about “The Polished Professional”.

In his presentation Paul will discuss keys to clear, concise, correct business writing.  Mediocre writing not only tarnishes your professionalism and credibility, but also makes your organisation far less efficient than it can be. That’s because it takes readers longer to understand what you’ve written.  For your company and career’s sake you need a good grasp of grammar, punctuation, spelling and professional writing principles.
This interactive session will get you off and running, with an awareness of the most common errors and how to fix them. You’ll learn more about the following:

• Conciseness – How to cut waffle and add punch to your writing
• Grammar – Including how to avoid the most common grammar blunders
• Punctuation – Including when and where to use the most abused punctuation marks
• Plain English – These internationally-recognised principles will make your writing shorter, sharper and easier to read
• Proofreading – Professional proofreading tips, including when knot to trust you’re spelling chequer!

Especially for:

• Business leaders and owners
• Anyone who writes at work

Paul Jones from Magneto Communications (www.magneto.net.au) is a professional copywriter who trains businesspeople to write professionally and persuasively. He’s been copywriting and training for over a decade. Leading a team of up to six other writers, his client list includes Oracle, News Limited, Clayton Utz, Optus, Fox Studios, IBM, and Kimberly-Clark.

His broad experience as a copywriter, combined with his training background with Qantas and the Australian Institute of Management, make him a knowledgeable, engaging presenter. Your learning experience will be practical, content-rich, relevant to your everyday writing challenges, and entertaining!

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 23 May 2014.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 29 April 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are pleased to welcome Robin Powis is our guest speaker for our April discussion.  Robin will be showing how to Dress for Success!  What if your image had the power to open new doors of opportunity? What if there was an even better way to smarten your wardrobe?  Image Consultant, Robin Powis will show you how to get ahead by looking your best.  Discover how to look good and feel fantastic as you develop your own professional image and identity, master the Art of Illusion by learning simple style techniques and create a mix and match wardrobe of investment pieces.

Robin Powis AICI CIP is the founder and director of Defining Style, an image consultancy specialising in Personal Branding and Corporate Image.  Defining Style is a well-respected image consultancy with over eight years’ experience in the industry.

Robin is one of eight Image Consultants in Australia who are internationally certified and, she is one of 109 Image Consultants worldwide. Robin is the style advisor for Women on Boards and has been nominated for the 2014 Telstra Business Awards.

Interviewed and quoted in - 2UE, ABC Hobart, ABC Perth, BRW, The Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian; Robin is a contributor to ‘Amongst Sisters’, a book for women to realise their own inner and outer beauty.

Robin empowers women and men to dress according to their colouring, body shape and personality. She is passionate to inspire others to believe in themselves and to succeed at whatever they set their mind to. 

Ultimately Robin helps executives create a winning brand to portray a powerful presence in the marketplace.

Please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Thursday 24 April 2014.

Women in Business Discussion Group
Tuesday 25 March 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are excited to welcome back Kate McCallum as our speaker for our March session.  Kate will be providing insights on How to Invest like a Millionaire.

In this seminar, Kate shares insights into how high net worth clients have successfully created wealth – so that they can be just where they want in life. Kate draws on more than 20 years of experience in investments and advice to uncover the habits of millionaires. If you want to ensure you are on track to where you want to be in your life, then this is a must-attend workshop.

Kate McCallum is a Partner and wealth adviser at independently owned wealth advisory firm, Multiforte. She specialises in working with senior executives and professionals to navigate the complexities that come with managing their wealth.

Before establishing Multiforte in 2007, Kate held executive roles in major firms including BT Financial Group, and Commonwealth Bank.
Kate is regularly asked to present sessions for organisations and conferences, and has been featured in media. She holds graduate and post-graduate qualifications in Economics, Applied Finance and Investment, and in Financial Planning.


Please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 20 March 2014.

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 25 February | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are delighted to welcome Angela Chellas as our first speaker for 2014 to provide insights on Organised Women and Project Management

We are all busy women.  We know how to multi-task and organise ourselves well.  Yet why is it that…

·         Things don’t go according to plan?

·         There are not enough hours in the day?

·         Communication problems occur with some people?

·         You are constantly dealing with issues or errors?

It could be time to focus on your project management skills! These fundamental principles are not just relevant when managing mega projects; they can be applied to many work and life situations, to help you achieve success.

Come along to this presentation and you will learn some key disciplines to help you manage your work and home life effectively!  We’ll look at women and the achievements made in project management and you’ll learn the theory, however the session includes some useful hands-on activities too.  This is a fun and interactive workshop and you’ll walk away with some tips and techniques to apply immediately. 

Angela is a qualified project management consultant and facilitator with over 20 years of practical project-based experience across a number of industries.  Angela has facilitated the embedding of project management principles into various organisations throughout the world, with a specific focus on Asia Pacific.  She is the owner of Lotus Project Consulting and her work encompasses:

•              Design and delivery of project management training programs

•              Project management consultation, coaching and advice

•              Project methodology design and implementation

•              Management of large-scale projects

•              Microsoft Project training and consultation

In line with Angela’s project-specific work, she is also a specialist in:

•              Myers Briggs personality profiling

•              Time management

Angela is a very passionate, energetic and inspirational facilitator and speaker.  Her extensive project experience ensures that participants of her workshops and presentations receive a mixture of theory and real life examples.  Her experience spans many different industries including HR, IT, finance, FMCG, design, construction, manufacturing and education.  The companies Angela has consulted with include Frito-Lay, Smiths, Kellogg’s, Lion Nathan, Harvey Norman, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Qantas, NRMA, EDS, Mercer, Hitachi Data Systems, Biennale of Sydney, Marsh, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Pinpoint Marketing, AWA, AM Corp, CUSCAL, TWUSUPER, Dimension Data, James Hardie, various local councils and many more.  She sat on the Board of the Project Management Institute Sydney Chapter for 2 years.

Angela has a Bachelor of Arts, a Post Graduate Certificate of Marketing and an Advanced Diploma of Project Management.  In 2001 she became a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and member of the Project Management Institute.  She is a PRINCE2 Practitioner and holds Project+ certification with CompTIA.  Angela has a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and is also a Myers Briggs accredited facilitator.

26^th November session: Amy Wong on Are you Risk Aware and Astute to deal with Risk?

We are excited to welcome Amy Wong as our guest speaker for our final session for 2013: Are you Risk Aware and Astute to deal with Risk?  Amy will discuss the current business environment, the top risk challenges for small and big businesses and good risk management practices.  The session will also include some case studies and learnings. There will also be prizes for Risk Quiz! 

Amy Wong is currently a risk professional with NAB in their Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities area. She has several years of banking risk management experience working mostly in the Wholesale and Institutional banking areas of 3 major Australian banks.  She also has experience dealing with regulators and ratings agencies on various matters including risk, licensing and prudential regulation. Prior to working for banks, Amy worked in two major chartered accounting firms in their tax and audit areas.

Amy is a current CPA NSW Divisional Councillor and has held this position since 2011. She has also held other positions including as Deputy Chair, CPA Corporate Committee and convenors of a number CPA Discussion Groups such as Risk and Investment Strategy.  She is also a frequent speaker at CPA conferences and events. Her passions include wellness, travel, volunteer work, art and culture.

Please join us for our last session for 2013 - there will be food and lucky door prizes!

Please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 22 November 2013.

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 29 October 2013 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are pleased to welcome Martin Murden as guest speaker for our session on 29 October 2013. Martin will be talking about "Superannuation, retirement and longevity".  Australia, like much of the world, has an ageing population. The baby boomers have started to retire. We are living longer than previous generations. We are wanting to maintain our lifestyles in retirement.  And whilst some individuals are taking action, collectively we are not. During the course of the session we are going to look at this issue that is going to confront all of us and identify some actions we can take to reduce its impact.

Martin Murden is Director SMSF Consulting and Auditing at Partners Superannuation Services.  Martin has 42 years experience in superannuation industry and is a Fellow CPA and Fellow Australian & New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance, designated Specialist Superannuation Advisor and Specialist Superannuation Auditor by SPAA.  He is also one of the founders of the Partners Wealth Group in 2003.

Please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 25 October 2013.

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group
Tuesday 24 September 2013 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St
 We are delighted to welcome back André Croteau as guest speaker for our session on 24 September 2013.
For the past few years, André has been contracting as an Excel Specialist. Most recent contracts have been with Tourism Australia and Chandler MacLeod where André has been introducing work procedures with the use of Microsoft Excel to simplify the work load. His passion is to make work more efficient through the help of Excel, by automating repetitive procedures, or speeding up the work flow he has created hundreds of applications and has saved countless hours of work, particularly at month end.
In preparation for next week’s event, André has sent through this message:
Hello All,
I am looking forward to spending a couple of hours next Tuesday to explore new Excel tips & tricks.  If you have any questions (things that really bug you about Excel) or have any comments on what you would like to discuss during the presentation, please send me an email (acroteau@milAndré.com) before the weekend.  I will finalise the contents this weekend.
 In the meantime, to get you in the mood, please find attached a few Excel problems to solve.  Test your Excel skills!  Send me your answers!

Please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 20 September 2013.