Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 30 September 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are excited to announce John Raymond as our guest speaker for our September discussion to talk about "Are your conversations working hard for you?"

Being adaptable is a key capability for success in today’s organisations, whether it be in government or corporate. The role of leaders therefore, need to embrace adaptability to deliver what is expected, yet this is easier said than done. Many leaders underestimate, or ignore completely, the power of a great conversation to transform a situation, though there wouldn’t be anyone who hasn’t experienced this phenomenon. An adaptive leader uses every day conversations to support his or her people to navigate a complex world we work in.  This presentation draws on the dialogue principles of coaching and mentoring conversations and applies them to every day conversations. John will expand on a number of key coaching and mentoring principles and offer way they can be applied in your day to day conversation to get a better result. This session will be informative, interactive and experiential so you will walk away knowing both what to do and how to do it.

John Raymond is Principal at the Institute of Executive Coaching.  John’s experience is firmly grounded in leadership having led business units, teams and organisations. From 1996, he has been an executive coach and facilitator helping people manage themselves and lead people. John has coached and trained managers at all levels in private, public and education sectors in Australia and abroad. In corporate, he has worked with organizations like Reader’s Digest, Accor Hospitality, Credit Suisse, BayCorp, McGrath, Clayton Utz, Facebook and Ericsson. In the Public Sector John has worked with various departments, including Immigration, Austrade, APSC, ATO,DEEWR and Defence. Education clients include University of Western Sydney, Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership, Alfred Deakin High School and University of New South Wales.  John has been involved in coaching since it started to take hold in the Australasian region in the mid 1990s and he is passionate about the professionalisation of the industry. To this end, John has held leadership positions and contributed to various committees over many years. His most recent contributions have been through his role as President for the International Coach Federation – Australasia and as a member of the Standards Australia working party that has written the guideline for Coaching in Organisations - a global first.

WiB Committee member and Divisional Councillor, Lisa Gray will be hosting this exciting discussion.  We will be providing hot canapés and one lucky member will win a fantastic prize on the night – so make sure you have paid your membership fee!

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 26 September 2014.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 30 September 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

Watch this space for details of our exciting event next week 30 September!  Details coming soon!

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 26 August 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are delighted to announce Melissa Houghton as our our guest speaker for our August discussion to talk about "Sustainability and the Business Bottom Line"

As Sustainability issues and financial performance begin to intertwine real business benefits are being  realised.  But in many organisations, its value is not fully realised. Robust sustainability performance management, driven by finance professionals, can be a key enabler to unlocking this value.  In this discussion we will explore the underlying principles of business sustainability and what’s driving CEO’s and CFO’s to consider the triple bottom line,  the business benefits to this approach and ways that you can start to drive sustainability throughout your organisation.

Melissa Houghton is an experienced strategic communicator with a passion for sustainability.  In her 15 plus years, Melissa has held senior executive positions at News Digital Media (NDM), Telstra, Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and is currently director and co-owner of Sustainability at Work.

Sustainability at Work was born in 2010 out of the desire to bring ‘people’ back into the centre of the sustainability and ‘green’ building movements.  Since then Melissa has led and influenced strategic discussions around the economic, social and environmental impacts of those business, with C-level executives and established and implemented strategies to drive positive sustainability behaviours, culture and outcomes for their people, their customers and their partners. 

Melissa has co-authored two pieces of research including “Insights into the attitudes and behaviours of Australian Workers towards sustainability at work and at home” and “The Australian Sustainability Manager- the role, the challenges and the Future”. 

Melissa is seen as an industry expert on workplace sustainability, business strategy, behaviour change, stakeholder engagement and marketing sustainability. She has been part of industry task forces including the UWS Bringing Sustainability to Life roundtables providing research information, advice and guidance and is often requested to speak a industry conferences.  Melissa is also on the Board of Directors for Oxfam Australia.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 22 August 2014.

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

We are pleased to welcome Craig Traub from Fronde as our guest speaker for our July discussion.  Craig will be talking about Key Success Factors for a Great Systems Implementation. He will address what accountants and project managers should know but will never hear from sales and the common pitfalls for systems implementation.

We’ll also be collecting coats for the Salvo’s “Coats for Everyone” appeal, so if you have any clean coats free of damage and tears, with all their buttons, please bring them to our Tuesday session.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 25 July 2014.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 24 June 2014 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

We are excited to welcome Susan McCulloch and Anna Hall,  from Moir Recruitment as our guest speaker for our June discussion.  Susan and Anna will be "Unlocking the Hidden Job Market".  Research indicates that up to 70% of jobs are never advertised. This session will help give you ideas on how to ‘tap’ into this 70%.

At different career stages, we all face crossroads. Whether you like to move to different jobs and organisations more frequently, or whether your preference is to stay with one company for longer periods, none of us can avoid times when we need to review our professional life. A key factor at these times is to take control of your situation.

Susan McCulloch, Director, has over 14 years recruitment experience within accountancy and finance. At Moir Group, Susan oversees the permanent business, whilst being actively involved in Sydney's business networking events. Susan brings a  wealth of experience recruiting integral Accounting and Finance personnel across a diverse range of commerce and  industry clients.

Anna Hall, Senior Consultant, began her recruitment career in 1994, recruiting accountants for banks in the City of London. Moving to Sydney in 1997, Anna worked for a multinational recruitment business in both finance and marketing recruitment, during which time she managed the start-up of a new business unit. Anna joined Moir Group in 2012 in a job share partnership, and specialises in temporary and contract recruitment in accounting and finance.

Moir Group specialises in the recruitment of accounting and finance professionals from accounts payable/receivable to group finance director level in New South wales, Victoria and Queensland.  We recruit permanent and contract/temporary finance staff; we also train in recruitment and staff retention related issues.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 20 June 2014.

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.