Happy Holidays to all IABC/BC members, sponsors, and friends. I really enjoyed celebrating the season with you at last week’s networking event and meeting long-time members, new members and more.
In such a fast-paced world, we often forget to look back at what we have accomplished and be proud of our projects and careers. My wish for you all is to reflect on your achievements, successes, and highlights from this year, and celebrate them as you enjoy the holidays.
What do you want to be acknowledged for most this year? Tweet us @IABCBC so we can celebrate our member’s moments and achievements – there are so many! From winning Silver Leaf, Gold Quill or Wave Awards, or being Certified as CMP, or maybe you learned some good nuggets at one of our events like the Media Crawl, or made a new contact at a networking event that has helped you in some way.
Things to look forward to in 2018
While it’s important to look back, I like to look ahead too. Before we break for the holidays at IABC/BC, here’s a preview of some big things we have coming up in 2018 to elevate your communication careers, and continue to help you connect to ideas, people and jobs.
- Students + New Communicators – we’re looking for you! We are growing our program offerings to support students, new communicators and we need some volunteers to help make this possible. If you are passionate about helping people who are new in their communications career, then reach out to students@iabc.bc.ca.
- Marketing & Communications – Join our Active Team that will sharpen your skills in this area and help promote the many programs, activities and opportunities we have going on at IABC/BC while you build your portfolio.
- We’re volunteer run and seeking more of you to help make our programs possible – We have high level and high skilled roles in our volunteer opportunities right now, take a look on our website and reach out to volunteers@iabc.bc.ca for questions. Even if you don’t see a role that is suited to you please let us know you’d like to get involved, we have more opportunities that have yet to be posted too!
- Our Member Services team wants you to Get Connected! We have more Get Connected events coming up in the new year, to meet other members and learn how you can get the most out of your membership. If you’re not yet a member, you can also come along to one of these events to learn more about IABC and how we could help you grow your communications career and meet fellow professionals. If you can’t wait and want to learn more about your IABC/BC member experience, or an IABC/BC Membership contact Spencer Perry, Director of Member Services, at members@iabc.bc.ca
- Special Interest Groups – Peer to peer learning and networking is what SIGs are all about, and we have several groups running here. Learn more about the groups and reach out to the chairs to learn when the next meeting will be in your area of interest: https://iabc.bc.ca/events/sigs
- More FREE Networking for Members – We continue to look for ways to add value to your membership experience and we know you value networking – we continually hear in our survey feedback that networking is important to you, and we are listening. Now we want to offer more frequent opportunities for you to network with fellow communicators. Stay tuned for more details, and our next events as early as January 2018!
- Skills Based Mentoring Program – We have a skills-based mentorship program coming up in 2018 Spring, and we will be looking for mentors and mentees to participate as part of our Career Development program offerings. If you want to get involved in this program, learn how to connect with us here: https://iabc.bc.ca/get-involved/mentorship/
- Git of Communication (Giving Back to Non-Profits) – This popular program takes place in the spring, and is in development now, but we’re seeking a Program Manager, so if you’d like to help connect communicators to non-profits and give the gift of communication, then let us know. Learn more here: https://iabc.bc.ca/get-involved/gift-of-communication/
We just have so much in store, and I can’t wait for 2018 to begin! It is all possible thanks to our many volunteers, from our working Board of volunteers at IABC/BC to the committees supporting all of these programs above.
Now, enjoy your holidays and we’ll see you in 2018!
Sincerely,
Jeanette
Jeanette LeBlanc
President 2017-2018
