AGM 2021 - President’s report
At the 14th December IABC NSW AGM the President’s report by Kieran McCann was presented and accepted - it is replicated in its entirety below
I acknowledge that I am hosting this webinar from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation
I also acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the various lands on which you all work today and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people participating in this webinar.
I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of NSW.
What a year it has been, I remember thinking this time last year; well at least it won't get worse and yet this pandemic hit us harder.
I couldn't be prouder of our community; communicators across the state have rallied together and risen to the challenge - proving their worth time and time again in one of the most intense working environments. We have been the bedrock of many organisations and industries. As we said at our gala event; we have all been pillars of strength.
As a membership association IABC NSW has supported that unity in community and I'm so proud of this Board who have selflessly given their time and unwavering commitment to supporting our members and wider community.
There is so much to celebrate as a chapter and that is thanks to an incredible board and community, as we all crawl to the finish line and a well deserved break our profession has once again been front and centre in terms of importance.
At our end of year gala celebration we heard the vision and story of Four Pillars Gin presented by co-founder Matt Jones. Matt has a background in brand strategy, political speechwriting and creative storytelling and enraptured our members in his thoughts about the power of storytelling and communication; how as a profession we are there to close the gap between theory and action, logic and emotion.
Stories create emotion which leads to action and these are the enablers of any successful business. Brand is bias and through the stories we tell we want customers to have that strong proclivity towards us.
As professionals I believe this year more than most we have started to close the gap between something else - the gap between delivery and value. The last few years we have been thrust into the spotlight, and thankfully we have started to empower ourselves to capitalise on that spotlight; to be recognised as a vital business function, to move perceptions from being tacticians and into the strategic realm we belong. We have a duty to keep closing that gap between delivery and value.
As a global organisation of IABC we need to continue to elevate our brand differentiation, as professionals we need our personal brand to be elevated and as a local chapter we need to ensure that our brand means our professionals have a strong sense of purpose and passion being associated with us.
Our collective voice means we can make a difference, it is a community that cares, supports and lifts each other up. It is there as our sounding board, our guiding hand, our sharing of best practice and our differentiator between good and great communication.
This is why the differentiated impact that IABC empowers is so critical, from global, regional and local opportunities, networks, best practice and the ability to boast the credibility and professional development opportunities it is what we are proud to leverage for the local Chapter and community.
Today ends my second year of Presidency. I move into a Past President role as a mentor to guide the new Board and I know this Chapter is going to grow and flourish under the 2022 Board. I couldn't be prouder to be handing this over. I’ve spent a total of seven years dedicating myself to the IABC; through a comms, then digital board role, into membership, events, Vice Presidency and then two years at President.
There has been many things I’m proud of by helping moving the dial on our strategic vision and taking an evidence based approach but this sense of pride and accomplishment really culminated this year in having the honour of winning Chapter Leader of the Year alongside two Awards of Excellence for Chapter Innovation and Membership Marketing, and us winning Medium Chapter of the Year in the global awards ceremony.
None of it would have been possible without the range of global, regional and local mentors, Board members and community members that I’ve been privileged to get to know and work alongside. For that I am eternally grateful. The support and guidance has been overwhelming throughout the years and it’s at the root of what IABC is about - unity in community and the ability to create connections where we are stronger together.
This year the board and I committed to an evidence-based approach to inform our 2021 strategy. This meant fully listening and responding to member needs. We set out our commitments and priorities for the year:
Maintain excellent events
Boost professional credibility,
Care for one another and ensure a culture of inclusiveness,
Advance the member experience,
Leverage & share global best practice, share
So now the year is concluded we can say we pride that:
We were awarded medium chapter of the year award at the global IABC chapter management awards
We won two awards of excellence for our chapter innovation and membership marketing at the global IABC chapter management awards
We’ve hosted an event a month, moving again this year between face to face, hybrid and virtual; from corporate snakes and ladders, crisis simulations, thriving digitally, strategic storytelling and our gala we have pitched these events towards our members based on survey feedback and have enacted the same approach this year with our events survey helping to steer our 2022 planning
We’ve celebrated another increase in our net promoter score which has seen year on year rise so we are thrilled the community feels so passionately.
We’ve launched our unique mastermind circle offering; peer-to-peer groups designed to help members expand their knowledge, solve their problems and leverage opportunities with input and experience-sharing from the other circle members. Members at similar stages of their career (and with similar experience and roles) come together once a month to discuss a particular topic, idea, challenge or opportunity. We are thrilled that 93% or participants rated the program excellent, very good, or good. Our next cohort launches in early 2022.
We’ve continued to build on the best practice buddy system to welcome members and ensure they are aware of opportunities and can take advantage of an exceptional members’ experience.
We continued our commitment that instead of speaker gifts we’d donate to charity. Each guest speaker has selected a charity of their choosing to donate their speaker gift to.
We celebrated 9 NSW gold quill awards within our Chapter, up from 7 last year, which was the highest number in our local chapter history. The Gold Quills is acknowledged as one of the most prestigious awards globally it sets our members apart.
We’ve sadly had to postpone our 2021 ambitions to deliver GCCC exams but our six IABC NSW members have applied to renew their accreditation and we look forward to supporting more members in achieving this prestigious accomplishment.
We’ve continued to see our financials remain healthy and stable and delivered a small surplus to end the year, our fair and disciplined governance is well regarded.
We’ve welcomed 63 new members in 2021 and retained new and existing corporate members including Optus, Aurecon, PwC, IAG, Westpac, EY and Minter Ellison. Our small corporate memberships continue to be our biggest growth area and we are excited that new groups are immientaly joining.
We’ve continued to refine our social and EDM strategy, been consistent with our communication through our regular monthly newsletter, seen our LinkedIn company pages grow by +150 well above our target of 500 followers for this year with 40% of those ranked as senior professionals.
We’ve continued to forge closer ties and relationships with other chapters and ensured we highlighted the range of exceptional resources, content centre, academy courses, hub community from the global and regional teams.
I couldn’t be prouder of the board – your IABC NSW chapter has been led by Megan, Patrick, Anthea, Jane, Steph, Catherine, Karen, Gabrielle, Sabrina, Bernadette.
As a board they have shown incredible leadership and resilience, I think we’ve managed to meet twice face to face during this year due to the pandemic so to lead, engage and commit to their voluntary positions with such gusto and dedication is to be widely acknowledged and commended.
On behalf of the Board we say a huge ongoing thank you to Lucy Newcomb and Salt and Shein for their sponsorship and support. We send out our sincerest appreciation to each speaker this year; we couldn’t do it without the generosity of speakers who give their time and resources for the benefit of the community.
My heartfelt thanks to exiting Board members Patrick, Gabrielle, Bernadette for all their commitments this year and for many previous. A special call out to Patrick who has been such a support to both my personally and to the Chapter, he has also been a dedicated supporter at the global level and his tenure and impact has been incredibly positive at that local, regional and national level.
I’m thrilled that tonight we get to welcome Cat, Jen, Chris and Luke to our community and team and am excited about seeing their impact in the years ahead.
It is with the greatest honour that I hand over the Presidency to Megan.
Megan has been a huge supporter of the IABC and member over 15 years. Megan joined the IABC Board in 2019, where she has been Secretary and this year took on the additional role of co-Vice President. She has been a Gold Quill evaluator and multi-award winner; spoken at various events, nurtured many of our members and small corporates, and supported almost every event we've held over the last 3 years.
She is an accredited SCMP, one of the first in NSW to complete the certification in 2020
Megan is widely regarded by her peers for her commitment to excellence, her unbounded creativity and her inclusive and positive approach. She has held very senior roles during times of significant change and challenge at PwC, Foxtel and The ABC.
Megan brings over 20 years of experience in communications and more recently in change management at CBA. I know that her deep knowledge and skills will help lift IABC's profile and reputation even further.
On a personal note Megan has been a mentor, a friend, a guide and a supporter of mine for which I’m eternally grateful. This chapter is on a trajectory of growth underlined by exceptional membership experiences. Under Megan’s leadership I know the 2022 board are set up for great things.
It is also my honour to announce Anthea as our incoming Vice President and Treasurer. I approached Anthea last year to join this board, she accepted the approach as she had seen what we had accomplished over the past few years as a board, her credibility, professionalism and expertise has been invaluable. I’ve been so grateful for her wise and assured council.
Anthea has been a member of the IABC since 2007, initially with the London Chapter, and then with the NSW Chapter from 2009. She is accredited with the IABC, having completed the ABC in 2010. She has been a Gold Quill evaluator since 2013, chairing the NSW evaluation panel in 2020 and 2021.
She is also a qualified investment manager, maintaining her membership of the CFA Institute after qualifying over two decades ago. Anthea has worked as a communicator since 2005, initially at the CBA where she was an inaugural member of the International Financial Service division. She has since worked for Royal Dutch Shell (in Europe), KPMG, AMP, Telstra and now heads brand, comms, media & marketing for an infrastructure asset manager.
Since joining the IABC NSW Chapter in 2020, Anthea has run two GQ events for us, written our winning Chapter award entries, led a Mastermind Circle and delivered our Gala event.
With such great leadership and a vibrant and dedicated board, 2022 looks very bright. We’re honoured that so many new and existing members have put their trust in the NSW board in supporting them and their membership of our comms community.
In the words of David Bowie I feel confident imposing change on myself. It’s a lot more fun progressing than looking back. As many of you know I have now transitioned out of PwC and am very excited to have joined an immersive technology firm called Lumination, revolutionising the way we teach, learn and work. My wife and I will be making the move to Adelaide in the New Year, but even from a distance I look forward to watching this Chapter take the next steps to ensure we are stronger together, supporting our members adding value to their organisations, to society and to the planet every single day. Thank you for all the support, I can honestly say that joining IABC and being on the Board was one of the most rewarding, enriching and career defining experiences, long may the unity in community continue.