By Shannon Frederick, ABC, IABC/Tulsa President
There’s something refreshing about the start of a new year.
With calendar full of untouched months, you can work to change something in your life for the better.
Ironically, while many of us as individuals are likely full-swing into our new year, IABC also seems to be taking advantage of the clean slate of 2013.
If you’ve been reading your emails from International or following the IABC LinkedIn group, then you know that big changes are happening for our professional organization. Here are summaries of just a few:
- In late November, World Headquarters restructured its staff. This change had been a point of discussion for much of 2012, as IABC had identified the need for different skill sets among its staff in order to deliver the promised new strategy. Still, this change sparked a lot of conversation in the world of social media – if you’ve been on LinkedIn, you’ve likely seen it. IABC did release an official statement, which can be found here: http://news.iabc.com/index.php?s=66&cat=56.
- The Gold Quill program has had a makeover! It sounds like members are excited about better judging, less restrictive work plans and better use of technology. My hope is that in 2013, we will see at least one member – hopefully more – from Tulsa win a Gold Quill. We had so much success from our Bronze Quill program, which proved that we have the highest caliber of talent right here, that our winners should take the time to consider entering Gold Quill. Find out more here: https://gq.iabc.com/info/.
- IABC seems to be making progress on its work to change the ABC (Accredited Business Communicator) certification/accreditation program. At the beginning of January, all current ABCs received an email outlining the proposed new direction of the program, which includes a two-tier process. (Of course, Ginger Homan, ABC, already knew about the proposal because we’re lucky to have one of our local members serving on IABC’s Accreditation Board.) While IABC hasn’t yet widely released a lot of detail about the proposal, it is another hot topic of discussion in social media. Once decisions appear to be formally made, I promise to share more information either in this newsletter or via another chapter channel. If there’s interest before that time, we could ask Ginger to give a download at an upcoming meeting. Let us know by emailing iabctulsa@gmail.com.
When you take a step back and look at all of these changes as a whole, it’s really exciting to know we belong to an organization that is focused on the future – and being the best it can be for our profession. And, of course, we try to mirror that here in Tulsa. If the past is any indicator, 2013 will be yet another successful year for this amazing small chapter.
With each of you in our corner, I’m sure it will be.