Report: Going for Gold

2007 Asia-Pacific conference, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast

[Published: 30/3]

Carolina Carlsson and Henrik Wallgren represented the chapter at this years regional conference which was held 8-10 February 2007 in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.

Thursday, February 8

We arrived at the Gold Coast at 11am and were joined by Crystal from the Adelaide uni chapter executive and Adelaide's new chapter advisor.

Our US sister chapter, Northern Kentucky university, were represented by its former President Jeff Fox and graduate advisor Aimee Shandy.

The official opening took place at 5pm. The theme for the opening ceremony was 'Polynesian' and featured a number of speakers:

• His Worship The Mayor Ron Clarke (Mayor of the Gold Coast) welcomed the delegates to the Gold Coast and talked about the region and its opportunities.
• Professor John Dewar, Deputy Vice-Chancellor -- (Academic, Griffith University) represented one of the main sponsors of the conference -- Griffith University. He talked about and promoted the university and outlined its history and growth.
• The Hon. Rod Welford MP(Minister for Education, Training and The Arts, Qld Government) promoted Queensland's education system and the importance of education.

After the speeches the less formal and more entertaining part of the evening commenced. Shane St James, hypnotist, called up delegates on the stage and used his magical powers to get them perform some funny and unexpected acts.

Friday, February 9 -- Chapter development

The first session was held by Lucca Leadership Australia, a charity focused on developing the leadership potential of young people around the world. The organisation organises workshops and summer school sessions in Australia and Italy with participants from around the world.

The session was focused on what Lucca Leadership calls 'Transformational Leadership', meaning having the leadership qualities required to change the society in which we live.

The next session included chapter success workshops.

Carolina attended the 'How to get the most out of you committee workshop' presented by Joshua Drummond from Deakin University. The workshop included tips on how to run successful meetings. This included preparing agendas in advance and allocating responsibility for agenda items to individual committee members so everyone understands what their responsibility is. The workshop also included a discussion on how to keep the committee active throughout the year. It was suggested that the AGM be moved to the end of the year as holding the AGM in May forces new members to get involved in the committee work too soon. It was also suggested that an email calling for new committee members be sent out in January/February as many people are keen to get more active at the start of a new year.

During the awards lunch, outstanding Golden Key leaders and advisors were recognised. Moreover, all chapters received their chapter standards certificates and the UniSA Golden Key chapter was awarded Gold Standard. Carolina accepted the certificate on behalf of our chapter.

The key note speaker during the lunch was Michael Williams, indigenous academic at Griffith University who spoke about indigenous education and the challenges faced by our indigenous population.

The next session included a second round of chapter success workshops.

Henrik attended the 'Inter-chapter relations' presented by Andrew Fabiny from Monash and Kristy Close from La Trobe. The talked about how they have formalised the collaboration between Golden Key chapters in Victoria. This include Victoria meetings, joint planning of events to ensure that there are no clashes, invitations to chapter events are sent to all Victorian chapter. Some initial discussions about collaboration in South Australia was held with Emma from Flinders and Crystal from Adelaide uni after the workshop.

Carolina attended the 'Engaging students' workshop presented by Gerard Atkinson from ANU. Discussions were held about how to get people more aware and interested in attending Golden Key events. Jeff from Northern Kentucky University explained how they combined their induction ceremony with a careers fair to attract more students to attend and to increase the value of the induction ceremony. He also explained that they send personalised email and make phone calls to their members.

Thereafter it was time for a session on psychometric testing presented by psychologist Kellie Gaeta. She gave us some insights on how psychometric tests are developed and how they are used in recruitment. She pointed out that testing is only one part of the selection process and that is should always be combined with other selection processes such as interviews and assessment centres.

Saturday, February 10 -- Personal development

The day was started off with an energetic and inspiring speech by Peter Sheahan, Talent Specialist, Consultant and Author. Peter Sheahan was the NSW Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 and he has shown that he knows what it takes to be successful in the modern business world. Among other things he talked about the importance of not only being good at what you do but also to be able to sell your self and your talent in order to receive recognition.

The next session was workshops on personal development.

Carolina attended the workshop 'The Next Step from Uni to Work: Tips on choices, applications, decisions, transitions and adjustments'. Col McCowan from Careers Services at QUT gave tips on how to write a cover letters, resumes and how to respond to selection criteria.

Henrik attended the 'Workplace behaviour -- your rights and responsibilities' presented by Cheryl Bookallil. Cheryl talked about ethics in the workplace and how to deal with bullying and harassment in the workplace.

Thereafter it was time for the HR panel. Representatives from Accenture, Queensland government treasury, Railcorp graduate program, QUT careers services, ASIS and the Defence Intelligence Organisation. They answered questions from the audience about graduate recruitment and graduate programs. Their main points included:

• applying early
• students from all fields are encouraged to apply
• prepare for interviews
• make sure that you have an understanding of what the company does and why you want to work there before you attend an interview

Then it was time to attend the working lunch and careers expo. Unfortunately only 3 employers were represented. As non-citizens only one of them -- Accenture - was of any interest to us. The other exhibitors were universities recruiting to their postgraduate program. We were a bit disappointed with this session as we were hoping to see more private sector employers there.

In the afternoon a panel discussion on climate change was held. Experts from a range of fields discussed the evidence for climate change as well as the potential impacts and the actions that can be taken at the individual and government levels.

The conference was finished off with a two-course gala dinner followed by dance. We enjoyed the food and the good company of Jeff and Aimee from our sister chapter in Kentucky.