Catch up on recent events and see what's planned over the next couple of months. No Images? Click here Where are we (and Exeter) heading?Having attended the Property Circle Launch event recently, at which Karime Hassan, CEO and Growth Director of Exeter City Council, spoke about the growth, employment and productivity statistics for Exeter, it caused us to think again about what we, as admin professionals, might need to do differently going forward so that we can not only stand out as individuals but provide even better support to our organisations. So, we thought we should read up on the strategy for Exeter. If you ever get a chance to attend an event where Karime is speaking, we really encourage you to go and hear what he has to say! In the meantime, you can read the strategy document as well here — Greater Exeter: the engine for regional growth: There's a lot to digest in the report, and we can't claim to have understood all of it - but our take on it is that Exeter is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK, with high levels of employment, but lower than ideal levels of productivity. The city is home to leading national employers, but further growth could potentially be constrained by a lack of skills. Exeter is 1 of only 5 cities where the average age of the population has gone down. Is this because Uni grads are choosing to stay here once they've completed their studies, or are people relocating to the area having been attracted by the fact that we host the largest cluster of digital economy activity south-west of Bristol? Exeter is becoming a hub for knowledge-intensive employment and productivity-led growth and the vision for the city is to become the global leader for addressing the challenges of climate change and urbanisation, and the world-leading location for applied environmental science, health, and data analytics. Working with partners to grow our digital and data analytics based sectors and improve our productivity will enable us to attract funding to tackle our infrastructure challenges. Growth in this area could also create up to 20,000 high-value jobs in the next 10 years. — What does it all mean?So, what this tells us is if we want to support Exeter's continued growth, we all have to be thinking about our skills. Are they up to date? Where are the gaps, and what can we do to fill those gaps (both for us as individuals and within our organisations)? And, we are all going to have to get a lot more familiar and comfortable with digital and data analytics - it's going to be a major part of what we do here in Exeter - particularly if we want to stand out from the crowd and be in with a chance of obtaining a more highly paid opportunity within this sector. We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Let's get the conversation started and be the good change! Tweet us at @ExeterPANetwork Breakfast / Th 15.11. / 7.30amOur regular networking breakfast. This time we'll hear from Chukes Maxwell and Gill Hayes about a new initiative to make Devon Suicide Safer. You're invited to the Big BEEP Quizwith special guest host Arina Fox
Wed 07.11 / 7.00-9.30pm At Exeter City Football Club Tickets are £10 per person (incl. halftime pasty and a donation to BEEP charity) Another session hosted by Judy SalmonJoin Judy Salmon for this morning workshop exclusively for PAs, EAs and VAs at Froginwell Vineyard on 8 November 2018. The session will be very interactive with some theory inputs from Judy and conclude with you taking away new ideas and options. Thur 08.10. / 9.30am-1.00pm Other Events:
more information at: www.exeterpanetwork.com/eventsStay tuned in for the latest info: The Annual Conference: we totally nailed it again this year! Lovely to see you all.We had a wonderful time at our Conference on Friday. We were grateful for everyone's efforts in joining us, given the horrible weather and the travel disruptions. We've had some amazing feedback already:
If you weren't able to join us - check out the hashtag #SWPAConf on Twitter to get a flavour of what you missed. Businesses finally investing in PAs?It was heartening to see this year that the number of delegates who had to self-fund and/or take a day's holiday in order to attend had dropped significantly. This says to us that businesses are finally appreciating the benefit of investing in their support team's development. Hallelujah! We still have some work to do on this, and it is the subject of our column in Grow Exeter Magazine this month, which is also shared on LinkedIn. Read more here We are co-hosting a meeting with recruiting managers in Exeter to look at the challenges they have faced recently in attracting the right candidates for their roles, skills gaps in the local talent pool, and how we can work together to address those gaps. As a group of admin professionals, we have some PR work to do to address the value perception of our roles and demonstrate how we can and do generate business opportunities, impacting the bottom line of our organisations. One way we can do this is by sharing our 'networking wins'. If you've generated a cost saving, have been able to share best practice within your organisation, introduced a new customer, or otherwise made a difference to the business as a result of attending a networking or training event, please let us know! ❄ Buy a present and get a FREE Porthdune Travel Gift Set ❄ If you’d like to thank a member of your team for going the extra mile or recognise a valued customer or supplier, we have the perfect range of gifts and experiences for you this Christmas. Choose from dining experiences at our restaurants, foodie hampers, great Rick Stein wines and champagnes, and hands-on cookery experiences at our cookery school. Whether you’re looking for something as simple as a case of our wine or Champagne, or 50 of our Christmas hampers, we can work with your budget to find the right gift, with discounts available on multiple purchases. Let us make it easy for you at such a busy time of year and put together the perfect Christmas gifting package. Prices start from £10.95 for our gift range so visit our site here to order yours today.
★ Alastair Banks' LinkedIn Course for only £10 ★ We previously shared discounted access to Alastair's online LinkedIn course. We've had fantastic feedback on the course. Given the feedback, Alastair has decided to extend the offer. So, here's another chance to access the course for a discounted rate. And finally... a bit of your warm support ⚑Watch out for our next newsletterIn the meantime, please do share ♥ this newsletter with colleagues and contacts who you think would enjoy being part of our network - or encourage them to subscribe to our updates through our website (www.exeterpanetwork.com). Take care y'all and hope to see you at an event soon! Kim Glover |