I had the opportunity yesterday of speaking at a "Young Professionals & CEOs" breakfast, which is an annual event organised by IPAA Queensland - the Institute Of Public Administration Australia. A truly inspirational event which belies the common perception that people employed within the public sector lack vision and capabilities.
What makes this event so unique is that chief executives and senior managers are asked to attend and host a table of their best and brightest young professionals, giving those BYTs a singular opportunity to have one on one discussions with the most senior echelon in their field.
So popular was this event that it was sold out - twice! Given the level of interest when it was first sold out the organisers decided to upsize the venue. 49 tables with 400 people present were able to listen to a range of speakers on career development and being successful. What was interesting was that although none of the speakers had conferred prior to the event, a number of remarkably common threads were evident in the presentations.
I believe that many professional bodies, organisations and associations would benefit from running similar exercises and both IPAA, as the professional body for people in the public sector, and the participants who see the obvious value in such an event, should be congratulated for their visionary and innovative thinking.
The organisers tell me that next year they'll be shooting for more than 600! And I thought that 400 was a big breakfast...
Harry
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