This month AuSAE welcomes Wendy Rapana, National President, Association of Administrative Professionals New Zealand (AAPNZ) as our Member in Focus. Wendy recently spoke with AuSAE about her role, challenges in the not-for-profit sector and the exciting times ahead for AAPNZ.
During your time as President of AAPNZ, the organisation has seen much change. What do you personally feel has been the biggest challenge the organisation has overcome?
Like most not-for-profit organisations, retaining members and understanding member needs is always a challenge and AAPNZ is no exception. Another challenge we are experiencing is a shift, with many new members not necessarily wanting to join a group where they are physically located. Hence we are trying to figure out what a “virtual” organisation looks like so we can cater to this identified membership need.
I heard about the innovative partnership between ShowGizmo and AAPNZ. Can you share how this partnership came about and the benefits it presents to AAPNZ members?
Show Gizmo is the brainchild of Marie-Claire Andrews who used to be an administrative professional for a government agency in Wellington. Her manager signed her up with AAPNZ in acknowledgement that was her professional association and encouraged her to be the very best she could be in any role. She moved quickly into project administration and found her passion. Marie-Claire went on to develop ShowGizmo, an event management app, and is today the CEO of this very successful business.
As AAPNZ’s qualifications have a focus on technology, this presented itself to be a wonderful opportunity to partner with ShowGizmo, I would discuss the attributes of the app with association strategic partners and in return AAPNZ received full use of the event management app at very little cost, of which we are very grateful.
What exciting projects are underway at AAPNZ?
At our annual conference last year, we were lucky enough to get Lucy Brazier, CEO and Publisher of the prestigious Executive Secretary Magazine, as an international keynote speaker. Lucy has 70,000 administrative professionals on her database and has a Twitter following of 5,000 that is very significant as she is a prolific social media user.
We are currently discussing Lucy Brazier’s “Executive Secretary Live” event coming to Auckland in 2017. This event consists of six international speakers from around the world who have been in significant roles or done exceptional things in their role as administrative professionals. AAPNZ’s own Eth Lloyd (past president) will be one of these exceptional international speakers. AAPNZ will get a percentage of the event profit and a high level of international exposure.
In other news, AAPNZ will again host the World Administrators Summit (WAS) in New Zealand in 2021, and will be Co-Chair at both the Germany 2018 and New Zealand 2021 events.
What would you say to someone starting out in the not-for-profit sector with a view to become a future leader?
The opportunity to be a leader in this sector is a significant event in anyone’s life and one not to be taken lightly. Working in the not-for-profit sector offers the opportunity to represent a passionate membership or support base and achieve great things for the relevant profession, cause and/or general public. I have, and am still enjoying, my role with AAPNZ. The 2016 NZ Census reported that 240,000 people identified themselves as administrative professionals under approximately 50 different job titles. AAPNZ only represent a small percentage of this figure so I know the organisation has a catchment and needs to keep focusing on letting these hard working professionals know we are here to support them. I’ve loved my nearly two years as the national president and am excited as to who will take over my role in early August next year at the annual event in Nelson. Watch this space!
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AuSAE thank member Wendy Rapana for appearing in the October Edition of AuSAE Insider. AuSAE recognises a current member every month, acknowledging their success and ongoing commitment to advancing the not-for-profit sector. If you would like to share your story with other executives, please contact Kim Miller, GM Australia AuSAE at kimberley@ausae.org.au.
