‘It is the knowledgeable and experienced in event management that will ensure the ongoing proactive professionalism of the events industry’ was the unanimous agreement at a recent industry luncheon. Adding to this is USB’s Robin Hogarth and his one-liner from several of his recent excellent presentations that ‘the CV is Dead’.
The CV as we know it merely confirms a list of employers, the jobs employed for and not necessarily the jobs undertaken. Added could be references from various individuals who have probably left the company and besides a possible character reference are unlikely to determine whether the incumbent is proficient at the job applied for. It is invariably a glowing account of the individual yet it does not pin-point what the individual’s true knowledge or abilities are on a range and depth of various subjects within the wide spectrum of event management tasks.
Enter the age of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and the ongoing determination by salaried and independent event management. Effective testing on the real knowledge base is the true yard-stick the future employers will be seeking.
It means that industry individuals must ensure that ongoing credits are being accumulated for the purpose of career advancement. The benefits go beyond career advancement – the bigger picture is discovering new ideas and possible differing, improved ways of undertaking certain EM tasks.
At this time, there is no career path for effective event managers. The advent of CPD – coupled with the accumulation of credits – will have a profound effect on an employer’s justification for appointing an individual above another.
Q & A testing therefore becomes a major part of the CPD programme that commenced in early 2013. Coming full circle with innovation in real message retention – the Academy is in the process of implementing an on-line question and multi-choice answer testing mechanism.
Now in its final stages of checks and balances – the advent of the roll-out of on-line CPD credits – will bolster and certainly enhance the prospects of the outstanding South African event managers that are seeking higher expectations beyond event management.
For more information contact info@miceacademy.co.za Check the website regularly for further updates at www.miceacademy.co.za
