The Performance Institute: New Conference Announcement

If you're looking to expand your skills and build your resume, I have some great news: The Performance Institute is once again offering their incredibly comprehensive certification program in Event Planning and Project Management for Administrative Professionals. This weeklong program is being held September 15 through 19 in Washington, DC. It's truly a one-of-a-kind experience that will help you gain a better understanding of two major job functions.

Event Planning

As an Executive Assistant, I planned numerous meetings and several large-scale events. The process was always a little overwhelming. I'd usually stumble my way through, fingers crossed, just hoping that all would work out in the end. While there are professionals specially trained to manage the event planning process, many companies rely on their administrative staff to do the bulk of this work. After all, events are expensive enough without hiring an extra helping hand. So it's likely that, as an office professional, you'll need at least some knowledge of event planning to get through. The Performance Institute program provides a wealth of information to help make you an expert, including:

• Establishing and managing a budget
• Selecting a site
• Vendor selection and management
• Developing and maintaining speaker relations
• Marketing and promotion techniques
• Signage
• Travel
• Post-event communication
• And more!

Project Management

No matter what role you play in your organization, strong project management skills can help establish your reputation as a team leader. Whether you're project involves overseeing the creation of a company website or planning the office relocation, the same skills are used to organize the process and optimize results. The Performance Institute's program focuses on building a foundation for successful project management, with topics including:

• Planning techniques
• Establishing a successful team
• Planning the infrastructure
• Developing a schedule
• Creating a work breakdown structure
• Budgeting and optimization
• Risk management
• Tracking and completion
• And more!

This program is very thorough and I encourage everyone to visit the website for more information. You can also view the conference brochure here. As many of you know, I'm a big believer in continuing education. Anything you can do to build your resume and expand your skills is worth investigating.

And here's the best part: OfficeArrow members will get 20% off tuition! Just use this code when registering: K191-PRTOT.