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BPW News Past Newsletters Past Newsletter - Fall 2008
BPW News Past Newsletters Past Newsletter - Fall 2008
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BPW London Fall 2008 Newsletter - Making a Difference Our Way Click a title to move to an article Feature Article: Leadership Award - Sheila Crook President's Message • National Convention Reports • BPW Canada Update • Executive Meeting Minutes • Notices • Upcoming Events Leadership Award Recipient Sheila Crook by Doris Hall BPW London is proud to announce Sheila Crook as a 2008 recipient of the prestigious Leadership Award at the BPW Canada Convention in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She previously received the Outstanding Woman of the Year Award for Ontario in 2002. Sheila joined the Belleville Club in 1991and transferred to the London Club in 1996. From the date she joined Sheila has continually been an active, supportive, participating member of BPW. Sheila has demonstrated leadership and vision from her early promotional activities as BPW Ontario Emblems chair where she introduced the concept of branding and logo recognition through a series of professional, user-friendly computerized templates, providing a series of customized tools for clubs to use for their routine operations. These resources along with how-to instructions are readily accessible to BPW members on the BPW Ontario Web site. She also served on the committee to develop the BPW Canada Career Skills Achievement modules and has facilitated numerous developmental workshops and strategic planning seminars at various levels of the organization. Sheila led the session which established the membership model at the 2000 National convention. As President of BPW Ontario from 2004-2006, Sheila demonstrated visionary leadership in taking the organization through some difficult times. She cultivated a cohesive leadership team that took ownership of and saw through to fruition a 5-year strategic plan that stemmed the tide of declining membership and supported a trend of new club development and increased membership. Using the membership model as a catalyst she created an awareness and appreciation for the historical legacy of BPW and the many benefits and structural support provided through the various levels of the organization. She initiated a partnership with the Pay Equity Commission and worked with them to develop a module on Pay Equity and Salary Negotiation. Across her leadership term she took a strong supportive stance in assisting the various Personal Development Chairs in bringing about the completion of the five BPW Ontario Leadership Learning Modules designed to develop and support future leaders in BPW. She demonstrated a desire to continually develop her knowledge and skills by participating and leading all six modules in the Career Skills Achievement Program and has received a certificate of achievement. In addition, she has participated in all the modules completed by BPW Ontario. Click to read about Sheila's other accomplishments and the Leadership Award. Click to read article about Sheila's award in the Peterborough Examiner.
President's Message by Carole Orchard September marks the beginning of a new school year and the end of summer. It is a time when we focus on the activities we wish to pursue for the next several months. For BPW London it starts our club year and allows us to consider why we belong to this organization. For some it is the networking with other business and professional women. Many of us are looking for mentoring from others. But this mentoring can be much broader than just that associated with our work and leadership. It can extend to our hobbies and other skill sets. How can we as members become mentors to others in a skill that is unique and could be of interest to others. Let's make an effort to gain insight into all those hidden talents among ourselves and use these to further the meaning in being a member of our club. For example does anyone have photography skills? If so, we could use your help. We need members to help us record our history as we move through our year. So let us know what your hidden talents might be and see how they can be employed to make our meetings provide a sense of being and empowerment to us all! We are also trying to make our newsletter more readable to you. You will see some changes in its format with the president's message coming more as a brief editorial and offering features about our members. We hope to highlight a number of our members this year so when you have news that you feel would be valuable to the membership please let This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it know. And if you have pictures about the event that would be even better.
BPW Canada 41st Biennial Conference Reports - Winnipeg, Manitoba - July 24 - 28, 2008 : "Women Making Democracy Work" Reflections on the National Convention by Carole Orchard, Delegate It was my first such meeting and I assure you, your delegates work hard! The days started at 0800 and went until 5 pm with a banquet on one night as well. I learned that our club is ‘looked up to' by all the other clubs in the country. This is particularly because of the calibre of our members who serve nationally and provincially. And we do have many: Provincially Norma Yau is treasurer, Laura Noble is the editor, and Linda Davis is vice president. Nationally Doris Hall is the first Vice President and will assume the national presidency in 2010. The convention was interspersed with prominent speakers on issues affecting women. The resolutions around human trafficking by our club passed and one will more forward to the international level. We have an opportunity to support a conference on this issue in partnership with other London Groups. More will be presented by Doris Hall at our September meeting. Sue Calhoun has now assumed the presidency with Vi Anderson and Joan Macklin ad VPs and Monon Sirois-Boudreay and VP Young BPW. A new Taskforce on Employment Insurance has been established to address the lack of progress on EI benefits for women. Sue Calhoun is looking for other members who have an interest in this area. Contact her at (506) 877-2343 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Two notable aspects of the meeting are important to note. Firstly, Sheila Crook was one of the recipients of BPW Canada's leadership award and you will note her receiving this award is our feature in this newsletter. And our club put forward an invitation to host the 2012 National Convention. Another club also offered. In the end our club won on a close ballot to have this honor. This will be the year of Doris' end of her national presidency and we thought it would be a wonderful way to end her role by hosting the convention in London. Not to worry Linda, Sheila and I offered to work on the organizing committee. Of concern is the decrease in the number of members in BPW Canada. Since membership fees are the primary source for funding our organization a great deal of discussion occurred around actions. Small group discussions occurred to address - membership issues, communications, dealing with the media, and strategic planning. The message was clear that all clubs need to focus on our membership and see how to retain those who are already members and to seek new groups to become members. There was also a commitment to ensure that all members see their connections to provincial, national and international levels of our organization. Do you have ideas as to how we can enhance your connections to these levels? The Executive Committee has reviewed the results of members surveys to consider ways to shape our programs and activities. One area is around mentoring.
By-Laws, Commendations, Human-Trafficking and Resolutions by Doris Hall, Delegate What a fantastic convention! We were certainly filled to the brim with information, workshops, speakers and work, work, work. We had fun too as you can imagine...we never let work prevent us from enjoying ourselves. My section is to provide you with the results of the business stuff. All of the resolutions passed. There was no contest to the two that we proposed although we did make a minor amendment to the one on child sex tourism. Just to jog your memory, you will find the summary by clicking here. There were also some by-law amendments:
Commendation: The Board of Directors approved a commendation to Louise Arbour, former United Nations High Commissioner in Human Rights for Canada, for her life-long efforts in advocating for human rights, including full gender equality, for the expansion of human rights presence around the world and for being instrumental in doubling the UN high commissioner's office's annual budget to nearly $100 million." Human Trafficking Joy Smith, MP for one of the ridings in Manitoba spoke about human trafficking and the efforts of the RCMP to combat it in Canada. She was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject and is organizing an awareness conference in Manitoba in November. You will be hearing more from me on this topic as she is going to send me information and I have joined an anti-trafficking group in London. We have to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters are not lured by these traffickers. We also need to let young boys know that they are vulnerable too Aboriginal Women's Leadership Lunch, Thursday, July 24, 2008 by Linda Davis, Delegate Summary The luncheon was held to honour Dr. Verna Kirkness, a long time advocate for excellence in Aboriginal education. Following the presentation to Dr. Kirkness a panel discussed the effect Bill C- 31 has had on the right and privileges of Canadian First Nation's people in regard to their status. Click to read Linda's full report.
I will summarize the convention and workshop participant feedback related to the Happy Members-Healthy Clubs workshop. Click to review the list of Convention Workshops and Presentations. Happy Members-Healthy Clubs: Sharing Best Practices and Lessons Learned Summary Report This workshop provided participants an opportunity to assess their club membership strengths and opportunities and consider how they might both grow and sustain their membership. It was recognized that membership is the lifeblood of BPW. That it is our membership that forms the volunteer base that keeps our organization running. Membership dues and fundraising activities provide the revenue for our operating costs and ensure that the work of our mandate can continue to thrive. Participants discussed that clubs typically think of growing the BPW membership by bringing in new members. New members are a critical component to growing club membership. However, it was also suggested that as much and/or even more can be gained by attending to sustaining our existing membership. Membership data across the country indicates that although clubs year after year are in fact bringing in new members. However, despite this valiant effort our total numbers continue to decline as we are not securing a consistent percentage of renewal by our existing membership. Attention to this renewal factor in conjunction with new members can ensure a strong and healthy club and satisfied members. The workshop introduced techniques and resources to assist clubs in better understanding their unique membership needs. Just as membership is the lifeblood of our organization, the diversity of our membership was recognized as being both our greatest strength and our greatest challenge. Respecting the diverse backgrounds, skills and expertise of our BPW members and creating a truly inclusive leadership environment was discussed as the single greatest factor in successfully sustaining and thereby growing club membership. For a detailed report click here.
The key focus for BPW Canada is gaining financial sustainability. This will occur through strong membership drives and also looking at revenue generation through marketing of products. One immediate change is an increase in national membership fees from $30 to $40 effective for the 2009 membership year. Please note we have already taken this into account in our fee structure. For further information see link to president's message.
Executive Meeting Minutes
Below are summaries of the London Executive Minutes. At the end of each summary there is a link to the complete version of the minutes. May 2008 Business Arising
New Business
Reports
August 2008 Reports
New Business
September 2008 Reports
New Business
Complete September 2008 Minutes
Do you see yourself as a business entrepreneur? If so, Brescia University College is looking for your assistance. Donnafaye Milton who is the Community Outreach Coordinator at Brescia is seeking women who are in business roles to assist with the College's Community Consulting Class Projects. Your role would be participating in two interviews with a group of up to 5 students who will explore with you about how you market your business, finance your operations, manage human resources, operations ,sales, as well as research and development. The purpose of these consultations is for the students to learn about how other women develop and operate their own businesses as well as develop their own interpersonal, written and oral communication skills. If you are willing to participate in these projects please contact Donnafaye Milton at (519) 432-8353 x 28152. Fundamentals of Mediation Munn Conflict Resolution Services is conducting an intensive 40 hour mediation course. The dates are November 26, 27, 28, December 4,5, 2008 in London, Ontario. Discounted early payment deadline is November 10, 2008. As a BPWL Member, if your business has an upcoming event or notice, email the·editor for inclusion in the next newsletter by the last day of the month.
Newsletter submissions deadline is the last day of the month. Submissions are to be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
BPW London is a member of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs Member of The Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Ontario |
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