More and more people wanting to become members are from outside Europe. They consider EUMA as an international association bringing technological, economic and social benefits.

The profession of management assistants is going through major changes embracing the digitalization of the business world and the new working methods.

Our Association has to be a step ahead in future developments to meet the requirements of the current members and to be attractive to the generations Y and Z now entering the business world.

EUMA has to gain access to new industries and markets. It has to offer its members efficient services and new benefits and it has to differentiate from other networks, especially on online platforms. To achieve all this, members voted to change the name of the Association from EUMA into IMA – International Management Assistants.

 Else-Britt Lundgren, European Chairman:

“This change is a historical moment for our network. It will help us to move forward into the future and be the number one international network of management support professionals.”

The implementation of the new name and brand is scheduled for February 2017. More news will follow in the coming months. In the meantime keep a close eye on www.euma.org and on our social media platforms.

The European Committee

European Management Assistants (EUMA)

EUMA Contact

info@euma.org

What does the 90's movie The Game, starring Michael Douglas, have in common with your company’s next conference? Quite a lot, if you ask Niklas Tyllström, founder and CEO of Green hat People.

The requirement that meetings and conferences should be shorter and more efficient, yet at the same time, to yield higher return on investment to the company is constantly increasing. Companies today spend a lot of money, time and energy on making their conferences as memorable as possible. At the same time, a conference participant on average remembers only four out of twenty slides in a PowerPoint presentation. That isn’t really playing the cards right, says Niklas Tyllström, founder and CEO of Green hat People.

Their belief is that working with interactive workshops and scientifically developed games for conferences, often with the support of the latest mobile technology, gives a better return on investment than the perfect venue or amazing food.

People have no time for poor meetings, simply put. There is an increasing awareness among companies conferences needs to have a clear goal, and that the results should easily be used in the daily work, and then measured in order to show the effects. Today's conferences function more as an in depth working session than an annual occasion to present numbers.

The Green hat People concept, an engaging digital service was conceived with the two co-founders at an Italian restaurant on Fleminggatan, downtown Stockholm in 2006, says Niklas, an economist with a focus on business development.

“We discussed possible alternatives on how to make life in general more exciting and came to the joint conclusion that challenges of different sorts would be an element that could provide a thin red line. Especially when applied in a learning environment but also for pleasure purposes. As true entrepreneurs a trial and error approach was conducted, and eventually corporate conferences, meetings and training sessions became the chosen field to provide the services for.”

“The movie ‘The Game’, in which Michael Douglas played a banker who has the lead role in an elaborate role-playing as a birthday present, served as a great inspiration. When you are exposed to a challenge, often something unexpected, the level of excitement rises. So does the degree of presence and, above all, the commitment of the individual. These factors can make a big difference in benefiting to meetings.”says Niklas.

Education - an active and constructive process

Green hat People has developed a series of workshop games that help companies get a mental shift in the organisation. Some popular themes at the moment are organisation values, sustainability and digital transformation. When actively taking part in a workshop, working with realistic cases and problems identified from their everyday life, messages can easier get across the organisation. And working together using tablets, pictures and playing cards the participants help employees to teach and learn from each other. Or as the American philosopher John Dewey put it in his book ‘Democracy and Education´ in 1916: “Education is not an affair of telling and being told, but an active and constructive process.”

“We are always looking for the latest educational tools that help to open your eyes and provide insights. This together with proven methods of education help to meet a demand to communicate in new ways, and to fully understand and solve complex challenges in an easily understandable and engaging way helps create a mind-set to bring back to the office.” says Niklas.

Ongoing strategic processes, not single points of injection

The workshop about customer focus is also one of the more popular recently. It begins with working groups watching short video clips in a humorous and familiar manner, to introduce the participants to the topic and where experts, e.g. Professor Ranjay Gulati at Harvard Business School, gives practical theory in the field. The workshop also include substantial group discussions and creative exercises. One example is an analogue puzzle that demonstrates the difference between customer focus and product focus.

“This is really the beauty of what we do, combining proven methods, digital technology and modern behavioural science to help organisations take on their challenges and use their conferences as a catalyst in their daily work. Many companies would benefit greatly by stop seeing conferencing as single injection points and instead as part of an on-going strategic process,”says Niklas Tyllström.

Green hat People is a Gold Partner to European Management Assistants (EUMA)

EUMA Contact
Else-Britt Lundgren
European Chairman
europeanchairman@euma.org
www.euma.org

Green hat People in short
Founded in 2006 and provides business transformation games, interactive workshops and team activities using the latest, often digital tools
Offices in London, Barcelona, Stockholm, Malmoe and Oslo
Provide workshop- and team work activities for groups from four to 10,000 participants.
www.greenhatpeople.com

European Management Assistants (EUMA) has contracted In-Act Marketing & Organization B.V. in the Netherlands and HelmsBriscoe as preferred partners for the planning and execution of its biannual international training and self-development events.

As the global leader in meetings procurement, HelmsBriscoe will save the EUMA European and National Committees a significant amount of time and cost by researching and negotiating with potential conference hotels and locations on their behalf.

In-Act Marketing & Organization has vast experience in supporting associations with their delegate registration, on-site event management and invoicing. Prior to entering into the partnership with EUMA, HelmsBriscoe and In-Act have been collaborating on international conferences worldwide for more than nine years.

“We are proud and happy to join forces with HelmsBriscoe and In-Act to be able to offer even better and more professional events to our members and non-members in the future. Their partnerships will allow us to concentrate on providing high-quality content, speakers, and trainers for our events, while HelmsBriscoe and In-Act focus on site selection and event management. We look forward to a successful and long-lasting partnership with both HelmsBriscoe and In-Act,” said Else-Britt Lundgren, European Chairman of EUMA.

“We look forward to sharing our experiences with EUMA when it comes to organizing the Annual Training Day and the Annual Conference in different cities in Europe. Our team is highly motivated to work with the experienced members of EUMA, and we will work closely with the national teams to make these events wonderful, memorable experiences,” said Anne Otten, Owner and Managing Director of In-Act Marketing & Organization B.V.

“EUMA is an extensive network of very enthusiastic Management Assistants who are dedicated to constantly growing both personally and professionally. We are very proud to be a preferred partner for EUMA’s meeting site selection needs,” said Joris Eyck, Managing Director, HelmsBriscoe.

euma.org

European Management Assistants (EUMA) will organise its 42nd Conference in Copenhagen on 21 October 2016 at Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers. The theme? Self-Development - Working in the Eye of the Storm.

What does Copenhagen offer its visitors?

The capital of Denmark has attractions and sights to suit every taste and interest – and most of them are within walking distance. The three most famous attractions in the city are most likely the more than 100-year old amusement park Tivoli Gardens, the statue of The Little Mermaid, and the free town of Christiana.

But Copenhagen has a lot more to offer. It was founded in 1167 and the city is full of historic landmarks, significant buildings and interesting sights and museums. A must is to visit Amalienborg Palace – home to the royal family - and walk down the shopping street Strøget. Interesting is that Copenhagen has one of the world's most dedicated bike cultures. In fact, the city has more bicycles than people!

The city also offers many lovely restaurants no matter what sort of food you like - green, eco, gourmet, French, Chinese, Danish. Why not try the famous Danish “smørrebrød” - a very tasty open sandwich! If you like design you have come to the right place as Denmark has many prominent designers in architectures, furniture and costumes.

Culture and music festival
Roskilde Festival, just 25 minutes outside Copenhagen's city centre by train, is the largest culture and music festival in Northern Europe. It's a unique and all-encompassing experience, where music, events, food and activities form a unity with the intense sense of community among the audience, also known as the "Orange feeling". In 2016, Roskilde Festival will take place 25 June - 2 July. Each year, nearly 200 bands and solo artists play on eight stages during the eight days.

EUMA in the city
The theme of EUMA’s 42nd conference is Self-Development - Working in the Eye of the Storm. In the fast-changing business world the development of management support professional’s performance in the workplace is critical to the success of their companies. The conference organisers have invited great speakers specialised in self-development as, for example, Dr. Peter Lund Madsen who definitely knows what he is talking about when it comes to the brain and all things related to the brain. Jane Møller Kretz, owner of Produktrelevans.dk, has also an interesting background as a communications designer, which has brought her to Europe as well as to USA. Jane's specialty is brand communication, visual identity, design of product wrapping and product innovation. Mette Højen is a partner in Network Academy, a company that specialises in growing business via networking, PR and executive performance.

The moderator for the conference will be Deborah Frances-White from England. Deborah is a founder member of The Spontaneity Shop, co-author of the Improv Handbook, a stand-up comedian, screenwriter, corporate speaker and executive coach. She is also passionate about “helping business women to unlock their personal power”.

Fight the Child Cancer

In 2016 EUMA entered a sponsorship with Team Rynkeby. Team Rynkeby is a non-profit charity organisation that each year cycles to from Copenhagen to Paris to raise money to fight child cancer. Several countries have teams in Team Rynkeby and other countries are visited on the way to Paris. EUMA is very lucky to have a Denmark member - Sabine Jagminas - who has been accepted as team member in Team Rynkeby, and she has explained about EUMA during their training sessions.

Team Rynkeby raises money to fight childhood cancer via national fund-raising campaigns in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. Scientists have made significant progress in recent years and they can now save the lives of 80% of children diagnosed with cancer. Even so, cancer is still the cause of most illness-related fatalities in children aged 1-15. Furthermore, some of the children who survive cancer must live with severe side-effects caused by the treatment they have received. Some are infertile, some have to have limbs amputated, and some suffer brain damage and will therefore never be able to lead normal lives. See and hear more about Team Rynkeby and their tour to Paris at www.team-rynkeby.com.

More information
www.euma.org
www.visitcopenhagen.com

One of the most connected cities in the world, Stockholm city has 900,000 inhabitants. Next year the capital of Sweden will host the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will be held in the Stockholm Globe district in May. The Monocle's annual Quality of Life Survey lists the world’s top 25 cities to live in, ranking Stockholm at #6! More about the city: www.visitstockholm.com

The next European Management Assistants (EUMA) annual Training Day will be held in Stockholm on 16 April 2016 at the hotel Clarion Sign and the theme for the training day is Self-Development. Nowadays it is crucial that you can lead your own development and follow what is happening around your profession and the business. In itself, personal development involves the setting of goals as well as their corresponding action plans within a specific timeframe. Keep in mind that self-development requires active participation on the part of the individual from the day the goals are set to the day these are achieved. Self-development is a daily commitment toward becoming the best person you can be.
For more information please visit: www.euma.org

Clarion Sign Stockholm's largest hotel is located in the heart of Stockholm city adjacent to the Central Station and Arlanda Express as well as near all the best of Stockholm’s favorite spots. It all started with the idea to create a unique, timeless, first-class hotel. By combining the best of Scandinavian architecture and design it would create a source of inspiration for the guests. A collection of icons in their areas that together would celebrate Scandinavia!

The renowned Swedish architect Gert Wingårdh, sketched his vision of a facade stooping hotel building which creates a spectacular view. Dominated by granite and glass, it leans over the square, reflecting the green park.

The interior was provided by Scandinavian design icons, such as Arne Jacobsen, Bruno Mathsson and Alvar Aalto. Wander around the hotel and discover world-famous furniture, such as Egg, Wave and Lily, classic pieces that have been around for up to 50 years and will stay the same for another 50, at least. All over the hotel you will find beautiful black and white photography art by well-known Scandinavian photo artists.
 

Whatever the size of your event, big or small, you will always need a well-defined communication strategy. Communicating effectively with your participants is an important part of making any event a success. In this article, we will discuss the different aspects of event communication and consider some things you should think about for your next event.

Preparation is key
Your participants should receive their invitations well ahead of the date, so that they have time to react. Include only the essentials in the invitation, and make additional information available from your site.

A short invitation will keep your participants interested long enough for them to read all the details. People get invitations and e-mails from left and right, so it’s crucial to make your message short and simple. The final thing you should do before sending out the invitation is to test it on somebody who hasn’t been part of the planning process. It’s necessary to get impartial feedback.

Essentially, a good invitation will lead to easy and successful registration.
Your registration options depend completely on your target group. Some target groups might require several registration options next to the typical online registration. Whichever way you choose, it is strongly recommended that you manage all registrations on one platform. One platform will make your life as an organiser a lot easier.

After registering, your attendees should get a confirmation to reassure them that their registration has been received and processed. The confirmation message will also give you a chance to recap important information, including the contact information for the organiser, the schedule, how to get to the venue and the information the attendee has given when registering.

A week or two prior to the event, it’s good to send a reminder via e-mail to the people who haven’t registered yet. This will increase the visibility of your event among all the other invitations. A week before the event another reminder can be sent to the actual event attendees.

When registrations are over and the event is fast approaching, create a text message that will be sent a day or a couple of hours before the event starts. Whilst smartphones are common, not everyone reads their e-mail constantly. A text message is a short and simple way to welcome attendees to your event. Furthermore, a text message receives ten times more attention than a regular e-mail and will set you apart from other events that might not use reminders at all.

Event communication can be a dreadful task, but with the help of event management tools, communicating even the biggest events will feel like a walk in the park.

--
First published in the EUMA magazine proActive No 43, this article was written by Linda Kullas, Lyyti-Event Management Software. Lyyti is a Gold Partner to European Management Assistants (EUMA). www.euma.org

European Management Assistants (EUMA) is the network for management support professionals, which offers training and development for the profession to meet the business requirements of today and especially tomorrow. In our fast changing business environment it is more and more important that companies know how to handle change management. Change management is our main topic for 2015: how we, as management support professionals, can contribute in a proactive way to our company and management, and how we can learn to deal with change when it comes to ourselves.

We are expected to focus on results, think and act like managers so as to contribute successfully to change management process. The change process in an organisation needs to expand the communication channels. An open, early and full communication is an important factor to a successful change management.

Crucial process
A one-way communication process, from top to down, won’t be successful. Our contribution in communication processes is crucial. We need to become more available, asking questions, giving an opportunity to our colleagues to give us input, asking for their opinion and how they feel. It is very important to make clear that our boss is accessible and a good listener.

With our manager and team, we can work on an initial plan for when employees can expect to learn more and about potential challenges that may be experiences in the end.

Keeping our colleagues updated with specific information, stating the challenges and concerns, clearing up rumors or any misinformation will help engage people at all levels of the organisation and maintain their focus on the business.

Our attitude is key. Remaining positive, committed, flexible, enthusiastic and always in control in stressful and confusing situations will motivate others. Our professional approach, empathy and humor, our willingness to change, our attitude to learn and apply new skills is a strength we have to showcase!

What we can do is encourage people, talk to them about how great they are at what they do, listening to their suggestions or comments, empower them to find their own solutions, emphasize how these strengths will help all adjust to new responsibilities. Let’s show the example of change, let’s show how open we are to new experiences.

Learn to deal with change when it comes to ourselves
Each and every one of us have to face the Realities of a constantly changing business environment . Our role as Management Support Professionals is evolving and developing to a new and more challenging direction.

Key skills to deal with business change include:

Strong Technical Skills
Gaining and sharing knowledge 24/7 is easier and faster. Using technology into our daily work to enhance our productivity is a key factor to our career development.

Cloud computing, web conferencing, mobility, new advancements in software and devices require new technical skills. We can work in different locations or on the road and still collaborate with our managers/supervisors/team.

Digital Communication applications, task management, travel management, event management and online collaboration are our “tools” to embrace change and adapt our working style.

Business Skills
These skills are similar with those displayed by our senior leaders.
• Resilience. Providing support to our managers and colleagues and keeping them effective.
• Trust building. When change is going to affect people, we are more likely to trust a line manager or a colleague than the big leadership team.
• Positive attitude and Flexibility. Lead by being an example.
• Coaching individuals who are stressed because of change. They need someone to show and explain to them that everyone reacts differently to change.
• Organisation of new procedures, explanation of how things will work in the office or in a department, will help our manager to focus on business.

EUMA's mission is to encourage and empower its members to cope with the New Realities and equip them with the grit and resilience to transform their career.

www.euma.org

Else-Britt Lundgren from Sweden was elected as the European Chairman for European Management Assistants (EUMA). Else-Britt has been a EUMA member since 1995 and has had several of national committee assignments and previously as National Chairman for EUMA Sweden. Else-Britt works as Executive Assistant Scandinavia and Office Manager Sweden at Eli Lilly Sweden AB, which is a pharmaceutical company, and have been with the company since 2000.

Else-Britt Lundgren says: 'In my role I am, amongst others, responsible for Travel Management Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and an important issue was to consolidate our meetings in 2009 and find one meeting and event vendor. EUMA also see that many management assistants today have travel & meeting management as an area of responsibility.'

'I have participated in many international events, organized by EUMA and I am truly passionate about achieving EUMA’s goal – to be the recognized voice of the management assistants’ profession in Europe.'

It will be essential to focus on:
• Visibility – both for our profession and EUMA
• If we are not visible – we don’t exist!
• Networking – remove barriers
• To keep and recruit members
• Cooperate and exchange experiences internationally
• Open up for a mentor and mentee program cross-borders
• Trends – monitor trends in our profession, as it will be increasingly important to see that we have the right competences for the future

Contact
Else-Britt Lundgren, European Chairman
europeanchairman@euma.org
+4687378802
www.euma.org

On the occasion of EUMA’s 40th birthday, which will be celebrated in Paris on October 31, Christine Davies, one of the founding mothers of the organisation, answers a few questions.

You, together with Sonia Vanular, Joke Snijders, and others., were one of the founders of EUMA; originally EAPS (European Association of Professional Secretaries). How did you meet the other founder members?
Sonia and a group of others (who later became founder members) met at an international symposium for secretaries in Zurich. At a dinner Sonia put forward the idea of founding an association to recognise secretaries as professionally skilled people, better enabling managers to do what they are good at - running the business. One of the ladies was Lynne MacFarland and she and I got together with Gwen Cowan and started the UK group. Sonia continued with the other ladies to start groups in other countries.

How did the idea of founding an association come to your mind? What was the initial spark and why did you do it?
It was Sonia’s idea. She had worked for Addressograph Multigraph and the American army in Paris as a secretary. Before moving to Paris she worked with one of the top secretarial schools in London as secretary to the owner. So she learned and knew a lot about the skills we needed. When she later worked as a management consultant in Paris, she recognised the importance of secretaries - from which the notion of a Pan-European network grew, in order to share ideas and to promote secretaries as professional support to top managers.

Do you remember if there already was any networking or training minded association or club for secretaries in those days?
Many countries had national associations. In the UK for example there was the established Institute of Qualified Private Secretaries” (IQPS). To become a member of this institute you had to pass a tough examination set by the London Chamber of Commerce. The idea was to encourage companies to employ only secretaries who had this qualification, but the employment situation was such that it was difficult to get anyone to be a secretary. (She laughs) “If they’re warm and breathing, we take them.” Organisations will fail without good administration. It’s so important to do things properly: having well organised meetings, pleasing formats, minutes, good practice and protocols which you have to learn and apply. EAPS/EUMA was the first Pan-European network - our chance to start something different - a vivid, young association with a clear European aspect.

How did you advertise EAPS/EUMA? People had to get to know EUMA and this without having fairs like career@office, no internet.
Our advertising of EUMA in the early days was by word of mouth. For example, with Gwen Cowen, the secretary to Peter Parker, a captain of industry and boss of British Railways. They worked very well together. When she helped to found EUMA he supported her and the association. He dealt with the highest people in government. As a result Gwen knew all their secretaries and recruited them into EUMA. Peter Parker referred to us affectionately as “the Mafia - you cannot succeed without these people”.

When you look back at the years since founding EUMA, did you initially expect our current development and such a success?
No, we didn’t. It’s such an amazing success. We grew across Europe very quickly. But we still have a lot to do to get business to recognise our high-level contribution.

The jobs have changed so much in the last decades…
No, sorry, I have to say I do not think the job has changed. It’s the tools that have changed. Computers are tools that enable us to do our job more quickly and more effectively. Let me tell you a story about a company that employed a great many engineers in their field service department. When they needed to appoint a new manager, they usually promoted the best engineer. This resulted in them losing a good engineer and acquiring a poor manager. Good engineers rarely have administrative or people skills. So they decided to promote the secretary instead. Secretaries have good admin skills and can empathize with the customers and the engineers.