I’ve been back just a couple of weeks now from travels to London and Edinburgh, where I presented to two wonderful audiences. First, it was Executive Secretary LIVE in London, where we took a look at cybersecurity for admin. professionals.  I’ve caught up now with all the kind messages and requests from people who attended Lucy Brazier’s LIVE conference, but see that another one has just landed in my inbox. 

After LIVE and some adventures in the Scottish Highlands and the ridiculously beautiful Isle of Skye, I joined members of the Scottish PA Network at their annual Spring Showcase. Rosemary McLennan’s annual event drew an impressive number of hoteliers and other suppliers, and an equally impressive group of EAs and PAs. In Edinburgh, we explored IR4.0, aka the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and potential ramifications for assistants’ careers.

I’ll share more in future posts about these events and subsequent travels but, since returning home, I’ve been catching my breath and getting settled back into routines.

That said, it’s almost to time to hop onto a plane and head eastward once again! In just over a week, I’ll be winging my way to Toronto, Canada to give three presentations at APC, the Administrative Professionals Conference of Canada.

APC Canada’s 19th Annual Conference

This year marks APC Canada’s 19th annual conference for administrative professionals, and this year’s event promises to be impressive. More than 600 assistants from 450+ companies, institutions and other organisations in both the private and public sectors will be converging on Lake Ontario’s waterfront for four impressive days of education and networking.

With a reputation as the event for high performing assistants from corporate Canada, there’s every indication that equally high performing assistants from other sectors will also be at the conference. It’s little wonder, then, that the event boasts an impressive roster of speakers. Readers flipping through the conference programme will recognise more than a few of my fellow speakers, including Lisa Olsen, Julie Perrine, Rhonda Scharf and Peggy Vasquez.

I’m being proactive

Actually, being proactive in one’s career is the theme of the first of my three presentations. With a focus on organisational skills, my April 24th presentation is all about moving from a reactive to a proactive mode in the office.

Focus on managing your priorities, rather than your time

That’s one concept I’ll be encouraging people to consider. I’ll also ask participants to reconsider the whole concept of multi-tasking. For many of us, multi-tasking has been seen as a badge of honour, and the norm for any good assistant. However, that premise is increasingly being challenged, and people in general are now being encouraged to minimise multi-tasking in favour of focusing on one task at a time.

I’d love to tell my Toronto audience what you think

… and so I have five very simple questions for you this weekend, all focused on the following:

Is multi-tasking is beneficial, or counter-productive?

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the poll below. As always, I look forward to hearing what you have to say and will publish the results next week.

“Select” whichever responses apply, and remember to CLICK on the “VOTE” ICON AFTER EACH QUESTION.