IABC welcomed leaders from 68 different chapters to Dallas, Texas, from 23 to 25 February for the annual IABC Leadership Institute (#IABCLI). We kicked off LI with the 2017 Chapter Management Awards (CMA) ceremony, where chapters and leaders were recognized for their outstanding work and achievements throughout the past year. For a complete list of winners, please check out Leader Centre. There, you’ll be able to view the winning work samples to see how your chapter can adopt these best practices and start preparing your own CMA entries for 2018. You can check out photos of the CMA ceremony and LI on the IABC Flickr page.

For those of you who were unable to attend, please note some important updates from the event:

#IABC1720 strategy
Attendees participated in a World Café-style #IABC1720 strategy session that focused on the past, present and future of IABC. Vice Chair Sharon Hunter, Treasurer Ginger Homan, and Past Chair Michael Ambjorn of the international executive board reflected on the insights collected during their global tour, in which they met with IABC members around the world. Ginger Homan provided a thorough reflection on this session on the IABC Chair blog.   

Gift of Communication
The IABC Foundation launched the new Gift of Communication toolkit at LI, which can be found on Leader Centre. The toolkit is designed exclusively for IABC chapters to help plan, promote and run a successful Gift of Communication event, in which communication professionals offer pro bono communication counsel to local nonprofits.

In conjunction with supporting chapters and growing the success and visibility of the Gift of Communication program with the new toolkit, the Foundation launched a Gift of Communication micro grant program. This program offered three US$200 micro grants to support chapters in hosting a Gift event. After a successful open call and lots of interest, the IABC Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the grants: IABC Barbados, IABC Great Plains, and IABC Maritime Canada. 

The IABC Dallas chapter also presented on their Gift of Communication event, the Dallas Heroes Program. Check out their presentation here.

Resources for leaders
Attendees were able to attend breakout sessions on a variety of topics. Many of the presenters have shared their presentations for leaders to review after the event, which can be found in Leader Centre.
We also provided an updated onboarding toolkit for leaders to take back to their chapters. Check out the toolkit and remember to share with your fellow board members.

Until next year…
Thank you to IABC Dallas for their contributions as this year’s Leadership Institute host and to the 2016-2017 Council of Regions (CoR), who served as the Planning Advisory Committee for LI. Many thanks to all who attended LI and made it such a successful event. We’re working to finalize the dates and location for the 2018 event. Stay tuned for details!

• New and renewing members will be entered in a drawing for a VIP prize package for the IABC World Conference, including registration, hotel and car service.
• Current members who refer new members will be entered to win a US$500 Visa gift card for every new or lapsed/reinstated member who lists them as a referral source. We’ll also recognize members who refer peers on the IABC website as a Community Champion for the months of April and May.
  
• The incoming presidents of the small, medium and large chapters with the greatest percentage of net growth during the month of March will be awarded one complimentary registration to the 2018 Leadership Institute.

The regularly scheduled Leadership Forum for this month took place on 22 March. This month’s special guest was Connie Mayse, chair of the IABC ethics committee, who covered the IABC Code of Ethics and what IABC will be doing to spotlight ethics in professional communication. Other topics included were updates from the IABC Academy, LI reflections, World Conference updates, #IABC1720 strategy planning, and more. You can watch the recorded March Forum here.

• Your financial statement. We provide an easy template to follow. Submit your income and expenses for the year.
• Your ending balance. Please submit a PDF of your 31 December 2016 bank statement. 
  
• A consent form. There are two versions of this very simple authorization form: one for regions and chapters in the U.S. and one for all other countries.

We asked Dominique Jolicoeur, president of IABC Ottawa, to share some insight into the chapter's professional development programs. Continue reading to learn more about what makes their programming so successful.

IABC Ottawa has held sold-out events all season. What’s behind their success?

A key pillar of our vision as a chapter is to build and nurture a strong community of communication and marketing professionals at the local level and beyond.

We know that professional development is a key reason why our members join IABC. This is why all portfolios have goals tied to supporting our professional development (PD) programming. The fact that we’re marching to the same drumbeat to make our professional development programming a success is reflected in our events.

We’re constantly seeking opportunities to hear from our members and community on how we can help them meet their professional goals and challenges. This feedback is used to help develop the strategy for the full professional development program. Strategically looking at our budget for the entire season and setting event attendance targets was key to being able to offer more affordable and valuable events. It’s by responding to those needs that we’re able to meet our attendance targets.

Can you walk us through your event calendar for the 2016–2017 season?

Canada is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. As Canada’s capital, Ottawa is in celebration mode and we’re building on that. In January, we kicked off 2017 with our annual “Networking in the New Year” roundtables. All six speakers at the event are currently working on a Canada 150 initiative or campaign. It’s really special to have the opportunity to be a part of the celebrations and to give our community the inside scoop on what’s to come.

This season, we’re also focused on helping our members gain new skills in order to help them keep up with the digital transformation we’re seeing in the workplace. Earlier this season, our PD team organized an event on change management with Caroline Kealey based on her team’s award-winning Gold Quill entry. Our upcoming events include a content strategy panel, a social media/analytics event and a “coding for communicators” workshop.

We’ve found that offering targeted content also works very well. In November, we hosted a dinner for young communicators featuring a young professional who found success early on in her career. We also had a career coach at the table who was able to provide solid career advice. In February, we hosted an event in the same format for senior communicators. The speaker was well-respected CEO who shared her advice on building relationships with the C-suite.

How does your chapter connect with the communication and marketing community outside of Ottawa?

Through our internationally syndicated podcast, The Voice. Our podcast guests offer expert insights and practical takeaways on industry trends. It’s a great opportunity to position our members as experts while also featuring experts from around the world. We’re thrilled to be able to share original content with other chapters across the globe!