My time as President of AAPO is coming to an end and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the confidence you've shown in me over the 2 years I've been in the job.  It has been tremendously rewarding personally and professionally.  I have really enjoyed working with a dedicated team of fellow members and watching AAPO grow and develop.  I cannot say it enough.

Thank you!

I hand over to our new President, Roz Howland, on July 1st.  I know she'll be a wonderful representative for us all.  I hope her time in the role is as rewarding as mine has been.  And I want to encourage you to fully support her.  We each have special talents, and it's in the sharing of these with our AAPO community that we can grow and flourish.

I know many of our members will be concerned for the safety of our Christchurch colleagues and friends.  I can let you know that I have made contact with all our Christchurch-based members and they are all safe as of today, Feb 23 2011.

After our recent successful AAPO conference in this beautiful city, I have strong fond memories of my time there, in particular the people.  At this stage I have not heard news about any of the Christchurch-based speakers, but am endeavouring to make contact.

Please keep the residents of Christchurch in your thoughts and prayers.

Have you ever wondered why people volunteer to help out at AAPO?  Have you ever considered doing so but are just not sure of the benefit to you?  Have you ever wanted to volunteer but don't feel you have the confidence/skills/years of experience required?  Well, by the end of this article I hope you'll feel encouraged to jump in and do your bit to shape the industry in our neck of the woods.

At our recent conference, I had the great pleasure of catching up with people I rarely meet face to face but with whom I've shared many phone calls, skype calls and meetings.  Working closely with these people, learning from them, facing challenges and problem-solving together, achieving results as a team, creates a close bond.  It was great to see them in person and celebrate our year's achievements.  And it reminded me of all the things I get from volunteering my time for AAPO.

While at the conference I was very pleased to have people approach me, and others in leadership, with offers of help.  Sometimes these were for a specific task, and sometimes just "I'd like to volunteer, please tell me how I can help."  Woo hoo!  AAPO really needs people like that who are willing to get stuck in and take on a task, no matter how small... or large!

During conference, as a way to get people mixing, we played a networking game.  You had to meet various people and ask questions of them.  One such question was, "What's one benefit of being an AAPO volunteer?"  We've collected the responses and here is a brief summary -

• You get to know a lot about a lot!
• Being part of the decision-making team
• Learnt a lot
• Increased learning opportunities and networking
• Building rapport
• Strengthening professional relationships
• Feeling and being important in the industry
• Giving back
• Credibility
• Working with organisers
• Help to improve AAPO
• Stretching comfort zones
• Being able to influence the direction of the industry
• Helping build our industry

Convinced yet?  Perhaps you'd like to do something but you feel "too new", not confident, not experienced enough?  When AAPO started 6 years ago, I was "new".  I was new to the career as well as in business, and joining the AAPO committee as a committee member was one of the best things I ever did.  I'm still learning to this day, and that's one of the biggest take-aways for me.

These days there are so many positions available for anyone willing to lend a hand, and you'll be working in partnership with others who can offer guidance and assistance.  All it takes is to ask "How can I help?"

One of my favourite photos from our conference in Christchurch is of our President's Award winners - check it out here.  See the joy on their faces?  That comes from knowing you've made a difference.  It comes from giving but also receiving.  Will you say, "I'll have what she's having?"

As President of AAPO, nothing gives me more pleasure than to present this award to someone who has distinguished themselves as a leader and a toiler for our industry.  Simultaneously, nothing gives me more angst than deciding who will be the next recipient.  AAPO is blessed with strong candidates, people who give selflessly, think strategically and work tirelessly.  Previous recipients Wendy Hanes and Wendy Davie are a testament to this.

This year I am honouring a woman who has served AAPO well over several years.  She displays the highest standard of ethics and integrity and strives to defend these values whenever and wherever she sees an improvement can be made.  She has attained Expert accreditation, and was one of the first to do so.  She has served on the Executive committee, made significant contributions to National Organising Week, served on the Website and Public Relations sub-committees, has been the leader of 2 chapters or forums as they are now known.  She has in fact been the Forums Leader, mentoring forum co-ordinators and developing the manual and policies which guide and support our forums and their leaders.  She continues to contribute to the Public Relations sub-committee and has recently taken on the role of Professional Development Co-ordinator, and I frankly had to tell her to take a rest from her many other roles.

I am pleased to present the AAPO 2010 President’s Award to Sarah Cottman.

I've just returned from presenting at the Melbourne Forum meeting.  The subject under discussion was Chronic Disorganisation and Professional Development in general.  Even if I weren't presenting, I would have attended.  I just love spending time with my peers and learning more about our profession.

But one of our members has taken dedication to Professional Development to a new level.  Twice now she has driven over 3 hours each way to attend the Melbourne Forum meeting.  Way to go!

Last month I talked about Twitter and how you can use it to grow your business. This month I’ll discuss Facebook.

Facebook claims to have 500 million active users worldwide, and it’s estimated that between six and nine million of them are in Australia and New Zealand, so it’s a great place to promote your business and let your followers know what you’re up to. Facebook differs from Twitter in that you can post a lot more than 140 characters, as well as photos, discussions, competitions and more – so you can really interact with people.

In order to fully understand the possibilities there are with Facebook, it’s a good idea to look at how some of the big companies use it. Here are a few examples:

Ben & Jerry’s – http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/benjerry?ref=ts

Starbucks – http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/Starbucks?ref=ts

They use these pages to interact directly with their customers by asking questions, getting them to suggest new ideas or flavours and posting photos of their products being consumed. It’s a great way to do market research, let customers know about new products or services and stay in touch.

Also check out Peter Walsh’s page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/PeterWalsh?ref=ts and the AAPO page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/aapoinc?ref=ts to see how people in the organising industry use Facebook.

The other great thing about Facebook is that it’s cheap to advertise there. You can target who you want your content to go to by choosing their demographic and location, so your ad will only go to the types of people you choose.

When setting up a Facebook account for business you need to be aware of Facebook’s policies. Facebook does not allow businesses to have their own profile. You must set up a page that is linked to your personal profile. If you don’t already have one it’s easy to set up. You don’t even have to use it, but you must link your page to this profile. You can also have more than one page, so multiple businesses can be managed from the one profile. For more information click here http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=904 and read the conditions.

As with Twitter, the best way to work out how to use it is to watch what other people do, then jump right in and have a chat with your followers!

- Claire Lane, AAPO Social Media Coordinator

Last month I talked about social media and how AAPO intends to use it. This month I thought I’d talk a little about how you can use it in your business, starting with Twitter*.

Twitter only allows you to post 140 characters at a time, so it’s a great tool to use to point people to your blog or website. For example, you might have a Christmas Special listed on your website and want people to know about it. You’d go to Twitter and post “SPECIAL OFFER: 10% off organising packages until Christmas – click here for more details” and add a link to your website. Or you may have written a blog post on techniques for organising teens. In this case you could tweet “DO YOU HAVE DISORGANISED TEENS? Some tips on how to train them” and post the link. Think of it as a sign posting service. If you were on the street and wanted sign posts to guide people to your business, what would the signs say?

You need to be careful not to spam ie. sending constant sales messages, hassling people to buy your products or generally being selfish. The golden rule of Twitter is that you get back what you give, so make sure you send plenty of non-sales tweets too. Sharing relevant information or articles you come across, ‘talking’ with other people, answering their questions and responding to them. The more you do that, the more respect you’ll build and the more benefits you’ll reap. A good rule of thumb is for every 10 tweets, make sure seven or eight are “giving” tweets and the other two or three are directly about you.

The best way to figure out how to use it is to see it in action by watching what other people do. AAPO will be ‘live tweeting’ from the conference - sending brief updates to let everyone know what’s being discussed. Follow the hash tag** #AAPOConf2010 and you’ll be able to see everything that happens at the conference. If you’re going to the conference, why not send some tweets yourself – let your followers and potential clients know what you’re up to. Remember to use the #AAPOConf2010 hash tag.

Next month: How you can use Facebook for your business.

- Claire Lane, AAPO Social Media Coordinator

* If you’re still unsure about the whole Twitter thing, click here for further explanations.

** If you’re unsure about hash tags, click here.

Come September 13th, Christchurch will be abuzz with Professional Organisers flying in from all around the world.  Of course there will be dedicated New Zealand AAPO members, Australians flying from all corners of the country, but also a return visit from a Japanese colleague and top-of-their-field POs from the US.

In particular I want to mention that in addition to our 2 outstanding keynote speakers, Angela Wallace, President Elect of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) will be visiting.  Angela has agreed to be on the panel for the Ask an Organiser session.

If you haven't made your booking to be a part of this wonderful opportunity yet, don't wait any longer.  Click here to book or find out more.

I've been off visiting again.  This time it was to speak with the Mid North Coast Forum members.  I love that technology allows me to drop in on our Forum meetings all over, and I get to sit in my office.

Those Mid North Coast members are an enterprising lot, gearing up for their National Organising Week projects.  The local residents are lucky to have such pro-active people in their midst, with the chance to win not 1 but 5! makeovers.

Good luck to both our members and the lucky winners.

Social media is a new and sometimes scary concept for many of people, so I thought I'd give you a summary of what social media is and why AAPO has decided to embrace it. In future articles I'll talk about how and why you should be using it for your business and give you some tips and tricks to make it easier.

What is social media? 

I like to think of social media as just another medium in which to communicate with people. Traditionally, we communicate face-to-face, on the phone, or using radio, print or TV. Now we can share the same content, but in a new way; instantly and online. Business has embraced social media as a new way of communicating with existing and potential clients – to promote products, get feedback, share information and provide customer service. Read more about the top brands using social media here: http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/

Why is AAPO going to use it? 

AAPO's overall vision is “To be internationally recognised as Australasia’s premier industry association for leading and developing Professional Organisers”. Social media is just one of many tools AAPO will use to achieve this objective. By regularly 'appearing' in social media sites, the profile of AAPO will be raised and more people will become aware of AAPO's existence. There are three benefits to this:

• aspiring Professional Organisers will be encouraged to join AAPO;
• existing members will be provided with information on the industry and on AAPO’s activities; and
• thousands of disorganised people out there will learn how Professional Organisers can help them. 

What will AAPO talk about? 

AAPO will "talk" about a variety of things related to the world of Professional Organising. Sometimes we'll send out tweets with links to new organising products that might be useful to you in your business. Other times we may send out organising tips aimed at the general public. Often we'll link to articles or research on decluttering, organising or hoarding. We'll send out information about upcoming meetings, seminars and conferences, or a link to minutes from AAPO meetings or the AGM. Basically, we'll "talk" about whatever we would talk about in real life. 

There are a few things we won't "talk" about - we'll avoid sending out messages with any political, religious or otherwise controversial content. We will strive not to promote one of our members more than others. And we won't talk about anything to do with our industry that paints it in a negative light.  

What will AAPO members get out of AAPO using social media? 

There will be two main benefits for AAPO members: 

• As you know, anything that raises the profile of the industry as a whole will have a positive effect on all members, including you. But to be more specific, we hope that you might even get some business from it. Here's an example of how this might happen: 

Disorganised Dennis is an active user of Twitter, and has seen a few tweets from AAPO - mostly sending out useful articles, hints and tips on how to get organised. One day, after having a particularly disorganised day, Dennis decides to find out more about this organisation that keeps giving him these free tips. He navigates to the AAPO website through Twitter. On the front page of the AAPO website, Dennis sees yet more tips on how to get organised, some of them written by Organised Annie. "Annie sounds like she knows what she's talking about," thinks Dennis, and clicks through to Annie's site. Before you know it, Dennis has called Annie and is her newest client. 

The best bit about this is that this kind of marketing is FREE! It just took Annie a few moments to come up with some tips, and send them to AAPO to be added to the site. The key here is that you need to be active on AAPO's new website (you have your profile up there and if possible you regularly add to the content of the site). That way, whenever prospective customers find themselves on the AAPO website, you'll be top of mind. 

• Secondly, AAPO will send out specific information aimed at our members. Some of this information will also be included in the monthly newsletter (although not all of it), but if you're following AAPO’s social media content, you’ll get this information instantly. 

How is AAPO going to use it? 

Twitter and Facebook are the two most popular social media tools in use at the moment, and AAPO has an account with both. AAPO's Twitter handle (that's Twitter name to the rest of us!) is @AAPO_inc. If you're on Twitter and you're not already following AAPO, do it now. And you can find AAPO on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/aapoinc. If you're using Facebook, go and "Like" us now. If you follow us on Twitter and Facebook you'll soon see first hand exactly how AAPO will be use social media to achieve its objective of being internationally recognised as Australasia’s premier industry association for leading and developing Professional Organisers. 

Twitter will be used to update followers with short, concise messages, often with links to other sites of interest, on a daily (or almost-daily) basis. Facebook will be used to interact with followers and to post entries that need a little more space. 

Hopefully that answers some of your questions about AAPO and social media. Watch this space, as I'll be back to talk more about how social media could enhance your business offering. 

Claire Lane, AAPO Social Media Coordinator

Thanks Claire!