The 2011 President's Award was presented at the Gala Dinner during the 2011 AAPO Conference in Christchurch on February 9.  It was a great pleasure to be able to present the award in front of industry peers, and to have the awardee acknowledged publicly.

Here is the speech announcing the Award -

The winner of this award has been in business and a member of AAPO since 2006.

She is an award-winning businesswoman and an industry pioneer in her community.

She is serious and passionate about professionalism in our industry.

Despite geographic isolation she has sought out ways to contribute to AAPO - organising a conference far from her home, heading up a sub-committee, and constantly striving to deliver direct benefits to our members.

She uses her skills as an Organiser and Productivity Specialist for the betterment of our Association.

She's a clear thinker and she get stuck in!

She's a fabulous right-hand woman and sounding board for me personally.

The 2011 President's Award goes to Roz Howland!

Congratulations Roz.  You so deserve this award for all the hard work, long hours and strategic planning you put into AAPO.

A Guest Post by Aby Garvey, Simplify 101

(When I read this article by Aby Garvey from Simplify 101, I knew it said everything anyone ever needed to hear about making a new start.  Since she wrote it so well, I asked her permission to share it, and she has graciously agreed.  You can also read it and more great articles by Aby here.  Thanks Aby! - Angela Esnouf, AAPO President)

Back when I worked for big companies, I loved the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I was one of the few people who always worked during that week. In the beginning, this was out of necessity—I didn’t have enough vacation built up to take time off over the holidays. Eventually though, I worked this week out of choice. Back in those days I didn’t have kids, and I welcomed the rare quiet time in the office to focus and get things done. I spent those uninterrupted days decluttering my office and getting myself ready for the busy new year.

To this day, I still get the itch to declutter during the week between the big holidays. Do you get this itch, too? Maybe it’s the fact that our homes are overstuffed with new things, or maybe it’s just a nice way to welcome in the new year—with a cleaner slate and a bit of breathing room. Regardless of the motivator, decluttering is a terrific way to welcome a new year, especially when you declutter with intention and purpose. In other words, when you identify something new that you want to create in the year ahead and let go of something old to support your desire for something new, you create space for change. You also solidify your intention to make it happen.

As you think about your goals and resolutions for 2011, consider what you can let go of to make space for the new. Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing:

If you want to eat healthier, declutter your kitchen. Donate foods that represent your old eating habits to your local food pantry. Let go of items like your deep fryer or cookbooks that aren’t in sync with the new healthy eating habits you intend to create. When you declutter any item that symbolizes or enables unhealthy eating habits, you are creating space for new, healthier eating habits to come into your home and life.

If you want to lose weight, declutter your closet. Let go of a few items in the size you are right now and thereby create space in your closet for the size you intend to become. Of course, don’t let go of everything in your current size; just a few items will be enough to remind you that you intend to lose weight and fill your closet with items in a smaller size.

If you want to spend more time with your family, declutter your calendar. Take a hard look at your current commitments and decide to let go of one activity that no longer energizes or inspires you. Or, look for a routine task such as house cleaning or doing the dinner dishes that you can delegate to someone else—either for pay or simply because they’re a member of your family. It’s easier to have these conversations—to tell someone you’re no longer going to chair the volunteer committee or that you want to hire a cleaning service—when you’re specifically aware of what you’re creating space for—the important people in your life who currently aren’t getting as much of your time as you’d like.

If you want to feel more creative, declutter your project list and creative supplies. If your creativity is stifled, you may have too many projects in process or an overabundance of creative supplies. Declutter a project or two that no longer inspires you. Let go of supplies and donate them to a daycare or retirement center. By doing this you will create visual breathing room in your creative work space and in the creative area in your brain.

If you want new clients or exciting new projects at work, declutter the files in your office. Pull a recycle bin or a shredder into your office, and watch your energy shift as you let go of old projects and paperwork. If you have items such as old client files that you must hold onto for legal or archive reasons, move these items to a file cabinet or file box away from your active files. When you create open space in your active project and client drawers, you create space for the new clients and projects to come in.

If you want to get out of debt or get more financially organized, declutter your wallet and purse. When you clear clutter from your wallet and purse, set the intention to be more financially organized. Set up a collection spot for receipts and bills that’s close to where you hang up your purse each night. Put a small envelope in your purse to collect receipts, and write an inspiring message on the outside of the envelope to remind you of your intention to get out of debt or improve your financial situation.

Decluttering something old is always a terrific way to create space for something new. But when you declutter intentionally by deciding what you want to let in, and then take steps to let go of something old to make space for this new thing, decluttering is an even more empowering experience. What do you wish to create in the new year? What can you let go of now to create space for this new thing, idea or inspiration to come into your life?

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.

What's going on in the Professional Organising world?  Do you have news?  Do you write a blog about organising?  Do you know of a new product or a great deal on organising-related products and services?

We want to hear from you.

It all happened so quickly. An email or two and it was on! Julie Morgenstern, productivity expert, author and businesswoman, was coming to Australia for a corporate client and she wanted to meet with fellow Professional Organisers.

Karen Koedding shares the Sydney part of the story...

Sarah Cottman and I had a wonderful weekend being tour guides for Julie Morgenstern and her assistant Ellie Lotan.  They had arrived in Sydney Saturday morning, which was a crazy windy and cold day...but we headed off to the beaches.  I brought them to Bondi Beach and Clovelly Beach and then we went to meet up with Sarah.  Sarah gave us a fantastic tour of the bush and beaches of the northern beaches area of Sydney.  We had a beautiful lunch at Moby’s at Palm Beach.  Down at the beach Julie and Ellie got the chance to meet some local surf lifesavers and have some Anzac biscuits that the guys offered them.  Then we headed off to Pittwater Bay for an indulgence of beautiful cakes and coffee at Sarah’s local desert cafe with a beautiful view of the bay and sail boats.

Day two, we caught up in the afternoon and went to Featherdale Wildlife Park (http://www.featherdale.com.au/index.htm) for the opportunity to pet and fee the kangaroos, wallabies, emus and koalas, plus see heaps of beautiful birds and other interesting creatures.  This was a real hit with Julie and Ellie.  Then off to dinner.

We had dinner at The Italian Village restaurant in The Rocks with a view of the Sydney Opera House.  We were joined by lovely AAPO volunteers, Linda Eagleton, Claire Lane, Naurelle Todd, and Susanne Thiebe.  The eight of us had a wonderful time discussing Professional Organising, our experiences and some of Julie’s theories.  Terribly interesting!

Julie and Ellie are now on a week of media appearances on behalf of Telstra, and then each of them will meet up with friends in Australia before they head back to the States.

I know I can say on behalf of the 6 Sydney PO’s that met Julie and Ellie that it was a true pleasure and very exciting to spend time with an organising guru that each of us has learned from through Julie’s books, and meeting her Sunday.

And in Melbourne...

A group of 6 AAPO volunteers met with Julie and her creative assistant, Ellie, over dinner.  Julie's schedule was tight and demanding, which made her willingness to spend time with her Melbourne colleagues all the more generous.  Her generosity didn't end there.  Julie is a successful woman willing to share some of her organising and business secrets.  We discussed the industry, past, present and future, as well as travel, coffee and the Old Spice Guy.

I relished the chance to quiz Julie on some of the things she'll be presenting at the AAPO Conference in Christchurch in February.  I have to be completely honest.  Until I spoke with her, I was unsure about committing to her full day workshop on Need Assessments.  That is no longer the case and I will definitely be booking my place.

We are so lucky to have Julie Morgenstern as one of our keynote speakers at the conference.  I can't wait to spend more time with her.

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

Each year at AAPO’s annual conference, the President bestows an award to recognise outstanding service to AAPO and the organising industry in Australasia. Congratulations to all recipients of the President’s Award. Your contribution is much appreciated.

Take a look at out the About Us page to see previous Award recipients.  Perhaps you'd care to send them an email of congratulations?

Who will receive this year's President's Award?

Do you still need convincing about the value of attending the AAPO conference next month?  Read Sarah Cottman's blog post - Is Your Business Big Enough to go to New Zealand?  Well said, Sarah!

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.