Grow Your Business – Volunteering Leads to Becoming an International Keynote Speaker
While attending the 2014 ICD conference, I received an email from the Association of Professional Declutters’ (APDO’s) conference chair inviting me to be the keynote speaker at their 2015 conference—keynote speaker, London, England! What a thrill and honor to be asked. We arranged for a Skype meeting, discussed what they wanted me to speak about, and I accepted.
Being an international keynote speaker has been an invaluable experience, and my ICD board involvement led me to that opportunity. Later, in 2017, I was invited to deliver the keynote at the Japanese Association of Life Organizers’ (JALO’s) conference in Sendai, Japan. And, in 2018 I was invited to speak at the Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) conference in Kelowna.
JALO 2017 Conference group photo
I formed lifelong friendships and connections at APDO, JALO, and POC conferences. These speaking opportunities were tremendous honors.
I love learning from my colleagues around the globe!
Photo Anne Blumer Speaking at POC 2018 Conference
Be of service to an industry association and watch what happens to your business and you.
If you are a member of an association related to professional organizing and have volunteered with the association, please share which ones and how you have benefited from that experience.
I was the Director of Membership for POC during the time their membership grew from 100 to 500. It was a good experience at the time, but I didn’t realize how much it would help my professional reputation. Years after leaving the field, I’m still well known in the industry and have grown my network to include organizers from the USA and around the world. Speaking at NAPO 2014 (5 years ago today!) was a career highlight for me.
Janet,
I attended your session at the NAPO 2014 conference and remember it as being very informative, and that is when I tucked your name in the recesses of my mind to call upon you when I was ready to move to WordPress and design my new websites. Which we did last year, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.