Ariana Grande Concert Bombing: Safety Focus Shifts to Venue Perimeters

The bombing of departing audience from an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, serves as an alarm bell that protecting public venues in the future will have to focus more on hardening building perimeters, security experts said. That could be a problem just as the summer concert and music festival season is starting. Aside from sports events, live music concerts are the most obvious public gatherings of mass audiences available. Major music acts are preparing to take to the road, many of them scheduled to play at sprawling, hard-to-secure arenas. And outdoor music festivals could...

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From EA to anywhere

The role of the Executive or Personal Assistant is one of the hardest to define. They are diary managers, project coordinators, secretaries, advisors, stakeholder relationship managers, event planners, transcribers, the list goes on. It’s surprising how many EAs feel they are trapped in the role without realistic career pathways or alternative positions. Some find themselves in the highest admin position in their organisation- supporting the CEO or secretary- and ask themselves, what now? Your career thus far as an executive assistant has provided you with a multi-skilled foundation...

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Does your NFP stand out from the crowd?

Australia’s Not-for-Profit sector is facing an era of change. Never before has it been so crucial for organisations to be innovative. And the Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride has managed to do just. Heads were turned in Toowoomba as gentlemen in their finest waistcoats and bowties to raise money for prostate cancer research. The gents on their motorbikes rolled through the streets of Toowoomba and raised a total of $14.047. "I think it's pretty exceptional," said Geoff Priest, Distinguished Gentleman's Ride organiser, to the Chronicle. "The Toowoomba motorcycling community,...

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Social Media is too important to be left to the marketing department

When customers need help, they expect companies to offer it quickly and through multiple social media channels — but most companies aren’t set up to do that. Some companies increase their social media staff to offer live responses during big events like the Super Bowl or the Grammys, but then they return to predominately one-way social media or content marketing. Since 2013 the number of customers who expect a response through social media has doubled, according to research from Sprout Social, yet seven out of eight messages to companies go unanswered for 72 hours. Complicating matters...

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Customer-Centric Supply Chain Transformation

To truly transform your supply chain into one that is focused around what the end-customer needs, you need a plan that addresses a range of organizational factors, including vision, strategic intent, behaviour, technology, organization, processes, and metrics. Six steps that can help create a customer-centric supply chain: Supply Chain Health Check. An end-to-end maturity analysis can evaluate the current state of the existing supply chain. The health check includes a survey of customer expectations, an audit of stakeholder beliefs, and interviews with business executives to gauge...

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The early education sector is changing- are you ready?

An already complex sector has been rocked again this week with findings that over the past year the government has caught 52 family day care providers pocketing subsidies for ‘phantom children’. With the reputation of many early education providers now at stake, it is vital centres establish strong community relationships and partnerships to drive sustained enrolments and preserve their reputation has a quality provider. The news comes alongside the decision of thousands of childcare workers around Australia to strike this week in demand of higher wages. Thursday’s strike was...

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It starts with education – creating brighter futures for our youth

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities remain disadvantaged in several areas, with one of the main components being education.  Earlier this year; the ninth Closing the Gap report showed that little progress has been made over the years. The school attendance rate has dropped marginally from 83.5 per cent in 2014 to 83.4 per cent in 2016, whilst the goal to halve the gap in literacy and numeracy skills remain far off track. The number of Indigenous 20-24 year-olds having achieved Year 12 or equivalent increased from 45.4 per cent in 2008 to 61.5 per cent in 2014-15. However,...

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Australasian Supply Chain Institute and Akolade form exclusive endorsement partnership

Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI) and Akolade have announced an exclusive endorsement partnership for Akolade’s supply chain-relation conferences. The strategic collaboration between ASCI and Akolade includes the co-development of conference programming, co-promotion of conferences, and most importantly, CPD point allocation via a new ASCI Continuous Development Program that ASCI Members can attain for global certification maintenance. ASCI is Australasia’s Premier Professional Supply Chain Community, operating as a non-profit, membership community....

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Is Social Media Analytics the Answer to All Your Questions?

Social media is like looking into the window of a house. You can see what is happening, but it can be difficult to interpret. If a person inside the house is waving their arms in the air, are they excited or angry? Similarly, with social media, the data is there, but the interpretation can be more complex. The December attack in San Bernardino prompted people to ask whether or not the government should be more active in using social media data to prevent such things from happening again. Certainly, social data can be highly valuable, but it has its limitations, and agencies must...

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