Check out the latest public sector networking and education events. Photo: Supplied.
ACCELERATE2Facilitate
Date: 30 January
Time: 10:30 am – 4:15 pm
Duration: One 4hr, 45min face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
ACCELERATE is a training program aimed at staff who deliver technical training, present information or facilitate the delivery of learning in a virtual environment. The purpose of this course is to provide participants with the opportunity to gain valuable skills and knowledge in facilitation techniques when delivering in a virtual environment.
This learning experience has been provided by Services Australia. The training is in a virtual environment suitable for APS 4 – SES Band 1.
Executive Assistant Upskilling & High-Performance Seminar Series
Date: 29 January – 12 February
Time: All day
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Grow as a successful executive assistant and business partner. In an increasingly busy and complex world, the role of the assistant is more important than ever. Calm, clarity, and focus are essential for modern executives to perform their roles. Therefore, it is vital that you have the skills and capabilities as an assistant to support them and help your organisation function at a high level.
Join No. 1-rated facilitator and podcast host Liz Van Vliet in this refreshed seminar series designed to elevate executive assistants to a new level of strategic and tactical excellence. This series aims to educate you in the skills needed to be the glue in your executive’s network and to empower you with AI tools that optimise your effectiveness (even if your organisation is dragging its feet).
Liz elevates, educates and empowers executive assistants to be the little hinges that swing big doors for their executives and organisations.
As one of Australia’s most trusted administration profession catalysts and strategists, Liz has worked with hundreds of executive assistants, and business support and admin professionals, over the past seven years. With her E.F.F.E.C.T.I.V.E. Methodology®, they have shifted from under-confident and overwhelmed to empowered, strategic and effective.
National Virtual Discussion Group: Whole-of-Organisation Governance
Date: 4 February
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Location: Virtual
Email: [email protected]
What is on your mind for 2025? This session is focused on whole-of-organisation governance and will be interactive. An expert panel and facilitators will bring thought leadership to the analysis and discussion of two or three topics selected from current issues and trends.
What is in it for you?
Attendees will have an opportunity to explore how each topic flows through to and impacts on a complex organisation’s policies, systems and processes, ultimately facilitating best practice in good governance across the entire organisation.
Speakers
- Chair: Karen Goodwin
- Nina Azzopardi, head of people & culture at Beyond Blue
- Joshua Khaw, general counsel and company secretary, Dassault Systemes
- Penny Sahinis, director, strategic HR & advisory services, G.A.P Management Consulting.
Delivering Great Policy – Foundations – Melbourne
Date: 4 – 5 February
Time: 9 am – 5 pm
Duration: Two eight-hour face-to-face sessions
Location: Victoria
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This package delivers all four modules of Delivering Great Policy. The package defines the four core elements required for delivering great policy advice: being clear on intent; being well informed; solutions are practical to implement; and advice is influential. Participants will complete all four modules in sequence.
This content has been provided by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is suitable for APS 3 – APS 6 and APS employees who are new to, or considering a career in, policy development roles.
QLD Public Sector AO 5-6 High-Performance & Leadership Workshop
Date: 4 – 5 February
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Cliftons Brisbane
24/288 Edward St, Brisbane City, QLD
Email: [email protected]
Looking to level up your career as a Queensland public sector professional? Look no further than our upcoming High-Performance & Leadership Workshop, designed specifically for AO 5-6 roles.
Join us for a day of learning and discovery as expert facilitator and navy commodore Martin Brooker shares practical strategies to help you lead productive teams, enhance your emotional intelligence, improve stakeholder engagement, and become a key influencer in your government agency.
Overview
- Enhance core skills and key leadership capability to achieve success and excel
- Enhance your leadership capabilities as a confident and successful AO 5-6 leader
- Strengthen and mobilise unique talents and capabilities of the workforce
- Lead with focus and optimism in complex environments
- Explore career advancement opportunities within AO 5-6 roles.
- Martin, a distinguished veteran with 37 years of service in the Royal Australian Navy, boasts a career marked by command at sea and operational excellence in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and the Pacific. Retiring in 2015 as a commodore, he transitioned to become the founder and director of the Quench Group.
Specialising in personal and organisational change, Martin draws from his rich leadership experiences and culture change initiatives. Recognised with awards like the Conspicuous Service Cross and a Commendation for Distinguished Service, he shares authentic insights on leadership challenges. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Martin serves as an R U OK? community ambassador.
Executive Assistant Upskilling & High-Performance Seminar Series
Date: 5 & 12 February
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Build effectiveness, confidence and influence to truly own your role. Join Australia’s No. 1-rated facilitator, Liz Van Vliet, in this exclusive seminar series crafted to redefine and elevate the role of the modern executive assistant.
This series features a refreshed schedule thoughtfully designed to minimise disruptions to your workday, ensuring a seamless and impactful learning experience. Master the complex skill of strategic impact, grow your prowess in adaptive communication, unlock the power of AI and automation tools, and become the essential and unstoppable force behind your executive’s success.
EL1 – EL2 Leadership, Capability & Professional Excellence Bootcamp
Date: 5 – 6 February
Time: All day
Location: Canberra, ACT
Email: [email protected]
Learn how to lead at the top of your game, with tips from the top of the public sector. The more you climb the leadership ranks of the public sector, the more is demanded from your leadership. You will gain more responsibility, have more difficult and complex problems to solve, and you will need to understand the distinctions between your own ideas and the demands of the role.
No-one understands these demands, and the skills needed to meet them, more than Rebecca Skinner PSM. Having led at the highest levels of the APS, including the extra-large agency Services Australia during its most challenging times, she knows exactly what it takes from you, your mindset and your skillset to lead in the public sector environment.
With an emphasis on capability, accountability and integrity, and a valuable blend of ideas, advice and practical tips, this is a learning and development opportunity that cannot be missed. Join Rebecca for two full days of learning and interactive activities to gain the perspective you need to lead at the top of your game.
Key benefits
- Learn and fine-tune the core skills of an EL1-EL2 leader
- Cultivate your leadership effectiveness and influence with public service values at the core
- Understand what true authentic leadership means in the APS by balancing professionalism and candour
- Confidently lead through crisis, uncertainty and change
- Learn with, and from, other executive leaders by sharing challenges and solutions
- Promote and embed integrity, accountability and high performance in your team.
Facilitator Rebecca is a former CEO of Services Australia and has a deep Defence and national security background.
She was the Associate Secretary of Defence and Deputy Secretary for Strategic Policy and Intelligence. A long-term member of the Defence Committee, she has led Defence strategic policy, capability and technology investment, ministerial engagement and driven transformed governance, human resource management and integrated service delivery.
Rebecca led Services Australia through the social security and health demands of the pandemic in the post-Robodebt era, setting the organisation on its customer-centric cultural renewal. She is a resilient people-focused leader experienced in operating under intense pressure through international and domestic crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and Defence operations.
Rebecca was awarded a PSM in 2021 for outstanding public service in the areas of national security policy, intelligence, business transformation and service delivery.
Not-For-Profit Discussion: Not-for-profit stakeholder engagement – QLD
Date: 6 February
Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm
Location: Governance Institute of Australia, Level 8, 100 Creek Street, Brisbane,
QLD
Email: c[email protected]
Not-for-profit stakeholder engagement
- Who are your stakeholders?
- How to best monitor and ensure effective stakeholder engagement
- Tools to support ongoing stakeholder engagement
- What does good reporting look like?
- How much is stakeholder engagement worth (value/ROI)?
- How do you know when your engagement is successful?
- Why would you engage?
Bring your thoughts to the table. Join your not-for-profit peers for an informal roundtable exchange of ideas and practical advice. This is your unique opportunity to discuss current trends and issues in your role, and an excellent opportunity to build your NFP network.
The facilitator is Kate O’Donohue, general manager – company secretariat and enterprise compliance, UnitingCare Queensland. Kate has more than 20 years’ experience as a governance professional within a range of entities, including ASX-listed, large Pty Ltd and not-for-profit organisations, and a range of industries, including mining and logistics, finance, health and community services.
SES Welcome – February
Date: 7 February
Time: 2 pm – 4:30 pm
Duration: One 2.5-hour face-to-face event
Location: Australian Capital Territory – National Portrait Gallery
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
The SES Welcome is designed to welcome new leaders and support them in setting themselves up for success at the start of their senior executive service career.
The SES Welcome introduces the expectations and obligations of SES roles, and how to manage ‘’leadership shadow’’ and deal with the greater scale of senior leadership. It provides an opportunity to connect with peers and colleagues who are transitioning into SES roles at the same time, and to develop a plan for the upcoming six months in role.
The program welcomes all newly promoted SES Band 1s and external SES recruits to provide a foundation for the more detailed SES Orientation program. Participants are encouraged to attend the SES Welcome within the first two months in their role.
This learning experience has been provided by the APS Academy. It is suitable for SES Band 1s promoted from an EL classification, SES Band 1s and Band 2s recruited from outside the APS.
Victorian Public Sector Women in Leadership Summit 2025
Date: 10 – 14 February
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Melbourne
Email: [email protected]
Have you booked your spot at the VIC Women in Leadership Summit 2025 yet? Join us for two incredible days of networking opportunities, skills development, and empowerment. This event is your chance to put your learning at the forefront and gain access to the state’s best female leaders.
Building resourceful and resilient leaders for a thriving VPS:
- Gain exclusive insights from senior and established VPS leaders
- Learn to lead with confidence and resilience
- Develop strategies to embed innovation, diversity and trust
- Build your professional network and collaborate on real-world challenges.
Enhancing Emotional Intelligence
Date: 11 February
Time: 9 am – 12:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Unlock the strategies needed to cultivate self-awareness and empathy for personal growth and team success:
- Understand the impact of Emotional Intelligence (EI) on success
- Identify your EI strengths, growth areas, and emotional triggers
- Enhance empathy and social awareness for deeper connections
- Apply EI strategies in teams with a personalised action plan.
Trainer Dr Karen Whittingham is one of Australia’s leading executive management development specialists, having worked with thousands of executives to transition them into senior leadership roles quickly and effectively.
She is an organisational psychologist passionate about people’s success and facilitating their careers to rise. She teaches organisational psychology at UNSW and works with ASX-listed companies and large public sector organisations to drive engagement, inclusion, and performance.
Women in Leadership Summit 2025
Date: 18 – 19 February
Time: All day
Location: Multiple venues; in person and online
Email: [email protected]
Taking place across seven Australian capital cities, this summit will be our biggest ever, featuring three of the most inspiring women in leadership to grace the national and world stages.
Join three of the original trailblazers:
- The world’s youngest person to serve as head of government, former prime minister of New Zealand, Dame Jacinda Ardern
- The first woman to serve as Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop
- Australia’s most decorated Olympian, six-time gold medallist Emma McKeon.
Joining these three incredible headliners will be an unmissable line-up of some of the most senior women in the Australian Public Service sharing their stories and practical tips for success alongside enlightening and empowering discussions on the most critical topics for informed and respectful leaders.
Do not miss this opportunity to be inspired, grow and connect.
