EuropeanPWN’s annual meeting in Milan

On June 27-28 the EuropeanPWN board and presidents of all networks gathered in Milan for the Annual General Meeting (AGM). In a 1 ½ day session they looked back on past achievements, exchanged best practices and developed plans for the next year. Organized this year by the team of PWA Milan’s president Monica Pesce, participants were warmly welcomed by SDA Bocconi’s Simona Cuomo of Laboratoria Armonia.

Highlights

Looking back from 2007, together we achieved a lot, as reflected in this summary of highlights:

• Three new networks were launched in Germany, thanks to Marie Clair Williams (Frankfurt), Silka Bade and Isabelle Jammot (Berlin) and Sjannie Hulsman (Düsseldorf) who took up the challenge of successfully creating new networks;
• the publication of our 7th and 8th book in the Women@Work series, “Mentoring – A Powerful Tool For Women” (edited by Thérèse Torris) and “Women on Boards – Moving Mountains” (by Mirella Visser and Annalisa Gigante) with the support of Mexx, Amrop International and Mercer;
• new network websites were launched and an easy-to-use Content Management System implemented, by our website manager Andrea Buck;
• our Web 2.0 strategy was further developed, led by our VP Website strategy Thérèse Torris, enriching the platform with new features, like Wiki’s, video uploading and the BusinessXchange section for entrepreneurs promoting their business;
• the launch of our Think Tank Groups, our online activity for members-at-large, MBA’s and all other members for debating topics like How to manage your first 100 days in a new job, “Women, mobility and dual careers” and “Off-ramps/on-ramps – accelerating a career in midlife”, managed by VP Think Tank Communities Cécile Demailly; very recently a EuropeanPWN group was created in LinkedIn for our members, to further enhance networking;’
• development of the Board Room Round Tables, bringing together women holding board positions across Europe for a content-rich program and networking at European level (first one took place on Jan 21 2008);
• Orange, AON, Sodexo and Coca-Cola joined our renewed corporate partners program, enabling their executive women to attend our events, participate in activities and exchange best practices with the other corporate partners, led by VP Corporate Relations Marie-Claude Peyrache;
• founder and honorary president Avivah Wittenberg-Cox launched her 3rd book “Why Women Mean Business”

• current president Mirella Visser was nominated as European of the Year 2007 by European Voice (Economist), a sign of public recognition for EuropeanPWN’s efforts in promoting professional progress of women across Europe.

Large scale events

Almost 500 events were organized by the 17 city networks combined, which were visited by our 3500 members and a few hundred guests. Ranging from workshops with breakout sessions in small groups, to larger scale events, a wide variety of topics were covered. Special events attracted large numbers of participants, like the annual “Best Of” conference in Paris, with 130 attendants. Also the Top Women Panel in Amsterdam, the 25th Anniversary celebration gala in Geneva and the Women on Boards event recently in Milan, attracted well over 100 to even 200 women. Clare Dobie, president of City Women’s Network London reported a large turnout from the event with speaker Angela Knight QBE, as part of CWN’s 30th Anniversary celebration program; an even higher turnout is expected in the fall, when Cherie Booth-Blair QC will speak at the Gala dinner.

Popular themes

Important topic in most of the networks this year was mentoring and coaching. Successful initiatives were (re)launched in Milan, Madrid, Amsterdam, Nice, whereas the Paris program, which started end of 2005, currently encompasses 235 members. Members actively seek mentoring workshops, peer-to-peer settings and find value in reading our Mentoring book. Caroline Miller, president of the Women’s Career Forum in Geneva, reported on her network’s special mentoring program in cooperation with the University of Geneva, which involves 40 students now.

Another popular theme remains leadership development and many events are being organized on the various aspects. Michelle Brailsford of EuropeanPWN London is investigating to set up a cooperation with one of the universities to offer specific leadership programs to our members. AIPBW Oslo president Jennifer Varino reported on their popular two days Persuasive Communication workshop which attracted many members and made serious impact on their professional lives. Sofi Hakanson, president of the Stockholm chapter, shared her success strategy to attract members to events: choosing a yearly theme to organize events around. Amsterdam president Rieke Smakman adopted this strategy already as the network’s theme this year is: “Dare to lead – challenge yourself, challenge others”.

Growth

Membership growth continues across the board. Launched just over 2 years ago, president Marijo Bos reported that the Madrid network currently has 200 members. By working actively together with a few companies who sponsor their events, costs for the members to attend network events are driven down significantly in Madrid.

Importantly not only the number of corporate partners increased, but also the variety in terms of industries and sectors. Ranging from IT (IBM, Alcatel) to food and food-related businesses (Sodexo, Coca-Cola), finance (AON), clothing (Mexx), telecommunications (Orange), accounting (Deloitte) and consulting (Mercer), our corporate partners reflect the variety necessary for the diversity we aspire to have in our networks. Their financial support offers us the possibility to continue our growth path in a financially healthy state, as reported by Treasurer Brigitte Pichat-Sese.

Value added is key priority

Offering value to our members for their membership fee is a constant concern for all networks. In Brussels PWI’s president Cristina Vicini negotiated a partnership with the Palais des Beaux Arts, offering her members discounts when they attend the cultural events.

Tools for promotion

Co-presidents Ursula Vavrik and Christina Thomar of WCN in Vienna presented their PR tools for promoting the network’s activities, like banners, brochures and business cards, designed in line with our professional image.
Paris President Marie-Claude Peyrache presented the first edition of their own glossy called “Femmes en enterprises”, a professional magazine for professional women, complete with articles on leadership, career planning and Paris network events.

Target group events

In accordance with our mission to create learning opportunities for professional women in all their career phases and at all levels of responsibility, special needs groups have been identified from the start, like the MBA’s and Women on Boards.

• Madrid’s president Marijo Bos, who is leading the initiative at the European level for the MBA program, developed with her team a specific MBA newsletter which was sent to all MBA members across Europe;

• Several networks organized activities around Women on Boards; in Paris a cooperation agreement was signed with the IFA (Institute of Directors) and Madrid organized special events under the name “Voice of Experience” program for senior executives (with over 15 years of experience and holding board positions).

Motivating volunteers

Led by Nice’s president Susanne Forsman-Hey the topic of how to attract and retain volunteer board members was extensively discussed. All EuropeanPWN board members are volunteers who have busy professional lives; a number of best practices were shared:

• Have clear objectives for each volunteer so they know what is expected of them;
• Strike the right balance in the number of volunteers for the tasks at hand;

• Give recognition and rewards along the way.

Networks have different ways of dealing with motivating volunteers, and sometimes choose structural adaptations to their board. Co-presidents Ursula Vavrik and Christina Thomar explained that in Vienna all board functions are shared by two people, which creates team work and improves efficiency.

Organization

In April our long-time community manager Pernille Giraud-Sauveur left and was succeeded by Ingrid Loren, who is also the Treasurer of the chapter in Nice. As the community manager is the spider in the web and literally makes the network work, together with the website manager Andrea Buck, Pernille’s hard work was remembered and Ingrid was welcomed warmly.

Many newcomers

Presidents have yearly or two-year terms, so rotation is common. One of the newcomers was Michelle Brailsford, who has taken responsibility for EuropeanPWN London and is forming a team to this end. The AGM was an excellent opportunity for especially the newcomers of recently started networks, Sjannie Hulsman (Düsseldorf), Marie Clair Williams (Frankfurt) and Sofi Hakanson (Stockholm) to learn from the experiences of the established networks.

Press conference EuropeanPWN BoardWomen Monitor

This year’s AGM was combined with the international press conference of our flagship project, the 3rd bi-annual EuropeanPWN BoardWomen Monitor 2008, led by Annalisa Gigante, VP Women on Boards. Hosted by Egon Zehnder International, at their Milan office, Nicola Gavazzi, managing partner, explained the reasons for teaming up with us for the third time in a row to make the BoardWomen Monitor a success. Laurence Monnery, partner at EZI London and responsible for the project, attended the press conference too. For the press presentation, press release and Financial Times coverage click here

Future plans

All of us came away inspired and with lots of new ideas for events, activities and management of our association. What binds us together is the commitment to create an open and inclusive environment in which women can learn from each other and develop their talents. Therefore our future plans are simple: continue to add value to our members, our corporate partners and society as a whole by continuing to create insightful events, publishing books and commissioning research into undiscovered areas of female careers and leadership.

EuropeanPWN Board
July/August 2008

SEE THE FULL SET OF PHOTOS HERE