About the Professional Staff Conference

2020 Leadership

The 2020 Professional Staff Conference committee is led by Stephanie Spence (Chair) and Shelley Green (Deputy Chair).

2020 Virtual Professional Staff Conference

For the first time ever, the Professional Staff Conference will be held virtually – this is an incredible opportunity to learn, network and engage with your peers from the comfort of your own home

About

The Professional Staff Conference highlights best practices, shares ideas and provides personal development and networking opportunities to our vibrant professional staff community.

History

Established in 2014 and co-founded by three professional staff, the conference aims to explore best practices, report project outcomes and share new trends and opportunities, while engaging staff through motivational and creative means.

Delivered within a project framework, the conference broadens networks and encourages collaboration across the University’s different campuses , while contributing to the sustained excellence of services supporting learning, teaching, research and engagement.

The Conference:

• Celebrates the contributions made by professional staff to thesuccess of the University
• Acknowledges the expertise and passion of professional staff through presentations that showcase innovation in higher education administration
• Provides participants and organisers with mentoring and professional development opportunities
• Creates time for networking, collegiality and fun

The Professional Staff Conference is organised by a Committee of volunteers from around the University of Melbourne.

If you have questions or comments, please contact the committee via email at
psc-info@unimelb.edu.au.

View the PSC 2020 Recordings

Our Theme: Building Resilient Futures

When the 2020 Professional Staff Conference committee convened to discuss potential themes for this year's conference in March, the Australian bushfires were top of mind. We had seen how both staff and students from across Australia had been impacted by the bushfires, and we discussed how important resilience is in the face of adversity.

At the time, COVID-19 was beginning to spread throughout Australia, too, though none of us could have predicted just how disruptive this virus would become. We anticipated how we might need to change our ways of working, should the virus continue to spread, and discussed how resilience would be important to get through this crisis as well. We decided on the theme of "Building Resilient Futures" as it would encourage forward-thinking in the midst of whatever challenges we might face in the coming months. Just weeks after that first brainstorming session about themes for the conference, the committee had shifted to working entirely remotely, in line with COVID-19 restrictions.

As we continued to plan for the conference from our home workstations, we developed the sub-themes of "Adapting to Change" and "Building Capabilities." We saw that it would be essential for professional staff at the Uni to be comfortable adapting to change this year, as further change was inevitable given the ongoing and widespread effects of COVID-19. At the same time, professional staff would need to build their capabilities and skill sets in order to best respond to these changes.

The keynote speakers, panel discussion and individual sessions held throughout the 2020 Professional Staff Conference tied into our main theme of Building Resilient Futures, and we hope that attendees were able to walk away from the conference with enhanced skills to embrace change and build capabilities for the future.

Our Sponsors

If you have questions or comments, please contact the Committee via email psc-info@unimelb.edu.au

The 2020 Committee

Hello from the 2020 planning committee! As we haven't been able to meet in person yet, here's our team photo, Brady-Bunch style.

We're excited to bring you this year's conference (which is always amazing) in a virtual format, and have lots of ideas up our sleeve to make it engaging, inspiring and fun!

Have a question or comment? We'd love to hear from you!
Drop us a line at psc-info@unimelb.edu.au

Highlights from the 2019 Professional Staff Conference

People - Our most Important Asset

#workinginharmony

Over 750 staff from across the university came together to share ideas and experiences and gain new knowledge at the 2019 UOM Professional Staff Conference.

The event was centred around the themes of working in harmony, connecting with others, and the importance of valuing all members of the University’s community.

This year, the PSC featured a number of new initiatives including:

• a fantastic Wellness at Work Room: an interactive space highlighting the importance of self-care, health and wellbeing
• a Panel Discussion around the theme of Career evolution and leadership
• the PSC Challenge, to encourage participants to form new, meaningful connections with the colleagues
• a Conference App, full of information of the conference, meaning no programs were printed!

The event survey showed that:

• 94% of survey respondents were satisfied with the conference and would recommend it to their colleagues.
• 85% of participants learned something new that they could apply in their role.
• 73% of participants made new connections at the conference.
• 94% of survey respondents rated the keynotes as good or excellent and that they were happy with the conference structure.
• 80% said they would be happy with a one-day, off-site conference for future events.

Attendee testimonials:

"Absolutely LOVED it! And raved about it to my team, who I will encourage to attend next year. I can tell a lot of thought has gone into it."

"I've never been to a Professional Staff Conference and I was highly impressed and I really valued the opportunity to attend."

"Overall I think it was really well organised, highly enjoyable for the participant and balanced enough networking time to talk with people you hadn't seen in ages. I highly recommend."

“I thought it was an excellent conference, with seamless processes and some great new initiatives. Congratulations to the whole committee, and JJ, for a very professional and high quality event."

Read more all about the University of Melbourne's 2019 Professional Staff Conference - written by Amber Rose.

Read about the 2019 PSC here!

If you have questions or comments, please contact the committee via email psc-info@unimelb.edu.au