Frequently Asked Questions

Established in 2014, the University of Melbourne’s Professional Staff Conference is an annual one-day in-person conference organised by professional staff volunteers for professional staff. In both 2020 and 2021, the conference was held virtually. The conference compromises sessions in a range of formats, including but not limited to, keynote speeches, panel discussions, and individual presentations.

The 2023 conference will be held on  Wednesday 13 September 2023 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The professional staff conference celebrates the contributions made by professional staff, acknowledges their expertise and passion, and creates time for reconnecting, networking, and fun. It provides an opportunity for professional staff members to stay updated on industry trends, explore best practices, and enhance their skills and knowledge.

• Networking & Collaboration: Meet professional staff from different backgrounds and work areas, expanding your network for potential collaborations.
• Professional Development: Learn about new trends, strategies, recent project outcomes, and best practices through panel discussions and presentations.
• Motivation: Gain inspiration from keynote speakers who share their experiences and insights  .
• Community: Feel a part of the wider UniMelb team. If you mainly work online or are new to the university, this is a fantastic chance to meet colleagues face-to-face and engage with your community.

Once all tickets have sold out and a waiting list is in place, tickets will be released as cancellations are processed. Individuals will be contacted directly and given a limited timeframe to register their attendance for the conference. This could be at any time, up until Tuesday 5th September 2023.

You can participate either by attending the conference, or by presenting at the conference, or by volunteering as a committee member for next year's conference.

As a professional staff member attending the conference, you are not expected to cover the cost of your attendance. Ticketing costs are covered by your divisions.

Have a conversation with your supervisor before registering.

The price associated with tickets for the conference helps to cover costs such as venue hiring, catering, and keynote speakers etc.

Ticketing costs are covered by divisions and all finance business partners and division senior executives have been communicated with regarding ticketing costs. Total ticketing costs will be finalised post conference.

No - you are not expected to take annual leave to attend the conference.

• Attendees please be advised that cancellations made before 5pm on 31 August 2023 will not be charged.
• Cancellations made after 31 August will be charged the standard ticket price.
• To cancel, please email psc-info@unimelb.edu.au
• Unfortunately, internal transfer of tickets after 31 August is not possible, unless it is for exceptional circumstances.
• For presenters, if your circumstances change and you can no longer attend, please liaise with your dedicated committee members to discuss as soon as possible.

• Have a think about what you want to get out of the conference the most. Perhaps you are mainly interested in meeting new colleagues, or you want to learn more about empowering yourself with new professional tools. Whatever it is, approach the conference with your own personal goal.
• Chat with your manager and discuss arranging a group from your office to attend together.

If you are unable to attend the conference due to COVID or any other illness, please contact psc-info@unimelb.edu.au as soon as possible.

If you are unable to attend the conference due to illness, it may be possible to transfer your ticket to a colleague. Before you give your ticket to your colleague, please contact psc-info@unimelb.edu.au as soon as possible to advise you are unable to attend. We recommend you contact your line manager and confirm your colleague has permission to attend in your place. If you do not have a colleague you wish to nominate, the PSC organisers will allocate to a waitlisted attendee. The PSC organisers will update the ticket accordingly in line with the cancellation policy.

Face masks are welcome. Wearing a face mask is a simple way to protect yourself, those around you and the community. Face masks can stop viruses spreading in the air when people talk, cough, sneeze and laugh, which lowers everyone’s change of spreading or catching COVID, colds and flu.