Hi Everyone,
I don’t know about you but it feels like most of my email traffic these past few weeks has been out-of-office replies. But as August draws to a close, here in France talk is already turning to la rentrée, when the shop windows fill with school supplies and everyone starts to reset after the long, hot, relaxing summer break. Spain calls it la vuelta, Italy talks about il rientro, and at home in the UK it’s all about back-to-school season.
One thing didn’t take a summer break and that’s our Communities across the region. Back in July I mentioned we were in conversation with new volunteers in Spain, and I’m delighted to welcome Marine Zanna and Yulia Manko as our new Community Leads in Barcelona and Madrid. If you’re Spain-based, be sure to follow them for details of upcoming networking events and City Connects in the coming months.
Meanwhile, a couple of quick reminders as September gets closer: London and Berlin Unfiltered are all just weeks away now (15th and 23rd), and on 15 September our webinar on working with digital nomads and distributed teams will be well worth a look if your team is remote or spread across time zones.
And one more deadline I want to highlight again directly: World Conference is THE flagship event for IABC members, and HQ are actively seeking volunteers to join the Program Advisory Committee and help shape the agenda. If it’s been sitting in your “someday maybe” folder, now’s the time to do something about it. Applications close on 31 August.
Wherever you are, I hope you’ve enjoyed the summer and managed to have at least a short break. If you’re at your desk again already, welcome back. If you’re still squeezing the last few drops from summer, enjoy.
I’ll look forward to seeing as many of you as possible as the year gets properly underway.
Kathryn Kneller, SCMP
Chair, IABC EMENA
