In May SA State council headed to the Clare Valley for a two day face to face workshop.
It was a fantastic chance to connect and build up our advocacy skills. We acknowledge it is very hard for working women with families (as our members are) to get away but we managed to get 7 of our members there and on the zoom meeting we held whilst there we only had one apology!
We arrived on a Wednesday night with some of our members travelling over 9 hours to attend. That night we had a great zoom meeting and covered off a lot of our priorities at a state and federal level. Thursday started bright and early with a Pilates zoom session with Mimi Gibson (her mother is a ICPA member).
Annabelle Homer led an interactive and informative session to improve our public speaking skills, a skill often required in advocacy. She gave us some great tips and we were able to notice an improvement straight away. Building confidence to speak about the issues you are passionate about is an invaluable skill. Penny Pratt Member for Frome joined us for lunch to chat about how we can best speak with our MPs, who to meet with and how we can engage all areas of parliament. Our final session was with Isaac Astill, a campaign strategist who helped us to work through some novel concepts. Power mapping and critical pathways helped us highlight what is the most efficient use of our time. As we went around the room many of our members were second generation ICPA members and this is a huge asset, but it also means we must make sure we are checking that we are being innovative in our approach to issues and not just following in others footsteps.
This workshop was a fantastic way to connect and feel inspired to continue striving for educational equality. The workshop was made possible with support from Beach Energy and Nutrien. Ellen Litchfield
