Third time's the charm -- NOT!

[Katie G]

So today I attended my third annual Secretary's Day Seminar and Luncheon, where they herd all the secretarial staff into a room for what our Employee Relations department calls a morning of "renewal, challenge, and fun!"

Two years ago, I attended.  The seminar was on "stress management."  8:30 continental breakfast (coffee cold, creamer warm, danish sticky).  Seminar starts late.  We begin with the requisite ice breaker get-to-know-you game, but with 100 people in the room it takes almost 45 minutes. Seminar on stress management turns out to be nothing that you haven't already read in Woman's Day or Good Housekeeping with about the same amount of depth.  Everything presented in the most elementary of terms and a tone of voice you might expect from a kindergarten teacher, except the sound system doesn't work so everything is in this sing-song tone but yelled. The entertainment portion of the program is a karaoke setup.  Nobody wants to sing, so they play background music so loud, you can't hear any conversation.  Box lunch is served.  I leave after filling out evaluation sheet suggesting that the subject matter have a little more meat to it.

Last year I attended.  The seminar was on "emotional intelligence".  Same type breakfast, same late start.  Same long game.  Emotional intelligence definition is very vague and the presentation consists of 90 second movie clips after which the presenter asks (same sing-song voice and the sound system is no better this year) "Which character do you think was showing emotional intelligence?"  "What makes you think that?"  It's basically a course in "how not to be a jerk".  The intellectual level of the presentation has not improved.  Entertainment portion is a magician.  Lunch is catered, but since we ran over time, it has been sitting in the warming trays for about an hour.  Ugh.  

This year I attended.  Same old, same old, same old.  The seminar is "Life balance" which ends up sounding suspiciously like the stress management seminar of two years ago.  If anything the intellectual level has dropped from about 7th grade to 5th grade.  Same horrible sound system.  Their solution is to raise the volume. The karaoke guy is back.  Nobody wants to sing.  I leave early.

I am not going next year.  They don't pay me enough.

Sorry, had to get it off my chest.

Did

[jahdra]

Oh...my. That is...interesting. Why on earth are they paying MONEY to OFFEND their support staff?! What ARE they thinking? Who organizes these things? Is there any way you can get on the organizing committee or is this one person's baby and they're going to do what THEY want to do?

We have dreadful meetings occasionally (today was a doozy, they managed to provide no information whatsoever over the course of an hour and we NEED information right now) but our training is usually pretty good. We're using Ritz-Carlton right now for "soft skills" training and they go in-depth, cover more and you leave after 4 hours feeling like you've actually learned something. And not like you've had all the oxygen sucked out of your body. Your "training" sounds truly horrible and I hope they fix it, or give you a gift certificate instead or something!

[ozbound]

Wow--it sounds like they don't even read those "suggestion sheets." How lame! I think they're trying too hard.  For my "Secretary's Day," I'd rather have the traditional flowers and luncheon we get. I know some admins cringe at that routine, but I really enjoy it. The flowers (usually a rose picked out by the CEO's wife) brighten up my office, and the lunch is always a 2-hour break at one of the nicest restaurants in town, they hire a temp to cover phones so nobody has to be left out, and we ladies always giggle a lot and have a good time (we even get to order drinks--ooh!)

[patphi]

What am I missing here!  I thought Secretary's Day is next week - April 24th.

Actually, I don't care when it is.  I've always said if you can't be nice to me everyday don't put forth the effort on Secretary's Day because it won't mean anything.

I've had good bosses and I've had bad bosses and I've had one absolutely horrible boss who thought he was doing me a real favor by bringing me a bottle of wine (I don't drink) on Secretary's Day.  I think he took it out of his wine cabinet just before coming in that day because he forgot.

Anyway, now I have a great boss.  Although we both are going through some very stressful situations right now (due to some organizational changes), she is always considerate, takes time to just talk (if I need to), and generally treats me like a valuable person.  She never hesitates to compliment me for the smallest thing I do.  I love her and will go the extra mile just because she is who she is.  To bad more bosses aren't like her.  If she forgets Secretary's Day, it won't bother me in the least as she remembers me every day of the year.

patphi in Florida

[Jackie G]

Goodness me, that sounds completely awful, and I can't believe that your company is still wasting good time and money on something so poor.  Equally I agree they're not reading the evaluation sheets - or are you the only person who thinks so badly of these things (surely not!)

I think you've been very brave to go for 3 years (I would have stopped after 2, but that's me!) and applaud your decision not to go next year - how will this stance be viewed in your office?

Jackie
www.iqps.org
DeskDemon Forum Board Staff

[superninjaadmin]

I attended an "Administrative Assistant" type seminar on Wednesday.  I have been to several of these types of seminars in the past years and I always leave the seminar completely disappointed.  Well, last Wednesday's session was no different... the keynote speaker (world renown-apparently) had us get into small groups throughout the day and do several stupid games with eachother that had nothing to do with enhancing our skills as admins.  Each session lasted between 30 and 40 minutes - all a waste of time.  Plus, she was speaking to our handouts that had "fill in the blanks" where we entered in a word or phrase she read from (reminded me of my days in elementary school).  I was completely bored during this entire seminar and the promotional information that had enticed me to sign up for the session did not cover most of the stuff she spoke about.  The only thing that was good about it was lunch.  

I need something more!!  

So...from this day forward, I vow not to ever attend another one-day "Administrative Assistant" conference.  They just don't offer what I want...it's the same old **yawn** information and I'm beyond that.  I think in the future, I'll focus on sessions that are specifically geared toward managers and supervisors or Human Resources - I think I'll get more from those types of courses.  

Thanks for listening to my vent... I just had to say something!  

SNA...

[patphi]

Amazing isn't it.  In this day and age that some people and seminar facilitators still think of us as file clerks, phone answerers, and that young, pretty thing at the desk.

I vowed a long time ago to stop attending seminars aimed at AA because of this attitude.

I am no longer young nor "pretty" but mature with a mind and abilities that I have worked years to hone and perfect.  My knowledge base has expanded to meet the demands of the job.

While I "choose" - yes choose- to remain an AA it does not mean that I have no goals or that I am less motivated that anyone else in the office.  It simply means that I have found the career path I choose to follow.  It is not something that I settled for simply because I did not have the motivation to pursue a title.  My educational background is sometimes more extensive than management.

These faciltators and seminar leaders need to learn that not all AAs are simply in a holding pattern waiting for a management position to open.

Thanks for letting me vent.

patphi in Florida

[deedee]

I thought I was the only one!  Last October, I attended a THREE DAY seminar, ostensibly on Communications Skills and directed at supervisory and above personnel, that turned out to be the biggest waste.  It was presented by a very large and reputable firm (dare I name it?  American Management Association) which I had good experience with in the past and had no reason to expect otherwise this time.  I think the presenter was largely responsible for the overall terrible quality of this training, because the texts provided were quite good and targeted to the subject.  However, the presenter was so completely focused on the events of September 11 (which I agree were terrible, but that was not the subject of the seminar) that she practically never discussed anything else.  By the the third day, about 30% of those in attendance just quit showing up.  I don't want to make this post too long, but the end result was the AMA offered me a free seminar at another time and I have been too uncertain to schedule it.  Does anyone have any suggestions of an AMA seminar they found worthwhile?  I know my boss would agree to let me go, even though I spent 3 days away and had the associated travel and hotel expenses the first trip.