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' Take every job as if it might be the one you'll have for the rest of your life.'
“Your
Career Advisor” is responding this week to:
- "What sort of studies or certifications are there in the event management field?"
- "Where can I learn acting and film making?"
- "As a secretary, how can I improve my business writing skills? "
- "Where can I enroll in courses leading to a CISCO certification? "
All reasonable questions related to careers, skill development or employment related issues – sent to
advisor@skill-link.com
- would be addressed in this section every week.
Q1:
What
sort of studies or certifications are there in the event management field?
I am a 36-year-old Egyptian with about 8 years of experience in the field of
trade development. Right now, I am working with a regional organization
specialized in finance and trade development. For the last 3 years I was
responsible for organizing events (Trade meetings) to promote and develop
trading relations between certain countries.
I like my job and would
like to improve my skills and knowledge in the field of events management. What
kind of professional certification or studies could help me develop in that
career line?
S. H.
(Cairo)
Replying:
Dear
Mr. H.
You have the right mind-set,
you like what you are doing and would like to further develop your knowledge
base. The event management business (which includes conferences, trade shows,
large meetings etc…) is well developed in the advanced world. In North America
alone it is a multi billion-dollar business. In our part of the word,
unfortunately, a lot of the people involved (referred to as event organizers or
meeting planners) do it by trial and error or as we say in Arabic: bel
baraka!
As you may have concluded,
professional development and certification does exist, but from organizations in
the US and Europe. We are not aware of any such Arab entities. Two particular
bodies could be of interest to you; theses are presented below:
(1)
The International
Society of Meeting Planners (ISMP)
ISMP serves as a medium for
meeting planners to communicate not only on a national basis, but on an
international basis as well. ISMP is currently represented by members in over 90
nations. The primary objective of the ISMP is to provide professional
recognition and a method to easily network with recognized professionals both
internationally and locally. ISMP has been dedicated to the advancement of the
meeting planning profession since 1981 and is the only association in the
Meeting Planning industry to offer several professional designations; the most
important to you are:
RMP
- Registered Meeting Planner
The Registered Meeting
Planner designation is for those persons who bring people together for meetings,
seminars, conferences, etc.
CEP
- Certified Event Planner
The
Certified Event Planner designation is for those persons who are actively
involved in planning fairs, trade shows, parties, and other special events
You
can contact them at the following address:
1224
North Nokomis NE
Alexandria, Minnesota 56308
Phone:
00 1 (320) 763-4919 Fax: 00 1 (320) 763-9290
(2)
Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
MPI is the largest meetings industry association in the world. It is a global community committed to shaping and defining the future of the meeting and event industry. The UK Chapter is the largest and most active chapter outside North America.
It
offers the Certification in Meeting Management (CMM), which is the first
university co-developed global professional designation for meeting
professionals and a major step towards encouraging and recognizing
professionalism in meeting and conference management.
The
CMM program, along with its professional designation, represents an opportunity
for senior meeting and event professionals throughout the world to be recognized
as an integral part of top management, contributing in substantial measure to
the bottom line of a business.
Candidates
for the CMM are one or more of the following:
·
A greatly experienced meeting or event professional with significant
management responsibility and budgetary oversight;
·
A Professional Congress Organizer or professional with a destination
management company
·
A senior-level independent meeting professional or special event
organizer
·
A supplier with extensive meeting, congress or event experience
Acquiring
the CMM qualification entails:
·
Completion of an application, acceptance to attend the program, and
pre-work.
·
Attendance at the six-day residential program.
·
Completion of a course-based case study by working as part of a team on a
designated project during the residential aspect.
·
Passing an examination at the end of the course.
·
Successfully completing a take-home project assigned as an integral part
of the residential program, and submitted within six weeks of the end of the
program.
MPI
European Office
Bldg.
St. Michael 15
B-1040 Brussels BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 743 1544 Fax: +32 2 743 1550
We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck.
Q2: Where can I learn acting and film making?
You are really doing a very good job; and
answer all what is on our mind. Now, I am a 27-year-old Egyptian, who graduated
from Cairo University's Faculty of Commerce. I worked as an internal auditor and
currently in a bank related operations role.
I am interested in acting! I am looking for a good school in Cairo to teach me
the art of acting and film-making. Do you think there is one?
F. A. (Egypt)
Replying:
Dear Mr. A.
Thank you for the kind words you started your message with. Your question is 'new' and rather interesting.
There is of course the Institute of Cinema, which normally students will join after high school. Probably in your case it will not be feasible. There is also the Arts Academy (Akademyat Al Fonoun) in Haram Street in Giza, which has a Theatrical Arts Institute. Again, you will have to visit them, to see if they would accept you, 10 years after high school.
The Egyptian Media Production City Company (Madinet El Entag El Ealamy), located in the 6th of October City is currently building a Media Academy, which is supposed to be operational as of September 2003. They might be offering courses of interest to you.
There is also a small institute managed by a certain Mr. Abdel Hadi that is popular among those interested to be taught acting. It is located in 8A El Nabawy El Mohandis Street in Heliopolis, Cairo.
Finally, we suppose you know that some of the most famous actors never studied acting and similarly, some of the people who attended years of acting studies never made it, for lack of talent.
We hope the above was of some use.
Good Luck.
Q3: As a secretary, how can I improve my business writing skills?
I have completed my higher secondary education in commerce; and due to financial problems I had to stop my education at that point. Then I obtained a diploma in secretarial skills in addition to enrolling in some software courses, which helped me get a secretary's job.
My current job as a secretary is going on very well but my problem is with correspondence. My question is how can I improve my letter writing, regardless of the industry I am working in (construction, medical, shipping etc.)?
I need your advice on how to improve my letter writing.
L. K. F. (India)
Replying:
Dear Ms. F.
It is always good for one to know where he/she needs to improve and work on it. Our advice to anyone wishing to improve his/her writing skills is to read as much as possible. Reading is an invaluable way to improve your vocabulary and language style. Making a Library membership will provide you with access to all types of reading material at the same time save you the cost of buying books or magazines (same for online publications). Of course, since we are dealing with business correspondence, we would rather you go for business periodicals as opposed to novels or sports articles J The Economist (economist.com); the New York Times (nytimes.com) are free and very useful. Some more business / financial portals are also useful, zawya.com for example.
If you have the possibility to attend a course
or workshop for Business writing this would help you to write better letters,
memos, faxes and emails. A good course from a reputable centre such as The
British Council would train you to write logically and concisely and improve
your writing format and style.
You may also use the internet for information as
several on line courses are available and lots of sites offer advice on how to
improve your writing skills.
You may wish to check:
http://www.writingtrainers.com/
http://www.better-english.com/exerciselist.html
www.trainingbetter.com/letter.htm
Some books could also be useful
references to you; for instance:
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage; by Paul Martin
We hope the above was of some use.
Good Luck.
Q4: Where can I enroll in courses leading to a CISCO certification?
Where can I find a center in Cairo to enroll in course leading to the CCNA CISCO certification? Ideally, one with reasonable charges?
From Cairo On Line (Cairo)
Replying:
Dear Sir
Courses leading to CISCO's CCNA certification are usually offered in Cairo by entities such as: ITI, League Technology and New Horizons. Whether the fees are reasonable or not, this is something very relative… which only you could assess.
We also learnt that The Institute of Communication Research (part of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology) offers twice a year a similar course in cooperation with CISCO. These are for free J however there are usually some restrictions related to the age and graduation grades of the applicants. They usually publish an announcement in the daily newspapers.
We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck.
Note from the editor:
Employer names and inquiry sender names were withheld for confidentiality