Chief Executive Officer’s Message
Ambassadors: Our bridge to the next generation
T
he Cambridge Dictionary defines ambassador as a person who represents, speaks for, or advertises a particular organization, group of people, activity, or brand. At last year’s Year in Review, we launched our Student Outreach Program to bring awareness to the quantity surveying profession. The objective of this program is to educate school officials about our industry. It is also to encourage students to contact us to learn more about the career paths available to them, apply for CIQS membership and, ultimately, move their way up to a PQS or CEC designation. To help us bring the CIQS message to students, we also launched an ambassador program where we invite members interested in representing the Institute at school career fairs, presentations, industry events, tradeshows, media interviews, and government meetings, as subject matter experts.
• Able to build trust and credibility for themselves and the Institute. • Confident at building relationships and networking.
CIQS ambassadors are individuals who are: • Able to deliver a cohesive message to build and maintain our brand’s official position on various matters. • Strong public speakers. • Diplomatic and able to think on their feet while keeping within the message parameters. • Active listeners who can concentrate fully on the question at hand rather than thinking of what to say next. • Careful speakers who think before they speak and understand the importance of not oversharing (answer only the question asked).
All applicants must participate in our in-house ambassador training which was originally designed as a four-hour, in-person session. Sadly, we were able to host only one session before the country shut down because of the pandemic. To keep the program going, the training was redesigned as a two-hour, virtual session and relaunched in the fall of 2020. The ambassador training sessions are designed to ensure that every ambassador has a thorough understanding of the Institute’s messaging, as well as giving us a chance to evaluate each applicant’s strengths. It also offers an opportunity for our
The CIQS offers its ambassadors: • Official media training to make every ambassador comfortable delivering our message in front of a camera or a crowd of students or industry professionals. • Events and interviews managed by CIQS staff and consultants. Ambassadors are matched with an event or interview based on their industry experience, logistics, interest, and availability. • Presentation material that has been designed and made available for download in the ambassador tools section of The CIQS HUB (www.qscareer.org). Materials include presentation best practices, CIQS marketing brochures, educational videos, and a PowerPoint presentation designed specifically for school presentations.
8 | CONSTRUCTION ECONOMIST | www.ciqs.org | Fall 2021
Sheila Lennon, CAE
volunteers to gain helpful insight into their personal presentation skills through timed presentations, workshops, and peer reviews. To date, we have received 32 applications, trained 29 individuals, and accepted 27 ambassadors to represent the CIQS at events and presentations across the country. Nine of the approved ambassadors were also selected to represent the Institute at lobbying meetings with government officials. These members received added government relations and media training facilitated by IMPACT Public Affairs, the agency that was hired to assist us with our government relations program. Canadian colleges were quick to adopt virtual platforms for job fairs and career presentations. CIQS ambassadors have attended several of these events and presented at various Lunch & Learns, such as: • SAID Industry Night (Civil Engineering Technology Club) • BCIT Virtual Mixer • ATSA Lunch & Learn • BCIT Lunch & Learn A comprehensive campaign targeting Canadian colleges was launched in late spring to gain buy-in for additional Lunch & Learns once students are back in the fall. We received strong interest from most of the schools that were contacted and planning for fall 2021 Lunch & Learns is now underway. We are continuously growing our ambassador database. Anyone interested in becoming an ambassador can email Alexandra Parliament at marketing@ciqs.org for a copy of the application form. Sincerely, Sheila Lennon, CAE Chief Executive Officer CIQS To return to Table of Contents CLICK HERE
