Jean Rivard gave everyone a copy of his power point presentation of his executive summary. He suggested that it would be helpful for the provincial organizations such as ASAP to help get the word out to their members and the industry at large in their individual provinces with the contents of this executive summary. "In the past, Canada had seven viable provincial associationsÉ now there is basically one in British Columbia that functions on a monthly basis. BC Apparel has moved into a networking format where members send their personal information to BC Apparel. Their newsletter is exemplary and well read." BC Apparel has a full time paid staff running their association.
The executive summary outlines the 25 key success factors to do business well ... it's called the Apparel Management Competencies Program. Eighty per cent of Apparel companies don't last 5 years. The major stumbling blocks for 'new' companies is "How do I get money to continue after I've spent all my own money? Where do I find competent sewing machine operators?
"Tonight at the dinner/showcase/fashion show I will address the students that 'Now is their turn'. This May AHRD feels that hiring will be at an all time high of 100% of graduates. This is the best year to be looking for a job as a recent graduate. AHRD will subsidize your employment up to one third of your salary for your first year of working. Students need to find out more about this program because $400,000.00 was returned to the Canadian Government last year because it was not applied for by graduating students.
"I cannot restate this too often associations such as ASAP need to have an information line.
Information is the way to make every business viable and with Vicki as your President and with her position on HRDC along with ASAP ... this will keep your organization on top of new initiatives and abreast of what is going on in the apparel world. Thank you for having me address your group and I look forward to talking to the students from Olds and Lethbridge tonight."
And our thanks to Jean for his wonderful and informative talk, and for taking the time to come out for our AGM and Fashion Show.
The general meeting for May had a small information session about websites by ASAP's web coordinator Cari Buziak. Topics covered were how websites work, what your web designer will expect from you and what you can expect from them/the process, and some basic ways to approximate what your costs will be for a basic "brochure style" website. All information was provided in a "grass roots" style, no tech lingo interpretation required! If you would like a PDF copy of this discussion please e-mail Cari for a copy.
Our AGM meeting took place before our 2006 Fashion Show in the Acadia Room at the Hospitality Inn South. The meeting agenda included discussions about new ASAP promotional material, elections for directors, our new website and Jean Rivard was in attendance to bring greetings from AHRC as the executive director of the Apparel Human Resources Council.
