YPG Young Professional Group 2020 event wrap up

2020 has been a year like no other. The year saw a rapid forced change from the usual face-to-face environment to a new online-only world with people largely confined to the comforts of their own home.

Like all sectors of the industry and the wider community, VPELA’s Young Professional Group responded to the challenges of 2020 by adapting its usual suite of seminars to webinars in order to continue to deliver a range of educational, informative and often unique content for the benefit of VPELA’s young professional members.

The YPG thanks all hosts, panellists, participants and attendees of its events/webinars throughout the year and of course its sponsors Biosis, Traffix Group, Urbis and Taylors for their continued support. It was genuinely enthusing to see such a significant and enthusiastic uptake of participation in the new online environment that truly demonstrated the passion and motivation of our industry.

The YPG looks back on a truly unique year.

Speed networking (February)

The VPELA YPG kicked off the year with their first (and only) face-to-face event by hosting their annual Speed Networking event at Cardno. The event once again demonstrated its truly unique ability to enable participants to meet a wide range of professionals with multidisciplinary backgrounds and from various allied professions.

With an attendance of nearly eighty participants and held during mid-February, the weather was spectacular allowing the attendees to take full advantage of the views from Cardno’s balcony while enjoying drinks and canapes.

Special thanks to Cardno for hosting the event for the second year in a row.

As always, the event was so well received that the YPG will be investigating techniques for adapting the concept to a virtual event in the not too distant future… (watch this space).

Seminar: meet the project team (April)

Meet the Project Team was the YPG’s first foray into the strange new world of online events. The webinar was aimed at helping participants understand different disciplines within the planning industry and gain insight into how collaboration can ensure a project runs smoothly.

Participants heard insights from Gillian Lee (Marshall Day Acoustics), Lindsay Richardson (SD Consultants), Renee Muratore (Trethowan Architecture), and Val Gnanakone (onemilegrid). The panel discussed what their key roles as consultants were throughout a project and shared some common challenges they have encountered. Unique insights were provided into how different disciplines could collaborate to deliver a quality outcome for the project, as well as some thoughts on how to improve the planning system!

A Q&A session at the end allowed participants to engage with the panel to ask about common misconceptions of their respective disciplines, as well as providing some helpful tips and tricks.

Master Class 1: Behind the planning counter (May)

The first cab off the YPG Master Class series rank for the year was billed ‘Secrets from Behind the Planning Counter,’ where the YPG audience was treated to our panel’s insights into their experiences on both sides of the planning coin.

To ensure a discussion littered with anecdotes and wisdom, the YPG enlisted the services of Tim Biles of Ratio Consultants as our chair. Unsurprisingly, Tim adjudicated our panellists’ discussions with his trademark charm and curiosity, prodding our panellists for scoops with a Tony Jones-esque diplomacy.

Our panellists each had a unique take on their experiences on both sides of the planning counter. Alexandra Wade of City of Monash spoke about the inventory of skills she developed in private practice, that have now afforded her a more balanced approach to her work at Monash. Now a planner at City of Port Phillip, Angus Bevan described declining bribes (lifetime coffee supplies) from enthusiastic applicants, while advocating the personal and professional benefits to be gained in making a difference in a government role. Anna Barclay of Urbis closed the gap between private and public practice, highlighting the many common threads that weave through both sides of the planning equation. In a similar vein, Michael Henderson of Contour Consultants proffered that while working in private practice may have crystallised a more direct mode of communication, experience as a council planning coordinator afforded him a unique perspective toward his current work.

The session left a lasting impression that a balanced approach to planning can be truly achieved in working on both sides of the planning counter, as well as how VPELA’s young professionals can better understand the other side to efficiently collaborate and achieve great planning outcomes on their first (or only) side of the counter.

Master Class 2: How to write a Brief (June)

Second in the Master Class series was the ‘How to Write a Brief’ webinar with guest speakers Alex Gelber of HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, Angela Ash of Contour Consultants and Brett Young of Ratio Consultants.

Our presenters outlined the key considerations for preparing an effective brief, and discussed what they consider to be a poor brief. Some of the key take-home tips from the presenters were:

1. Take your time. We are all busy and preparing a brief can be time consuming, but if the time is spent upfront to collate the necessary information within the brief, it will make the job of the person you are briefing that much easier.

2. Tailor your brief to the audience, with consideration to:

• Who are you briefing and why?

• What is their role and what information do they need to undertake their role?

3. Direct their focus to key issues for the project. Consider what provisions are relevant to the consultant’s area of expertise and don’t provide excess information which isn’t relevant to their field.

4. File organisation is key. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of electronic file management; significant time can be lost if files need to be hunted down in various inboxes.

Master Class 3: How to successfully build your personal brand (June)

The final Master Class of the season, “How to successfully build your personal brand” was an engaging and informative session involving a panel of highly acclaimed professionals. Emma Peppler (Barrister, Victorian Bar), Kristian Cook (Coordinator Urban Planning, Glen Eira City Council) and Jessica Noonan (Principal Town Planner, Tract Consultants) discussed their personal journeys and gave insight into navigating their personal brand.

Through seeking out mentors, management of juniors, starting a podcast and going out on your own, the panel offered great insight and tips to the listeners on self-awareness in the workplace, the importance of putting yourself out there and how to engage with your peers in the wider community.

JackChiodo(ManninghamCityCounciland YPG Co-Convenor) on behalf of the YPG.