Upskill with mentorship
Applications for our next cohort will open in April of 2022.
If you're looking to give back or for one-on-one professional development - get in touch! We’ll do the legwork to match needs with experience. The programme is free for NZEA members.
Why become a Mentor?
- Contribute to your professional development
- Give back to the industry by sharing your skills and experience
- Help grow the next wave of event professionals
- Make a difference by helping others achieve their goals
- Develop your coaching and leadership skills
- Included in your member benefits
If you are an experienced event professional - from any aspect of our sector – and feel you have the time, energy and guidance to offer to up and coming colleagues, please read on!
Feedback from Cohort 1 Mentors:
"The programme structure and guidance provided by NZEA was great, it gave me the confidence to get stuck in and I have thoroughly enjoyed it."
"I think it is a great initiative, certainly enjoying the ‘giving-back’ nature from a personal perspective and [my mentee] is taking away a couple of key thoughts or actions each time we catch up."
Why become a Mentee?
- Contribute to your Professional development
- Broaden your perspective and your network
- Identity and address gaps in your knowledge and skills base
- Receive timely feedback and advice from an impartial party vested in your success
- Receive encouragement and support for growth and improvement
- Included in your member benefits
If you’re in the starting or mid-phases of your career as an events professional and would appreciate the perspective of a mentor for one or many aspects of your career, we’d love to hear from you, too!
Feedback from Cohort 1 Mentees
"[My mentor] had great complementary experiences and was great to learn from...the programme was easy to join, easy to plan and simple to undertake."
"Honestly I have found [my mentor] to be a great sounding board, I will tell him a situation and he will just bring simple logic to it and it has really helped me to think about the situation completely differently."
What is the purpose of mentorship?
A mentor may share with a mentee information about his or her own career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modelling. A mentor may help with exploring careers, setting goals, developing contacts, and identifying resources.
Fundamental expectations
Mentors and mentees are responsible for gaining each other’s trust and confidence by
- interacting morally, ethically, and collegially; and valuing each other’s time, professional and personal commitments.
The role of the mentor
- Commit to a minimum 6 x 1hr sessions over the programme duration
- Proactively maintain contact and encourage open communication
- Build confidence
- Coach and help problem-solve
- Share experiences as learning tools
- Encourage professionalism
- Admit when something is out of your area of expertise
- Offer constructive feedback
- Maintain privacy / confidentiality
- Provide feedback to NZEA on your mentor experience to help refine the programme
The role of the mentee
- Commit to a minimum 6 x 1hr sessions over the programme duration
- Take responsibility for scheduling the sessions at mutually convenient times
- Be clear on your goal/s for this mentor programme and communicate them openly
- Actively contribute to discussions
- Seek and accept constructive feedback
- Maintain privacy / confidentiality
- Provide feedback to NZEA on your mentee experience to help refine the programme
Feedback on the Mentorship Programme
As this programme grows, your feedback through debrief meetings and/or questionnaires will be crucial to the on-going success and improvement of the offering.
Timeline
Programme duration: 5 months
April 2022 – Recruitment of mentors & mentees for cohort 3
Early May 2021 – Matching and pre-briefing of each group (Zoom call plus supporting docs)
Mid-late May 2022 – Cohort 3 starts
September 2022 – Cohort 3 concludes
October 2022 – Debrief participants and refine programme
TBC – Recruit Cohort 4
Application process
If you are interested in participating in future cohorts of the mentorship programme, please submit an expression of interest as follows:
To become a mentor
To register your interest in becoming a mentor, please complete and submit this Google form which will require responses to the following:
- Name
- Contacts (email / phone)
- Current organisation and role
- What do you feel are your particular strengths?
- What skills do you feel that you would bring to the relationship?
To become a mentee
To register your interest in becoming a mentee, please complete and submit this Google form which will require responses to the following:
- Name
- Contacts (email / phone)
- Current organisation and role
- What is your main objective in participating in our mentor programme?
- Are there particular skills or areas of expertise that you are seeking from a mentor?
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions about the programme: info@nzea.co
