This year I was selected by the QUT School of Management to attend the 2019 Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Lord Mayor’s Forum. Prior to the Summit in July, Student and Young Professional delegates were given access to the Slack platform to discuss the conference themes and subsequent issues faced by Councils across the Asia Pacific Region. This online platform enabled emerging leaders to work together on discussions around liveability, sustainability, mobility and innovation. These online conversations shadowed the dialogues of the Mayors from across the whole of the Asia Pacific region. Having the opportunity to be one of the Indigenous voices on such a scale as the APCS2019 was incredibly exciting.
With expert content managers guiding the way, we were able to have open conversations about our ideas and suggestions. In particular, an Indigenous voice, guiding and nudging at the edges of conversation topics, I believe provided depth and richness to the discussions. With such focus on Indigenous aspects of these issues in the broader political, economic and environmental space, it was a privilege to be a part of the voice – pulling ideas back a little and suggesting the casting of a wider net.
The pre-forum Slack platform allowed me to be visible to other delegates and content moderators. This provided an incredibly effective foundation for networking at the event. Academic experts familiar with my name were able to provide leads, contacts and specific information for my career path. This further facilitated networking with Lord Mayors as I had a reservoir of experiences to talk about. In my opinion, there is no better way to give your career a very loud voice than attending a Forum such as this. Now all of Asia Pacific, including Australia has heard my Indigenous voice!
