ONCE UPON A TIME … The story of how it all began                                               

By Sonia Vanular, ca. 2005

Once upon a time . . . .  in 1970 I was invited by Management Centre Europe (MCE) in Brussels to take part in their first Executive Secretary Seminar, the demand for which was such that they ran two in the same week. Zoe Ouwehand, known to members in the Netherlands, chaired the first and we chaired the second jointly. These seminars continued until the end of 1973, initially quarterly and then each month. I thus came into contact with secretaries from all over Europe. What struck me most forcibly was that these secretaries suffered from the fact that their jobs had no status, and this was reflected in their degree of self-confidence. As an ex-secretary myself, I became aware of the fact that having subsequently studied for the English Bar I had incidentally acquired ‘professional’ status in the organization where I worked and, although I had never actually used my law, this additional qualification had some effect on other peoples attitudes towards me and thus on my own feelings of confidence in my abilities – I felt these secretaries needed the same professional status.

During this period at MCE Jennie Sjoer from the Netherlands told me a group of secretaries from her company had got together to discuss problems affecting secretarial matters, an initiative supported by their management. This excellent idea – to give secretaries a wider view than provided by working for one boss, which in any event was a situation due for change, would as they exchange ideas, undoubtedly increase their confidence in themselves. It would also encourage management to consult secretaries more fully and more often on the introduction of new technology, a subject which worried me in relation to the secretarial career. To leave such an important change to be implemented by men alone would result in insufficient consideration being given to its impact on secretaries. I wanted them to participate in this far reaching development.

So, the idea of EAPS was born to improve the secretary’s professional status, encourage the secretary’s self development and to help ensure her role in the introduction of new technology. I hoped that such an association would enable secretaries to develop their organizational and communication talents, also launching the idea that being a secretary was a professional commitment, not something one did because one couldn’t think of anything else. It exasperated me to see a job which required both intelligence and considerable personal qualities not having the recognition it deserved – probably because it was carried out by women.

I was later reminded that the idea had been developed since 1971 when I discussed it with Francoise Danes at MCE who later set up one of the French associations and gave me a lot of help on preparing our Statutes. But it was not until late 1973 that the idea began to take shape. After a second programme I had prepared for secretaries and personal assistants, with the blessing of the MCE’s President, a small working party met, which included representatives from Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Sweden and Switzerland. The next intended move, for three to meet at another seminar came to nothing as the seminar was cancelled but Pat Hafner, an English girl working in Switzerland, followed up with a first draft of what we needed and, as I was then involved with seminars in Switzerland, we were able to meet in Zurich. I drew up a list of MCE participants who had particularly impressed me as excellent ambassadors for the secretarial profession and Pat wrote to them for their opinion of the ideas. We had originally thought the Association should be be-lingual but Gwen Cowan wrote back that while she and her boss were very interested, unfortunately she would not be eligible for membership as she only spoke English. As nothing had yet been fixed, we asked her to join anyway and luckily she did – for where would EAPS be today if we hadn’t had the enthusiasm, competence and contacts that Gwen brought to the Association.

Those who replied to Pat’s letter formed a Steering committee which ultimately met, in Zurich, in October 1974. Seventeen people from nine countries attended and it would be wrong to omit their names from this story.

Belgium: Anne Burnotte and Rita Debisschop

Finland: Anita Yikanen

France: Vivian Pimm and myself

Netherlands: Jo Verkuil

Norway: Mona Boug Kristiansen, Kari Nordrum and Wenche Roxerud

Sweden: Harriet Bergstrom

Switzerland: Pat Hafner, Louise Engstrom, E. Ackerman and another girl from the Swiss secretarial association VEDS

Spain: Elisabeth Lazagabaster

UK: Gwen Cowan and Lynne McFarland

These participants were asked to define their own expectations of the Association, and these points were discussed in working groups. The emerging ideas were then linked with the first draft I had prepared with Pat so that the Association’s aims would be those most likely to appeal to Europe’s top secretaries. I had always wanted to involve managers and secretaries together within the Association as companies were an obvious source of funds. Teachers were added later, after I attended a conference of commercial teachers in Southampton in 1974, they were very interested and many of them were ex-secretaries. The Zurich meeting also decided on types of membership, annual fees, methods of contact etc. It also planned the first European conference in 1975, suggesting it should be held in conjunction with MCE following a secretarial conference in June. However, MCE, for reasons unknown, withdrew support and the Steering Committee had to cope alone.

At this point, wanting a more social than professional association, Pat Hafner left EAPS and the workload was taken up in London by Gwen, Lynne and Christine Davies, another contact via MCE, and I met them in London in December 1974 which was followed up by a weekend meeting in Paris in the spring of ’75 when we were joined by Vivian Pimm, Francoise Danes, Zoe Ouwehand and Una Mansfield, a professor from Limerick University which ran a comprehensive course for secretaries.

So far so good, however in July ’75 I was laid low for three months following appendicitis and peritonitis, but Vivien Pimm visited me in hospital and we were able to plan the AGM and Workshop. She had help from two French girls I met at MCE and, on my behalf, she contacted Cady Sheithauer from Vienna who was persuaded to come and speak to us for nothing – it all happened and in October 1975 our first meeting was held with 54 participants from 11 countries. We were on our way.

                                                                       

P.S.

In many ways I think we have exceeded the hopes of those early years, notably in the development of our skills, there is no comparison, between the quality of participants in the first workshop of ’75 and the Lillehammer conference last year.

On the other hand we have not developed as I would have liked, as a professional group studying the needs and problems of its own profession. There is some research we could usefully do, that is, investigate in each country, amongst working secretaries, how many of them today use shorthand. In a recent informal poll I carried out at a meeting with sixty secretaries in a multi-national headquarters I was not surprised to find only 25% use it, although 75% had spent time learning it. If after our research we recommend that students should not learn shorthand in schools and colleges this would undoubtedly give us publicity as many with vested interests would be against us, but it seems to me that such research needs to be done in the interests of those entering the profession today and that EAPS is now sufficiently well established to carry it out.

Sonia Vanular

Founder, Chairman

                                                       

The European Association of Administrative Professionals EAPS conference on my look up was held in 2004 in Lillehammer. This letter written by Sonia is undated. If it was 2004, I estimate this was written in 2005.  Kathie Vanular.