A day in the life of the SPRA CEO

A day in the life of the SPRA CEO

Running a trade association is an interesting, exciting, sometimes challenging but usually enjoyable occupation! I’ve often been asked what this job involves, and so just for a bit of fun, I thought I would share a typical day with you.  I haven’t got to go to London, or other part of the country today, so I enjoy a cup of tea and make a fuss of one of our two moggies. I’m now running a bit late, so dash to let the chickens out, feed the cats, demolish a bowl of cereal and put together a packed lunch.

I am fortunate in that my office is only a few miles from home, so I head over there with a whole list of things to do in my head – currently this includes writing up minutes and actions from a recent Council meeting and AGM, putting together a de-brief document following our annual conference, having a catch-up on the Basic Competency Programme with my colleague and BCP Administrator and getting on to the web developers about some issues that I’ve noticed on the new website. It also includes reviewing my meetings last week with Build UK, the Construction Products Association and the UK Green Building Council and updating my ‘to-do’ list.

I open up Outlook and scan what’s arrived overnight. Already there are responses to a presentation I put together yesterday following a meeting with other federations and contractors on the Roofing Trailblazer. The whole Trailblazer issue is a can of worms and I am trying to make sense of it all in order to send something out to members so that they will understand too and will want to get involved. It’s important that SPRA members shape the future of their training, and it’s a very difficult thing to motivate busy people on such a complicated and confusing subject!

The printer repair man then arrives – the office printer has been playing up for weeks now and we’ve all been coping with an old one I’ve brought in from home. Fortunately, he fixes it, at least for today, and I make a coffee.

As I work through emails, I am always on the lookout for interesting stuff to put into the SPRA Weekly Newsletter. It’s a big challenge and one that can suck a lot of time, but so important as a vehicle for raising awareness about SPRA and single ply. I’ll have the next week news template open all day on my laptop so that I can pop in any interesting articles. So far CITB levy payment notice and the launch of the first Green Roof report have caught my attention. I also use it to highlight SPRA membership benefits, so I spend some time reminding myself what’s been in the weeks before so I don’t repeat myself!

My catch-up with the BPC Administrator leads to a lot of queries from our manufacturers on a new process for funding that was introduced a few weeks ago. Their suggestion is some form of new marketing material to help them highlight grants available to contractors, so we work out that the best process is to update a flyer we have already and then set up a new form on our website to allow contractors to apply for the funding easily and quickly. I note down what I think needs to be in the form and send it round the SPRA team for comments. Someone picks up a vital missing element, which I then include before sending off the request to our web development people.

A short break for lunch from the butty van and a quick cup of tea.

I go and collect the post and discover two separate membership payment cheques from the same member. I’d chased up a delayed payment and discovered that it had actually been made, but sent to the wrong address. I call the member to let them know and we both have a little moan together about keeping our respective content management systems updated, and then I shred the first cheque.

I get a call from the National Specialist Accreditation Centre (NSAC) which is part of the CITB. We have a service level agreement with them to deliver our Specialist Single Ply training and assessment programmes. There are changes to the funding, so I need to get the information correct so that I can update our literature and website. I sign and scan the new agreement and send it back.

I then contact our design lady as I need to get the re-branded training leaflets approved and loaded up onto our website. I’m informed they should be ready by tomorrow. I then set up a Doodle poll and send to the SPRA team to arrange a conference de-brief in Reading, having checked out the travel and meeting space opportunities there.

It’s time for a cup of tea.

I spend some time editing photos from the recent conference and awards so that they can be added to the website. I am trying to give some time most days to improving the site with new photos. We’ve copied everything across from the old site, and there is still a lot that can be done to refine the information and to check that everything is working as it should, although I am very pleased with the design of the new site.

Having determined to do more on social media, I fire up Hootsuite and ping out a few tweets. I know I need to spend time organizing this better – but I’ve not got time to do it today. Maybe tomorrow…

It’s coming up to 6pm and I take another look at my inbox. Another one from NSAC with a document that needs printing off, signing and returning – so I do that before calling it a day.

As it’s the summer and I am a keen gardener, once at home I unwind by spending time picking fruit and veg and pulling up the odd weed…or two.. or three. There’s nothing like weeding to process the day’s events and add at least one more thing to that ‘To Do’ list!

Source: Cathie Clarke, SPRA