Topless gimmick angers secretaries

Press, 26 April 1989, Page 9

Topless gimmick angers secretaries

By NIGEL MALTHUS The waiters will keep their shirts on when Christchurch secretaries and their bosses gather for a champagne breakfast at the Town Hall this morning to celebrate International Secretaries Day. The male staff were to have appeared “topless” at the event, organised by brake Personnel and Stereo 91 FM. The intention was to provide “a morning of fun” for secretaries and their bosses, said Drake Personnel’s Christchurch branch manager, Mr Craig Atkinson. The gimmick angered the New Zealand Society of Executive Secretaries, however, so the idea has been dropped. “It’s not my intention to provoke the society,” said Mr Atkinson. “It was never a central theme, just an idea someone put through. But it caused some waves, so we thought,. ‘lt’s not a problem’.” However, an executive member of the society, Miss Marion Bishop, feared that the damage had already been done.

“We were worried at the way the International Secretaries Day was being publicised. One of the aims of our society is to enhance the image of secretaries and promote their professionalism.” Miss Bishop said a big concern was that many thought today’s event was part of the first New Zealand Secretaries Conference, organised by the society, which will start tomorrow at the Town Hall. . Both she and Mr Atkinson emphasised that the two events were separate. The three-day conference will begin tomorrow evening with a welcome from the Mayor of Christchurch, Sir Hamish Hay, and the official opening by the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer. The keynote address will be made by Dr' Brian Willersdorf, a motivational speaker from Sydney. About 250 people were expected for the conference, including 20 from Australia, three from the United States, and one — the only male secretary expected — from Nigeria.