4 July 2007
WorldSkills Portal launched
By: Michelle Bussey, Marketing and Communications, WSI
WorldSkills International launched its WorldSkills Portal in March 2007. Here is a look at this incredibly exciting and powerful new tool for our WorldSkills Members.
The WorldSkills Portal (designed and contributed by our Singapore Member, ITE - www.ite.edu.sg) puts the spotlight on skills, competitors, past competitors and support by VIPs. This enables the marketing and profiling of success stories of past participants in a global environment. The WorldSkills Portal is just as the name suggests; a web based tool whereby WorldSkills stakeholders, and anyone interested in skills, can interactively access a wide range of skills information, and be inspired by stories of life-changing experiences and success from past WorldSkills competitors.
This amazing tool is available to all WorldSkills Members. We plan to work individually with each interested Member to ensure that they get the most out of the WorldSkills Portal by customising it to meet their needs. It is a great opportunity to put our Member organisations on the world stage if they don’t currently have a dedicated website. Or it can serve as a valuable complementary resource alongside Members’ existing websites.
Having worked closely with the Members involved in the pilot WorldSkills Portal, I understand that each Member has different needs and expectations for the Portal. If a Member wasn’t involved in the pilot but would like to be involved now, it is easy to do. First they contact me, Michelle Bussey, for assitance and guidance, including templates if required. Then they approach past participants and leaders in their region that endorse the WorldSkills movement. Once a Member has gathered the stories and checked the information for accuracy, they send them to me and I’ll put them on the Portal in their country’s/region’s section. It is that simple!
Another important feature of the WorldSkills Portal is that visitors can view the information in any language; the Member simply has to provide the translations to WorldSkills International. This enables a wider audience to be able to view stories from a Member’s country/region.
The WorldSkills Portal can also have customised skill definitions that are represented in the Members national/regional section of the WorldSkills Portal so that they correspond with the skills in their country/region. There are also templates available for writing this section.
The WorldSkills Portal is a great promotional tool that requires a little work to gather the information but the rewards are huge as the Member’s country/region is promoted worldwide. It will continue to grow as an international online alumni network and resource. The more information Members provide to WorldSkills International, the more strength and power the WorldSkills Portal will have as a true testament of what the WorldSkills movement is accomplishing worldwide.
I look forward to Members contacting me to discuss how the WorldSkills Portal can best serve their country/region.
For more information please contact: Michelle Bussey at michelle.bussey@worldskills.org