It’s what prompted the original step toward introducing a Young Pipeliners Forum (YPF): the need to provide opportunities for young people to learn from experienced members of the industry; the need for mentoring. Now the YPF has stepped up, and mentoring opportunities are in the APIA events schedule for 2010.

It’s difficult to describe just how delighted I am to see this progress. Of course, it’s what we wanted at the start, but first our young people needed to become a force of their own – they needed an identity.

Since the establishment of the YPF we have tried to introduce a ‘friends of YPF’ list and we also tried an ‘experts list’, but these ideas were either too early or they simply weren’t the right vehicles to encourage mentoring in the industry. We needed to find a way to bring the young people to the experienced people. Of course, the networking events have been an excellent start. Many of the YPF events are held before an APIA dinner, where the YPF group will gather for an hour or two, then join other industry stakeholders for dinner and hear a speaker from the industry.

Over the past few years, each of the state branches of the YPF have developed their own unique characters. Some focus on social activities and others focus on networking events with speakers, yet all states do both of these activities. All of the state YPF groups have developed well and have encouraged young people to attend APIA functions. Members who have been out of the country for the past few years have commented on their return about the increased number of young people attending APIA functions. This was the first aim of YPF.

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Late last year the Queensland YPF held a mentoring session, where they introduced discussion through a facilitator and a panel comprising some younger members and some more experienced members. This was a tremendous step forward and has provided a guide as to how other states might hold similar events.

At a YPF national committee teleconference in February, it was agreed that such events could become a formal part of the APIA schedule. They need only take a couple of hours and could be linked to APIA functions. The first one for the year will be held immediately after the Melbourne lunch on 3 June 2010. The next will be held immediately before the Brisbane dinner on 29 July and the third mentoring event for 2010 is planned to link with the Adelaide dinner on 12 August.

This is a great step forward for the YPF and the pipeline industry – there is no doubt that it will assist (probably in a small way at first) in the passing of knowledge from those in the industry who are experienced and keen to ensure the future of the industry to the next generation of pipeline experts.