ISES Sydney goes for gold - but just what is "The Gold Standard"?

The ISES Sydney chapter has a new management committee and they were determined to hit the ground running as they took over the reins last month.

During the presidential handover at the RSVP breakfast incoming chapter president Jeremy Garling promoted the next ISES connect as one that would feature a stunning announcement regarding the future development of the Sydney Chapter.

The August ISES connect proved to be extremly popular, particularly as it featured the creative brains behind the recent hugly successful Vivid Sydney (not to be confused with Canberra's Vivid National Photography festival, also hugly successful by the way) and of course members were there to hear Jeremy's announcement.

So with much fanfare chapter president Jeremy unveiled The Gold Standard.

Well this got quite a bit of discussion going among those present - would this be a new form of accreditation for event managers - along the lines of a Gold Licence caterer? who would administer such an accreditation system? why just Sydney? how about the rest of Australia?
MEA have an excellent system for Accredited Meetings Manager (AMM) so why not something similar for ISES.

We were advised that all our questions would be answered in a media release to come out the following day the following day - and here it is.

But hello - did we miss something?

So first up let's consult wikipedia - "The Gold Standard is a monetary system in which a region's common medium of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold". Nope don't think that's it!

So what about just plain standard?

The OED provides eight meanings for the noun.
1 a level of quality or attainment. 2 a required or agreed level of quality or attainment. 3 something used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations. 4 (standards) principles of honourable, decent behaviour. 5 a military or ceremonial flag. 6 an upright water or gas pipe. 7 a tree that grows on an erect stem of full height. 8 a shrub grafted on an erect stem and trained in tree form.

So back to the media release:

The Standard focuses of three main principals:

Creative: ISES people represent the highest echelon of creativity in events. Event specialists, they continually challenge the boundaries of what is possible in event concepts, quality, experience and communicating messages to our audiences.

International: We are the conduit to the international group – the largest association of event professionals in the world. We draw on the experience of our globally diverse colleagues and keep abreast of the latest trends, technologies and developments.

Connecting: To be connected is to be ‘in the know, to be ahead of trends and to lead your industry’. We connect with each other, our clients and the latest ideas to continually deliver innovative and well executed solutions.

and then: The ISES Gold Standard is a symbol that informs clients and peers that they are working with someone who is committed to providing the highest quality of service and ethics

Well that fits with OED meanings 1 to 4 and maybe versions 6, 7 and 8 don't apply at all.

But what about OED meaning number 5? - a ceremonial flag - like a banner perhaps? - or a symbol maybe?

But yes, there it is after all "The ISES Gold Standard is a symbol" - just like a ceremonial flag - gold in colour.

I'm glad we cleared that up.