Speaker Keeps The Boss on Track
For the first time we held a half-day pre-conference seminar with Michael Canic, known as “the guy who makes strategy happen.” He won praise from all who heard him.

Past President Larry Staples, P.Eng., said of the Executive Track presentation: “We could probably fill a room twice a year in Calgary and Edmonton with members interested in hearing his powerful message.”

Michael drew almost 100 executive and senior management delegates with the subject Ruthless Consistency: Aligning Your Organization to Win or Else.

Conrad Wieclaw, P.Eng., who introduced Michael, commented: “The seminar provided a valuable system to ensure business success. Mr. Canic is a captivating speaker with an inspirational intensity that he sustains throughout.”

Because of this kind of response, please watch for Michael Canic on future PD Calendars. 

Software Sessions Focus on
Ethics And Professionalism
In conjunction with the development of the APEGGA Professional Practice Guideline for Software Development, we brought the well-known guru and author on this subject from Washington State: Steve McConnell, MSE.

Over 100 delegates gathered to hear Mr. McConnell speak on Establishing a True Profession of Software Engineering.

Dr. Bret Michael, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, was one of the speakers at the session. He said: “This conference is in the top two of software conferences that I’ve attended, and I’ve been to hundreds. What made it so good was the depth and breadth of speakers’ knowledge and the presentation of pragmatic information which directly helps professionals in their day-to-day work.”

John Harauz, P.Eng., active in the IEEE and a technical editor, was the facilitator for the session. Martin Kratz, LL.B. who is with the firm Bennett Jones, was thorough and interesting in his coverage of Liability Associated with Software Development and its Use.

Among the other eight speakers in the two-day session were Dr. Francis Hartman, P.Eng., from the University of Calgary, and Dr. Philippe Kruchten, P.Eng., from UBC. Dr. Kruchten is most well-known for having developed the programming for air traffic controllers in Canada.

Software aficionados who attended will never be the same — and that is what we believe a conference should do to delegates: inspire and transform!

When the Body Says No
While technical-minded delegates were hearing about the professional aspects of software development, down the hall dozens of delegates were intent on the presentation of Dr. Gabor Maté, the Vancouver physician, author and columnist who is taking his message across North America. Just back from trips to Toronto and several states in the U.S., Dr. Maté was very animated on the subject of the mind/body connection essential to understanding and managing our stress. Practical in his approach, Dr. Maté left everyone with techniques for healing.

Dr. Maté’s afternoon seminar was titled Work/ Family Balance: Parenting in a Frenetic World. His premise is that “we have lost the cultural customs and traditions that bring extended families together linking adults and children in caring relationships.” He spoke about attachment and provided ideas on how to “collect your kids.”

Evaluations of Dr. Maté were filled with superlatives. Among the comments was this one: “Dr. Maté is a fantastic speaker — real, honest, informative. Thanks for bringing him to talk and for offering his talk to other professions.”

Growing the Leaders Of Tomorrow
A familiar face at APEGGA’s PD events over the last year, Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., CHRP, always reaches his audience. Our members seem to appreciate having a fellow engineer present on work-related soft skills like leadership. Equally effective is his partner, Katherine Bondy, who has been providing high quality leadership training to APEGGA members for several years.

The High Performance Leadership modules from Western Leadership Inc. are skill based and powerful. With dozens of composite modules on leadership and related topics available through Mr. Macdonald, many members are consciously trying to acquire the full set.

Comments regarding this session agreed that it was an excellent course, full of practical tools for work life and personal life.

Cultural  Diversity: An Emerging Resource
Members came out in force, particularly members who own companies, to the one-day session geared to enhancing everyone’s “cultural intelligence.”

Enthusiastically facilitated by a frequent APEGGA PD presenter, Dr. George Jergeas, P.Eng., from the U of C, the session was a lively one. We were honoured to have the day introduced by Alberta’s former minister of culture, Dr. Horst A. Schmid, who is himself an immigrant to Alberta. Dr. Schmid complimented APEGGA for offering this initiative.

University of Alberta Chancellor Eric Newell, P.Eng., honoured us as the last presenter of the day. Mr. Newell spoke about the work placement program he initiated for Aboriginal students. He had much praise for APEGGA for providing this kind of educational session.

Some member companies were represented by human resources personnel, who very much appreciated learning more about the dominant cultures currently reflected in APEGGA registration applications. Wing Choy, P.Eng., of Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation, spoke about key cultural characteristics of Chinese people. Joe Hak, former Alberta Government director of international trade and education, spoke about middle-eastern cultures.

Indian cultures were discussed by Champak Mistry, P.Eng., and Dr. Chinnia Subramanian, P.Eng. For the viewpoint from Pakistan’s cultures, Sooban Kamal, P.Eng., and Shakil Meenai presented. Shakil has just arrived from Pakistan and will be applying for APEGGA registration.

eol.I.T., who is Inuvialuit, Kris Frederickson, E.I.T., who is Metis, and Bruce Scott, P. Eng., a non-Aboriginal who is enthusiastic about his work with Aboriginals.

Participant evaluations were exuberant. Said one delegate: “Cultural information is definitely a topic that should be offered more frequently to broaden our perspectives as technical and service workers.”

Said another: “These were great presentations!” And a third: “All speakers brought valuable insights and represented the power of cultural diversity in building our awareness. More time is needed.”

We feel that enhancing the cultural intelligence of members is becoming increasingly important as companies struggle with the labour shortage and as additional federal funds enable more internationally educated graduates to immigrate. We hope to provide more on this subject in Calgary next year.

Sustainable Development
Meets the Urban Setting
Dr. John Hodgson, P.Eng., facilitated a two-day technical session on sustainable urban development. He used the InfraGuide to structure the presentations.

One of the delegates in this session remarked: “We are glad to see APEGGA taking a leadership role in this area. Professional members are leaders in innovation, the bridge between science and policy and implementation. Professionals are making development happen.”

The City of Edmonton was well-represented among the dozen speakers. In addition to Dr. Hodgson, other members of the municipal staff included Al Cepas, P.Eng., Konrad Siu, P.Eng., and Mark Brostrom, P.Eng. Speakers were brought from as far away as Halifax and as near as Regina, Calgary and Vancouver.

Presentations covered the gamut of the subject from wastewater, potable water, roads and bike paths, to infrastructure, planning and policymaking.

Luncheon Inspiration
We were privileged to hear Dr. Louis Francescutti, MD, speak at Thursday’s luncheon. He founded the Injury Prevention Centre at the U of A Hospitals and developed the award-winning multimedia injury prevention program for teenagers called HEROES.

Dr. Francescutti is an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He is currently developing an electronic injury surveillance system and community-based centres for injury control and research. He works as an emergency physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and is the director for the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research.

The renowned safety advocate moved among delegates’ tables at lunch, speaking with great power and eloquence on injury reduction. We will be responding to the many evaluations in which members told us they want to hear more from Dr. Francescutti — watch our PD calendars in The PEGG and online.

Comments ranged from “wow” to “provocative…I want to engage him with folks in my organization,” to “great speaker. I would have liked more time with him. He showed what can happen and how to manage it.”

Delegates at Friday’s luncheon were addressed by Scott Taylor, former soldier and current war journalist. Scott spoke about his years in the Middle East, particularly his five days as a hostage in Iraq.

He concluded his brief presentation with the comment that of all the virtues, courage is the most essential as we can perform nothing without it.

What’s Up in 2007?
We are already planning for the 2007 conference in Calgary. Members from Calgary and Southern Alberta, watch for notices of the conference schedule this fall.

Edmonton and northern members: if you came to the recent conference, you will be offered a discount to attend conference 2007, just as your Calgary peers were offered one this year if they attended the 2005 Calgary conference.

We have had higher numbers of members than ever attending the last two conferences — now we want the other 44,000 to take a close look at our schedule.