professional development

Former Olympian Elizabeth Manley Headlines Fall Business Leadership Conference

Some of Canada’s best-known media personalities will headline Algonquin College’s Fall Business Leadership conference on Thursday, October 26 at the Pembroke Waterfront Campus. Among the presenters will be former Olympic skating silver medalist Elizabeth Manley, Environment Canada’s Chief Climatologist David Phillips, and CTV National News military analyst, retired General David Fraser.

They will be joined by author and resiliency expert, Dr. Robyne Hanley Dafoe, who recently released her second book, entitled ‘Stress Wisely’. Hanley-Dafoe’s first book, ‘Calm Within the Storm’ was a practical guide to helping people face life’s day-to-day challenges. A well sought after speaker across North America, Hanley-Dafoe delivers a positive message about how people can cultivate resiliency to be successful in their personal lives and their careers.

Elizabeth Manley, former figure skaterIn the 1980’s and 1990’s, Elizabeth Manley was a household name, competing in skating competitions around the world. It was a high stress career, but Manley excelled despite the intense pressure to perform. Since retiring from skating, she has become an advocate for mental health and wellness. Her talk about mental health in the workplace will build on Manley’s personal struggles by offering recommendations from the lessons she has learned in life.

When it comes to the weather, there is no more recognizable face or voice than David Phillips. With thousands of interviews under his belt, Canada’s best known weather personality has been telling Canadian weather stories for more than 50 years. At the conference, Phillips will zero in on how the weather affects our workplace, including the impact of climate change.

During Canada’s difficult mission to Afghanistan, General David Fraser was on the front line of one of the country’s most difficult missions. Now retired, the CTV National News military analyst and author is speaking about leadership in the digital age. Fraser offers helpful tips to leaders to anticipate what’s coming next at a time when things are happening so fast, it is hard to keep up with the changes.

In addition to the keynotes addresses, conference attendees will be able to choose from several workshops on topics such as marketing, sales, promotions, creating safe spaces at work to allow failure to be improve performance and integrating newcomers into the workplace. Networking opportunities are built into the schedule for attendees who attend the conference on campus, but a virtual option will also be available to attend the conference. All of the presenters will be on campus and will deliver their session in person.

Algonquin College’s Manager of Community and Student Affairs, Jamie Bramburger, says the College started the conference several years ago and it has now become very popular. “We envisioned a big city conference being available to our local businesses where they could tap into timely and meaningful professional development at a reasonable cost. We’ve delivered on that promise by bringing in some of the biggest names in Canada to present on a variety of topics that affect the workplace,” says Bramburger.

Early bird registration rates of $240 plus taxes are in place until September 30. Registration includes four keynote addresses, a choice of attending two workshops and lunch. An after conference social is also being hosted by the college.

Nominations are also open for the business innovation award that is handed out each year at the conference. The award celebrates a business in Renfrew County that has created a unique approach that has led to better customer service, improved productivity or an innovative new product line.

The conference is being sponsored by Renfrew County Community Futures Development Corporation, Lanark-Renfrew Local Immigration Partnerships, the city of Pembroke, Lanark Renfrew Labour Market Working Group and Algonquin College Community Employment Services.

More information on the conference can be found on the college website at: https://www.algonquincollege.com/pembroke/business-conference/.

Spring Business Leadership Conference May 21 at Pembroke Waterfront Campus

Maximizing the potential of your employees should be a priority for every business. That’s the focus of the 2020 Spring Business and Leadership Conference scheduled for May 21 at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus.

Now into its sixth Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, Algonquin College, Spring Business Conference, Pembrokeyear, the conference supports local organizations by providing high quality and affordable professional development opportunity close to home. This year’s headliner is Doctor Robyne Hanley-Dafoe who will deliver a poignant keynote address on resiliency in the workplace.

As the senior educational developer for the Centre of Teaching and Learning at Trent University in Peterborough, Hanley-Dafoe is a multi-award winning psychology instructor who specializes in navigating stress and change with a focus on personal wellness in the workplace.

Hanley-Dafoe will be joined by five other women in producing the first all-women line-up of presenters in the conference’s history. All will focus on topics that will drive improvement within organizations.

For example, Iman Haasan will provide tips on how to promote health and wellness in the workplace through lessons learned from sports psychology. Hassan is a mental health performance consultant who is also a Sport Performance and Psychology doctoral student at the University of Ottawa.

Colleen Walsh, Algonquin College, Spring Business Conference, PembrokeColleen Walsh has spent more than 20 years helping businesses solve human resources issues. She has entitled her workshop as “The Modern-Day Performance Management Process.” From Walsh’s perspective, there is a lot of discontent with the way employers evaluate employee performance. Her workshop will focus on how to provide constructive criticism that will motivate your employees to build stronger working relationships.

Within a work team, everyone has different responsibilities, but when someone lets the team down it can cause a lot of tension. Victoria Miles is an employee engagement specialist and will deliver a punchy presentation on “Demystifying Accountability,” an interactive workshop that will tackle questions like, what does accountability look like when it’s in action? Most importantly, the session will drill down on why accountability is so important in the workplace and will provide tips on how to introduce it as an employee engagement priority.

Why do so many projects fail? Becky Wright is a certified project manager and will explore the most common reasons why projects don’t succeed. Through group work, Wright will help her audience understand how poor planning is usually to blame and more importantly will delve into what organizations can do to learn from their past failures to plan better.

Erin Blaskie, Algonquin College, Spring Business Conference, PembrokeErin Blaskie is a social media guru, but she’s also a leading entrepreneur. A lover of technology, Blaskie helps entrepreneurs achieve their goals by inspiring them to achieve greatness, while also understanding the pitfalls that often derail entrepreneurs. In her enlightening session, Blaskie will tackle the question of what does it mean to be an entrapreneur within an organization? In answering that question, Blaskie will be promoting the need for more creativity and innovation to drive business growth and build successful teams.

Registration has opened for the conference. Early bird rates of only $210 plus applicable taxes are in place until March 31 and businesses that register three people for the conference will receive the fourth registration free.

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus.

Algonquin College Spring Business Leadership Conference on May 23

Branding like a rock star and becoming an employer of choice of millennials. Two topics that sound like they would be attached to a big city conference, but instead they will be engaging keynote addresses at this year’s Algonquin College Spring Business and Leadership Conference on Thursday, May 23 at the Pembroke Waterfront Campus.

The conference is now into its fifth year and has proven to be a must-attend for local businesses who can access high-quality professional development at an affordable cost. That’s the primary goal of the conference. The College has responded to the concern that many small businesses have had about the high cost of sending staff to larger cities where they pay expensive conference registration fees, as well as the costs associated with travel and accommodations.

David Coletto, Spring Business and Leadership Conference, Algonquin College, Pembroke

This year’s conference covers many topics including marketing, branding, lean management principles, managing in change, and social media best practices. The keynote addresses will be particularly interesting. David Coletto is the Chief Operating Officer of Abacus Data, a company that has done extensive research on what makes millennials high performers in the workplace.

Himself a millennial, Coletto speaks to audiences across North America, stressing that millennials are now the largest grouping in the workforce and companies need to adapt if they want to retain these employees and help them develop into leadership roles. Coletto will back up his talk with a myriad of statistics that paint a picture of how millennials are now in the driver seat in the workforce and companies need to respond to their needs.

Steve Jones, Spring Business & Leadership Conference, Algonquin College, Pembroke

Steve Jones has spent his career in broadcasting. A 30-year music industry veteran, Jones is an expert marketer who delivers a punchy presentation that drives home the importance of businesses living their brand. Using music and video to connect with his audience, Jones has spoken at countless conferences around the world and has worked with some of music’s biggest stars. He’ll explain how they got to the top by creating a brand that resonates with their fans.

Registration for the Spring Business and Leadership Conference is now open with early bird rates available until March 31. A pre-conference activity has been added to this year’s event, a pontoon boat ride on the Ottawa River the evening before the conference begins. This will provide an excellent networking opportunity for conference attendees, some of whom travel from out of town to be part of the conference.

Last year the conference sold out with more than 100 attendees. You can learn more about the conference and the line-up of workshop presenters on the conference website.

Posted by: Jamie Bramburger is the Acting Dean of the Pembroke Waterfront Campus.

 

Spring Business Conference at Waterfront Campus Hits the Mark

Today’s workplace is full of complexity, particularly for organizational leaders. It can be difficult to find the right employee, it is challenging to motivate and lead staff, new legislation governing the workplace is changing operational models and more workers are facing mental health challenges.

It’s a lot for managers, supervisors and leaders to deal with in their day to day work. To help organizations cope with these challenges, Algonquin College’s annual Spring Business & Leadership Conference has targeted topics that are at the front of mind in today’s workforce.

Now into its fourth year, the May 24 conference has proven to be a great benefit to local businesses by providing affordable and meaningful professional development in a “big city” conference format. Registrants can choose to attend up to four workshops and also hear a keynote address. This year’s headliner focuses on community collaboration and will be delivered by Doug Griffiths, an economic development guru for rural communities and the author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community.

Angela Hoyt, Spring Business and Leadership Conference, Algonquin College, Pembroke

The line-up of presentations includes Adapting to Bill 148-Ontario’s new Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs legislation. The bill introduced fundamental changes to employee working conditions that stretch far beyond the minimum wage increases that have captured most of the headlines since taking effect on January 1, 2018. The session will be led by Angela Hoyt, an experienced labour market consultant who has presented at hundreds of conferences across Canada.

Dr. Mike Condra, Algonquin College Speaker SeriesDoctor Mike Condra will present on Mental Health in the Workplace. Dr. Condra worked extensively in health care and post-secondary education for more than 30 years and co-developed training workshops in crisis intervention skills, training more than 5,000 people. His workshop will focus on the misconceptions of mental health in the workplace and how this impacts the work environment.

Sylvie Rimbach, Spring Business and Leadership Conference, Algonquin College, Pembroke

Within every organization, there are people of all ages. This often leads to different ways of approaching work tasks and value systems that don’t match. Finding synergy among all working groups is the focus of Sylvie Rimbach’s workshop on the Generation Mix in Today’s Workplace. The session will help people better understand the differences between Veterans, baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and millennials.

Dr. Judy Law, Presenter, Spring Business & Leadership Conference, Algonquin College. Pembroke CampusEvery company is looking for an advantage over its competition. Doctor Judy Laws’ workshop on Sparking Innovation to Unlock Your Organization’s Full Potential will introduce participants to new concepts to create a culture of creativity and entrepreneurialism. The College’s entrepreneur-in-resident, Chéla Breckon, will build on this session with a workshop entitled, Leading with Vision, Mission and Purpose, a how-to guide to strategic planning for organizations and businesses.

Katie Tollis-Flabbi, Spring Business and Leadership Conference, Algonquin College, PembrokeThe final workshop focuses on marrying events and marketing. Led by entrepreneur, Katie Tollis-Flabbi, Creative Event Marketing Strategies is focused on small businesses who have to balance their budget with the need to promote their products and services.

Registration for the conference is now open with an early bird rate of $199, plus applicable taxes. The conference is expected to sell out and businesses are encouraged to register early. At a time when budgets are being stretched and training needs to be a focus to support employees, the conference offers very high value for a reasonable investment. The best part is this training is available here at home at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus.

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs

Fresh New Night Courses This Winter

The New Year always brings new perspectives and for many people a list of goals. One of those goals might be focused on career development or educational pursuits that can bring more joy to someone’s life.

Urban Forestry - Arboriculture, Algonquin College, Pembroke CampusThis winter, Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus has freshened up its Continuing Education offerings with several new classes that offer either professional development opportunities or practical learning experiences that can be applied in the workplace or at home. A few examples include safe operation of a chainsaw or the working at heights certification course.

Each term the college reviews feedback it receives from students as it plans new offerings. That’s where the idea to offer an advanced seniors computer course came from. This course has been designed for seniors who already have a good working knowledge of computer applications, but would like to enhance their skills in using popular software programs like Word and Powerpoint. There is also a social media component to the course, something that will really help seniors who may have a volunteer position that requires them to promote their organization.

Dementia affects more than 46-million people worldwide. The disease primarily strikes elderly people and when it does it can be very difficult for the patient and their family. The college is offering two dementia courses this winter, one for families to better help them understand the disease and how to cope with it, and the other for healthcare professionals.

Medical Terminology, Algonquin College, Pembroke Campus

Medical terminology is a pre-requisite for office administration professionals to work in many healthcare settings such as hospitals and doctor offices. Having the course can open many doors for anyone who is interested in working in a healthcare environment. This course will be offered over several evenings beginning in mid-February.

On the playing field, athletes and children can move quickly, making it difficult to get action shots with your camera. The new Sports Photography class is intended to help Moms and Dads and photography enthusiasts get better photos during sporting events like hockey and soccer games.

For history buffs, Pembroke’s Early Years in Pictures will be a fascinating look back at our city’s history. Led by Champlain Trail Museum curator, Angela Siebarth, the presentation will feature many never before seen photographs that tell the story of Pembroke’s early settlers.

Ben ShillingtonBen Shillington has spent a lot of times in some of the coldest places on earth, like Lake Winnipeg, where a few years ago he led a winter fat biking expedition across the frozen lake. He’s also written a book on winter travelling. Shillington will bring his expert knowledge to the classroom when he teaches a course on winter camping that will be of interest to anyone who enjoys Canada’s coldest season and wants to experience it outdoors.

Other new courses being offered include an infant and toddler sleep seminar, acrylic painting with Pam McNichol, Moroccan cooking and other food preparation courses. There are also some popular returning courses such as grant proposal writing.

Registration is now underway in person at the college or online. Happy New Year.

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs

Spring Business Leadership Conference May 26 at Waterfront Campus

Student in front of blackboard with question marks Professional development is an important part of keeping your staff engaged and motivated to perform to the best of their ability, but it can also be expensive. That’s particularly the case if you are sending employees out of town and paying for travel, accommodations, meals, parking and high conference registration fees.

For small businesses and organizations, it is often a budget line that gets cut when things get a bit tight, or other investments become a higher priority.

Man in business suit drawing a lightbulb on a whiteboardBut, if a “big city” conference was available to local businesses and organizations that was affordable and offered access to well respected trainers that would normally only be found in places like Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, our local businesses might think differently about sending staff to a conference.

That’s the goal of Algonquin College’s Spring Business Leadership Conference on May 26, 2016. The College has again brought together a terrific line-up of trainers who will present on topics such as: Mobile Marketing; Organizational Performance Management, Do-it-Yourself Public Relations Plans, Professional Sales and Empathic Assertiveness.

Dr Denis CauvierDr. Denis Cauvier, an employee engagement subject matter expert, will deliver the key note address at the day long conference. Cauvier has spoken around the world and has written several books on everything from hiring the right employee to leading teams. His presentation style is interactive and thought provoking, and he will leave his audience with a shopping list of how they can better connect with their colleagues.

With a registration fee of less than $200, the conference offers high value at an affordable cost. It’s probably why last year’s inaugural conference was so successful, and why this year event is expected to sell out. Register today for this fantastic local opportunity >>

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs