Virtual Chapter Meetings? The Western Canada Chapter Moves One Step Closer

On March 7, the Western Canada Chapter took the first step into the future of the NAFA chapter meeting structure, conducting an online educational session as part of their chapter. The need for looking into new technology was evident in the chapter's base. The Western Canada Chapter has a broad territory of members, spanning across Manitoba west to Victoria, British Columbia, and both Northern territories and includes three time zones.

Challenged by geography, the chapter leadership brainstormed different options to reach out to their member base. One option that rose to the top was offering a webinar based communication tool.

Carlene Vliet, CAFM, Western Canada Chapter Chair, completed a member survey for topics of interest and Professional Development was deemed as the best option.

Jim Laverty, CAFM, Vice Chair and Fleet Manager for University of Alberta, has pre-established relationships with university instructors. "We were able to attract a fantastic instructor to develop the webinar series," Laverty said of Wendy Wilton of Wilton Consulting. "She created a three course program catered to the top three areas of interest identified by our membership base, Leadership, Conflict, and Change."

Wilton has a Masters in Distant Learning and is familiar with the techniques and technology and was able to lead an interactive session with the participants. NAFA's Deputy Director Patrick McCarren worked with Wilton to host the webinar and they held two trial sessions to make sure everything ran smoothly. Wilton facilitated the first session from her office in Edmonton, Alberta and McCarren moderated the session from NAFA headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.

The first installment focusing on Leadership was completed as a "lunch-and-learn" session. The next two parts of the series will be held April 18 and May 9. Along with the PowerPoint component found with the webinar format, video clips were included as well as downloadable PDF documents. Participants could literally receive hand-outs and participate in a quiz, all from their office computer or laptop.

The presentation was informative but, just as importantly, provided the means to gather the Western Canada Chapter together at one time, fulfilling the goals of educational enrichment through the chapter meeting structure. For chapters that have been struggling to maintain their member base across expansive territories, distance, and inflexible times, this webinar meeting is seen as a highly successful trial in an ever-changing chapter system.

Laverty said of the program, "Receiving positive feedback from our attendees lets us know we're on the right track. We will continue to pursue more webinar based options to continue to reach out to our broad territory."