Last night I watched the newest Dragons Den episode because I wanted to see how business development would pivot to the pandemic. In it the show featured that businesses pivoted and thrived in the pandemic, and one company launched successfully just two months ago. The innovation and ingenuity was surprising.

It reminded me how our members have been pivoting to support their clients through self-employment programs  and by helping those who are displaced or re-visioning their future careers. Even though service providers are generally not meeting their outcome goals, the opportunities and innovation being demonstrated by all has been inspiring! Perhaps we should host a session to feature pandemic employment stories to spread so of the success stories.

Conference Pivot

The ASPECT Conference will look very different this year, but already, I am seeing some huge advantages of attending a virtual event versus an in-person event.

• I can attend all the sessions! Although I'm still limited to what session I can attend live, I can now expand my learning by "attending" all the sessions through the session recordings. We will keep the recordings available for conference delegates to access until until December 31st. That's 28 professional development sessions for the price of one webinar series. Conference delegates are  eligible for CDP learning credits, too. An exceptional value!
• More cross-Canada, American, and international speakers: No one needs to travel to attend the conference, which means there are fewer barriers to participate. Conference delegates will be able to attend without barriers, both physical and financial. You can sleep in your own bed and kiss your kids goodnight.
• New ways to network: We have seen through our webinars, weekly member meetings, and the Values Based Leadership series how more meaningful our relationship development can be. To this end, we have created facilitated discussions to create communities within our ASPECT community to share ideas and make acquaintances. We will also have a zoom room where people can meet up with their friends and message each other using the conference app. The idea is to create a group of people who you can share ideas with after the conference.

Conference Facilitators Needed

During the last block of the conference we will host some facilitated discussions. If you are interested in facilitating one of the TBD spot, please let me know. It is best if you are currently working within the group meeting.




Janet Morris-Reade
ASPECT CEO