CIRPA Calgary was a huge success, featuring 35 presentations, 4 workshops, 2 excellent keynotes and over 200 delegates. Many thanks to the conference co-chairs Laurie Beatt of SAIT and Erin Lassiter of Mount Royal University, as well as their conference planning team, who worked tirelessly to put this year’s event together.
The conference theme – “Tuning into Data” – was a note-able thread throughout the program. The social night at the National Music Centre (Studio Bell) featured a treasure of trove of history and memorabilia, and a chorus of laughter rang through the room as comedian Brian Stollery asked, “How many IR professional does it take to count a student?”
Keynotes Jennifer Buchanan and Jonathan Love each provided some inspirational (and musically inspired) thoughts on musical therapy and learning through failure. The data theme was also woven into the programming, with many excellent presentations on data visualization, dashboards and data governance.
We welcomed some returning friends from AIR – Dr. Gina Johnson (who is from Minnesota, which is almost like being Canadian) – to continue building our connection.
We have already begun planning for next years’ conference in Montreal – October 20-22nd. Save the date!