Each year clients and client practitioners meet at the annual Insights Vancouver conference to share stories and expand ideas for application. This community of practice continues to grow as this year set a new attendance record with 84 registered participants. Guest speakers from Texas and Alberta arrived to help the Insights Vancouver team welcome client practitioners from the lower mainland, southern interior, northern interior, Vancouver Island and the US.
The day started with the Pan Pacific buzzing with registrations before 8:00 A.M. People arrived early to choose which three of the eleven different crackerbarrels they wanted to attend. From there it was off to the coffee and pastries for a jump start on networking.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Spencer Gillman, Marketing Manager for Insights Global. A recent transplant to Texas from the UK, Spencer shared some interesting observation of the different cultures. He then moved to the heart of the matter around the importance of branding - both from an organizational point of view and from a more personal point of view.
After a refreshment and networking break, the crackerbarrels followed as each session walked through an exercise and answered questions about the how's, why's, and when's. The conference moved on to a powerful case study session that featured Coastal Community Credit Union giving an overview of how their leaders applied best practices in change, innovative technology, and a balanced approach to building engagement during a major change initiative. For a deeper outline and opportunity for you to learn, please click on this link.
Lunch was followed by the Executive Round Table. This is always a popular segment with this year's speakers setting the bar very high with great presentations. Denise Buchanan, VP of HR of Whitespot, David Walker, Director, Fund Development with the Alzheimer Society of B.C., and Loree Gray, VP Retail Banking at Envision Financial provided a strategic glimpse within their organization and answered questions about how Insights Discovery has been incorporated into their organization.
A new addition to this year's conference was the Best Practices in Action session. Four different breakouts were available for participants to get a more in-depth look at ways they could build on the foundational Insights Discovery workshops. From the very positive responses so far, we can imagine expanding this section next year so that people can attend more than one of the four offerings.
The high energy of Cathy Anderson, Portfolio Education Manager, Insight Global, closed the working part of the conference. The call to action was to consider what success would look like personally and for your organization in 2012, and how you could realize the goal.
The special guest for the day was a Client Practitioner from the City of Burnaby, Sue McIntyre. She is a performance poet, founding member of Vancouver Poetry House, and has been featured twice in the CBC Poetry Face-Off. Her amazing finale, written during the day as the events of the conference unfolded, was truly spectacular. Click on this link to see her poems. Her standing ovation was well deserved.
After short closing remarks by Joyce Gwilliam, President of Insights Vancouver, the conference participants joined in discussions, networking, possibilities thinking, and a little wine with appies.
The comments we have heard about he conference have been very encouraging. Mark your calendar now for the 2012 Conference which will be held on December 3rd, 2012 at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
If you attended the conference and have not yet filled out the evaluation form, please click on this link and give us your feedback. If you didn't attend, we hope the words of your colleagues below will encourage you to join us December 3rd, 2012:
- Great way to network and refresh the learning.
- This is an opportunity to be reminded about things you've forgotten or haven't used in a while.
- Great way to hear how others are using different parts of Insights and you can connect with them to learn how they did it
- The cracker barrel sessions are great sessions that provide "a taste" of different uses or applications of Insights.
- Get the chance to hear how others are using Insights in their organizations and borrow what they're doing to use in ours.
- Get a deeper understanding of key concepts and get a chance to see how various exercises are carried out
As 2011 draws to a close, we take a moment to thank all who helped make this year one of growth, improvement and exciting development. 
