August 23, 2009
In this update:
A. A Message From the Chairs
B. The Goals of NC2010
C. Official Dates and Day-to-day Schedule
D. Sponsors
E. How YOU Can Contribute to YOUR Conference
F. A note from the Communications Team Lead
A. A Message From the Chairs
Greetings from the energetic city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador! We are writing this on August 5, an important day for two reasons: (1) there are only 152 days until EWB's 2010 National Conference; (2) St. John's is the only city in Canada to have a holiday on this day. Like Quebec, Newfoundland is one of the only provinces that does not have a holiday on the first Monday in August. Unlike Quebec, we have one on the first Wednesday in August in recognition of the Royal St. John's Regatta- North America's oldest organized sporting event. This is just one of the many pieces of our province's exciting culture that we hope EWB can experience during NC2010.
We hope that you are as excited to come to Newfoundland and Labrador as we are to have you. So far, EWB has gotten an incredible response from the province. It starts with the university: the Engineering Faculty, MUNSU (our students union), and various members of the Memorial University administration are all eager and ready to help make this conference a success. It continues with the community at large: volunteers from other NGO's lining up to join the conference team; an environmental group helping us plan for eco-friendly conference notebooks; and high school students are already getting pumped for our massive outreach event. Even the government is jumping on board: Ross Reid, a former MP and current civil servant, is giving a keynote speech; the Newfoundland Tourism Department is working with us to make EWB's stay enjoyable; and the city council wants to make sure we talk full advantage of downtown St. John's.
The province started preparing for an invasion of Engineers Without Borders in early April when the invasion was made official: http://my.ewb.ca/home/ShowPost/59161
Since then we have been working hard to make NC2010 the best conference possible. Our team consists of three co-chairs and five sub-teams: content, fundraising, volunteers, logistics and communications. Each has a team lead. Two of those teams (volunteers and logistics) have a St. John's volunteer base. The fundraising, content and communications teams have volunteers from across the country. Everyone we have approached to join the team has responded with excitement and worked with enthusiasm. The reason for this is clear: the 2010 National Conference is one of the most exciting international development events in Canada and the biggest to ever come to Newfoundland and Labrador.
We hope this and future updates help you prepare for a January stay in Newfoundland and Labrador. If all preparations go according to plan, NC2010 should be one of the highest impact seminal events in EWB's history.
With enthusiasm:
Ian Froude, Maria Doyle and Chelseas Davis
2010 National Conference Co-Chairs
B. The goals of NC2010:
1. Strengthen the connection between EWB's overseas and in-Canada programs.
2. Create an atmosphere to have members connect with each other to: a) share ideas and knowledge, and to b) connect to build the cross-Canada network of social change leaders
3. Put delegates to work and their brains together to develop strategy, plan, dialogue and debate to prepare for the time ahead.
C. Official Dates and Day-to-day Schedule
NC2010 will begin on January 6 and end on January 9.
Day-to-day Schedule
Tuesday, January 5: Arrival and registration of presidents and JF's
Wednesday, January 6: Internal meetings; arrival and registration of all delegates
Thursday, January 7: Speakers, workshops and panels
Friday, January 8: MOE and AGM
Saturday, January 9: Speakers, workshops, chapter time, panels, the gala and more
Sunday, January 10: Departure
D. Sponsors
To date, our conference sponsors are Memorial University of Newfoundland, WARDROP, Chevron, and CH2M Hill. We thank them for their support.
Visit their websites for more information:
www.mun.ca
http://www.wardrop.com/
www.chevron.ca
http://www.ch2m.com/corporate/worldwide/canada.asp
E. How YOU can contribute to YOUR conference
I. Theme and Logo Competition
Give the Upcoming EWB 2010 National Conference an Identity!
We're looking for submissions for potential themes and logos to represent the upcoming EWB 2010 National Conference.
This competition will be open to EWB individuals, groups, teams, chapters, regions of chapters and any other potential combination of EWB members. Share this with anyone who you feel can contribute!
General Criteria
We hope that the theme and logo will reflect the goals of the conference and the changing directions of EWB.
Time Frame
September 5 - Submission deadline for Themes and Logos (with accompanying explanation)
September 10 - Final selection will be announced by September 10th
Please submit themes, and/or logos and a brief explanation of your submission to: conference2010@ewb.ca
For more information- http://my.ewb.ca/home/ShowPost/63002
II. Natonal Conference 2010 Fundraising
Taylor Verde, President University of Saskatchewan Chapter, started "a brainstorm about how we as students and chapters can get enough funding to send ourselves and our chapter mates to National Conference this year." Contribute your ideas: http://my.ewb.ca/home/ShowPost/63086
F. A note from the Conference Communications Team Lead
You may have noticed that the date the "Message From the Chairs" was written is a little different from the date that this update was sent. The delay is a result of the incredible pace of the conference team- details are being updated by the hour. We wanted to make sure that our first update got the big details right. The date, for instance, was just re-confirmed and will definitely be January 6 (as of this writing, only 136 days away!).
The next update and the conference website will launch in early September. In the meantime, get involved with NC2010. Enter the Theme and Logo Competition; start fundraising for your conference travels; talk to your chapter presidents about who will be going; and please send questions, comments, ideas and anything else NC2010 related to conference2010@ewb.ca.
Also, we are still looking for people to join the translation team in order to ensure that all delegates, French or English speaking, can contribute to and benefit from the conference equally. For more information, reply to the following post on myewb: http://my.ewb.ca/home/ShowPost/63242 or send an email to Madavine Tom (btom@uoguelph.ca).
Cheers,
Daniel Miller
Conference Communications Team Lead