By Whymark Austin , Director, Professional Development
In 2015, APRA Canada held four professional development events:
On February 11, 2015, APRA Canada hosted a TwitterTalk as part of APRA International’s second annual Education Week. The session covered topics as diverse as effective coding, best sources, and some lively discussion about ethical ways of using social media. This event was moderated by Sarah McCarthy from the Ivey School of Business.
Our first webinar was held in March 2015 and we were fortunate to have Verna Chen of the Scarborough Hospital Foundation present on prospect research in support of planned giving.
Our second speaker was Glenda Garcia, the Prospecting & Pipeline Management Officer at McGill University and we were lucky to have her deliver a webinar titled “Qualifications – Pool Transparency and Pipeline Efficiency.”
In November, APRA Canada held its third webinar of 2015. APRA Canada Board Chair, Tracey Church, presented on the external factors researchers may wish to take into consideration when preparing for a campaign.
All presentations were very well-received and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sarah, Verna, Glenda, and Tracey for their awesome contributions!
Additionally, we had some sales of webinar recordings. Not only were these from members who were unable to attend a particular session, but we also saw interest from some prospect researchers in England for a May 2013 presentation that Beth Bandy delivered titled “Research: Middle East.”
Currently, I am looking to schedule a webinar for some time in March 2016. If anyone has any suggestions or can recommend someone who they feel would be interested in giving a webinar, please let me know. Similarly, if there are any relevant presentations that you have seen recently, feel free to forward me the speaker’s name and I will gladly reach out.