Making Connections

The first full day of the 2007 IPAC National Conference started today. The day got off to a good start when the MC called the meeting to order. Since I am the MC for this conference, I guess I am rating my own performance here. The distinguished guests at the opening session were piped in by a bag-piper. The 560 delegates heard welcome messages from Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, Honourary Chair of the Conference; Carol Layton, IPAC President; Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board, Government of Canada; Greg Selinger, Minister of Finance, Government of Manitoba; Annita Stenning, CAO, City of Winnipeg; and Jules Lavallee, Conference Elder. I had the opportunity of introducing each of the special guests who were seated on comfortable armchairs on the stage. As there was no chair for me, I got my workout by climbing onto the raised platform to introduce each guest. Felt a little like a pop-up doll.

The conference then heard from Bill Eggers of Deloitte who spoke about public service in a networked aged. Essentially he spoke about the need for collaborative government. Part of his talk on how Proctor & Gamble are leveraging ideas reminded me of Don Tapscott's book entitled Wikinomics. He also spoke about engaging front line people and citizens to obtain solutions to issues rather than using one or two experts. This reminded me of the Open Space concept. The key for governments in the future is how to use the new web technology and other tools to engage stakeholders and citizens in policy development. I think that we have a long way to go in most Canadian jurisdictions in opening up the policy development process.

The 5 concurrent sessions on Governance Models were well attended. I dropped by the one on P3's but is was overflowing so I went to the adjudicated paper session which turned out to be very interesting.

Over lunch, the Group Excellence award was handed out to the Nova Scotia Regional Group and the Pierre de Celles teaching award was presented to Paul Thomas. Dr. Axworthy then spoke about the need for public servants to globally engage in issues.

In the evening, delegates attended the "It's a Prairie Party" at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manibotain. We had a wide varity of food - Ukrainian, Oriental, Italian, Aboriginal & a dessert buffet. We were also entertained by the Walking Wolf Singers and Dancers, which included a hoop dancer. WOW!! I couldn't fit into the hoop, never mind his performance. The Romanetz Ukrainian Dance Ensemble performed a number of Ukrainian dances that were also quite an aerobic workout. The Asham Stompers performed some traditional Metis jigs, reels and square dances. The youngest member, 7 year old Michael, brought the delegates to their feet with his incredible dancing. Words cannot do his dance justice. The last group were the Fubuki Daiko Japanese drum and flute group. After the show, delegates who still had stamina were dancing up a storm. They are probably still dancing as I write this entry.

Overall it was an incredible first full day of the Conference. The feedback from all has been overwhelmingly positive. The Manitoba organizing group has done a tremendous job and the MC was fantastic!!

Conference Off to a Rip-Roaring Start!

The 59th Annual IPAC Conference un-officially got underway on Sunday August 26th. Over the weekend, the Board of Directors of IPAC met to consider a wide variety of matters coming from IPAC committees as well as other important matters. The Board got a demonstration of this new website & were very impressed by the site, its capability and the exciting future functionality that will be possible with this website. Kudos were expressed to our responsive and imaginative web designers - Treefrog Interactive. On Saturday & Sunday, IPAC hosted an international workshop with some 60 participants from our partner countries and Canadian jurisdictions.

On Sunday, the Annual General Meeting of IPAC was held and was well attended. The new annual report was distributed to attendees (it can be found on this website) and the President of IPAC, Carol Layton spoke about the past year and the renewal and changes that have been and are being implemented. Bill Greenlaw, the National Treasurer presented his report as did the National Secretary, Syd Baxter.

The proposed bylaw amendments were approved unanimously, including the change to my title from Executive Director to CEO. Guess I have to get some new business cards!! The proposed $5 increase in membership fees was also approved - these will be effective January 1, 2008. So if you are not yet a member -sign up now and save $5!!

The Welcome Reception was held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery - also known as the WAG. We had a wonderful reception in the "penthouse" which included a wonderful terrace with sculpture garden and reflecting pool and fountain. I did not notice any delegates fall into the pool, though I may have missed that part. Debra Woodgate, Head of the organizing committee welcomed the delegates to Winnipeg. BTW, there are 564 registered delegates at this conference - the second highest total in IPAC history!!

On a final note - I will be MC-ing the conference over the next three days. I am at this very moment frantically preparing for this new task. I will let you know how it goes.

Click here for pictures!

Gabriel

Status Quon't

Welcome to the new IPAC Website! The title of this post comes from the title of the 2006-2007 IPAC Annual Report "Status Quon't: A Time of Renewal". Over the last year we have been hard at work in building upon the strong foundation of IPAC. It has been a time of renewal. As with all other organizations, we cannot stand still. IPAC must continue to evolve to meet the needs of its members and meet the challenges that the future hold.

One of the important areas that we have worked hard on renewing is this Website. As you navigate this site, we hope that the information is more easily searchable. You will also note that we now have a "members-only" section that will require a password. In this part of the site you will soon have electronic access, through our partnership with Blackwell-Wiley, to all issues of Canadian Public Administration. Not only all future issues, but also the first 50 years will be available on-line as of January 2008.

As a member, you will also have access to Public Sector Magazine on-line. Our plan is to supplement the printed PSM that you receive with additional articles of interest to our members.

We have many other plans to utilize this new site which is Web 2.0 and will allow us to fully utilize all the capabilities of a modern Website.

I don't want to divulge everything in this first post, so stay tuned for further updates.

In a future post we will let you know how you will get your password and how you will be able to update your profile and your interests on-line.

As well, I will be posting from our 59th Annual Conference in beautiful Winnipeg to keep you up-to-date on what is happening.

That's all for now...See you all in Winnipeg for the Annual Conference.

Gabriel

Status Quon’n

Bienvenue au nouveau site Web de l’IAPC! Le titre de cette entrée sur mon blogue vient du rapport annuel de 2006-2007 de l’IAPC intitulé « Status Quon’n : un temps de renouveau ». L’année dernière fut une année durant laquelle nous avons travaillé fort à améliorer notre organisation. C’est un temps de « renouveau » pour l’IAPC. Comme toute autre organisation, l ‘IAPC doit évoluer pour répondre aux attentes de nos membres et aux défis qui nous devrons relever.

Comme vous pouvez le constater, notre site Web a été rafraichi. Nous espérons que vous trouverez plus facilement l’information que vous cherchez. Vous verrez aussi que nous avons établi une section seulement pour les membres de l’IAPC. Vous aurez besoin d’un mot de passe pour y accéder. À partir de janvier 2008, vous aurez accès, via le site Web, au contenu d’Administration Publique du Canada – non seulement les nouveaux numéros, mais aussi les premiers 50 ans de la revue grâce a notre partenariat avec Blackwell-Wiley.
En tant que membre de l’IAPC, vous aurez également accès à notre magazine, Management Secteur Public, par l’entremise du site Web. Notre plan est de continuer à publier 3 numéros par année et d’ajouter d’autres articles d’intérêt sur le site Web.

Nous avons d’autres projets en perspective afin de profiter de la nouvelle technologie qu’offre notre site. Mais, je ne veux pas tout divulguer aujourd’hui. Dans un prochain blogue, je vous laisserai savoir comment obtenir votre mot de passe et comment mettre à jour votre profil de membre.

À bientôt…..gabriel