COVID Learnings on Effective Community-Building 

I was in a recent weekly Alberta-wide innovation community session, where the group was asked “What is your most impactful experience from the last 2 years of weekly meetings.” While the group discussed many options – including many outstanding speakers, entrepreneurs, and interesting topics – what stood out for all was the high value of the on-line experience for community building.

Definitely a surprise! At the time events went on-line – it was definitely the back-up plan and not the preferred scenario.  While the group agreed that in-person was missed and greatly valued for developing in-depth relationships – the accessibility, time-savings, and inclusivity of on-line has become extremely important. There was even superior value recognized in the high-level of focus provided in small-group on-line sessions – as compared to trying to have the same conversation at a large public event.

So path forward? Technology Alberta is now looking for ways to have hybrid events – all ideas on how to have the best of both worlds is welcome!  

Please do contact me anytime – and thank you all for doing your part, in building a strong Alberta tech sector,

Gail
Gail J. Powley, P.Eng
President, Technology Alberta
[email protected]