A few last words
Many of you will be home by now, or continuing on with your travels. After a busy week and a whirlwind final day, we wanted to thank you again for being part of IFAJ 2023. All the hard work and planning would have been wasted if you hadn’t come from all corners of the world to join us here in Alberta.
And speaking of all the hard work, we wanted to take another moment to thank the large group of volunteers that made the Congress the success it was.
Craig Lester led the sponsorship committee and, despite challenging financial times, managed to raise a substantial amount of money. Together with his team—Clare Wooding, Jane Robinson, Ivor Bernatsky and Tracey Feist—they made certain that partners were happy, the signage was right and in the right place, and that we had the funds we needed. Tracey also did serious work gaining a government grant that was a substantial boost to our coffers. And Ivor’s inspiration was behind the Platinum Mixer on our first afternoon in Olds.
Jessika Guse was not only co-chair but led the registration and hospitality committees along with Alexandra Hayden, Erin Stadnicki, and Karli Reimer. She also found our opening and closing entertainment acts, and the dueling pianos were the unanimous highlight on the final evening.
The Tour Committee really pulled out all the stops: Thank you to Michelle Chunyua, Ian Doig, Lee Hart, Clare Stanfield, Mary MacArthur, Dianne Finstad, Tracey Feist, Melissa Zembik, Alexis Kienlen, Debra Murphy, Cathy McKenzie, Kate Laverdure and Brad Brinkworth. Tommy Wilson was our “iceman” and made sure you had cold drinks on all your tours.
Laura Rance-Unger and Ashley Robinson created a deep and thoughtful range of programs for our learning and entertainment throughout the week, including a day of insight, introspection and inspiration on our Indigenous Canada Day Program that we will not soon forget.
*Special thanks to Rachel CrowSpreadingWings for building the afternoon breakout session program for us and sharing her knowledge and insight to ensure we were on the right track.
Becky Zimmer was the media committee chair and worked with her team Laura Thygesen, Myrna Stark-Leader and Stephanie Gordon to keep the social media, e-blasts and websites full of information.
Jenn Norrie was in charge of facilities and food and worked tirelessly to make sure we had the rooms we needed and great food to eat throughout the week. I think we can agree that was a huge success.
Janet Kanters was in charge of transportation and got us all where we needed to be—on time and mostly in style. Co-ordinating drivers and logistics during a national holiday is no easy feat, but she pulled it off!
Hugh Maynard, Norma Tolhurst and Alexandra Hayden all supported us with bookkeeping, grant reporting and back of house management. You can’t accomplish much if you don’t have a way to receive partnership dollars and registration fees, pay bills and keep the website up-to-date. Thank you!
Stacy Zimmer took charge of the Taste of Alberta kick-off reception and knocked our socks off. The food was delicious, the beers were cold (and unique!) and everything went off without a hitch.
And so many others who stepped up to run pre- and post-tours (David Schmidt, Myrna Stark-Leader, Craig Lester, Erin Stadnicki, Kristen Lepp, Kara Oosterhuis, Tracey Feist and Jessika Guse), help out with the airport welcome reception (Kelly Daynard, Lilian Schaer, Allison Finnamore and Maggie Van Camp), and each and everyone of you who just pitched in and took on general odd jobs and bus maintenance throughout the week!!
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
Sincerely,
The IFAJ 2023 planning committee.
