So, I've found my desk and had time to think about the
Credit Institute of Canada national conference held in Quebec City last week
that I attended -- and while the mountain of work that built up while I was
away was a bit intimidating, I'm thrilled I went, and I'm going to the next one
in two years.
This was my first time attending, but I had heard good
things from people in my industry from the 2013 conference held in Alberta. As well, almost all of the board of directors
of the Credit Institute of Canada London Chapter were planning on attending, so
it was a given that I would go. I
believe that if you belong to an organization, you should participate, and
contribute if you can to make it better -- while this trip was a learning
experience for me, I have a better idea now on how to contribute to the CIC.
Quebec City isn't a far drive, so I arrived Tuesday
afternoon in time for the reception -- the Chateau Frontenac is an elegant
place, and upstairs in the ballroom it was loud and boisterous -- not usually
the words I'd use to describe credit managers, but it was certainly lively. I immediately started running into colleagues
I've known for years, people I've only talked to over the phone or on Linkedin,
and people I knew through association.
The best part was that I had a few days to spend time talking to people
that I know, rather than rush through a one day event, so we actually spent
time talking about family, and travel, and business in detail. I even got to know my local chapter members better, because when we meet in Ontario, it's a shorter event and more business focused, and here we were able to relax, go for dinner, and be ourselves.
The other thing I noticed is that the conference celebrated
the culture of Quebec. One of the gala
evenings was spent at the Museum of History, and you could tell there was
attention being paid to where we were -- rather than shelter us in a conference
center, the meals and outings were a great showcase of Quebec City.
The keynote speakers were excellent, and the breakout
sessions were tailored to smaller groups and were informative -- I learned some
new things and brought some of that back to my company, which is of course the
whole point of the core role of the Credit Institute of Canada to educate it's
members.
While the whole event was in a formal place, and some of the
galas and dinners were formal occasions, the whole event felt far more casual
and familiar than I expected -- and that's great, because it means it wasn't a
power meeting of business suit wearing executives, it was a meeting of people
with similar challenges and interests, and it was a community. I often believe and say that the credit
manager is the last of the general manager roles out there, a non-specialized
professional who has to be good at many different things, and deal with various
challenges from accounting, sales, operations, technical support, and more to
be good at what they do -- and that is exactly who I saw and spent time with in
Quebec City.
I was, however, surprised to see only a small handful of
collection agency professionals there -- I would think that they would want to
be more involved with their industry.
However, I understand that there were a lot more out two years ago, so
it's possible timing and location just played a part in that. The collection folks that were there were
friendly and approachable, and we may have swapped some war stories over
dinner.
What I'm very excited about is the next conference in 2017
in Vancouver -- I really am looking forward to contributing to the Credit
Institute community, and I'm energized to help how I can, whether it's speaking
in a breakout session, or flying out west to support our group.
My point to all of this is, I really got a lot out of going,
and I would like to encourage any credit professionals reading this to consider
going -- and in the meantime, come out to your local Credit Institute chapter
meetings and get involved with your unique community. Where else are you able to learn and share
what we know and the challenges we face?
If anyone has questions about the Credit Institute,
specifically the London or Conestoga chapters in Ontario, or want details on
the Vancouver conference in 2017, feel free to give me a shout.
Thanks kindly,
Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
Cambridge, Ontario
226-946-1730
bwettlaufer@kingstondc.com
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