JANUARY 2006 ISSUE
checking in
Editor’s Note: Checking In, a regular feature of The PEGG, is designed to keep you up-to-date on APEGGA’s numerous and varied programs and initiatives. Consider it a project update and news digest, with website links and PEGG rerences to help you find out more.
√ Permit Seminars are User Friendly
Have you been to an APEGGA Permit to Practice Seminar recently?
If you’re a Responsible Member for a permit-holding company, you may need
to attend one of these lunch-and-learn sessions in order to maintain your role.
Ross Plecash, P.Eng., Director, Corporate and Member Affairs, hosts these two-hour sessions. Responsible Members are offered a light lunch and the opportunity to discuss exactly what their roles and obligations are.
A Responsible Member should attend at least one session every five years. If, however, the company is new, Responsible Members must attend within the first six months of the company’s permit registration.
Sessions, with some 25 to 30 people each, are held at the APEGGA conference centres in Edmonton and Calgary. A presentation by Mr. Plecash is followed by question and answer periods.
APEGGA has offered the seminars since September 2003. On average, we offer about 30 per year. Registration is available online and there is no cost.
For those who can’t get to a seminar, a CD is available. Once it’s reviewed, you are qualified as having attended the seminar. Actual attendance, however, is recommended.
Related Links
Registration Form
http://216.218.188.77/RMSeminars/index.asp
Further Info
http://www.apegga.org/Regulatory/PPSeminars/index.html
----------------------------------
√Best-Laid Plans
Certified Meeting Professional Barb Robinson has been planning events for APEGGA
for more than 19 years. In that time she’s seen a lot of great events unfold — including
the 1,300-person, 1995 Summit Awards and APEGGA 75th anniversary.
Ms. Robinson’s planning includes the Summit Awards, the Edmonton Life Member Dinners, the Edmonton Christmas Reception and various components of APEGGA’s Annual Conference. She is one member of APEGGA’s top-notch planning team, which strives to make sure that every event comes off as smoothly and flawlessly as possible.
Ms. Robinson says the best-laid plans boil down to the planner being organized and knowing the group. Attending to all the details is very important.
A simple error of neglecting to speak to one stakeholder in an event could prove embarrassing. For example, if details are not confirmed with a speaker and the speaker doesn’t show up, no amount of planning will fill the void of an unmanned podium.
Though planning the Life Members Dinner is one of her favourites, Ms. Robinson is looking forward to challenging her creativity with the addition of two new events to her long list. In 2006 she will assist with planning conferences of the Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology, and the Pacific Northwest Economic Region.
----------------------------------
√In-House Print Shop Kept Busy
One might think it was Christmas year round with the amount of paper APEGGA’s
General Services department flurries about. But this “snow” is recycled
when it’s done falling, not shoveled.
General Services is responsible for printing all 32 guidelines produced by APEGGA. The job list also includes the licensure books, all application packages and the act, regulations and bylaws.
As of the PEGG’s deadline in November, in 2005 General Services had printed and sent out some 1,900 general applications, 1,000 copies of the EGGP Act, Regulations and Bylaws, 3,000 licensure books, 700 permit to practice applications and 500 registered elsewhere applications.
The team of three in General Services also does the bulk of any printing and assembling of other packages, such as Council agendas, Board of Examiners agendas, flyers and Professional Practice Exams. General Services is also responsible for posting all of APEGGA’s mail. Some of that mail includes shipping exams and regular mail to as far away as Saudi Arabia, China and Europe.
Recently a new face became part of the team. As a General Services clerk, Hillary Vaughan looks after internal mail delivery, mail assembly and stuffing. Her responsibilities will increase as she becomes more familiar with the ins and outs of General Services.
----------------------------------
√Science Olympics Reaches New Areas
Making shaving cream towers and Pinocchio paper noses tested teachers’ scientific
prowess, during the recent Alberta Teachers’ Association Science Council
Conference at Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton.
APEGGA’s Outreach Department was there to promote the Science Olympics to the 400-plus teachers in attendance. The competitions were used to demonstrate that science is fun and to give teachers a taste of what their students will participate in.
Outreach’s attendance shows the strong alliance between science teachers and APEGGA. Teachers provide invaluable support and assistance in our science and math programs.
For the first time, the Science Olympics will be moving beyond its usual group of grades 1-12 students in Edmonton, Calgary and Grande Prairie. This year, APEGGA branches in Lethbridge, Lloydminster, Medicine Hat and Red Deer will be host events for grades 7 to 9.
Related Link
Science Olympics
www.apegga.org/K12/olympics/toc.html