MAY 2005 ISSUE
PD SPOTLIGHT
Artistic Director of Alberta Ballet Wows Audience
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BY NANCY TOTH, MA
Manager of Professional Development
Jean Grand-Maitre, the Canadian-born artistic director of Alberta Ballet, held the rapt attention of over 300 engineers and geoscientists at the Friday professional development luncheon, April 22. An independent choreographer for 12 years, Mr. Grand-Maitre has been commissioned by the most prestigious international companies, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera and the Stuttgart Ballet.
“Fantastic!” “Brilliant!” “Amazing!” were some of the accolades from APEGGA members at all career stages, coming from specializations as diverse as metallurgy, mechanical, construction, transportation, oil and gas, and others.
One delegate ranked Mr. Grand-Maitre as five on the four-point scale. In their evaluations, many checked the box indicating they want more on this subject. “I haven’t heard such an inspiring speaker in 10 years,” said one audience member.
Comments such as that one convinced me to begin this conference round-up with Mr. Grand-Maitre’s presentation, but I do have much more to report. It was an exciting and interesting PD Program, so please stick with me as I go beyond the usual length of the PD Spotlight column.
Mr. Grand-Maitre joked about telling his engineer father he wanted to be a “movement engineer.” You could have heard a pin drop as Jean spoke about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo’s daily connecting of art and science. No doubt those members with works of art in the evening art show understood in a special way.
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Jean Grand-Maitre |
Jean quoted Einstein’s declaration that “imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” He quoted Cervantes, who was disappointed that “men no longer go walking in the desert.” Quipped Mr. Grand-Maitre: “Now, we are all busy walking to Gap and McDonald’s instead.”
He also referred to the Dalai Lama’s bewilderment at people’s endless desire to travel to other lands — while they are generally reluctant to travel inward.
“The Renaissance was a time when art connected all the senses. Now American movies use music to tell us when to laugh and when to cry.”
The room fell silent as Jean said the intensity of life is proportionate to the intensity of the senses. “We must use art to reverse the tyranny over our emotions. We know that violence often arises from the absence of vocabulary and yet there are plans to remove art from the schools,” he told the audience.
Jean spoke about the value of mystery in life and mourned the way our hectic pace and endless cataloguing of knowledge is rendering much of it neutral. “As mystery is being eroded, so is our curiosity to learn.”
He reminded us of the spiritual and intellectual legacy of art. “Art has become the last philosophical forum in which we can try to make sense of a world that no longer makes sense.”
Many delegates spoke to him and requested a copy of his paper. His talk will
be posted on the APEGGA website under Speaker Presentations, and the full web
address appears in the information box on this page. Visit the website for a
speaker bio as well, and watch for Jean’s Romeo and Juliet in the new Alberta
Ballet season.
Record Attendance
A record number of delegates attended the two PD days at APEGGA’s Annual Conference. Over 300 delegates registered for each day of PD seminars in Calgary’s TELUS Convention Centre, April 21 and 22.
When does learning occur? Work-related learning is demonstrated by a change in behaviour, for example in skills, knowledge or attitude. Our presenters and seminar leaders worked very hard to help participants make those changes.
APEGGA and Katharine Bondy, B.Ed., agreed on the need for high quality leadership training. Each day, nearly 80 registrants crowded her seminar.
Specific objectives and measures were identified with individual delegates in advance. Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., her husband and an eight-year facilitator of the modular leadership program, assisted with discussion groups.
The investment of corporate training dollars will pay off —Katharine offers follow-up to ensure the acquisition of skills.
Dr. George Jergeas, P.Eng., a civil engineer the University of Calgary faculty, once again provided first-class training in project management. For several years, Dr. Jergeas has filled APEGGA seminars with member delegates keen to enhance their knowledge of contracts, tort law and environmental issues related to project management.
Risk management, the focus of one seminar, is increasingly of interest to professionals. APEGGA, in fact, considers PD in this area critically important in the offsetting the insurance difficulties our professions sometimes face.
Given the number of large engineering projects in Alberta, the sessions Cost Over-runs on Mega-Projects and Fast-Tracking Projects were also well attended. As usual, Dr. Jergeas’s rooms were packed and the evaluations were glowing. See page 9 of this PEGG for more from Dr. Jergeas.
Geoscientists Come From Across Continent For Permafrost Geophysics Seminar
Almost 80 delegates, from as far away as Alaska, Louisiana, Texas, Idaho, Ontario and even Siberia, registered to hear 16 experts speak for two days on permafrost. APEGGA staff was happy to accommodate walk-in registrants on both days.
The two days of seminars were planned by Dr. Richard Kellett, P.Geoph., in collaboration with APEGGA Manager of Geoscience Affairs Penny Colton, P.Geoph.
“The two-day workshop on permafrost geophysics proved to be a great success with a strong attendance for all sessions,” said Dr. Kellett. “The workshop met its aim of providing its audience with a view of permafrost from the surface down, using modern engineering geophysical approaches, and a view from the bottom up, using oil and gas exploration methods.”
He continued: “Highlights of the two days included Professor Stuart Harris’s photos of Mongolian horsemen observing an ‘alas’ or thermokarst feature, and Bjorn Paulsson’s images of seismic surveys in oil wells on the north slope of Alaska. I think everyone left the workshop with some new insight into the nature of permafrost and a few ideas to try on their own geophysical data.”
The line-up of speakers was impressive, including Dr. Rob Stewart, P.Geoph., a former APEGGA Councillor. No one stirred as he presented on seismic imaging of permafrost.
Dr. Bjorn Paulsson, of the University of California, Berkeley, opened Friday’s session. A number of other permafrost experts also kept everyone’s attention, leading up to Don Hayley, P.Eng., from Victoria, who closed the day with an address on the International Permafrost Association.
Evaluations of these lectures indicate strong enthusiasm on the part of attendees.
Water, Water, Everywhere
Sustainability and the Environment was the subject of a two-day stream with Engineering Northern Pipelines the subject for the first day. The sessions were developed in conjunction with Lianne Lefsrud, P.Eng., APEGGA Professional Practice Assistant Director, and the APEGGA Environment Committee.
Moderator Dr. Rob Steedman said the pipeline session “provided an integrated overview of some key technical, logistic, and design challenges associated with northern pipelines, and offered expert insight into proven solutions and emerging technologies."
Don Hayley, P.Eng., of Victoria began with an overview of environmental issues. Jeff Hubbard followed on the subject of risk management and insurance. Dr. Alan Glover, P.Eng., spoke about design elements and Louis Fenyvesi addressed risk management.
A strong theme of water management and sustainability ran through this conference. Camille Dow Baker, P.Eng., president, CEO and founder of the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, or CAWST, was the luncheon speaker on Thursday.
She pointed out that more than 3.5 billion people lack access to safe or potable water. Every year, there are 1.7 million deaths related to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, with the majority of these occurring in children under the age of five. In just over three years, CAWST has had an impact on almost 350,000 people from 28 countries, by helping them get clean drinking water.
CAWST uses the low-cost BioSand Filter, developed in Calgary by Dr. David Manz, P.Eng. Camille and Dr. Manz started CAWST because “construction projects have a limited effect in a country if people are dying for lack of clean drinking water,” she said. The focus of CAWST is often on “the poorest of the poor.”
Dr. Nathan Schmidt, P.Eng., chair of the APEGGA Environment Committee, facilitated a one-day seminar called Water Management and Sustainability. “The water supply and sustainability session brought together approximately 45 professionals and the topics that were presented resulted in many questions and comments,” said Dr. Schmidt. “The biggest eye-opener of the day for me was Roger Hohm's presentation on virtual trade in water, whereby the water required to produce agricultural exports, such as grain and meat, was quantified and the social and political implications of this ‘water diversion’ were discussed.”
Several aspects of the topic addressed the Alberta situation. Among presenters
were Kate Rich, P.Eng., from the Alberta Government, and Dr. Kevin Parks, P.Geol.,
from the Alberta Geological Survey.
APEGGA Members Seek Creative Edge
Nancy Peterson, personally trained by Dr. Edward de Bono and by Tony Buzan’s team, filled her room to capacity for the third time in a two-year period. For 30 years Mr. Buzan and Dr. de Bono have been the leading experts on learning and creativity based on new findings in brain research.
They have given the world Mind Mapping, lateral thinking and Six Thinking Hats. There was not room for everyone who wanted to take the Thursday session Da Vincian Thinking: Cultivate your Creative Genius.
Delegates were given cards with the major hallmarks of da Vinci’s thinking:
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Use all your senses
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Study the art of science
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Study the science of art
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Know that everything is connected.
Following the overview of creative-thinking tools, the second day focused on specific creative problem-solving tools. The consistently high evaluations for Nancy’s session and on-going requests for repeat sessions attest to the quality of Winnipeg’s Nancy Peterson.
Further evidence that many APEGGA members seek the creative edge was the good registration in two one-day small group sessions called Enhancing the Quality of Worklife. Dr. Billy Strean, professor of kinesiology, U of A, a certified coach and laughter guru, talked about being “inspired and alive from 9 to 5.” Laughter and play were the target skills for this session.
Day 2 featured workplace coach Martin Sawdon. His topic was Works of Art: Creating Sustainable Workplaces, and participants left with a watercolour creation and new ideas. Good attendance and positive evaluations are just another sign that some of Alberta’s engineers and geoscientists like to balance the technical and soft/creative skills.
Information about all seminars will remain on the website for now. If you
feel you missed out on a seminar or have an interest in a repeat seminar next
year at the Edmonton Annual Conference PD days, please contact me, Nancy Toth,
at ntoth@apegga.org.
MORE INFORMATION:
For presentations from the conference, visit
Note: Updates will continue over the next several weeks, so check regularly.