This year’s Edmonton Global Talent Conference drew a record number of participants (245) to the Fantasyland Hotel & Conference Centre which was held last Wednesday, March 1st, 2017.
The ERIEC conference team brought in Samuel Oboh , a locally based, Nigerian-born architect and community leader, to provide this year’s keynote address: Nuances and Nudges: Why Where and How We Fish Matters.
Mr. Oboh’s address focused on what he referred to as ‘nudging success’ through his own shared experiences and why, metaphorically, “where we fish” matters – since it affects the size of our catch!” He also shared various insights from his own experience coming to Canada as an immigrant. One of these lessons he took inspiration from was the very famous boxing event held in Zaire during the mid-1970s known as the “Rumble in the Jungle” that pitted George Foreman against Muhammad Ali, which inspired him in realizing success here in Canada.
Here’s how a few of the Conference participants responded to our post-conference survey:
What was the most valuable thing you learned today?
“Don’t fish in shallow water! Fish at the right place! “[When referring to expanding your professional network].
“Samuel Oboh’s message that the desire to succeed is nothing without the desire to prepare was a helpful takeaway”
“I was inspired by Samuel Oboh story today at the conference”
“Never give up in pursuit of success. Make plans to be the best at what you do and ‘work’ the plan”
This year’s conference theme Communicating with Confidence: Making your story powerful! was supported by an inspiring and practical morning workshop presentation on Communication for Success: Telling Your Story Effectively which was followed by an afternoon group activity that focused on skill development called Taking Control of your Internal Narrative and facilitated by Corinne Saad and Shauna Young from Ibis Communications.
Here is a sampling of the feedback we received from the participants:
“Everyone has a successful story and remarkable soft skills, the thing is to ‘know that’ and use that story to express and motivate interviewers/employers.”
“I learned that the most effective way to present yourself in an interview is to create a story of your accomplishments and relate this to the company you are being interviewed for.”
“I learned how to tell my story and to make a powerful ending and practice, practice, practice! “
Evaluation from the participants in 2017 Global Talent Conference who responded to the survey was the following:
- 81 % rated the Global Talent Conference 2016 as Excellent or Great.
- 88 % responded that information that they gathered from the event in improving their communication skills was Extremely Helpful or Very Helpful
We would like to congratulate the participant who shared with us the following comment:
“I am able to speak up about myself and how my skills can contribute to the growth of the organization. Finally, I was offered a Financial Advisor’s position today after the mini-interview”.
A special “Thank You” to all of our sponsors and community partners as well as to all the exhibitors who showcased their products and services at this year’s Conference. As well, to all the mentors who graciously participated in the afternoon round table group activity and provided feedback to our internationally trained participants and their individual stories!