I WENT TO BCNET CONNECT
and met 700 friends
For those of you outside of British Columbia it might be weird to think of how big of a deal the BCNET Connect conference is. Attended by more than 700 people, this conference brings together IT experts and it blows me away. This year’s event, emceed by CUCCIO member Sandeep Sidhu, CIO of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, was another high-water mark and I wanted to share my highlights:
Morning runs
Thank you to my fellow runners. The opportunity to get out, find common interests, and just get some fresh air and perspective is invaluable for conferences like this and gets the day off to an excellent start! A lot of the time we find our common interests in sessions but it is often hard to connect while still being respectful to the presenters. Digesting the torrent of information, experience, and understanding seems to come a lot easier with some friends on a run.
Caring at scale
John O’Brien of EDUCAUSE gave an incredible keynote about customer experience. His presentation included highlighting the work done by the University of Toronto on Navi - a CUCCIO Award finalist bot that helps find mental health resources for their community. He also gave a shoutout another trailblazing Canadian institution; Athabasca University set the standards of student support in the 1990s and continue to develop through to the pandemic. Now, 70% of university presidents say that student mental health is their top pressing issue. He provided many great tips on supporting our student body during these challenging times.
A vice-presidential view of cybersecurity
A panel of current and former vice-presidents (finance & admin) provided a ton of useful information related to managing and planning for cybersecurity incidents. Authenticity was the overarching theme that came through for me. I appreciated the authenticity of the VP from Okanagan College, as he provided lessons learned from their recent cyberattack. He stressed the importance of good communication, which is especially challenging when you lose access to your network! Be realistic about what the current situation is, what the vulnerabilities are, and what reality looks like. Build trust is key at all levels. Building on that trust is going to be critical. Trust does not suddenly materialize at the beginning of an incident. It is built through plain language interactions that build shared understanding of what is in place and what to expect.
A new school
Coming to a new institution and organization is a lot to manage - something I am definitely empathizing with. It was great to hear perspectives on leadership, culture and the importance of effective communication. I know that Katie Tuck and Brian Stewart’s talk with Jim Ghadbane went off script, but it was incredible to get discussion full of candor and colour from the CIOs.
Under 30
Devon, Harshal, Nasrin, and Taylar all deserve a huge round of applause. They providing articulate and diverse perspectives on the challenges they face as the under 30 crowd. It was great to hear how mentorship, feedback, and recognition can really help attract and retain these employees. The audience questions about supporting women and unrepresented populations in the sector were a great insight into where our heads need to be at to support staff.
Thanks so much for the invite BCNET. BCNET Connect was an incredible experience this year and I am already looking forward to next year. The BCNET staff, volunteers, sponsors, and the general community around BCNET have put together a conference worth attending and worth learning from. See you all next year, with runners on!
Lindsay Sill
CUCCIO Executive Director