#conferencewin

The anticipation was heavy in the air. The wait seemed endless. As they watched the countdown before the light turned green, they readied themselves for the big moment. Finally, the light turned green…

Imagine this: A group of 140 people consisting of staff and students from across Ontario, assembled in chevron formations at opposite corners of the Spadina and Bloor intersection on a Friday evening in late August, who once signalled, burst into a hokey-pokey flash mob and stop and disperse when the streetlight turns red.

This is how we kicked off #conferencewin. What is #conferencewin? It is a conference that serves to teach and practice innovation and creativity in our New Student Outreach to staff and students of Inter-Varsity fellowships across Ontario.

In addition to the hokey-pokey flash mob, students participated in a poetry slam and received teaching on innovation and outreach and had time to brainstorm new ideas for an outreach event to kick off the year. They also had the opportunity to present their ideas to the group gathered and a select few were able to then present their ideas and ask for funding from a special grouping of guests in our version of “Dragon’s Den”.

All of my student leaders were able to attend, and from their time at #conferencewin they came up with their vision of the year: Join the [King’s] Party; and also planned our first outreach event “Prom Gone Wrong”.

As we finish up this semester, we are still able to see the fruits from some of these events and their impact on our movement across Ontario.

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