By Mitch Bellefleur, CABS F2021 VP External and Executive VP
After many long discussions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CABS Board of Directors had to make the difficult decision to cancel the first conference of the fiscal year, the Canadian Business School Conference (CBSC). However, while the conference was not able to be hosted in person this year, that does not mean that students lost out on the value! In place of CBSC, CABS planned a Summer Series which culminated with the first ever Virtual Canadian Leadership Retreat. Here is a recap of what took place throughout the summer!
June 13th – BSA Presidents & JDCC Captains
CBSC normally has two main goals: to allow BSA Presidents to connect with one another, and to allow JDCC Captains to connect with one another. Given this, we thought it only appropriate to have the first session in the Summer Series aim to accomplish the same thing. This session gave the two groups an opportunity to discuss any initial issues they were facing since officially taking over their roles, but more importantly it allowed them to get to know their peers who will become a key aspect of their support system throughout the next year. After the sessions, participants joined together for a Hawaiian Luau themed virtual social!
June 27th – Similar School Sessions
This session was focused around a Similar Sized School Session, which is a mainstay of CABS conferences. These types of sessions are valuable because BSAs that operate within small, medium, and large schools often face unique challenges. Therefore, connecting executives of similar sized schools allows them to discuss the issues that are currently most relevant to their BSAs.
July 10th/11th – Personal Development Workshop & Internal Conflict Sessions
Friday kicked off with two sessions, the first one being from Jamie Wood who presented on Personal Development. She discussed productivity during a pandemic as well as brain hacks for staying organized. Jamie is a fantastic and insightful speaker who has hosted sessions at multiple CABS conferences, and we are always blown away her knowledge!
The second session was a Personal Branding session hosted by PepsiCo where they taught students how to stand out in today’s business environment, an ever-important skill for business students. On Saturday, students were introduced to the Gather App, a platform for facilitating virtual social events. The demo allowed students to explore the platform and see if it would be a useful tool for their BSA in the upcoming year.
The weekend wrapped up with an Internal Conflict session where executives from different BSAs were able to help each other with strategies for resolving conflict among their teams.
July 25th – Similar Position Sessions
The final session of the Summer Series was a Similar Position Session, this time not only for BSA Presidents, but for their executive teams as well. Like the Similar Sized School sessions, Similar Position sessions are a mainstay at CABS conferences as each different executive position faces unique challenges throughout their term. These sessions allow for focused discussion on the pertinent issues for any given position.
Conclusion
Although we aren’t able to meet in person right now, it’s clear that the spirit of conferences is still alive within the CABS community! Knowledge sharing between BSAs has always been important, but never more so than right now as we face these unprecedented times. Despite the pandemic, business student leaders across the country have shown their resolve this summer through careful planning and impressive collaboration. CABS would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended the Summer Series!
To stay connected with CABS, check us out on our social media channels (@cabs.online) or our website cabsonline.ca. We consistently post updates on different activities that you can get involved in whether that is with our Member Schools or within our CABS operations.