DISTRICT NEWS Amy Raycroft, M.I.M.A.
Jane Sokol-Kennedy, A.I.M.A.
Mark Lindquist, M.I.M.A.
Bill O’Connor, M.I.M.A.
Janice Sooley, A.I.M.A.
On December 5th, 2023, Districts 1, 5, 6, 7, & 10 joined forces to host the IMA’s first Cross-Canada Combined District Meeting. We caught up with the District Executives who planned and executed the event and gained insights into why it was important.
1. What inspired your District’s to join forces to do the IMA’s first Cross-Canada Combined District meeting? “District 7 has been combining forces with fellow Districts since the pandemic and has had enormous success in terms of attendance and content delivery. The opportunity was presented to deliver a meeting that covered areas across Canada. We felt that this was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with areas outside of Ontario and deliver content that was relevant to all members regardless of their geography. This was an opportunity to be a leader and bring our members together to deliver content that matters to all IMA members, and more importantly create a sense of community across Canada. I was honored to host this first ever across Canada meeting and to have the opportunity to strengthen our membership and share timely relevant content that was well received by attendees.” says Amy Raycroft, District Chair for IMA District 7. Amy was the powerhouse behind this new initiative and led the coordination of this meeting. Jane Sokol-Kennedy, District Director for District 1, agreed and mentioned, “who would not want to be involved in the first ever cross Canada meeting. I loved the idea of joining in and being part of this event. I also thought it would be interesting as there was the potential for topics and speakers that would be different that the ones we had thought of for our previous meetings. It would be a chance to meet members from other Districts and forge a relationship for future collaborations. Lastly, it was also a chance to have members of District 1 obtain any CPD credits they needed for the Cycle 5 which ends March 31, 2024.” District 10’s new District Director, Janice Sooley echoed this comment and added, “...Unfortunately, District 10’s in-person meeting was postponed until the fall of 2024. This collaboration by hosting an online Districts’ meeting was a terrific opportunity to provide members with an avenue to acquire the learning credits needed for the CPD Cycle 5 end.” The District 5 Executive Team also noted that, “The larger combined meeting committee between the Districts opened a much larger possible idea pool for meeting materials, as well as a much larger selection of speakers with a wider range of subjects and content.” Mark Lindquist, District Director from District 6 says... “The main factor was a chance to give our District membership a chance to access a varied agenda with speakers providing content that was applicable not just to our District, but to the assessment and valuation industry. We have been combining forces with Districts 5 & 7 for the past few meetings which has proved to be a real “team effort” but by expanding to include even more Districts, it gave an opportunity to learn from more varied experiences and see what might be top of mind in other parts of Canada.”
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IMA | INSTI-NEWS
