The days of the week become less relevant when you’re participating in an 8-day conference which includes the weekend. Including set up day, last Friday, yesterday was the mid-point of what has been a productive and enjoyable Congress.
For RIR, our objectives for exhibiting are to speak about KMb with conference delegates and also to promote RIR to institutions who are currently not members. But over nine years now, and given our leadership in KMb, Congress has become much more than just promotional conversation. Yesterday was a great microcosm of our engagement at Congress:
- Networking – We have developed significant relationships with key national leaders such as SSHRC, the Federation and MITACS. Congress is an important space to meet and interact, to update and explore possibilities.
- Information Sharing – RIR are now being approached to participate in meetings, panel presentations and scholarly interviews around KMb and Engaged Scholarship. It was a busy day for us at the RIR booth, and within Congress. We’re pleased to be seen in this way and make important contributions in KMb.
- Exhibiting – Yesterday we had over 25 dedicated conversations about RIR and KMb with more than 10 universities who are not currently in our network. We’re sharing information which researchers can share back to their senior administration about RIR membership. We’re also sharing some KMb tools on how we provide service and support at our member institutions to help demonstrate the value proposition of our service model.
Conversations ranged yesterday from prospective graduate students, to senior faculty (including retired faculty) all of whom come at KMb with differing experiences and opinions. The dialogue is important to help push us to better understand KMb from the researchers’ perspective. We’re halfway done for 2016…but in terms of RIR and its commitment to service…we’re just beginning! If you’re at Congress come visit us!
