A five-hour car ride, bag full of ‘business casual’ to ‘semi-formal’ clothes and arriving at the hotel to discover all other delegates were running late; these were the deceptively bumpy beginnings of FYIC 2015.
FYIC stands for ‘First Year Integration Conference.’ It is hosted by ESSCO (Engineering Student Societies’ Council of Ontario) consisting of 15 Ontario University Engineering Societies. Started in 1987, ESSCO became a means for all Engineering societies in Ontario to collectively represent all undergraduate engineering students.
This year’s FYIC was hosted by Laurentian University, and hence, delegates and speakers were to meet in Sudbury. Each University bought their own number of delegates (ranging from one to eleven, based on available funding from the respective Universities).
Waterloo was a relatively large group, totaling ten delegates including our VPs.
The first evening (Friday, January 30), the delegation mingled at Wacky Wings. Among wood tables, pitchers of soft drinks, and a buffet of salad, wings and fries, delegates from different school met and chatted.
In this one and a half day conference (not including travel time), everyone, knowing their time with each other would be short, were soon exchanging contacts. The resounding notion was us delegates would be meeting one another again in one setting or another in the future.
The evening closed with icebreakers at the hotel, followed by free mingling. Many chose to stay past midnight, maximizing the time there was to socialize.
Saturday, January 31 began bright and early. Delegates were up before 7 AM to get dressed in business-casual clothes and be ready for breakfast. The day was spent at Laurentian University, where executives from ESSCO, CFES (Canadian Federation of Engineering Students), and PEO (Professional Engineers of Ontario) gave slideshows and talks about involvement with the respective organizations, and each organization’s tasks and stories.
Throughout the day, there were also talks by VP Externals from different Universities on topics including “Professionalism and Networking,” “Dinner Etiquette,” “Pre-interview Preparation,” “Elevator Speeches,” “How to Conference,” and “Do’s and Don’ts of Public Speaking.”
After lunch, VPs left for their plenary session, where they voted on new legislations affecting Ontario engineering students. Delegates sat on for more presentations followed by “Mock elections.” These were two minute “elevator” speeches where volunteers would propose a position (real or imaginary) they were running for, and attempt to convince the audience they were the most suitable candidate.
The afternoon ended with delegates returning to the hotel to get changed for the evening’s semi-formal dinner held at Science North, Sudbury’s Science Museum. Here, delegates practiced proper dinner etiquette in a three-course meal and Waterloo also showed off our mini tool in various photos.
Saturday evening ended similarly to the night before, where delegates mingled far past sleeping hours (gambling on the extra hours of sleep they would recover during the return trip on Sunday).
After breakfast on Sunday, remaining presentations were delivered in the hotel meeting room, as delegates trickled out to catch their coaches. Farewells and “see you later” were bid, and remaining contacts exchanged.
Although cold and tired by the time we returned to Waterloo, we were all very excited for news from the conference to progressively stream in to social media sites, and to hear news from new friends about their post-conference experiences.
The greatest take-away from the conference was the number of ways to get involved – including directing EngSoc events, volunteering for O-week, and running for executive positions on EngSoc, ESSCO and CFES. These opportunities are accessible to all, so if you are interested, sign up now before applications close in the very near-future!
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