CANSI Ontario – Communication Director’s Report 2021-2022 

On a personal note, I’d like to thank board members and instructors who covered for me when I dealt with a family health emergency (including assisting Wendy G with the Level II/III Certification course), and when I had and was recovering from COVID (including preparing for this AGM).

This was my fifth year as Communications Director of CANSI Ontario.

Unlike last season, COVID-19 did not have a devastating impact on the 2021-2022 ski season for CANSI. We had a full slate of courses – virtual and on-snow.

I sent out several emails to all current and former CANSI Ontario members. There were variations based on:

• Certification level (I, II, III, or IV)
• Membership active or expired
• Certification active or expired

I communicated:

• Evolving schedule and cancelations
• Registering for events at our new www.cansi.ca website
• Paying membership dues for people who have lapsed (and the value of the membership)
• Recertifying former instructors whose certification has lapsed

Additionally:

• I used a new source of member data and contact info from the National office. And the National Office did sanitize member data – removing people who requested to not be contacted or whose email addresses bounced. This allowed me to just send directly from gmail.
• I reached to recent instructors to try to re-engage them
• We continued using Google Meets and Zoom for board meetings and training
• I supported our monthly board meetings

In the coming season, if our instruction season is similarly not affected by COVID, I will do the following (or recommend to a new incoming director):

·       

•  Record and post minutes from this AGM (to Google Drive and website)
• Post an article about CANSI Ontario Instructor and Volunteer of the Year on our website
• Seek a succession candidate for the Communications Director role, and begin to encourage that person(s) to assist with the below and learn the systems
• Write articles and web content myself, and solicit content from other instructors
• Discuss with Telemark Programs Director how to assist promoting Telemark in Ontario
• Investigate new tools for promoting CANSI Ontario to members
• Update list of cross-country ski clubs in Ontario and contact info (again)
• Create a new poster for Level I prep and certification courses, and send it to clubs (not done in 2021-2022)
• Send emails to all CANSI Level II, III and IV instructors inviting them to the Course Conductor weekend with links to CC article(s) and the registration page
• Send ​targeted ​emails to previous Level I prep course attendees who aren’t yet instructors; include links to Level 1 course article (by Adrienne and Adrian) and registration pages
• Send ​targeted​ emails to all CANSI instructors (e.g. single email to all Level II instructors), with references to:

• Appropriate articles by new Level I, III, IV instructors
• Appropriate refresher/prep courses, including registration
• Appropriate certification courses, including registration
• Professional Development courses, including registration
• New communication channels (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

•  Invite members to the AGM
• Request Instructor and Volunteer of the Year nomination and manage voting