Here is the somewhat belated report I promised I'd post after attending the Montreal Conference.
In general, the conference was worthwhile and I would attend again.
The positives:
The sessions were good and I particulary enjoyed the one that focused on using Pivot Reports - given by Marc Van Baar. I think this is the first time I truly understood how they work and their value. When I returned to the office, I was able to solve an outstanding report issue by including a pivot report (it was a report to show non-consecutive year donors who have given in at least 10 different years.)
It was an opportunity for our Development and Legacy Giving Managers to attend sessions dedicated to their specific tasks, without having the expense of going to Charleston.
Because it was a smaller group of people, it was easier to ask questions at Marc Chardon's (CEO of Blackbaud) session. I challenged him on something he was going to look into last year but did not follow up. This time I got immediate action!
The keynote speaker was a motivational speaker named Steve Donahue. He was fun and interesting. He authored a book called Shifting Sands, about his adventures crossing the Sahara.
The negatives:
There was no real "Canadian flavour" to the content, and the session presenters used the US version of the software, even though there are some significant differences on the Canadian version.
There was no opportunity for scheduled 1:1 sessions with developers.
The "Blackbaud Marketplace" did not have booths for their various products/modules. There was a booth for IATS and a couple of other non
BB vendors.
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