The Digital Alberta board recently came together for a virtual two-day strategy session. Our goal was to look at the value our organization is currently bringing to Alberta’s digital sectors, and where we would like to be in five years’ time.

We all agreed that advocacy is one of the greatest benefits we offer to our community, i.e. our ability to go and meet with the provincial government and other decision influencers to discuss the needs and opportunities of Alberta’s digital creators. This is an area we will continue to strengthen. One strategy we identified was to develop more detailed studies of the economic impact of our sector, which can be presented to government to improve the case for support. You can expect to hear more about this in the coming months as we start collecting this data.

Building in more events

Another area our board identified as something we want to develop more is the number and types of events Digital Alberta offers. Currently, we put on one big event every year — the Ember Awards (taking place this November) — as well as the occasional smaller event. For example, next week we will host our first-ever Mentor Networking Night for students or folks looking to change careers.

These events are incredibly valuable for networking and skills building, but they take a great deal of time and effort for our board members and volunteers to do, particularly when this “event organization” is carried out in conjunction with other Digital Alberta duties. Rather than keep events as a side-task for volunteers, we have decided to create an events-specific committee to focus solely on these efforts.

We will soon put out a call for volunteers to help develop and organize a variety of networking events, social nights, and workshops / webinars. Stay tuned for more details!

A call for sponsorship

A personal goal for me is to grow Digital Alberta’s financial support such that we can hire dedicated staff. Our board and teams of dedicated volunteers are carrying out all the events, communications, advocacy, and governance initiatives off the sides of our desks. We’re not complaining — our passion for this work is unwavering. But there is so much potential for what we could do with the Digital Alberta (and Alberta Makes Games) communities, and the important economic impact we can drive in the province. Our only limitations are time and resources!

We are currently chatting with potential top-level sponsor organizations to get us closer to realizing the support we require. If you know of a company or individual who is interested in working with us to advance our activities in the province, please reach out to us at membership@digitalalberta.com.