Building Tomorrow Today Consultation

General Information

IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING BTT 2010

Dear CDAA Members, BTT Delegates, Partners, Sponsors, and Supporters:

For 15 years the Building Tomorrow Today (BTT) consultation has contributed to the landscape of the Career Development field and played an integral part in defining the culture of Career Development as a profession.  The Career Development Association of Alberta (CDAA), in partnership with various funders has played a key role in planning and implementing BTT for many years.  As you may or may not be aware the CDAA has recently assumed sole responsibility and accountability for BTT.  What this means is that the CDAA now has full budgetary and planning responsibility and accountability whereas previously it was shared amongst the BTT Partnership Committee.  In light of this change the CDAA has been offered an opportunity to review BTT as a consultation and how it can best serve the Career Development community.  BTT has been a consultation by professionals, for professionals; as the field of Career Development grows and changes so do the Career Development Professionals it serves.

Planning and implementing BTT takes considerable financial, human, and time resources.  The expenses (venue, presentation / audio visual, food, etc) associated with hosting a professional event such as BTT continue to rise and without guaranteed funding these costs are ultimately assumed by delegates.  While minimal registration fee increases are often expected for events such as this, as a Board we were not comfortable with the extent of the registration fee increase necessary to ensure the viability of BTT 2010.  Over the next several months the CDAA will be reviewing its Strategic Plan and developing a Strategic Plan for BTT with input from representatives of various delegate groups, organizations, associations, funders, sponsors, and of course CDAA members.  In order to ensure that BTT continues to meet the needs of its delegates and remains financially viable it is essential that CDAA take this time to review not only the finances for BTT but also the needs of the delegates and the Career Development profession.  For these reasons the CDAA has decided to postpone BTT 2010 and focus on exploring options for BTT 2011 with your input.

The CDAA Board of Directors is committed to providing its members with professionally relevant and financially viable events.  Cost saving measures and opportunities for sponsorship and partnerships have been and will continue to be explored.  The BTT 2010 Planning Committee has been diligent in exploring resources, services, and opportunities that will benefit BTT delegates in the future.  Excellent work has been done already with respect to developing keynote, plenary, and presenter databases, marketing options, and sponsorship, partnership and advertising opportunities.  This work will not be lost.

Regular updates and information will be provided on the CDAA website as well as by email to the BTT delegate database and to CDAA members, in Career Momentum, etc.  Work on a BTT survey has been started which you can expect to receive in the coming weeks.  Your feedback, comments, thoughts, ideas, and suggestions will provide valuable information to the CDAA Board of Directors regarding future BTT events and is very much appreciated.

While this decision was very difficult to make we trust that you understand as the planners and organizers of BTT we have your best interests, as delegates, in mind and that we are working professionally and fiscally on your behalf.

Please direct any questions regarding this notice to the CDAA Board of Directors through the CDAA Administrator at admin@careerdevelopment.ab.ca.

Respectfully,

CDAA Board of Directors

Keynote, Speakers and Topics

Coming soon for 2011

More about BTT

Building Tomorrow Today is an interactive consultation for practitioners working in direct and indirect service areas of career development. It is an opportunity to learn about new developments in the field, discover new resources, share experiences, learn new skills, and expand professional networks.

BTT spans 2 days, beginning Wednesday morning and finishing Thursday evening. Each day begins with a keynote speaker to set the tone for the day and provide inspiration for participants. Keynote speakers are chosen from prominent persons in the career development and related fields.

Background

BTT began in 1994 in response to a need for more readily available training and professional development opportunities for career practitioners. The concept was patterned after the highly successful National Consultation for Career Development (NATCON), and is intended primarily as a training and professional development event. The intention was to create a tradition of a predictable, practically focused event that would offer leading edge and hot off the press tools and resources, a glimpse of what was on the horizon in the career development profession, and possible directions for the future. The cost would be kept at a reasonable rate so as not to be a major barrier to attendance. The event would always take place in Edmonton in the spring. This way, people could build their professional development plans around this event.

In the early years, the focus group consultations held as part of BTT were instrumental in creating career development competencies which paved the way for the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Practitioners and the Blueprint for Life/Work Designs initiatives. Other consultation sessions helped to shape the Career Development Certificate program at Athabasca University.

BTT Today

BTT continues today as a consultation. It has grown to be one of the largest gatherings of career development professionals in North America.

Funders and Sponsors

BTT is coordinated by the Career Development Association of Alberta (CDAA). The consultation receives support from Alberta Employment and Immigration, Alberta Education, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, and Oteenow Employment and Training Society. This funding ensures affordability and availability to all in the industry. BTT is endorsed and supported by national and provincial groups as a primary resource for staff training and professional development in the career development field.