3 things you need to know about the Ottawa Convention – AND springtime tulips!

In just a few weeks, you’ll start getting more and more exciting information about the CAPS Convention in Ottawa, taking place on December 9-11. Your Convention committee is working hard to ensure that your time in Ottawa spent among your CAPS colleagues will be meaningful, educational, inspirational, fun, and filled with great surprises.

Here’s some important information that we can give you a sneak peak of so far:

1. Our THEME — Celebrate, Cultivate, and Collaborate. That’s not just our theme for the CAPS year, but it’s what our Convention is going to be all about! Each day of the Convention will focus on a different theme:
   1. CELEBRATE #on opening night. We’ll be celebrating Canada’s 150^th birthday and CAPS’ 20^th birthday. But we’ll also be celebrating ourselves, each other, our businesses, our futures, and our good fortune at being able to spend 3 wonderful days together as we learn, share, grow and belong together (and there’s a good chance that there will be cake).
   2. CULTIVATE on Day 1 (Sunday):  Creating new ideas, new methods, and new avenues for ourselves, both personally and professionally (we can’t guarantee that there will be cake just yet, but it’s likely that there will be wine).
   3. COLLABORATE on Day 2 (Monday):  Exploring ways to work better with each other, our clients and our communities (and since the gala takes place on Monday night, you can expect wine AND cake).
2. Call for Proposals is coming soon – and we’d love to hear from you!  The Call for Proposals for concurrent programs will be coming out soon. Start thinking about what you’d like to see or what you’d like to contribute, and how it ties into our Celebrate, Cultivate, Collaborate theme – and share it with us. We can’t wait to hear what kind of programs you can offer that will be valuable to your CAPS colleagues!
3. Beaver Tail update! Yes, you CAN purchase Beaver Tails on the Rideau Canal in December! (confused? See the March Keynotes article for more on this). But if the Canal is too far, you can also purchase these deep-fried, sugary beaver-y tails of goodness at the Byward Market, a short walk away from the beautiful Delta City Centre Hotel in downtown Ottawa. Which is, coincidentally, where the Ottawa Convention is taking place. How convenient! (the Beaver Tails are at 69 George St., by the way).

AWESOME STUFF IN OTTAWA ALERT! 
The Canadian Tulip Festival, May 12-22, 2017

It’s almost May, and in Ottawa, that means….TULIPS!  The Canadian Tulip Festival is the largest of its kind in the world and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe to view over a million tulips in locations around Ottawa. In 2017, the festival is celebrating Canada’s 150^th anniversary under the theme One Tulip, One Canada. Beyond the tulips, there are family activities, live entertainment, fireworks, and more. And this year there’s even a special ‘Canada 150’ tulip!

Going to be in the area? Check it out! https://www.ottawatourism.ca/ottawa-insider/canadian-tulip-festival/

And in the meantime, keep that calendar blocked for the CAPS Convention, Dec. 9-11, 2017, at the beautiful Delta City Centre Hotel in downtown Ottawa.

p.s. The Convention Website will be launched shortly. We’re so excited to share it with you!