Don't Miss APEGA's Largest
Professional Development Offering of the Year

APEGA Nexus Logo

Staying current in your field and being aware of trends are challenging for every professional. The APEGA Professional Development (PD) Conference offers you a choice of 30 sessions and 2 keynote presentations over two days, featuring engaging and practical sessions for engineers and geoscientists.

Participating in this annual conference will help you learn and network with your peers while you earn up to 15 Continuing Professional Development hours. Your custom conference session selections support your own unique learning and development needs, and apply to professionals across disciplines and industries.

This year’s sessions fall into 5 different streams. You are welcome to pick and choose sessions from each stream freely—the only limitation is that each session is only offered once!

APEGA’s biggest professional development event is going virtual for 2021!

Advantages of a virtual conference:

  • You can attend from anywhere in the province or the world!
  • Save on travel costs and participate from the comfort of your own home or office.
  • Presenters can join from anywhere in the world giving us greater access to distinguished professionals like Dr. Wendy Okolo, an aerospace engineering researcher in the Intelligent Systems Division at the NASA Ames Research Center.
  • Virtual networking sessions will enable you to connect with people outside of your day-to-day reach, allowing for richer knowledge sharing and the potential to create a broader network with professionals you wouldn’t normally meet.
  • Online delivery provides convenient access to resources and content.

The 2021 Conference Theme is: Building Better

Building Better Technical Competence

This stream will focus on technical aspects across contexts. Topics include the importance of safety procedures, a study of the Boeing 737 Max, and more!

Building
Better
Members

This stream will focus on the regulatory aspects of APEGA. Topics include your role in a self-regulating profession, professional practice reviews and more!

Building
Better
Careers

This stream will focus on the career development of all attendees. Topics that will be covered include managing career transitions, business etiquette and more!

Building Better Business Knowledge

This stream will focus on business knowledge that will apply to everyone. Topics that will be covered include project management, negotiation, and more!

Building a More Diverse Profession

This stream will focus on diversity in the professions. Topics that will be covered include neurodiversity at work, unconscious bias, and more!

2021 Conference Schedule

Staying current in one’s field and being aware of trends is a challenge for every professional. The 2021 APEGA Professional Development Conference offers you a choice of 30 sessions and 2 keynote presentations over two days, featuring engaging and practical sessions for engineers and geoscientists.

Participating in this annual conference will help you learn and network with your peers while you earn up to 15 Continuing Professional Development hours. Your custom conference session selections support your own unique learning and development needs, and apply to professionals across disciplines and industries.

9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Welcome Address

Start your morning with this year’s keynote from Dr. Wendy Okolo, PhD aerospace engineering researcher in the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Dr. Okolo will present A Rocket Scientist’s Guide to Innovation through Inclusion.

After the keynote, choose one of these five concurrent sessions to dive in to:

  • Let’s Get Technical: Accessibility Code Criteria
  • Changes to Individual Practice: Know Your Obligations
  • Managing Career Transitions
  • Effective Meetings for Leaders
  • When You’re Taking Care of Others…Who is Taking Care of You?

Get the full PD schedule

Use your lunch break to make connections! Meet industry leaders at the trade show, learn about innovative research and projects at the poster showcase, and join other professionals in our themed networking rooms.

Note: You can access the trade show and view on-demand poster sessions at any time during the conference.

Get engaged

Customize your learning by selecting one of the following sessions:

  • Engineering Creativity: Wetware, Software, and Hardware
  • How It’s Made: APEGA Practice Standards and the Important Role You Play
  • A Fresh Approach to Building Stress Resilience — ME & WE
  • How to Build and Sustain Teams on Capital Projects
  • Neurodiversity at Work: Effectively Liaising with People Who Think Differently

Get the full PD schedule

Select your final session of the day from the engaging sessions listed here:

  • Importance of Safety Procedures: Moments of Impact
  • APEGA Permit Holders: What’s in a Practice Review?
  • LinkedIn: Storytelling, Strategy, and the Gift of Social Reciprocity
  • Project Management for the “Accidental” Project Manager
  • Indigeneering™ Inclusion: Innovating the Future of Leadership

Get the full PD schedule

Use this time to customize your conference experience even further! Browse through interesting exhibits at the trade show. Learn about academic research and innovative project work in the poster showcase. Meet and share ideas with other professionals in our themed networking rooms.

Note: You can access the trade show and view on-demand poster sessions at any time during the conference.

Get engaged

9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Welcome Address

The second day of the APEGA Nexus Conference begins with a keynote from Professor Andrew Pelling, PhD, scientist, entrepreneur, and TED Senior Fellow. Join us as he discusses Innovation in the Workplace.

After the engaging plenary, participate in one of these interesting concurrent sessions:

  • Managing the Risk and Reality of Environmental Contamination in Alberta
  • Surprise! You’re the Enforcer: What It Means to be Part of a Self-Regulating Profession
  • Understanding Behaviours in Self and Others
  • Building Bridges to Agreement: The Art of Principled Negotiation
  • Where Do I Sit? Fitting In, and Excelling, in an Inter-Generational Workplace

Get the full PD schedule

Use your lunch break to your advantage! Visit the virtual trade show, watch on-demand poster sessions, and connect with fellow professionals in our themed networking rooms.

Note: You can access the trade show and view on-demand poster sessions at any time during the conference.

Get engaged

It will be difficult to choose which of these relevant sessions to attend:

  • Boeing 737 Max: A Study in Engineering and Regulatory Failure
  • Digital Signatures: Looking Beyond the Picture of the Seal
  • Alberta’s Transitioning Economy: Tools to Support Oil and Gas Professionals Shifting to Other Industries
  • Effective Business Writing
  • When You’re the Only One in the Room

Get the full PD schedule

Make your final selection of the conference from this list of outstanding concurrent sessions:

  • Secondary Professional Liability Program
  • The Road to Calamity: The Golden Rules for Unsuccessful Projects
  • Business Polish for Professionals: Gain a Competitive Edge
  • 5 Keys to Getting Results from Your Team
  • But You Don’t Look Like an Engineer! Boldly Shattering Tired Gender Stereotypes in STEM

Get the full PD schedule

Wrap up your conference experience with a final opportunity to network with colleagues, learn about innovative research and projects at the poster showcase, and connect with industry leaders at the trade show.

Note that you can access the trade show and view on-demand poster sessions at any time during the conference.

Get engaged

Featured Speakers

Dr. Wendy Okolo, PhD

Aerospace Engineering Researcher in the Intelligent Systems Division for NASA

Professor Andrew E. Pelling, PhD

Research Chair in Experimental Cell Mechanics at the University of Ottawa, CTO of Spiderwort Inc.

Check out all the speakers for 2021