Dave mentioned all those members who worked at the Online Auction distribution centre on Saturday, namely, Neil Swayze, Gary Parker, Russ St. Louis, Adrian DeCoo, Jim Phillips, Paul Rostrup, Candi Harrington & Ray Taylor.
Secretary Cam commented that Barry McLeod's birthday is the 29th and he will be 81 years young. Barry is enjoying the warm weather to the south for his birthday.
With 9 cards left, the anticipation and suspense was heavy in the room. After Mike Pollard pulled a lowly 5 of clubs, Richard Bruckeder sauntered forward with drawn tickets 2 and 3. With great confidence he turned his cards, flick , flick, neither of which was the Jack of Hearts. THE POT LIVES!
Be sure to come to next weeks meeting where 3 of the REMAINING 6 cards will be drawn!
Howard Pell was happy to join Ray Taylor & Bill Proctor at the Foundation Qualification Training on Saturday but was especially thrilled with the response of those attending to the Brampton Rotaract groups fund raiser Movember which was able to raise $396 by passing the hat around to the 100 attendee
Peter Gray and his wife Carolyn had just returned from their Israel trip which was very enjoyable because they got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea and float in the Dead Sea and return home healthy.
Bill Proctor asked members to be sure to sign the 'Get Well' card for Graham Gardiner who is in Toronto waiting for a lung transplant.
Mary Reilly reminded members of the Christmas Social at the Registry Theatre on Monday, Dec. 11th from 7:00 pm. Bill Proctor will post a sign up on line.
Candi offered background insights into our guest speaker from his roots in UK to his meeting his wife Amy in Australia. Karl is the Lab Director for the Civic Innovation Lab at Kitchener city hall. Previously he ran his own business out of the Tannery Building; was a former Rotarian and volunteers for a number of organization such as St. Mary's Hospital.
To start off the presentation; Karl offered a video outlining what Kitchener has to offer in the way of innovation. He feels there is an endless array of possibilities to make things happen by the way Kitchener encourages innovative thinking. His focus is on making a “Digital Kitchener” through his vision of creating a digital network [e.g. WIFI] that can be used in a number of ways to collect data to help the city offer ways to be more efficient; offer insights into new ways of doing things and to assist decision making; create costs savings and to make money; as well as, improving new citizen experiences. Presently, he collaborates with Commutech which helps to create a culture of collaboration and innovation that help corporations and small start-up businesses to thrive. He used the example of the conversion of streetlights to LED which may cost $7 M to convert but will save $1.5 M per year, as well as, offer a city wide WIFI network platform. This city wide network could offer ways for the city can control wireless sensors to collect hydro usage or traffic flow data using these sensors. Since it is an open data exchange other things can be integrated into it.
Next he spoke of the “Agile Development Process” that his group uses to assess high risk to low risk ventures for the city to investigate. Seventy per cent relates to city engagement in new ventures that could be high risk. Twenty per cent is related to community conversations and participation by citizens into what can be done to improve the city. Ten per cent is speculative in that technologies are tested for their usefulness to the city. With a budget of $300,000, he has two co-op students who assist with various aspects of the lab. He would like to expand the lab to include a technical lead and a few more co-op students. He explained how the field of innovation is expanding with his trip to Berlin for a “Smart Cities Conference” focused on 'design thinking' which is new in Europe. Such ideas as using remote sensors on snow ploughs to offer location notices for residents to find out if or when their street was to be ploughed or sensors on streetlight poles to control traffic flow and change the street lights to assist with the flow. A local company MIOVISION is working with the city of Kitchener to help manage parking spaces and lots so citizens can go to a web site and find out where there is parking in downtown Kitchener. The WIFI network is 96% deployed in the city with just the security standards to be clarified. The infrastructure was set up through existing providers such as Bell and Rogers etc. and will organized similar to a utility rather than a free system. This was because data streaming is lean on the bandwidth usage thru these sensors rather than camera & video usage. Q & A followed his presentation for members to ask for clarifications or suggestions.
Dave Chatson gave the thank you to Karl and presented him with a certificate and 100 vaccinations in his name.
The Holiday Social with the famed Pie Auction is coming! Look for Mary and Bill to send a sign me up email this week. If you pay your meals in advance there will be no additional charge. Pay-as-you-go members and guests will be charged on your account @ $21.50. Cash Bar. The event starts at 7:00 pm and is located in the Registry Theatre, 122 Frederick Street, Kitchener.
Next weeks meeting at the Crowne Plaza brings Moinca Reid, President of this years Chriskindl Market.
