GENERAL MEETING
December 2, 2009
Banff Springs Hotel – Banff, Alberta
MINUTES
Present: See list of attendees attached
Welcome & Introductions:
1. The meeting was opened on Wednesday, December 2nd by Geoff Best (President),
who welcomed the attendees. Rob Porkka also gave a welcome in French. The
Executive introduced themselves and Geoff introduced Bonnie McKie as Executive
Coordinator.
Geoff reflected on how CAPS-I had evolved and accomplishments to date.
Geoff asked if members had any additions to the agenda – there were no additions.
Members in attendance briefly introduced themselves to the entire group.
Previous Meeting Minutes (May 2009)
2. Copies of the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting in May were placed on
each table.
Adoption of the minutes
Moved: Hugh McPherson
Seconded: Smita Sengupta
Motion was carried.
Financial Report:
3. David White (Treasurer) showed a slide of budget passed in May and shared that the
organization had received $34,500 in membership revenue to date this year (higher than
expected) for a current bank balance of about $44,000.
David shared that members were not charged any fees for attending these 2 days of
meetings or for meals due to great sponsorship support the organization continues to
receive.
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Membership Update:
4. Bonnie provided an update regarding membership. Bonnie advised that there were
currently 69 paid members and 3 Associate members in the organization. New to the
organization as full fee-paying members since May are:
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Lambton Kent District School Board - Ontario
Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools – Alberta
Regina Public Schools – Saskatchewan
Eastern Township School Board – Quebec
Medicine Hat School District – Alberta
Interlake School Division – Manitoba
Prairie Spirit School Division – Manitoba
Burnaby School District – British Columbia
District School Board of Niagara – Ontario
Battle River School Division – Alberta
Campbell River School District – British Columbia
Rocky Mountain School District – British Columbia
Chilliwack School District – British Columbia
Also present were Manny Ferreirinha & Dr. David Peat of Rocky View Schools, Alberta
– to observe the 2 days of meetings and explore the benefits of membership.
Ian Scott asked how new members were being ‘recruited’ and the group was advised this
had worked best by referral from existing members. Ann Calverley shared that word
about the organization has been spread effectively through provincial associations as
well.
NEMR/DFAIT Update:
5. Geoff showed a powerpoint presentation summarizing recent activities of the National
Education Marketing Roundtable (NEMR) – this can be viewed in the Members Only
section of the website.
CAPS-I Website Update
6. Bonnie shared some statistical information regarding the website from Google
Analytics. On average the site has received 500+ visitors/month since launch early in
2009. In the past 6 months, 2680 visitors have been to the site from 100 different
countries around the world. Top countries visitors come from are: Canada, Germany,
Mexico, US, China, Japan, Brazil, HK, Vietnam, Korea. 40% of visitors come directly to
the site, 30% from Google, 20% from Edu-Canada and other Canadian government sites
and the remaining 10% from yahoo and others. Bonnie also indicated that it would be
helpful for rankings of the site on search engines, if all programs included a link to the
CAPS-I website – www.caps-i.ca
Bonnie advised that since the May meeting, the website had also been translated into
Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean. Bonnie showed members present the type of
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documents/resources currently available in the Members Only section of the website and
encouraged members to continue to contribute ‘best practice’ information/resources.
Poster / Table Runners
7. Brent spoke about the poster project and advised that most recently Sandy Prentice
had rallied some info and photos together and that a graphic designer from Pembina
Trails was now finalizing the artwork. Brent thanked Sandy and the group for their
contributions and advised that 2 versions of the poster should be printed before the winter
break. There was a discussion about how these would be distributed and it was suggested
that they go to Canadian Embassies/Consulates, CEC offices and as many agent offices
around the world as possible.
Bonnie advised that some additional CAPS-I table runners had been produced for any
new members or members that might require a 2nd banner – contact Bonnie to obtain a
table runner as necessary.
Banff Springs Hotel Historian
8. Dave Moberg spoke about the history of the Banff Springs Hotel and surrounding
area.
Alberta Education – Handbook for Internationalization, Missions, Video,
Partnerships, Offices Abroad
9. Rob Porkka introduced Waldemar Riemer and Carole Pele from Alberta Ed
A copy of the powerpoint presentation given is in the Members Only section of the
website.
Sponsor Introductions
10. Bonnie introduced and gave thanks to the sponsors of the December Meeting
Premier Sponsor:
 Robin Ingle – Ingle International
 Amina Issa – Ingle International
 Morgan Tilley – Ingle International
Platinum Sponsor:
 Clark Hortsing – GuardMe/StudentGuard
 Len Zurkowski – Guard Me/StudentGuard
Gold Sponsors:
 Fraser Wilson – Canada Homestay International
 Jennifer Wilson – Canada Homestay International
 Paul Robinson – Robinson & Robinson Inc (unable to be in attendance)
Silver Sponsors:
 Ross Holmes – BMI
 Samir Zaveri - BMI
 Nick Stevenson – Hothouse Media
 Bogey Lapinski Anaya – ICEF
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Bonnie also thanked the Alberta School Boards and Alberta Ed for their contribution to
the welcome bags – particularly Emilie and Trudy for their work in gathering and
assembling.
Bonnie introduced Robin Ingle – Premier Sponsor to say a few words prior to lunch.
An Inside Perspective on Markets
11. Ms. Kim Morrison of Grok China (kim@GrokChina.com) presented about the China
market (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the website)
12. Mr. Joseph Lee of I Global Education (IGE) Group (joseph@iglobaledu.com)
presented about the Korean market (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only
section of the website)
13. Mr. Victor Mao of VM Business International Inc. (vmao@vmbi.ca) also presented
about China
(see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the website)
14. Mr. Samir Zaveri of BMI (samir@bmimedia.net) presented about South American
markets (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the website)
The first day of meetings adjourned at 4:15 pm.
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General Meeting
Day 2 – Thursday, December 3, 2009
Banff Springs Hotel – Banff, Alberta
MINUTES
Welcome & Introductions:
1. The meeting was opened on Thursday, December 3rd at 8:35 am by Geoff Best.
Next Steps for Use of Results
2. Brent provided some background about the working group results produced in
previous meetings and asked that the members work in the small groups at their
respective tables to review the final criteria of each of the 4 areas (Homestay Screening &
Selection, Homestay Monitoring & Support, Working with Agents and Care & Support
of Students). Members were asked to identify which of the criteria they could all easily
‘live with’ using a circle and those that they would require more discussion or
wordsmithing with a square.
Responses were collected from each of the groups and Bonnie will compile the results.
Breakout Sessions #1
3. Three different break-out sessions were offered and each was well attended.
 Getting Started was facilitated by Rod Matheson and David White for new or
young programs looking for answers/advice
 Working with Agents – How to Increase International Student Enrolment was
presented by Bogie Lapinski Anaya of ICEF (see powerpoint presentation in the
Members Only section of the website)
 Global Marketing Intelligence & Solutions was presented by Nick Stevenson of
Hothouse Media (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the
website)
Breakout Sessions #2
4. Three different break-out sessions were offered and each was well attended.
 Observations on an Initial Foray into the Indian Market was presented by Ann
Calverley & Sheila McLeod
 Working with Agents – How to Increase International Student Enrolment was
presented by Bogie Lapinski Anaya of ICEF (see powerpoint presentation in the
Members Only section of the website)
 Global Marketing Intelligence & Solutions was presented by Nick Stevenson of
Hothouse Media (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the
website)
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Social Media Marketing for International Students (compliments of GuardMe)
5. Cidnee Stephen of Strategies for Success spoke for about 35 minutes on the benefits of
utilizing social media as a marketing tool for profiling schools and recruiting
international students (see powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the
website)
CEC Update
6. Charles Ivey, new Acting CEO of CEC attended the meeting to share information
about future plans for the CEC. Several members asked questions of Charles. (see
powerpoint presentation in the Members Only section of the website)
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
7. Jorge Aceytuno of CIC attended the meeting to provide an update and answers to some
questions that had previously been gathered from members. (see powerpoint
presentation in the Members Only section of the website)
Marketing Opportunities for CAPS-I & Programs
8. As time was running short, Geoff simply asked for a quick show of hands from
members as to how many would be in support of CAPS-I organizing an event in Korea
proposed for September 2010 utilizing the help of IGE. The majority of members in
attendance were in favour of this type of activity.
Rod shared that he had been approached by Amy Chen from China about creating a
Chinese handbook to profile CAPS-I members. There was also interest from a majority
in this initiative.
Constitution
9. Rob shared the results of the recent survey of members regarding the Constitution.
Members in attendance were also reminded of the recent Notice of Motion distributed.
Motion #1:
Article VIII OFFICERS
8.1 In an effort to have the executive officers representative of the regional
diversity of CAPS-I, there shall be five elected officers, one from each of the
following regions, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,
Ontario and Quebec, and the Atlantic Provinces.
Moved by Angela Olson
Seconded by Hugh McPherson
MOTION CARRIED
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Motion #2:
Article VIII OFFICERS
8.1 Each Full Member institution as defined in Article VII may only hold one
officer position. The elected Executive officers will make recommendations to
the membership at large, as to allocation of the positions of President, the VicePresident, the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Public Relations Officer.
Moved by Brent Poole
Seconded by Geoff Best
MOTION CARRIED
Motion #3:
Article XI ELECTIONS
11.1 Nominations will be accepted from one representative of a CAPS-I member
organization for another member from their region and who is not affiliated with
their school district or organization.
Moved by David White
Seconded by Rod Matheson
MOTION CARRIED
Motion #4:
Article XI ELECTIONS
11.2 Calls for nominations will be made three (3) times prior to the Annual
General Meeting in May with the first call going out in February of each year.
Nominations will not be accepted from the floor at the meeting unless no
candidate has previously been identified for a particular position.
Moved by David White
Seconded by Rod Matheson
MOTION CARRIED
Motion #5:
Article XI ELECTIONS
11.3 The election of officers on the Executive Committee shall take place by
written vote at the Annual General Meeting.
1. All members will vote for each of the 5 regional Executive positions.
2. No proxy voting will be accepted.
Amendment to strike 2. From Motion #5
Moved by Hugh McPherson
Seconded by Emilie DeCorby
MOTION CARRIED
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Addition for Motion #5:
That marked ballots be accepted for elections 1 vote per member board if cannot attend
the meeting and must be received by the Executive Coordinator one week prior to the
AGM.
Moved by Ilze Epners
Seconded by Sandy Prentice
MOTION CARRIED
ReStatement of Motion #5:
Article XI ELECTIONS
11.3 The election of officers on the Executive Committee shall take place by
written vote at the Annual General Meeting.
1. All members will vote for each of the 5 regional Executive positions.
2. That marked ballots be accepted for elections 1 vote per member board if
cannot attend the meeting and must be received by the Executive Coordinator one
week prior to the AGM.
MOTION CARRIED
Please note that the current 11.2 under Article XI pertaining to casual vacancies will
now become 11.4
Next Meeting Dates/Locations
10. The next general meeting is scheduled to be held on May 26/27, 2010 in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. Bonnie will work with Kelly & Kim on logistics.
Members are asked to submit any suggestions for agenda topics, speakers, etc… to
Bonnie.
Adjournment
11. Meeting was adjourned at 4:05pm and members were reminded to meet the bus for
the excursion to Lake Louise and dinner at 4:30pm outside the main entrance to the hotel.
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