FMI PD week is sponsored by the Financial Management Institute and is a conference for members of the financial community in Ottawa. It is held usually the last week of November, and has a host of different speakers every day.
TBS (Treasury Board Secretariat) holds a FORD graduation, and we are the lucky graduates this year. As a result, we get one free FMI day above the one my department pays for. So I attended today's session with my FI-02 and Lt. Colonel.
The keynote speaker was David Chilton, the author of the Wealthy Barber and one of the Dragons on Dragon's Den. His presentation was amazing. It is evident that he is a great speaker, a great storyteller and an overall great guy. He was telling us stories from Dragon's Den (and that Kevin O'Leary can be an ass in real life) and stories about his success as the author of Wealthy Barber. I have the book and kind of bummed I didn't do my due diligence to see that he was a keynotr speaker, or else I could've brought it for him to sign!
He also talked about the state of Canada's economy and where it's heading. He also made a point im stating that no matter what people complaim about, Canadian 's quality of life is getting better. We are a spending nation and we always want the best of everything (why does everyone need granite counter tops?!), things we do not need, and using financial resources we do not have to fund this. He was talking about a woman who spent $60K on renovating her two bathrooms but when it came to funding her son's university education, she found she was struggling financially. We have never been more in debt. Then he talked about our number one hobby not being hockey, but complaining. We complain about everything! And we don't even realize how great our quality of life is. His speech really hit home. One of the best presentations I've ever heard, interesting and very funny too.
The remaining sessions I chose to attend related to "International Perspectives" and dealt with Canada's role in the global finance sector. It wasn't as interesting as I wanted it to be.
I love these events because it is a great networking event. Networking sounds so daunting, but when it's with people you like, it makes it so much fun! I never realized how many people I met in the finance industry after one year alone. The finance community is definitely small in Ottawa!
After the sessions, Melissa, Brian (other FORDs) and I went to Milestones for drinks and a much needed catch up session. It's so nice knowing people in your exact position but people you don't necessarily work with, to get perspective. Sometimes a little encouragement is all you need!
Anyway it is going to be incredibly busy in the next couple of days. I'll try to keep this thing updated.
