AHP Canada 2008 - Day 2

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:05:00 GMT

Yesterday's gloomy morning turned into a mostly sunny day in Halifax. Today is my last day at the conference here in Canada and as luck would have it my favorite band, also from Canada, is releasing a new live double-album today.

First thing this morning I'm presenting the following session here at the AHP Canada conference: "Unleashing Integrated Online and Offline Strategies to Get Results"

I am going to try and sit in on another session this morning before leaving for the airport. I have a week hiatus from the road and then it's off to Blackbaud's Conference for Nonprofits in Montreal. After two years in Vancouver it'll be nice to mix things up again.

AHP Canada 2008 - Day 1

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:48:00 GMT

Good morning from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I got in late Sunday night as there's a one hour time difference here. I got to the hotel in time to see the Montreal Canadians lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is my first visit to this part of Canada, but one of my favorite television shows actually takes place in nearby Cole Harbour.

I am spending the next two days at the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Canada's regional conference. This morning's keynote speaker was Derek Hatfield, skipper of the Spirit of Canada, who is one of only 126 people to go around the world in a single-handed yacht. Derek and his crew of supporters are now raising money to participate in another around the world race later this year.

The room for Derek's speech was absolutely jam packed. He started off by showing a brief video to give people a sense of what it was like during his 182 day journey around the globe. He recounted a tale from 1996, when he almost quit a cross-Atlantic race after capsizing, where he needed a pep talk from his father to get his "butt back in the boat" and finish. It took 13,000 volunteer hours to build the 9,000 pound boat named the Spirit of Canada. The 50-year-old sailor from New Brunswick set out in his 40-foot boat and took second place in the first leg from New York to England, despite getting some lobster traps caught on the keel. Leg 2 was from England to Cape Town and Derek finished third. Leg 3 was from Cape Town to Tauranga and he was half-way through his journey. Leg 4 was from Tauranga, around Cape Horn, and up the coast of South America. Derek was caught up in a big storm, nearly ran into the Diego Ramirez Islands, and battled 60 foot waves. He thought the worst was over.

Then the boat rolled over, the mast snapped, and Derek was caught underwater in the rigging before the boat rolled back over. It took him 45 minutes to cut loose the mast using a Leatherman that was tied around his neck, put out a cabin fire, and headed up the Beagle Channel thinking that his race was over. Thanks to volunteers, he was able to get a new mast in 10 days and finally finished Leg 4. Derek started Leg 5 from Salvador to Newport and finally completed the race.

Now Derek is getting ready to take on the Vendée Globe race, which is a non-stop around-the-world race where no assistance is allowed. They have been building a brand new Open 60 boat since 2005 and the project has required a tremendous amount of sponsorship, education partners, and donors. And this time it is more like a marathon than a series of sprints. Derek took a wide variety of questions at the end of his remarks, including a very simple one: "Why?" Derek said that he does it because of the challenge and you just take things on one storm at a time.

There are a lot of sessions today and I am going to try and sit in on a couple of them. At the end of the day, I plan on catching Nicholas Offord's session called "Key Issues in Hospital Fundraising within the Next 10 Years." The people at AHP Canada have done a good job of mixing up the topics to include fundraising, communications, and technology.

Connections : AHP

AHP Canada 2008 - Day 2

AHP Canada 2008 - Day 1