CWCF hosted a series of mixers over the spring and summer this year, informal social events with the purpose of building stronger relationships with CWCF’s co-op membership, and stronger regional networks in the co-op sector generally. Kaye Grant, CWCF’s Communications and Member Services Manager, attended the events in Ottawa, Victoria, and Winnipeg, and found they achieved this objective.
“This has helped our members and others get better connected to each other,” she says. “It also showed our members that we care about their co-op and them.”
Executive Director Hazel Corcoran, who attended mixers in Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, Calgary, and Saskatoon, agrees with Grant.
“The mixers were distinct in some ways,” she says, “but all were very upbeat, positive events which enabled our staff and board members to connect with members, people interested in worker co-ops, and allies. They enabled current and potential members to connect with CWCF without cost to them. The in-person contact with our staff and board going to people where they live was clearly important to people. In those where we did a brief presentation about CWCF, it gave us the chance to get CWCF better known.”
Based on the uniformly positive feedback the mixers received from attendees, CWCF is considering hosting more of these events in the future, and will continue to piggyback onto existing events where CWCF staff will be anyway to avoid too big a carbon footprint or too great a financial cost.
“It enables us to seriously consider the possibility of holding in-person Conferences only every two years,” says Corcoran, “with a virtual Conference in the other years, without concern that we are losing touch with members.”