HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here’s to a better year! While it appears it may be a long while until we return to somewhat normal times, the future does look hopeful. No one would have thought in the early days of Spring last year that we would still be living with restrictions and that the 2020 holiday season would have been so different, but we survived!

2020 was a challenging year for many. Financial, personal, professional, physical and emotional challenges affected many of us in some way or another. No matter how you came to be a member of our condominium community, it has been challenging during these times. As owners you have experienced the loss of common areas in your buildings and the loss of connections with neighbours and friends.

As directors of condominium corporations, many of you are holding virtual board meetings and having no face-to-face interaction with fellow directors, unit owners or property managers. Our business partners and professional members are adapting to working from home and continue to deal with all of the same old condominium issues plus the many new issues that a pandemic brings.

Here at CCI, Manitoba Chapter, we have tried hard to adapt and to embrace new and challenging ways to engage our members and to continue to show the value of being members of CCI. Our monthly Board meetings have continued virtually, as have the regular committee meetings. It never ceases to amaze me how much we are able to accomplish in this new way of doing business.

CCI, Manitoba Chapter, regularly hosts Presidents Forums twice a year to allow condominium corporation presidents an opportunity to network, discuss common issues and assist each other in finding solutions to some of those issues. While holding the Presidents Forum in-person last spring and fall was not possible due to the pandemic, we made a decision to hold the Presidents Forum virtually in early December. Because it was the first time for the virtual format, we restricted registration to only 20 participants, and delivered goody bags to them beforehand for use during the Forum. The goodies included wine, snack bags of cheese and crackers and promotional items from our valued sponsors, Fillmore Riley LLP, Hub International Insurance and Karma Property Management. Needless to say, the participants were very happy to receive their goody bags. The virtual Forum was a success, discussion was great and we will continue to provide opportunities to network with each other virtually until such time as we can all get together again.

Thank you never seems to be enough to say to our sponsors but please know that we are so very appreciative and couldn’t accomplish our goals without you.

Our CCI Board of Directors regularly schedules a facilitated team building session each year to assist us in planning and to help integrate our newly elected Board members to the team. Seven brand new Board members were elected at our AGM this year and many of us have not yet had the opportunity to meet face-to-face. We decided that it was especially important this year to hold our team building session even if we had to do it virtually. The feedback from the Board of Directors was great. We actually spent an entire afternoon getting to know each other, doing some planning and concluding with happy hour. Who knew that these kinds of events could be so successful on zoom?

Our newly named monthly webinars (previously called Lunch and Learns) will continue for the remainder of the fiscal year and there are some exciting topics and speakers lined up. The Education Committee and the Board of Directors are happy to announce that these webinars are free for all of our members. Pleasecheck our website for information and dates https:// cci-manitoba.ca/education-events/upcoming-course-events.

If you wish to be sent emails about our webinars, please ensure that we have your email address. We do not share your email address with anyone and you will not be inundated with emails if you do give us your address. To provide your email address, just click the Stay Informed button at the bottom of our website pages https://cci-manitoba.ca

In closing, I want to thank all of you for your continued trust and engagement with CCI, Manitoba Chapter, during these difficult times. I will close with the same sentiment with which I started my report. Here’s to a better year!

MAUREEN HANCHARYK, President Manitoba Chapter