On March 3, the Boissevain Chamber of Commerce and the Turtle Mountain Community Development Corporation will be hosting their first Technology in Rural Communities symposium at Boissevain School. According to Catherine Carlisle of TMSD Adult Ed, the idea came from their side as a way to contribute to the community and add something to the event landscape.

“At Adult Ed we try to be creative and be involved in the community,” Carlisle explained. “When Dale Banman, (Development Officer) said they wanted to replace Farm Focus, and they wanted to match up the three areas of technology, agriculture and education, we thought ‘what could we do to groove it up a bit?’”

Farm Focus, a day filled with agriculture-based displays and speakers, had been successful for a decade, but was on the wane. In 2016, it was replaced with a senior’s education day. Banman said it worked well, but needed to be built on.

“Last year, we did some education with seniors,” he said. “We think this is a natural progression.”

The focus, Banman explained, is on how technology impacts the three fields. Every part of business is impacted by computers, as is education. In agriculture, there are GPS systems, self-driving machinery and computer-planned inputs, among other developments.

“All are related to technology and all are related to each other.”

Much like Farm Focus, there are two main aspects of the event in the school – speakers and displays. Banman said all of the speakers have yet to be determined, but they are looking at having the RCMP speak about cyber bullying, the financial institutions teaching people to deposit into their accounts from their phones, and a robotics demonstration. He added they would like to have a drone or two working at the event as well.

“It’s looking good,” Banman said, “There is good variety.”

There will also be displays at the school. Banman said they are still looking for more to fill up the area, and everyone will be doing some phoning to get a few more coming out. Although it is a tech day, not every display will be about technology per se. But as he said, all businesses use technology on some level.

One interesting aspect is the ‘Great Boissevain Find’, organized by the Adult Ed Centre. Carlisle said it was an idea based on the Amazing Race, and was indeed how they could “groove up the event.”

“We want people to travel all over Boissevain,” she explained, “to get involved in the businesses and education through using their iPhone.”

The idea is for participants in teams of four to use their smart phones to complete 11 tasks throughout the community. Carlisle said it will all start at 9am with TMSD tech leader Shawn Kleebaum helping teams go through the process, making sure they can use their phones for the competition, as they have to use Google docs to do tasks and store them. This alone helps to connect the event to education.

Then the teams will head out in the community. Carlisle said the ‘Find’ runs until 3:30 and is not really a race. In fact, teams can fit the event into the rest of their day, doing it when they are not attending work. She said the group went out and completed the tasks themselves and found it took two hours. Now, they knew where everything was but also had to make sure the whole situation worked. She feels some could be done in an hour.

Although she would not reveal where the locations were, Carlisle said it would be a fun time.

“There are some interesting ones. People will do interesting things at these locations, and then the next clue will be there. They will be travelling all over.”

She said they will have to know Boissevain, but there will be pamphlets available, and people will be around to help if they need support.

The hope is that they will be able to attract all different people to the event.

“It is all about helping one another,” Carlisle explained. “There is no age group, we really want a blend. There will be lots of sharing.”

Those who complete the race will be put into a draw for Fitbits. Each team costs $40 and people can register with Adult Ed. Carlisle said they are hoping to have 10-12 or more teams registered.

“It’s about getting to know Boissevain, getting to know what’s there. We want to get them out and get involved, to expand on the idea of lifelong learning.”

Banman said the overall Technology in Rural Communities day could appeal to anyone and everyone. These events are always weather dependent, but he would like to see 400-500 people show up.

The plan is for the tech day to alternate years with the senior’s day. Banman said it could be a very worthwhile event.

“Nowadays, you have grandchildren doing things you never dreamed of,” Banman stated. “It is about a learning process of finding ways to make people’s lives better. For us, it is expanding our base. Both this and the seniors’ day will need a couple of years to grow, to reach their potential.”

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff