For ISA Hamilton, this past year was a challenging year due to the current covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully we had a core group of dedicated section members and boards members who continued to contribute despite us not being able to run in-person events. At various times in the year, our various leaders took turns in leading the section. Each of us in leadership positions had many requests made of us during the pandemic, so we were glad to be able to stick together a sa team.
In addition to our own online events, we sent invites to our members to attend the other D13 Section events as they came up, such as the one we co-hosted with Montreal a few months ago. In December, we organized a presentation by a few professors from McMaster University around online teaching and collaboration tools and methodology. We also held our AGM on May 19, 2021, where Rich Wubs from Swagelok gave a technical presentation. We were encouraged by having a few newer faces (including Rich) in attendance who had some interest in engaging with the Section leadership in the future.
Just like many other organizations, the year 2020 was all about making it through the year, as all of us were very challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that up until just 2 weeks ago, the entire province was under a very strict stay-at-home order, where all services except grocery and pharmacy were closed to the public and we were prohibited from gathering with others in any way for social reasons, even outdoor activities such as golf were prohibited.
Some good did come from our past years of operations. We got very good at using remote meeting tools like WebEx, Zoom and MS Teams. We came together as a group, and we were able to reach out to new members. We also got some new ideas in terms of how to better leverage our email mailing list, ISA Connect, our website and other resources.
I firmly believe that as the economy begins to reopen here in Ontario over the summer, we will be much better positioned to re-engage with our local members and automation community. We are nearing the final stretch, and us being able to stick together during this lengthy covid-19 pandemic emergency, has been a testament to mutual interests in automation.
We were very much looking forward to upcoming 2021/2022 year.
Warmest Regards,
Brent Killins
2020-2021 President
ISA Hamilton Section