[Editor’s Note: We forgot to press “record” at the start of the webinar. Whoops! This is why it’s always better to join the live event. Our video and transcript join us about 10 minutes in, as we transition into the meat of the presentation.]

[Greg Boyd, SVP Revenue @ Uvaro] — [So, we have a] four-part model for how you would measure your data. It’s a four part model for how we run that execution: which means education, experience, advancement, and advice all stack on top of each other. 

They're integrated into a data structure that allows you to see and project what outcomes you're looking for. [And] these were the outcomes that Digital Super Cluster really handed to us, Claire and said, hey, this is what we're looking to drive from the program — fairly typical sorts of metrics. 

And we'll come back around to how these metrics are being manifested in the program today. [But] let's start with that education piece. 

So there's two main components — and Claire, I'm going to kind of bounce back and forth. So before we start, Claire, if you — I've mentioned your name a couple of times — if you could say hello, and quickly introduce yourself, that would be a great way to kick us off. 

And then we can maybe — maybe you can tell us what you're planning for your Valentine's Day celebrations? 

[Claire Kion, Director for Project and Program Delivery @ Digital Nova Scotia] — Okay! We're getting personal right off the bat!

[Greg] — I think it's a good way to do it. It breaks it up nicely. 

[Claire] — Awesome. Hi, everyone. My name is Claire Kion. I'm the director of Project and program delivery at Digital Nova Scotia. I've been here about three years. I started on the marketing side, but I've been on projects for about two and a half of those years and am loving it. 

I’m really excited about our partnership with Uvaro. Like Greg mentioned, that kicked off in, I think June? It was a pretty quick turnaround and [we got] approval on the project in July. So we kind of hit the ground running and haven't stopped, but we love to see it. 

And yeah, my Valentine's day plans. Oh, we went for dinner. I went for dinner last night, but tonight I'm packing because I am going to Cuba at 3 a.m. So that's a pretty good way to celebrate. 

[Greg] — I'm having this experience, where unfortunately everybody who I'm speaking to, it feels like is going on a trip. And so just adding this to the list of pain, because I'm not going too.

[Claire] — I'm so sorry, I won't talk about it anymore

[Greg] — We appreciate you being here on the day before you step out. 

[Claire] — Thank you.

[Greg] — But let's talk about the way that this education program was structured because we admitted members. Nova Scotia launched the promotion of the programming to your membership and said, hey, here's this new offering that we're going to push out.

This is a look at some of those different courses were that were offered. So Uvaro's focus is enablement specifically for the tech sector, customer facing roles like sales, customer success, account management, sort of roles. So we went in saying this Tech Sales: Agile is the primary program to complete.

But through the course of that program, you know, you can do these other courses, you have access to that full suite of courses, and you couldn't possibly do them all in a year, but they're all available to those individuals. 

And then there is also this component of just office hours and having employers come and join those office hours on a weekly basis. So you had this environment where people had a course that they were prescribed to take, and then there was access to a whole bunch of other content.

So Claire, this is how we did it in our program, but I know this isn't the only program you run. So maybe can you give some context on how do you typically structure different programs you're offering in terms of, you know, how long do they run for? What are the types of topics that you typically offer in some of those programs? 

[Claire] — Yeah. So there is a lot of variance, I would say, in our upskilling and career building programs and it really depends on a few things, but [a big one is] the level that we're training people for. We have programs that are super, super high level, and for people who know nothing about the tech industry, and they're just looking to learn. And from there, they know they can then take a more prescriptive course. 

So the goal of that one is for them to continue their learning. Then we have ones who are much more advanced for training, for specific roles or the outcome ideally is to be employed in one of those roles. So it kind of depends on the depth of the program. 

I would say a sweet spot is that 10 to 12 week mark for sure. And because we only work with adult education, creating a schedule that's flexible and is asynchronous, with the option and availability of instructors — whether that's teaching assistants or industry members — having that as an option or office hours in this case is critical, but we do have it. Flexibility is huge for adult education. 

So that's one of our biggest learnings over the years: Everyone has different lives and different responsibilities. So being conscious of that, and being flexible in the delivery and the expectations, the outcomes we expect from the students as well. 

I'm also being really clear upfront on what are the learning outcomes, what we require for them to graduate the course, etc. Because some people need to plan ahead, you know, so they need to know what they're getting into and that they're going to make sure that whoever is in the program really wants to be there, and knows what's expected of them, and you can find great success. 

So, yeah, we have all sorts. But I will say to date, all of our programs have been technical focused because we're the Industry association for the ICT sector in Nova Scotia. Everything we do is around tech and around the digital sector. So all of our training has been quite technicalL Cybersecurity analyst, data analytics, web development. 

And we noticed a gap in the way that there's a whole other side of the tech world: that customer facing side. So it's wonderful to be pumping out all these technical workers. But there's a whole area that we felt like we weren't touching at all. So that's kind of where the inspiration for Tech Sales Plus came.

We had all these other programs that already existed, and we can use that as a pipeline. So say, hey, you have these new technical skills which is great, but maybe you don't want to be a developer or an analyst. Like how can you apply that knowledge in the tech space in a different way here? And here are a bunch of jobs where you can do that, and a lot of people just didn't know they existed. So a lot of it was an awareness piece. 

That really makes Tech Sales Plus unique to Digital Nova Scotia. We've never run a program quite like this. 

[Greg] — That’s actually helpful context too, I think. To say you position yourselves as the place to go to access this industry, but then you have different partners that you can lean on to specialize in different types of training in different areas. 

[Claire] — Totally.

[Greg] — When you think about this program specifically — because I think when we came in, five days a week was sort of our foundation the way we had run things in the past, and I think we had some good discussion, to find a way to build a program that would work for your audience — What are some of the things that you think have worked well about how we structured this education component, the training component of our programming? 

[Claire] — I think it was a good combination of flexibility, the asynchronous piece. But also having really regular touch points and the instructors from Uvaro have been super engaged. So I think both sides, all partners have been really equally engaged, which makes a really big difference in a partnership. We don't run a single program just on our own. We partner with everything we do. Our strength is in our partnership. So that makes a big difference. 

So for this, in particular, I think that that was really a big takeaway for us. I also feel like there was a really big emphasis on creating a community and that was a lot of, I think the conversations we had at the beginning — we looked at those metrics and kind of thought like, why are we doing this? What are we trying to do, who are we trying to get employed? Why? Let's dig into that? Let's dissect all these metrics. Why should people care? How are we going to do that? And then I feel like there's a really equal spread of accountability as well. So it's like we really played into each other's strengths of: Okay Uvaro, this is your wheelhouse, that's what you're going to focus on. And DNS, this is where you can bring value. And I think that having those conversations from the very beginning really gave us a lot of focus in structuring this program. 

[Greg] — Yeah, I would agree. I think that one of the things I remember from early conversations was just the intake criteria and the management, sharing information about who was signing up and what their experience was that they were bringing to the table, that we could then have in our systems, to start to build those skill profiles for the individuals. And I think that the willingness you had to share that data, and for us to collaborate around some of that data, was helpful. 

[Claire] — Yeah. It was a lot of data. But that’s how you make the best decisions. 

[Greg] — Yes! And then lastly, you talked a little bit about some adult education principles before. If you could imagine the best structure for a program, what might that look like? And when I say program, I'm really focused on this training component. If you could imagine, what would that ideal program look like?

[Claire] — Definitely, I'm going to go back to the flexibility part. I think though it needs to have actual applications of the learning. Theory is great and it's important. But we've seen the most success in actually giving participants the opportunity to apply that learning. So whether that's as simple as quizzes or project assignments, that's where you can really see how people are trending. 

If you do those early on, you can see who needs a little more support and in what areas. So that allows us to also be better program facilitators. And we're tracking closely with all the different student journeys to say, “oh, they seem to be falling behind,” or we can find trends as well. It's like if everyone is confused by week four, then perhaps we need to have a conversation about the curriculum leading up to that point or during that week. 

So, definitely a lot of tracking, a lot of measures, and ways to measure engagement. So whether that's having sessions that we invite them to attend, we can see how engaged people are. We like to track if there's certain content, that they're supposed to be consuming, tracking how engaged are they with the content. Are they all watching the videos every week or are only 10%? 

You know, any way we can track engagement is going to give us really helpful metrics. And then I think honestly, beyond course applications, I would say any type of engagement you can have with industry. So bringing industry into the course, that gives people a lot of confidence. 

It's much scarier to walk outside and go knock on a door and ask for an interview, or be in their space. But if you bring industry into our space, it feels more familiar. And I think less intimidating, and those types of opportunities build confidence and also create connections: They might have a conversation that leads to something outside the course. Ideally they do, right? 

So the more times we can do that and also give them opportunities to do any sort of real life application, [the better]. Like with Uvaro in the fall, we did a pitch competition, which was amazing to watch. So all of the theory that they had learned, they had to now do a sales pitch in front of their classmates. And it was amazing. They did it so great. 

So it's something like that, or a hackathon, any kind of fun gamified way, that's going to help them apply their skills. It's going to help them understand what it could be like, which is what we want. 

[Greg] — I love it. I think that serving that structure, the design, this idea of — and it applies to adult education just generally — flexibility in the design of the program, so that individuals can come to the live session, see the recording, access the materials on their own. 

I think the measures of engagement was a key piece where we can actually assess and evaluate “how engaged is an individual” and then intervene and send messages out. And we did a lot of that, where we're losing people. It's week four. Where did these six people go? And for us, that's something that we're fairly used to. It felt like we had a great partnership in collaborating, to reach out and try to drive that engagement. I think this format of having a longer term collaboration made that possible, to figure out, where do we go from here? 

And then the third thing you said, of involving industry. I think it's a really nice dovetail into the place we're going to go next, but involving industry, and we'll speak about that actually, in a little bit more detail, of how we structured some of that programming and this experience component of the program. 

Because I think, bringing it back, it doesn't end with the skill building, to your point. There's this need for there to be application and feedback and validation. And I can speak for me personally, and I'm sure for you as well — I’m actually curious to hear your experience. And that's for me personally, my career started with working a part time job, meeting somebody. I was selling bikes and I met somebody who said, what are your plans for the summer? And that led to a conversation in there. I had a co-op term. It was a chance interaction that opened the door. 

I'm not sure if you had a similar sort of experience, that network that needs to open to you? Do you have something like that?

[Claire] — Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have got my first job after university if it wasn't for one of my professors who made an introduction for me, just to be a nice guy, and I had a job offer in my hand by the end of it. So that totally was all about connections. And I think the point of co-ops is a really good one. At DNS, we're very passionate about our co-op students. We always have 3 to 4 co-op students at all times. But it's in this day and age, and I didn't do the co-op program when I did my undergrad — I wish I had. But it feels like it's to a point now where you have to do co-op to be noticed, because people are really seeing the value in that work experience, [that] learning while working and then going back to a little bit more of the education, and then you have small pockets of experience, and then back to the classroom, and experiencing back to the classroom. And that's so great and I absolutely see the value here at DNS. 

So as adults, or people who don't take a traditional education path, how are they getting that opportunity? So I think this is a great way, like in this conversation, of giving them experiences. Of course, not a full co-op term, you know, but it's still giving them similar opportunities where they can apply their learnings and create industry connections and then ideally, gain that confidence, and prove their worth: That you can employ amazing people who have very diverse backgrounds that aren't maybe traditional. But it can get people's foot in the door for sure. Which is huge. 

[Greg] Yeah! I think, to go back to something we were talking about, you had that experience with your professor, which is amazing. But that required somebody building a bridge, right? Providing that connection for you because those systems are typically so disconnected. I was a co-op student myself before I started my career where you can bring those things together. And I think that's really what this program was really designed to do as well. And you already mentioned a couple of them, but I'll touch on a couple of the things that we did in the program and then I'd love to just dig on this a little bit, but the pitch showcase. 

And so we got Jackie, who just did an incredible job. Uvaro has been running different types of pitch competitions for years, since we started, and this program produced the best caliber of — no offense: if we have any members watching, you were all great — but truly, everyone just showed up, the engagement was so high and it was an incredible way for them to pitch. And you brought your employer partners

[Claire] — We had, the judges, were all employers in our network. So that was really nice because it provided a point of contact for for the students, and they were able to share like real life feedback on if this was, you know, in my boardroom. What would I say to you? Which is really great. 

[Greg] — Yeah, absolutely. So Toya, I think you've been catching some of the questions as well, but I just wanted to flag, for anyone who's watching as we're discussing. We've got some questions that we're going to hit on. If you have any others that you are thinking about or that come up that you want to interject with, down in the bottom right corner of your screen, as a reminder, there's a triangle square and circle. Click on that icon and there's a way for you to submit questions as well. So we welcome you to do that as we're going through the conversation in case anything tweaks your interest or sounds familiar or you would like more detail on how some of these programs were executed. 

But there's the pitch showcase, Claire. And then as you mentioned as well, the employer engagement. So bringing employers in to participate in class. One that I was excited about in particular, we actually had a sales recruiter from a recruitment agency come and run interview practice. So, hey, our job is to help people get hired. And I think they took some people into their network and shared those out to their network as a way to help. And just for them, bringing talent forward was a great way to recommend them. 

And then the last one that we're very excited about is, having just launched the collaboration with Riipen. And Riipen is this way to take the experience — that you're learning, as a student, or as a member of this program — and we create this experience for you. And then there's a network of 30,000 companies that Riipen has in their platform where they're looking for work to be done. So we can actually offer that real life and real world experience where members in the program are actually doing some work and getting that experience on their resume as it goes to the program. And we're excited about that. I think you're pretty excited about that as well. 

[Claire] — Super excited about that. And you know, you were the one to bring Riipen forward. And we were pumped about that because like I said earlier, we rely so heavily on our partnerships. And I think that as the industry association, that's innate to how we think. I think maybe some other organizations, maybe it doesn't come as naturally, but we want to slice that pie, as much as it makes sense, and really lean on each other's strengths. 

So, for you to recommend Riipen, which was new to our network, was amazing and they're doing really cool things. So I'm really glad that they're on our radar now as well. 

[Greg] — Totally. And we're thrilled to be including them. And back to that idea of needing different delivery partners: They do such a tremendous job of filling that experience piece in. So there's things we can do, but I think they just take it to a whole different level and we're excited about that. 

But broadly speaking, you brought an audience population to this program, but you did more than that. So how do you work with a network of employers today? If you were to look to provide experience to people in your programming, how do you work with employers today?

[Claire] — In a ton of different ways! We are completely industry led. So just thinking, first step, when we come up with a program idea, that is because we have collected data, and we've heard from the people in our network, in our membership base, that there's a need. So I think that's one of the most important things in how we work with employers and how we work with industry, is that they very much lead what we execute on. 

Because we're not going to be training people for things that they aren't hiring for, or for things that are so last year that no one's talking about. You know, they're the experts. So that's a big thing. And that's one of the reasons that Tech Sales Plus came, because we were told and we learned that there's a gap here. So we were like, ok, well, let's find the right people so we can fix this. 

So that's a big way, depending on the type of programming. And we have all sorts of programming, whether that's research programs, digital adoption, we involve the industry in everything we do. But when it comes to learning, there's a lot of interesting ways that they can engage. They can come into classrooms, you mentioned some of that, give presentations, we have panels where people can learn and get a better sense of what is actually happening in the industry. We have mentorship, that's a big one. So we offer group mentorship or one on one mentorship. And ideally, you know, that carries on beyond the program. We actually, when we first launched our most recent iteration of our mentorship program, almost immediately the industry mentors gave us some feedback that they wanted more time, to do more mentoring. Because we only had, you know, like, oh, you can maybe just give a couple hours, we're very grateful. And immediately they're like, can I do more? We're like, of course!

So you know, so they want to be involved. I think people would be surprised. And just because I think it can be discouraging with some labor attachment programming, that “if it gets people jobs” is one of the hardest metrics to meet. So I think sometimes it can be discouraging because it might feel like no one's hiring, but just because they're not hiring right now doesn't mean that them mentoring that person for three months, that they might not have an opening at that point. 

It's like you're building a pipeline, essentially, you're building a community, you're building relationships. So that's a big one. What else? I mean, they judge our hackathons, pitch competitions. We have virtual job fairs as well, that I know the students in this program attended.

So if they actually are hiring — or even, some of them will attend and just host mock interviews, which is still a great experience. So yeah, all sorts of ways that we're engaging with them. 

[Greg] — So, yeah, I'm hearing, similarly as before, I think opening the door to a network of employers. So go to industry, just make it available to them. And it sounds like, in this case, it's not that you're surprised, but you created opportunities and industry responded. So just open the door, find ways for employers to get involved, just have them show up to class, as simple as that in some cases. 

The second is just create opportunities for real world experience, [have] partners or collaborators like Riipen embedded in a program, or even those pitch competitions, having people do the work, and having industry represented in that. 

And then I'm taking from it as well — Just ask the employers: How do they want to be involved? How do they want to be engaged? And I think it's surprising how willing they are to give their time, give their resources, because this is a way for employers to start to see and get access to talent as well. 

[Claire] — Totally. And you know, even when it comes to the local community, we've also seen a lot of success. And big conferences that are relevant to whatever the participants are learning in the program, are more than willing to give out tickets. So we can bring 40 students with us to this cybersecurity conference, where there’s actually 100 booths of cybersecurity companies who are hiring. So there's a lot of opportunities out there, if you get creative.

I feel like the long game is what you have to get your head around. You're not going to get all these people jobs tomorrow. What can you lay the groundwork for, and how can you build that pipeline? And industry is a key part of that, engaging them in all different ways. 

[Greg] — So you did it again, Claire and I appreciate that because we're getting to this part of our program now, actually: This idea that there's people who have progressed through that original programming, they're now getting to this place where, you know, what's the next course I can take? And how can I continue my mentorship and engagement? Because it isn't a “12 weeks, and you're done, and we hope for the best.” It's “let's get you in, let's continue to offer that support” and through the collaboration of what we offer, what can we make available to Digital Nova Scotia. 

There's job supports or job search supports. There is the opportunity to engage with coaches and attend additional workshops. The job fairs that Digital Nova Scotia has provided along the way. I think that there has also been this introduction of the office hour workshop format, and letting people get advice and ask questions. “I've been hired, but now what?” And we've got a real interesting type of engagement, where people are hired but continuing to engage in that community, which has been an interesting thing to see and to learn. 

So, I mean, this is really just starting now, but I want to ask you, with how we've approached this program and having that long tail approach, what are you hearing about this type of support? And what are you hearing from the members about this level of support and how it's working?

[Claire] — I mean, I think it's important to recognize, and I know that we're hearing this from our industry members, is that learning doesn't stop the moment you get the offer letter. I think that can sometimes be tough, with programs that are funded, because, you know, we're getting funding for 12 months, 18 months and then the tap is closed and the money's gone. So then it's, how do you create something that continues to self sustain?

So I think this culture around continuing to learn is really important. The idea of giving them access, creating those mentorships early on, that they can ideally carry into their career. If you even think about it from a personal level, like I have friends who are kind of like my business friends, you know? Like my friends that I talk to about work. So I go to them all the time for things that I'm looking to learn or for advice, and not everyone is lucky enough to have that or form that on their own. 

So this creates their own community for them to do that. And to continue to learn and to lean on each other, and ideally, to access other opportunities. So industry I think has very much recognized that and appreciates that, because we don't just want to get these people jobs to check the box. Like, we want retention. 

So by continuing to support them or provide them with access to supports, it’s going to lead to retention, otherwise they're going to get hired but then not pass a probation period, which is not what we're trying to do here at all. 

[Greg] — Right? It makes it look like you hit the metric, but that doesn't lead to the benefit. 

[Claire] — No, no. And I think, if you also consider people are so different, especially if you look at the metrics. You know, I think it was 91% of the students in our Tech Sales Plus program identified with an underrepresented community. So especially if they're New Canadians, they have completely different experiences and needs. [Whereas] someone who was born and grew up here, has natural connections because, you know, they've spent 30 years of their life here! 

So everyone has these unique needs. The more infrastructure you can help build around them, the more successful they're going to be in their career. 

[Greg] — When you look at having these advancement and advice components — so sure, we deliver a 12 week program, sure we start to offer these industry connections — but now there's an additional layer of support: What confidence does this give you in terms of the outcomes that you see us being able to drive and report back to [Digital] Supercluster, who is really just looking for those outcomes at the end of the day? What kind of confidence do you have in this approach?

[Claire] — It gives me a ton of confidence. Because like I said, it's more intentional and I think there's more strategy behind it, and I think that comes back a lot to one of the first exercises we did as partners, [which was to] look at those metrics and be like, OK, what does this mean to get these people jobs? What's the actual value there? What does that look like? Because we didn't want to just check boxes. 

So, I think throughout the program, we've been very intentional. It gives me a lot of confidence that [while] it may be a little bit of a longer journey — maybe at the end of the 10 week program, not everyone has a job right away — but I feel more confident that by the end of the year, we're going to net out with more success stories than we would if we were just trying to push people into things that they weren't ready for and not provide them with the right support. 

[Greg] — Perfect! So that actually gets us to a sort of a natural conclusion of what we promised at the beginning, which is just a walk through of where we're at today and where we anticipate that we will be. And I’ll call and commentate a bit, but do you mind just walking through some of those metrics that we have and where we're sitting today? 

[Claire] — Yeah, sure. 

[Greg] — So I'll play through, but I’ll leave it to you to walk through. This is where we were originally. So we take us through what some of the original asks were from [Digital] Supercluster in the program. 

[Claire] — Yeah. So this is essentially what was in the agreement:

● 100 people accept our offer to participate

● 70% of those identified as underserved

So we then we have some [metrics] around completing training. So a big discussion we had, a big one, was scale. Like what does that mean to complete? Like at what point? How do we measure value there and who deserves to be counted as completed versus not? Where are they getting benefit and when? 

● 60 are hired as a result of the program, or they choose to continue their education. 

● And then program champions. 

So that's an initiative that Digital Nova Scotia does. Those are essentially industry members, employers who sign up to be a program champion and to engage in our programs, in a lot of the ways that I previously mentioned.

● 25% of students access mentorship.

● We provide at least three industry events for them to engage in. 

● And then half of them engage in Uvaro’s job platform. 

So that's kind of what we were working with, that was in the bare bones. 

[Greg] — And this takes us to [Enrollment Statistics]. Because what we saw at the outset of the program in terms of applications, [versus] where we're sitting today. 

[Claire] — So yes, we were like 94% over-subscribed for the applications, which is great because it was a brand new program. Like I said, nothing like we've done before, and I think we only had like a week and a half, two weeks, to advertise and execute. So it's a very quick turnaround. So we were really happy with that engagement. 

We kind of over-accepted, understanding that usually within the first two or three weeks there’s some natural attrition. We definitely exceeded our underserved community metric. And that's not surprising. That is a trend that we see in a lot of our career building programs, because as I'm sure people are aware, you know, [people] come to Canada with degrees and they're quite overqualified [but] they can't land jobs in their field. This is something that we see in a lot of our programming. 

So we have 100 still in, in various levels in the program. They all started in the tech sales foundation program, but some chose to pursue other paths. So that's the account management course, customer success [course], [etc.]. I know a lot of them participated in your career foundations…

[Greg] — Career success course. Yeah.

[Claire] — Yeah. Which is great. And that talks, that teaches them all sorts of skills about, you know, building a resume, building an online presence, etc., to be successful in the job hunt. And then we have of course a natural attrition of people dropping out. And whenever that would happen, we always make sure to send follow up surveys for early exits to find out why, because sometimes it's completely out of our control. Like I said, you know, everyone has lives. 

But if it's something that we should know about, if we're starting to see a certain amount of attrition, like we wanna make sure that we're asking why. Yeah, so we have 87% are actively engaged in our training, meaning they're active in the Slack group, they're active in their coursework. 

70% access mentorship, which is amazing. So clearly, they're seeing a lot of value there. And like Greg said, this goes until the end of August. We've already seen 44% engage in either getting new jobs or engaging in continued education, which is wonderful. 

And then these are our program champion metrics. We've involved them in all sorts of ways, as I mentioned, and the work integrated learning piece just kicked off with Riipen. So that's very exciting to see the ultimate outcomes from that part of the program. We're piloting with the first eight students to see how it goes. 

Some industry events, the job fair, the pitch competition, and 100% of them access the job platform. So obviously there's some good stuff on there that they're checking out. 

[Greg] — And I think the point that you raise is we're sitting at a spot where we're less than halfway through the program right now. And so we have more than six months left to go to get to some of those key outcomes reporting in. In April, where we're going to want to put our best foot forward. But to that point, where we started, these are the level two and three metrics where we can start to see and be proactive and say, okay, do we need to admit some more people to the program to make sure we get to the right level? Do we, is there a different profile or is it people that we need to re-engage? It isn't something that was launched and then we're crossing our fingers and hoping we are sitting at this place where we're again at 45% over at the [end of the] program. 

I’m confident in the metrics we have today, I'm proud of that, but know that we have an opportunity to drive even more impact. And I think that has us feeling excited, and feeling like the collaboration seems to be working. 

[Claire] — I agree. And I think because we were so clear and drilled so deep into the metrics and how we're going to get there, it's allowed us to be really agile. Because the whole idea—and this is honestly something that Uvaro really brought to the table—of seeing [and] catching onto those trends before it's a problem, that has made a big difference. Because we'll pivot before we're in a situation, so we can make small tweaks and changes as we go. Because we're seeing the trends, it also makes it great for reporting, because the reporting dates might not always line up with the actual end of the program, right? Like we have to report on this by March 31st, but it goes until August. So we can even report on “it’s trending this way,” which is still providing value to the funder. More than just saying we don't know yet. 

So it's allowed us to be flexible, agile, which provides value for the participants, but also to the funders as well. 

[Greg] — Absolutely. And I think that that's how we feel. I think we show up for our meetings and we don't like, shudder at the thought of getting on to another DNS call. We show up and we both feel that sense of control, like we're empowered to make an impact. And I think that that long tail approach, the stacking of the metrics, is giving us that approach that I think is highly impactful.

Thank you for just taking the time to walk through some of this because I think it brings it to life in a way that we're proud of, but it's not our story. It really is a shared story. It's a Digital Supercluster story. It's also one that everyone here and as part of this conversation can engage in because it's an approach to take to solve an industry challenge, get people employed and have a real impact. 

Thank you for sharing and just being open to the conversation. And we can have more of these, too. 

[Claire] — Yeah, thanks for having me. 

[Greg] — I'm going to move into wrapping things up a little bit, and we had a question or two come in. We'll address the questions that came in that we were not able to speak to or we didn't cover in the natural flow as part of a follow up. So thank you for contributing those. The one question that is explicitly asked is if you're looking for an opportunity to engage or get industry involved too, if you're attending this and you have a hiring need. Please at the end of the message you'll see a link, reach out to us and then likely Uvaro will take point on making that connection. But we can also facilitate those connections through our partners Digital Nova Scotia. 

[Claire] — Yeah. Anyone hiring, let us know that!

[Greg] — That is what we're here for!

[Claire] — [We have] a lot of great people who would be wonderful. 

[Greg] — All right, Claire. We're almost there. We're almost within the hour. You're almost off to the airport. You’re almost at the airport behind you to catch your flight. But a couple of things just before we wrap up, this is for all of you in the afternoon. You can wake up for the last home stretch to your day after the session, but we appreciate you staying with us and enjoying the conversation. 

Key takeaways for today: First, the programs that we're building — more than anything else, if there's nothing that you take away from the program besides the model and then that four step framework for building the programs — the thing you can do right away is, as Claire talked about, open the door to employers, create opportunities to get real experience for the people that are in your programs, and ask industry how they want to get involved, and you can close that experience education gap and drive real impact for the program. Because at the end of the day, we are looking to drive industry, or drive impact to industry. 

Second — Claire, we timed this perfectly. We're naturally landing the plane and coming to a good spot, so pretty well done. 

[Claire] — Beautiful! It’s a good thing.

[Greg] — And then finally, this is a story. It's one that we're proud of. We're involved in other programs like this. We're seeking to work with more partners. And Digital Nova Scotia is looking to engage in more programs and we hope we can do more with them. But for anyone here who is listening and is interested, we'd love to collaborate with you. If it's regional and we can work with DNS and loop them into a program, great. If it's one that you do with us directly, great. But we're all in this together trying to solve that challenge. 

So where you go next, for those of you tuning in depends on where you sit. If you happen to be part of a funding organization, or funding group we're looking to, and you're intrigued, you want to learn more? And how could we take this approach as a funding provider? And create opportunities to work with you? We'd love to talk more about what are the programs you have upcoming? What are those areas of interest you're looking to support, because there's a whole range of programming that can be offered. And especially if it's available on the East Coast, it's an opportunity to get Digital Nova Scotia engaged. 

We're collaborating with DNS and another Ontario based group for a new proposal or new program in 2024. And if you are an audience holder, so somebody who's got an audience or population you're serving, we’d love to speak to you more about what kinds of needs those groups have, and how we may be able to support in this long tail approach. 

And finally, as a delivery expert, you're going to fit into one of these four categories. On some of these programs, we cover all of it as Uvaro. But as we look to larger more ambitious programs, we're looking to collaborate with partners who can fill gaps along this way, bring specific expertise, like Riipen does on the experience vein. 

So if you're a delivery partner who's looking to drive collaboration on the programs, please reach out to us. We'll be following up with you after this session to talk about how we might be able to partner and collaborate. Because at the end of the day, we can't do it alone. We need to work together on it. We will be in touch with you! 

We thank you for joining us on this beautiful Valentine's Day. We hope your lives are full of kindness and love today. The way the kids talked about it in the house this morning, as they were going off to school, is today is Kindness Day. And if nothing else, if you have a day that feels a little bit of kindness, that's what we would certainly hope for you on Valentine's Day. 

We have another session that we are writing/running with our friends from Riipen in a couple of weeks. And if you'd like to hear more about closing that experience and education gap, please join us for that and we will be reaching out to invite you to that as well. 

Just as a final closing — Claire! Thank you for being here. Thank you for being such a wonderful partner. We will miss you while you're gone for the next week. And we look forward to speaking with you upon your return. Thank you for today.

[Claire] — I appreciate it. Thanks for the invite! 

[Greg] — Awesome. Thanks so much, everyone. Thank you, Toya. Thank you team. We'll see you all again very soon.

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