CALM / Labour Tech Conference 2010
This year, the annual CALM conference is in Windsor, Ontario, May 13 to 16. CALM and LabourTech have joined forces. You can go to the CALM conference or to the LabourTech conference. Or better yet, go to both. Download conference brochure.

CALM helps labour communicators build skills
CALM holds at least one training conference a year, usually in the spring. For two tiring days, editors attend hands-on workshops to acquire new skills or improve on what they already know. Writing, editing, photography, design, communications, desktop publishing and creating web pages are some of the topics taught by seasoned labour communicators.

Beginners go through a special new editors course, in which they learn how to do a newsletter by producing one during the conference.

Participants attend four three-hour workshops. Class size is small to promote learning. The conference is usually held at a university so that classes have access to computer labs. And CALM conferences are always a source of new ideas. Non-members are welcome to attend CALM conferences.

CALM Conference 2009
In 2009, the CALM conference was in Saskatoon. If you are interested in the calibre of presenters, here are some brief instructor biographies from that year.

Workshop Leaders
2009 CALM conference workshop leaders

Rosemarie Bahr has been the CALM editor for the past decade and a bit. She has edited countless union publications and political leaflets and once even judged graphic awards (for the UAW, not CALM). She has a fairly extensive collection of word, grammar and headline goofs.

Cara Banks is the communications and research officer at the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and a vice-president of CALM. She has been designing and delivering union courses using popular education for most of her 10 years at the SFL. Her favourite place to teach is at the Prairie School for Union Women.

Peter D. Birt is the manager of communications and government relations for the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) in Toronto, Ontario. He was the head of communications and IT for the national office of the United Steelworkers and has been a senior communicator with one of Canada's top five banks, the Ontario government, a work-health research centre and an international charity.

Derek Blackadder is a national representative with CUPE and senior correspondent for LabourStart.org in Canada. He has been playing and working with computer-based communications for unions since the 1980s and looks it.

Sue Dafoe is a newly hired communications officer for OPSEU in Toronto, but is no stranger to communication. Sue is responsible for media relations, and press releases for the union.

Trish Elliott is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Regina. She has a background in investigative magazine journalism, as well as labour movement experience with the Saskatchewan International Labour Program and SGEU.

Don Ford has been a communications officer with OPSEU for the last ten years, a job that he says is never the same two days in a row. When he isn’t playing golf or woodworking, he spends most of his time trying to proofread his own writing. “I have no respect for a person who can only spell a word one way,” he says.

Peter Garden is a community activist and progressive bookstore owner. He has been active in the production and distribution of independent media in audio, print, and video formats through his work with Making the Links Radio and Turning the Tide Bookstore in Saskatoon.

Mike Gauthier is past editor of CAW 199 News and works in the communications department at GM St. Catharines. Starting with film cameras and darkrooms at a young age, he embraced electronic photography with passion and now shoots exclusively digital. Mike says, “Photography for me is a work in progress. Whether film or digital, darkrooms or computers, creating the perfect image is as much about lighting as composition. Thankfully, what’s missed in the camera can often be found in Photoshop. Being familiar with both helps us create dynamic and memorable images.”

Larry Hubich is president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. A long time trade unionist and social activist, Larry was a staff representative with the Grain Services Union for 20 years. Larry grew up in small town Saskatchewan. He represents Saskatchewan workers on both the provincial and national scene by participating with many unions and numerous organizations.

Don Kossick is producer of Making the Links Radio, which airs on community radio and web radio. Don is directly involved in film and video production with a particular interest in short documentaries. He recently co-produced Station 20 West the Dream Continues about community organizing. Don believes strongly in the power of people to shape their own stories though their own media.

Chris Lawson is a communications officer with CUPE in Ottawa where he is responsible for the union’s website. He put together his first website in 1996. No, you can’t see it.

Gord Lechner is the director of the B.C. Federation of Labour Health & Safety Centre. In 1995, he developed one of the first local union web sites in Canada and subsequently developed a “building your local union web page” workshop for use at labour communications conferences across Canada.

Sally Leitch has been CALM’s associate editor and web expert for more than 10 years. She studied journalism at Ryerson and has worked with politicians and with wood.

Doreen Meyer works for CUPE National in Ottawa. As a communications officer, she edits, writes and helps coordinate projects for national departments and branches. A Winnipegger by birth and a prairie person by heart, Doreen still can't believe she lives east of Toronto.

Dave Oswald Mitchell is a social justice activist with a healthy respect for the power of words and images to inspire action. He is the editor of Briarpatch Magazine, a leading progressive voice in the Canadian independent media movement, and a proud member of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Local 568.

Adriane Paavo is the education officer for the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union. She has designed and delivered union learning that incorporates popular education principles for several years. Adriane has also worked as a union staff representative, an international solidarity program co-ordinator, and was editor of Briarpatch magazine for three Devine years.

Marcel Petit is a independent producer, filmmaker and photographer from Saskatoon. Marcel released his first feature documentary in 2008 and had his first photo exhibit in 2009 and looks forward to many more firsts and projects.

Frank Saptel is a communications trainer with the Machinists Union, teaching members about websites, newsletters, body language and media. He is active in the social justice movement and has published two books of poetry. He is currently organizing the Canadian International Labour Film Festival (CLiFF) labourfilms.ca

Joe Sarnovsky is the communications director for CAW Local 222 in Oshawa. For the past 10 years, Joe has been the editor of the local’s monthly, the Oshaworker. Joe has proudly served on the CALM executive for the past three years

Beth Smillie is the CUPE communications rep in Saskatchewan. She’s based in Saskatoon.

Dan Tatroff is a communications officer at the BC Nurses Union. Since graduating from Ryerson's journalism program in the 1980s, he worked for several magazines as a fact checker, writer, assistant editor and editor. After spending several years as a struggling freelancer in Vancouver, he began working for BCNU in 1995 and is now the editor of Update magazine.

Debbie Wilson is a freelance graphic artist and cartoonist who lives in Guelph. She has been involved with CALM since the early 90s and has worked with a variety of unions across Canada designing everything from billboards and picket sign graphics to t-shirts