Why the HECC Weren't You at WECC

By Jay Zipursky, VP External

I was not looking forward to WECC (the Western Engineering Conference and Competition). The timing couldn't have been much worse -- who can afford to take 5 days off in the middle of midterms and labs? Not to mention the time taken up by last minute organizing... It just seemed like a big waste of time.

However, I started to change my mind when we got to the Laural Point Inn, the site of the conference and our home for a few days. UVic had obviously picked a very nice spot to hold the conference -- it's right on the water and a few blocks away from the legislature buildings. It's a beautiful location.

Six of us went to WECC to represent SFU: Jeremy Coghill, Chris Sorensen, Erik Minty, Kaari Koehn, Peter Helland, and myself. Pete and I had to miss the first day and a half of the conference to our later regret. We missed some interesting tours which included Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt and the HMCS Regina, a new state-of-the-art Canadian patrol frigate (it even has the American Navy's collective jaw gaping). There was also a tour of IVL Technologies which uses some heavy duty DSP techniques to produce world class music products which they design and manufacture in Victoria.

On Friday there was the competition which was held at Eaton's Centre mall in downtown Victoria. Everyone in the Corporate Design and Entrepreneurial Design categories displayed their projects in the mall while they waited for their presentation slot. The mall was busy with shoppers, school kids, and anyone else who had heard about WECC and wanted to see more. The engineering profession and engineering students got some excellent exposure that day. I spent most of the day running from debate to debate as Erik Minty and I argued important resolutions like "Be it resolved that Canadian criminal trials should be televised" and "Be it resolved that St. Valentine's Day is a blatantly commercial holiday and should be banned." At least we didnÆt get the resolution "Be it resolved that Homer Simpson is the cultural icon of the Æ90s." That would have been a tough one to argue.

On Saturday there were two speakers, one on telecommuting and one on entrepreneurship from a recent grad's viewpoint. Both were informative and interesting. That evening, we had the awards banquet which featured some really good food, David Godfrey (creator of VisiCalc) as the keynote speaker, and, of course, the awards. Peter Helland won first place in Corporate Design, $600, and a trip to Edmonton for CEC (the Canadian Engineering Competition) for his presentation on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. Erik Minty won third place in Explanatory Communications and $200 for his talk on the Effectiveness of Power Line Proximity Warning Devices.

After that was the fourth and final hospitality suite. Every night there was a "social function" where the competitors and delegates could socialize and be entertained. UVic had arranged a live band for two of the nights, a karaoke machine, and of course.... refreshments. A good time (and little sleep) was had by all who attended.

All in all, we had a great time at WECC and I wonder why I was even hestitant to go. The UVic organizers received a ton of praise during the conference and it was all well deserved. They did an awesome job of organizing us, feeding us, and entertaining us.

So why werenÆt you competing at WECC? Pete and Erik both won money for giving what was essentially a work term oral report... Anyone could do that, right? After all, that is one of the things that the communications program prepares us for. So next year, when the VP External goes around soliciting interest, get interested because WECC is an opportunity no one should miss.

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