The first speakers for the afternoon were Scott Carson and Brad Zakreski from Storm Applied Technologies. It was pretty funny since I'm pretty sure I took a few classes with Brad back in the day at university. The focus of their speech was an overview of the process they went to create the Eco-Party Dragon Boat tours of Wascana Lake. Then, they had the balls to do a SWOT analysis of Saskatchewan with a ton of cabinet members in the audience - I was pretty impressed with that.

The second speaker was Jason Louttit, who was in all honesty either not a great speaker or wasn't good at coming up with material for this summit. Maybe it's just the fact that I just finished watching an episode of Bullshit! about self-help and motivational speakers, but he managed to talk for 15 minutes about pretty much nothing.

Once the speakers were finished, we went through the results of our sessions with the two ladies from the morning. I typed fast and furiously to document what they put on the screen but honestly I couldn't keep up so I don't have all the information - read at your own risk because all mistakes are mine. They will be posting a report on the website once they compile all the information so you don't have to rely on my bad typing, but I thought it was important to get it up here to get you folks thinking about what went on and maybe motivate you to participate in any future activities that come out of this.

• Let's see what we've done ....
• Here is a SAMPLE of the dialogue...
• Since we have a collective responsibility to achieve RESULTS from today's dialogue, think of how you could contribute to making these recommendations come alive in the area you know best ...
• Youth Friendly Work Places
  • Group Statement: Provide flexible benefits for today's young workers
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • advertise flexible options offered through engaging current employees
    • Municipalities
      • support businesses by providing resources and incentives
    • Youth
      • take action and become involved to affect change
    • Labour
      • engage and involve youth in committees and activities
    • Government
      • Set the standard by being an example as a preferred youth employers
    • Training Institutions
      • offer flexible, accessible education and training options
• Youth Friendly Work Places
  • Group Statement: Create additional flexible training and development opportunities
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • create partnerships with labour, government, EI and training institutions to expand mentorships, internships, co-op placements and permanent entry level positions
    • Municipalities
      • fund training seats with a return for service commitment for the sponsored position
    • Youth
      • volunteer to expand your experience
      • take initiative and be open to taking risks
    • Labour
      • facilitate the entry of youth into the workplace and award seniority to intern positions
    • Government
      • expand funding to internship and co-op opportunities
      • continue to expand training initiatives
    • Training Institutions
      • creating partnerships between education and employers
• Cool Communities
  • Group Statement: Build the technological infrastructure and increase accessibility to technological innovation
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • utilizing new technologies as much as possible
      • invest in research and development of new technology
    • Municipalities
      • invest in the infrastructure through initiatives such as matching grants
    • Youth
      • engagement of technology through teaching those with less technological skills and through the early adoption of new technologies
    • Labour
      • enabling organizations to hire youth through programs such as designating a portion of positions for youth
    • Government
      • fund the expansion of the technological infrastructure in the province
    • Training Institutions
      • provide training for the development of technological skills in rural and urban areas
      • provide training in technological fields which correspond with the business climate
• Cool Communities
  • Group Statement: Make our communities cooler and safe by focusing more on neighbourhoods
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • supporting programs through sponsorships and partnerships (i.e. Recycling, festivals, etc.)
      • selling local products
    • Municipalities
      • make our communities more pedestrian and cyclist friendly
      • increase co-operative housing
      • vibrant downtown cores
    • Youth
      • take action, be involved in the political process at all levels (speaking up to elected officials, voting, etc.)
    • Labour
      • encouraging members to be involved in the community (i.e. Lending organizational expertise
    • Government
      • increase resources in the form of money, human resources and infrastructure
      • consulting and connecting more with young people and providing more opportunities for them to participate
    • Training Institutions
      • integrate services more into the communities so that they are not so segmented
• Inclusive Saskatchewan
  • Group Statement: Make access to education more inclusive
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • provide mentorship programs in the workplaces
      • implement mandatory diversity training
    • Municipalities
      • provide easy access to communication within different segments of the community (eg. Youth groups)
    • Youth
      • getting involved and through communication
    • Labour
      • including representative workforce language in collective bargaining agreements
    • Government
      • stop fighting about jurisdictional boundaries (i.e. who pays for what).
    • Training Institutions
      • Derek can't type that fast
• Inclusive Saskatchewan
  • Group Statement: Create an integration strategy for new residents in transition to employment
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • assessing the needs and communicating them to government and communities
      • funding commitment for retention and support of new employees
    • Municipalities
      • simplification of transitional processes to make more citizen-centred (i.e. housing, daycare, schools)
    • Youth
      • create connections between new and existing residents (i.e. a buddy program
    • Labour
      • creating mechanisms which allow youth to contribute ideas and effect change
    • Government
      • increase access to the communication of current programs
    • Training Institutions
      • Derek can't type that fast
• Making It Happen
  • Group Statement: Create a small scale / low-risk entrepreneurial program that is accessible to different ages / skills levels and a more diverse group of people
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • provide free advertising / promotion of the program
      • provide resource people and mentors
    • Municipalities
      • identify entrepreneurial opportunities
      • provide resource people
    • Youth
      • participate in programs, be available for focus groups, surveys, mentorship and succession
    • Labour
      • identify areas of opportunity
      • provide funding for scholarships
    • Government
      • funding or subsidization of programs
      • promote / market the program within the province
      • staff the program and report on its results
      • can promote this as a life-long education to other stakeholders
    • Training Institutions
      • to provide space and infrastructure to make something like this happen
• Making It Happen
  • Group Statement: Build on the Sask Youth Summit by having yearly meetings and continue the online discussion forum
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • sponsorship of the summit and the opportunity fair
      • providing mentorship or apprentice opportunities
    • Municipalities
      • youth advisers on board or city council
      • help distribute information about the summit
    • Youth
      • take it to your community, spread the word
      • research and participate
    • Labour
      • participate and spread the word through their membership
    • Government
      • advertising, awareness
      • continue to provide funding
    • Training Institutions
      • to teach leadership and research skills
      • have on-campus groups pre- and post- conference
• Saskatchewan in 2020
  • Group Statement: Saskatchewan becomes a world centre for excellence in environmentally driven social and economic development
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • invest in communities, harness the energy and potential of our environmentally and socially aware youth
    • Municipalities
      • combine resources to reduce environmental impact and barriers to growth
    • Youth
      • encourage each other in the places that we work and study to become part of the longer term solution
    • Labour
      • move beyond wages as a primary concern in collective bargaining in an effort in better understand and articulate the role of its membership
    • Government
      • rebuild infrastructure to encourage environmentally drive social and economic development
    • Training Institutions
      • Derek can't type that fast
• Saskatchewan in 2020
  • Group Statement: Foster a life-long education system that is inclusive and adapts to the needs of local communities
  • Recommendations:
    • Business
      • acknowledge the value of a wide variety of experiences
    • Municipalities
      • create partnerships opportunities to meet local demands
    • Youth
      • take responsibility to inspire and communicate ideas to each other
    • Labour
      • promote civic engagement and professional development
    • Government
      • make education more accessible for all individuals, families and communities
    • Training Institutions
      • Derek can't type that fast
• Where do we go from here?
  • Report will be written containing a complete synopsis of all the ideas / recommendations created in the breakout
  • posted on the website
  • distributed to all Summit participants
  • Today is only a start
    • we all have a shared commitment to building a better Saskatchewan
    • we all have a shared responsibility to act upon the recommendations both just reviewed, and contained in the report.

That's all for the meat of what happened today. As you can probably tell from my postings, I didn't have Internet today, so I had to type and crank this stuff out back at my hotel. I am now on my way back to the convention centre to enjoy a banquet and a meal before hitting the sack and heading to the bus depot super early in the AM to get back to Regina

When I return, count on some follow-up thoughts from me ... in the meantime, have any thoughts of your own?