Despite the COVID-19 pandemic delaying this year’s Spring Tune Up and pushing it online, nearly 2,000 attendees tuned in to this year’s event. This officially made Spring Tune Up 2020 the biggest professional development event ACFO-ACAF has ever hosted.

The 8-hour activity spread across the afternoons of October 27-28 included interesting and inspiring presentations from high-profile speakers, as well as an online career fair with presentations from 18 different departments.

The Spring Tune Up kicked off on October 27 with marketing and advertising specialist Kelly McDonald, who focused on how to work and lead people who are different than you. She spoke about the importance of diversity within teams for better, more productive outcomes, as well as how to tailor your communication to different individuals.

The afternoon continued with Giselle Kovary, president and co-founder of n-gen People Performance. Her interactive talk identified helpful strategies for leading teams virtually and the importance of staying connected during the pandemic while working from home.

Day 1 closed with lawyer and activist Dr. Hadiya Roderique, whose poignant presentation addressed challenges of diversity and inclusion that exist in the workplace and in hiring processes. She spoke to the importance of recognizing our biases while pushing for structural changes to the systems that reinforce and encourage these biases.

Day 2 began with the Office of the Comptroller General’s Roger Ermuth, who provided updates on the latest financial community development news from the OCG. Dr. Karyn Gordon, CEO of DK Leadership, then talked about the power of emotional intelligence and the importance of the ‘confident’ attitude compared to the ‘blind’ or ‘disguised’ attitude.

Following Dr. Gordon was activist and motivational speaker Spencer West, who shared his inspiring story of losing both legs from the pelvis down at age five yet learning to navigate the challenges the world threw his way. He even managed to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on his hands, emphasizing in his story the importance of asking for help and creating social value.

Finally, the Spring Tune Up ended with Haitian-born Quebecois journalist Herby Moreau, who spoke about his career as a journalist, lessons he learned about resilience and how he never gave up in the pursuit of his dreams.

Video of the event is available for ACFO-ACAF members. To access a copy, please log into the my.ACFO-ACAF portal. Instructions on how to do so can be found here. We thank everyone who attended this year’s event and we hope to see you at the 2021 Spring Tune Up (which will actually take place in the Spring, we promise).