The Concordians who made 5,100 Acfas scholars feel at home
Last Friday, the Concordia community came together to celebrate the staff, faculty and volunteers who provided vital support for the 82nd Congress of l’Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas).
From May 12 to 16, the university welcomed some 5,100 scholars — 500 of whom came from outside Canada — to campus for the largest multidisciplinary gathering of research and knowledge in the French-speaking world.
In the course of five days, delegates presented at 173 colloquia; in total, there were more than more than 3,000 research papers.
“There was a glow on campus during Acfas,” Alan Shepard, Concordia’s president, said to a jubilant crowd in the atrium of the J.W. McConnell Library (LB) Building on May 23. “I was so proud of the way we treated our guests. Everybody made it look so effortless.”
Behind the scenes, two teams oversaw the congress. On the hospitality side, and for all the logistical details, there was Marie-Josée Allard, director of Hospitality Concordia, and Marie-France Watson, event coordinator with Conference Services.
M au carré: Marie-Josée Allard (left) and Marie-France Watson.
Claudia Deme, executive assistant in the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, and Sophie Mailloux, assistant to the associate vice-president of Student and Enrolment Services, coordinated a team of 123 student, staff and faculty volunteers.
The event’s flawless execution was due in no small part to their tireless efforts to satisfy any and all requests from the attendees.
Allard and Watson spent so much time together that they started referring to themselves as “M au carré” — a nod to the congress' slogan, “R=zc2,” which stands for “La recherche : zones de convergence et de créativité.”
“It got to the point where, by the week preceding the congress, we would finish each other's sentences or say the exact same thing in unison,” Watson says
Allard describes it as “an absolute fusion of Marie-France and myself.”
“We were thinking the same thing all the time,” she says.
Sequestered in a small room on the first floor of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building), Deme and Mailloux spent each day of the congress making sure issues ranging from a malfunctioning microphone to an empty water pitcher were solved swiftly by their dedicated team of volunteers.
“Our volunteers flagged all of the snags for us, and with the assistance of members of the logistical committee, many issues were resolved without anyone noticing,” Mailloux says. “It was seamless.”
She and Deme lived by the adage that there’s a solution for every problem.
“We really wanted to say yes to everything,” Deme says. “One participant needed a place to breastfeed, so we found her a nice, comfortable place to do that.”
That nice, comfortable place was Deme's own office.
At Acfas, the crew of volunteers helped with every conceivable aspect of the congress, from greeting guests and providing general information to serving as floor monitors and working alongside the Media Relations team.
The Green Team, or Brigade verte, ensured that the university’s trash and recycling bins were where they needed to be and that waste was disposed of properly. The sustainability efforts were underlined by the congress organizers, who cut its program down from 380 pages to a svelt 48, organized a carpooling system and recycled materials — like name tags — whenever possible.
For many of the volunteers, a day at Acfas began at 7 a.m. and ended at 9 or 10 p.m.
Gabriel Ernewein, who is about to start a master’s degree in French literature at Concordia, took the “Golden Walkie-Talkie” award for most hours logged. His co-winner was Valérie Losier, a PhD candidate in psychology at Université du Québec à Montréal.
Ernewein, who hails from France, was convinced by a friend to sign up for Acfas. As a thank-you for his hard work, he was invited to attend the colloquia of his choice.
“I was able to attend one that was exactly related to what I'm studying: ‘Littératures francophones et résonances médiatiques,’ led by Sylvain David, a professor in Concordia’s Département d’études françaises.”
Ultimately, Ernewein was proud to take part in the congress.
“The francophonie in North America is very close to my heart.”