I always really enjoyed our Plenary Sessions.  They were true celebrations of our accomplishments in the academic past year and provided inspirational food for thought to take with us into the summer. The key note speakers were on point, the food of course, and everybody was in a very relaxed celebratory mood.  In 2018, I was the one who took on the challenge of securing the key note speaker on behalf of APEC.  I was able to get Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, to make time to speak to us.  He had just published a very successful book, Looptail, which is a business book on how he managed his success from maxing out two credit cards when no bank wanted to loan him money, to becoming the largest sustainable, small group adventure operator in the world, all right here in Toronto.  We were fortunate enough that he would sign a copy for each of us to take home! A key component of his book is also his philosophy on managing a successful, empowered employee base, which translates very well to our opportunities in the classroom.  For those not in the tourism industry: Bruce is somewhat of a rock star in our industry.  He has been interviewed far and wide, received a ton of internationally recognized accolades (Best 40 entrepreneurs under 40 at one point, only to name one), and organizes the Toronto leg of an annual event through the UN called World Tourism Day (last Monday in September).  I have taken students to that event before (see "Teaching" / "Outside the classroom").  Below is a mix of pictures from our session, which also included the retirement festivities for a long time colleague, the welcoming of new colleagues and a cartoonist who captured the entire event.