A Walkthrough to IEEE Sections Congress 2023

Many people in my connections often says that how do I get a chance to explore numerous countries and explore such diverse beauty of people around?

The answer to that question will always be "contribution back to humanity"!

Yes, it's easy to hear but hard to execute. And that's where I landed in Ottawa, Canada from 11-13th August 2023 where I got privileged to serve as a Track Chair for "Enriching Member Experience" Track under IEEE Sections Congress 2023.

So what's IEEE Sections Congress? > For my Non-IEEE Friends, IEEE Sections Congress is a Global Event which happens once every 3 years and this time it was more special as we returned from virtual Sections Congress to in-person back! To know more about this event, explore below:

This short article will consist of different learnings and glimpses from those 3-days with full exposure with selfies!! ??

• Participation: With around 1000+ attendees across numerous countries, participating into such a global congress can't go boring/non-interesting!! Checkout the glimpses of Learning-Hubs/Ignite Sessions and whole hall which was booked for this congress mainly below:

• Volunteering: Can you imagine how it would be when someone on the stage requests you to stand and wave everyone around among 1000+ members sitting in a reception dinner?

Same exactly happened with me when below screen was shared on the stage and I was requested to wave and welcome everyone around as a Track Chair! (Indeed it was a goosebumped moment ??) And I am always grateful of this moment.

• Networking: I never get bored of networking with new people around and definitely why to miss a chance when you are meeting IEEE volunteers from different countries all together under single roof! Checkout few glimpses and selfies taken during congress below:

( Prachi Jain | Kumaran Masanamuthu Selvanayagam | Anand Shah | Haruna Gana | Khanh Luu | Daivee Patel | Dr Surekha Deshmukh | Dora Fourou | RABAB WARD | Rachel Olson Warnick, CAE | Jennifer Fong | Cybele Ghanem | Warunika Hippola | Aravindhan Anbazhagan | Emi YANO | Raghav T Vel , P.Eng, PMP, MS, SMIEEE, CSPO, IEEEWCP | Praveen Raj Masilamani | Christopher Sanderson, SMIEEE, SMASQ | Nita Patel | Megha Ben | Eric Berkowitz | Billy James Dega | Dejan Milojicic | Melody Richardson | Roger Fujii | Windhya Rankothge )

• Exposure to Canada's Capital Parliament & City around: Whenever I visit places, I always love to explore the culture & tradition of what that place is built upon and that's where I got an opportunity to visit Canada Parliament & city around along with my IEEE Colleagues (including Aravindhan Anbazhagan , Dr. Jasdeep Kaur & Dr.Y.Vijayalata Reddy ) before we leave back to our homes! Explore the glimpses below:

• Glimpses from Learning-Hubs/Ignite Sessions: One of my favourite place in IEEE Sections Congress 2023 was Learning-Hubs!! Learning-hubs are the hands-on sessions along with demonstrations by IEEE Volunteers/Staff Members on numerous resources around whole IEEE for volunteers' benefits. Explore few videos below:

With that, hereby closing my article by saying to all new aspiring volunteers in IEEE i.e., "Explore more and more opportunities around you and learn how to create one!!". Definitely, sitting inside your own college branch can bring you foundational setup of your IEEE Portfolio however, don't forget meanwhile to network with new people around to learn from them and grab opportunities for your own personal development.