By Briana Sim, Founder of SimpliCity
I had a great time and met some fantastic, knowledgeable folks at the inaugural Vancouver peer group meeting in the global CMS Experts/Digital Leaders community, held at TELUS on March 25.
Hosted by Paul (Toronto) and Janus (Denmark) from Boye & Co, the event brought together a cross-section of digital leaders to share ideas, explore emerging challenges, and discuss what’s top of mind in the CMS and digital services world.
My brain was buzzing with inspiration and ideas when Jodie Delore shared TransLink’s journey, and the strategic approach they’ve executed in translating content for riders whose first language isn’t English. And I was equally captivated when Morten Rand-Hendriksen from LinkedIn dove into the future of AI with some philosophical insights thrown in.
This presentation led to a very insightful discussion on translations, including drawbacks on relying on AI, budgetary constraints and much more
Honestly, though, everyone there was thoughtful and engaging: from TELUS to the City of Vancouver, digital agencies, CMS media companies, and other enterprises.
TELUS garden is an impressive place to visit
One thing that really stood out?
We were the only DXP/CMS vendor in the room. Homegrown right here in Vancouver, and solely focused on municipalities—a pretty unique combo.
My presentation “Re-imagining how cities deliver content and digital services” was well received, which was a relief! Since I’d never been part of this peer group before, I wasn’t sure what to expect and initially thought I might just hang back and observe. But I’m really glad Janus Boye nudged me beforehand to speak, because honestly, the whole room was so encouraging and the vibe was refreshingly low-pressure.
During my talk, I mentioned that we see ourselves as government software first, and a CMS second. So it was useful learning from others who work with (or implement) a wide range of CMS platforms and content, and hearing what’s working for them (and what’s not). We even got some favourable feedback on SimpliCity’s reusable components and how we show placements information.
At the end of my presentation, I did a very brief mention of the ongoing DXP/CMS March Madness contest. These votes helped bring us to the seminals!
The session wasn’t all shop talk, either
Melissa Breker in action with her memorable talking points
Local coach, consultant, author and more Melissa Breker guided us through some thoughtful exercises that helped us reflect on areas where we might be feeling stuck, and encouraged us to start breaking one of them down in micro ways.
I’m pretty sure by the end of it, we could all feel ourselves shifting away from that “icky” stuck feeling toward something more hopeful and actionable.
The mini demos at the end of the day, from Hamed at TELUS and JP at Powershifter, were short and informative. I learned about a couple of cool tools I hadn’t seen before: ElectricSQL, an open-source Postgres sync engine that enables real-time, partial replication of data into local applications and services; and n8n, a workflow automation tool that could also be used for building agentic workflows. Definitely worth checking out!
I was also glad that Seb Barre from TELUS, who is normally based in Ottawa and happened to be in Vancouver that week, was able to take part in the day. We had some good chats during the social part of the evening, and I left feeling like he’s someone I could reach out to if I ever needed advice on where to take our platform next.
A packed room listening to JP talk about AI, automation and more
The social time afterward at a nearby bar/restaurant was priceless. There were so many in-depth conversations happening that I didn’t even make it around to all the tables to chat with everyone. Ah well—something to look forward to at the next one!
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The conversation naturally continues in our peer groups and at our conferences. Join us, share your progress, get help when you are stuck and be a part of delivering better solutions together with the broader community.
We’ll be in Vancouver again on July 7, but there are also many other upcoming local group meetings in the coming months.