Young Geophysicist Forum

On Tuesday May 17, the second day of the CSEG convention, the first meeting of the Young Geophysicist Form (YGF) was held at Ceili’s in Penny Lane.

The purpose of the YGF was to allow current students, recent graduates, and individuals with less then 5 years experience the opportunity to network with established geophysicists in the industry.

The concept for the YGF originated when Penny Lane Entertainment, who owns Ceili’s, approached the CSEG 2004 Convention Sponsorship committee and wanted to sponsor a reception. This was brought to the attention of the CSEG Convention committee and Rob Vestrum of Thrust Belt Imaging (Social Event Chair) suggested that Ceili’s could sponsor a Student/Industry Reception. It was a very busy time so the idea was tabled for later discussion.

Mark Noble of GX Technologies (Sponsorship Chair) and Carmen Swalwell of Precision Seismic Processing (Exhibits Chair) had been attending the Chief Geophysicists Forum (CGF) in order to keep them informed of developments with the 2004 CSEG Convention. There was a discussion at one of the meetings of the CGF that there were not as many networking opportunities for recent graduates as there once was. Mark and Carmen informed the CGF that there was a sponsor for an Industry Reception and suggested the reception could be expanded to include recent graduates as well as students. It could then be an opportunity for networking with members of the CGF and other established geophysicists. The CGF supported this idea.

Since it was suggested that this should take place during the CSEG 2005 Convention, Laurie Ross of Geo-X (Convention Chair) was approached. She supported the idea and generously off e red to have the CSEG Convention committee sponsor the event in conjunction with Ceili’s. The convention committee asked Mark and Carmen to organize the gathering. During discussions of this gathering, it was unofficially called the YGF until a suitable name could be found. Before anyone knew it, the name stuck.

Now that things were starting to roll, additional volunteers were recruited from the Exhibit and Sponsorship committees. Jolene Goring of Apache Canada (Sponsorship) and Jeff Gautreau (Exhibits) were asked to help. Both having less then 5 years experience allowed them to represent the intended attendants. It was hoped that they would be able to encourage enough people to attend and to assist with all the organization that would be required for this event (and there were lots).

During this period, Doug Colvin of Talisman Energy (Exhibits Committee) was approached and asked if he would assist with inviting members of the CGF and other established geophysicists to attend the event and lend a guiding hand to some of those new to the industry.

Based on the size of the venue, we were restricted to 200 attendees.

Well, to say we were all surprised by the response would be an understatement. After contacting friends, co-workers, Universities and the Southern Institute of Technology (SAIT), we were expecting a full house. In fact, by the Thursday leading up to the reception, we had 220 registered attendees.

The YGF turned out to be a great success. We had a packed house. Ceili’s had a great selection and plenty of nibblies and a drink for everyone!!!! The CSEG Convention committee sponsored a drink for everyone as well. Everyone was entertained with a brief talk by several well-known individuals in the industry. Lloyd Chipman (Devon Canada, Chair of the CGF) and John Boyd (Boyd Petrosearch) were kind enough to attend and to talk briefly about their experiences in the industry. Mr. Chipman even entertained us with a goodnatured joke poking fun at the geologists. David Nordin (Nordin Resource Consulting) talked briefly about the value of networking in this industry.

The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. The main question asked was when was the next YGF? Mark and Carmen went back to the CGF for their feedback. To quote Terry Zwicker (Samson Canada), “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Ceili’s has graciously offered to host another YGF. The next YGF will be held on November 1, 2005 at Ceili’s in Penny Lane. The CGF will once again lend their support. Kelley Classen, a fourth year geophysics student from the University of Calgary has graciously agreed to join the YGF organizing committee.

So if you are a student enrolled in geophysics, a graduate with less than five years of experience or an established geophysicist, email ygf@cseg.ca for more details. Please note that the YGF is a technical networking event, so attendance is limited.

Your organizing committee,
Carmen, Doug, Jeff, Jolene, Kelley and Mark