Close to 300 people filled the Isabel Bader Theatre at the inaugural conference of The Canadian Positive Psychology Association on July 20 and 21 in

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2 Close to 300 people filled the Isabel Bader Theatre at the inaugural conference of The Canadian Positive Psychology Association on July 20 and 21 in Toronto

3 The conference was held at the historic Victoria College, a unit of the University of Toronto a beautiful oasis within the hustle and bustle of Toronto s downtown.

4 CPPA board member and Conference Chair, Lisa Sansom welcomes the delegates the first morning of the conference.

5 CPPA President, Louisa Jewell welcomes the crowd and introduces Dr. Bob Vallerand

6 Dr. Bob Vallerand, President of the International Positive Psychology Association, delivered the first morning s keynote address in which he summarized his research on passion.

7 An internationally renowned expert in appreciative inquiry, Maureen McKenna helped make the conference an interactive event by, for example, organizing a dream wall on which delegates wrote their visions of the future of positive psychology in Canada.

8 Our ever-present conference volunteers wearing bright green shirts helped delegates register, find rooms, keep sessions on time, and generally make the conference an overwhelming success.

9 Surpassing our wildest expectations, the inaugural conference brought delegates from around the world including India, UK, Australia, Africa and Asia!

10 Richard Miller, a former Wall Street investment banker who now runs a London-based consulting firm, presented an enlightening talk on wellbeing and the creative economy.

11 Louis Alloro, one of the first graduates of the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology Program at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed his work on using positive psychology to help develop leaders into change agents.

12 In addition to global experts, the conference featured a small number of promising students discussing their research in positive psychology. Here, Sarah Bassett, a student from the University of Kansas studies her notes before delivering a talk on happiness in pre-teen girls.

13 Daniel Bowling, a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center, discussed the question of whether happy lawyers make better lawyers?

14 Conference participants in discussion mode during one of the sessions

15 Canadian Certified Counsellor Lara Cross answers the question Where did theory come from? in her presentation on theoretical perspectives in contemporary positive psychology

16 Lunch continued our interactive theme. Groups made up of attendees with shared interests were asked to discuss positive psychology topics amongst each other.

17 CPPA Board member, Dr. Greg Evans ponders a question from the audience during his presentation on the success of the Applied Positive Psychology Program

18 Dr. Kate Hefferon, who runs the MSc. Program in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of East London discussed the overlooked role of the body in positive psychology

19 The duo of Jan Sparrow and Scott Asalone explained how positive psychology can be used to foster high performance teams

20 CPPA honorary board member and co-founder of positive clinical psychology, Dr. Tayyab Rashid enjoys some give-and-take with the audience during his session on positive psychology interventions

21 Dr. Itai Ivtzan, from the University of East London speaks with delegates after his presentation on how mindfulness meditation impacts the gap between people s actual and ideal selves.

22 The morning keynote address on the second day was delivered by Dr. Gary Latham from the University of Toronto. Dr. Latham had the audience members on the edge of their seats during his presentation on unconscious processes in goal setting.

23 One of the world s leading experts on eudaimonic well-being, CPPA board member Dr. Veronika Huta explained where the field needs to go in the future.

24 It s standing room only before Louisa Jewell and Shannon Polly s session on building resilience

25 Skyping in from the U.K. where he was covering the summer Olympics for CTV, Dr. Greg Wells delivered the closing keynote address on the topic of achieving peak performance.

26 Conference participants enjoying some social time at our cocktail hour at the end of the day

27 CPPA board member, Dr. Tami Kulbatski gives out raffle prizes during the cocktail hour.

28 We did it! At the end of the conference CPPA President Louisa Jewell holds up her arms in celebration. The inaugural CPPA conference was an over-the-top success! We re looking forward to the next conference which will be held in Ottawa July 16 th to 18 th, 2014!