Workshop: “Working the Room” with Ron Ojanpera (BASc 1969)

Wednesday, February 12, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Waterloo Engineering students and alumni are invited to participate in an exclusive in-person workshop with Waterloo Engineering alumnus Ron Ojanpera (BASc 1969, mechanical engineering). The “Working the Room” workshop is based on 50 years of Ron’s personal business experience. 

During this practical workshop, Ron Ojanpera will walk you through the basics and intricacies of networking during an event such as a reception or dinner. Ron’s tips and techniques will help build your confidence in meeting new people, particularly at larger reception and social events. The workshop will cover topics such as evaluating why to attend a particular event, how to prepare for the event, purpose of name badges, how to find opportunities and strategies on how and when to network with others, how long each engagement should be to respect people’s time, how to gracefully disengage (which is often difficult for many), and strategies of networking at a lunch or dinner where everyone is seated. There will also be an opportunity to practice these newly learned strategies with other attendees and to ask your most pressing networking strategy questions.

Join engineering alumni and current engineering students for this workshop to gain access to Ron’s practical networking knowledge. Please RSVP to register for the workshop. Please bring your questions for an engaging conversation!

Please note: This session is in-person and will NOT be recorded.

Speaker:

Ron Ojanpera (BASc 1969)

Ron Ojanpera
BASc 1969, Mechanical Engineering
Retired 

Biography
Ron Ojanpera graduated in 1969 from the University of Waterloo in mechanical engineering. He worked for 50 years in several roles starting with field service engineering, design engineering, engineering management, project management including 30 years in sales management/business development functions for a major supplier of air emission control and steam generation systems for large global customers in heavy industry. Customers were typically in thermal power generation, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical operations, pulp and paper, cement and lime production. Clients were spread across Canada plus several globally, primarily in the Andes section of South America.

Ron has presented technical papers at several major conferences primarily in the Power Generation and non-ferrous metallurgical sectors. Ron had been registered as a Professional Engineer in Quebec over the first several years of his career and subsequently in Ontario, finally retiring in 2018.

The presentation “Working the Room” is based on 50 years of Ron’s personal business experience.