I'm back from spending the last week down at the Nunavut Trade Show, put on by the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce. I had a wonderful and profitable time down there. Profitable in terms of a nice sale of carvings and other art/craft from Arctic Bay's Heritage Centre, but more so from making great contacts that are going to help me in my job as the Economic Development Officer for Arctic Bay.
I had one small problem. Half of the time I had no clue what anyone was saying. Everyone in this game apparently speaks in Acronyms. Really, I had more letters thrown my way than in a bowl of Alphabet Soup or a text message from a 15 year old girl with a cellphone. I actually stopped someone mid conversation once and said "You know, it sounds like you're speaking English, but I didn't understand half of what you just said."
The major thing is that I'm new to my job, I'm sure that before too long I'll be spouting off ABC's and XYZ's with the best of them, but for now its a lot of "Huh?" I began keeping a list at my desk for some of the acronyms that bounce off my forehead and land at my feet, but that quickly went south. Fortunately I don't have to risk repetitive strain injury writing them all out, for the Nunavut Economic Developers Association has done it for me. So if you are new to this world like I am, or just curious about what everyone calls themselves up here, and their programs you can visit NEDA's (there I go) business resource page, where there is a downloadable list of common acronyms (although it is just the agencies, and doesn't cover things like funding programs and their ilk).
There are seven pages. You'll thank me.