With just a few days left until the close of registration, Brock’s Wellness Day committee is encouraging staff to finalize their itinerary for the popular workshops.

A new format will take the majority of workshops off campus and into the community this year. However, one on-campus favourite is using the extended time slot to provide an expanded session for attendees.

Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) is expanding its Educate Your Senses seminar to include a structured tasting to showcase the continuing education courses the institute offers.

“With the larger time slot, we are able to provide our colleagues with an experience that will leave them knowing a little more about wine appreciation and give them a glimpse into the programming we offer in our continuing education courses,” said session leader Steven Trussler, a senior laboratory demonstrator at the institute.

The workshop will include a structured tasting of six wines and two ciders and will introduce participants to different ways of tasting and evaluating beverages.

“Each course looks at wine in a different way. Some look at it from pure enjoyment, some use a descriptive tasting method and others try to find similarities and differences,” said Trussler.

Craft cider, a growing addition among many Ontario wineries, will also be tasted.

“For some people, cider is a completely new category of beverage alcohol,” said Trussler. “This workshop is a great opportunity to bring forward some craft cider that people may not be able to get at the LCBO.

“Cider can be just as interesting and complex as wine.”

In addition to Educate Your Senses offerings, Wellness Day workshops with space still available include Chocolate Decorating and Tour of Chocolate F/X, Footgolf, Game On (ball hockey), Ice Hockey, Instructional Driving Range, Journey of the Senses (wine and beer tasting at Niagara College), Nine-Hole Golf, Tri a Triatholon and Volunteer Your Time, an opportunity to spend half of a day volunteering with a community organization of the employee’s choice.

To accommodate the new schedule, breakfast will be offered in lieu of lunch. Employees are asked to print or show their registration confirmation to receive a breakfast ticket. There will be no registration table.

Employees can still expect an opening plenary, but no closing remarks. The bike raffle will take place at the opening plenary, which is also where a complimentary giveaway will be distributed.

The popular penny sale will take place over two days this year — Wednesday, June 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursday, June 14 from 8 to 10 a.m., both in Thistle Hall near the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre. A card with 25 tickets can be purchased for $15, or two cards (50 tickets) for $25.

Information about Wellness Day, including the workshop guide, conference-at-a-glance and registration, is available on Human Resource’s SharePoint site. Registration closes Wednesday, June 6 at 4:30 p.m.