Breakfast and networking

Opening remarks

Keynote: Rule Your Domain: The Proven Way to Build Your Business Through Kickass Digital Marketing

Speaker: Avery Swartz, founder and CEO of Camp Tech, author of See You on the Internet: Building Your Small Business with Digital Marketing (coming March 2020), tech correspondent in Canadian media, and digital marketing consultant.

Digital marketing is essential to growing a business, and the internet has made it easier than ever before to reach your target customer. But how do you know which strategies are really working for your business? Which ones can be retired, and which ones should you double-down on? In this entertaining keynote presentation, tech writer, consultant, and entrepreneur Avery Swartz will introduce you to her proven framework for planning and executing digital marketing. In five simple steps, you’ll learn to confidently build your brand, increase your customers, and generate more revenue.

Buying a business: How to supercharge your growth

A boom in transitions is coming up; hundreds of thousands of Canadian entrepreneurs will soon be faced with the decision of letting go of their business as the baby-boomers retire. Join Peter Lawler, Executive Vice President, BDC Advisory Services, as he shares the main findings of extensive BDC research on business acquisition in Canada. Peter will do an overview of the business transition opportunities, a portrait of the sellers and the buyers and will give the key elements of a successful business acquisition.

Networking break

The Growth 500 Idea Exchange

The Growth 500 Idea Exchange features mediated small-group peer-to-peer conversations in which you can discuss, and help to solve, the top issues facing your business today. Come prepared to share, learn and establish invaluable connections with your entrepreneurial peers.

Cocktails and networking

The Growth 500 Awards Luncheon

Over a three-course lunch, Canadian Business will celebrate the entrepreneurial successes of this year’s Growth 500 and Startup 50 winners, and give special recognition to companies for achievements in such areas as revenue growth, international trade and job creation.

Networking and dessert break

Keynote: Unlocking the Power of AI to Turbo-boost Your Business Objectives

Speaker: Mike Davison, Data and AI Architect at the Microsoft Technology Centre

AI has the capacity to empower the whole world to achieve more. From empowering technical development teams to mobilizing an entire organization to unlock the true potential of AI, enterprises need to think strategically about AI – and they need to start today. Mike Davison, Data and AI Architect at the Microsoft Technology Centre, explains how to take AI from an overwhelming concept to an accessible tool for Canada’s business leaders.

Growth Clinics

It’s time to go deep and learn from your peers, as well as experts in the field. These interactive workshops will be chock-full of proven advice and useful takeaways you can apply to your business. Three workshops will run concurrently. You’ll have a chance to attend one of the three sessions.

• Workshop A: Making AI work for you
  With the automation and artificially intelligent revolution well under way, businesses are being challenged to evolve with technology — or risk getting left behind. But how can interested companies best integrate the tech-of-the-future in effective ways, tailored to their mandate? In this session, our panel of experts will discuss how AI can be applied to any business, how to balance the draws of deep tech with human utility, and where AI-based innovations are going.
• Workshop B: Master the Direct-to-Consumer model
  It’s a plight shared by countless up-and-coming entrepreneurs: you have an idea for a great product and an identified audience that could benefit from your creation — but how to get it to them? The direct-to-consumer business can be a boon for entrepreneurs — greater control of product image and branding, tight-knit ties to your customer base, and (crucially) increased profitability. In this session, our panel of experts will divulge how they built their DTC business from the ground up, best practices for maximum success, and how this channel can lead to rapid expansion, in Canada and beyond.
• Workshop C: How to Magnetize Great Hires
  Finding the perfect, hardworking hire can be like finding a needle in a haystack, and it becomes all the more challenging outside of major urban centres. Still, many of our Growth 500 winners have created effective (and creative!) strategies for sourcing exceptional talent — even having A+ hires seek them out. In this session, our panel of experts will share their recruiting struggles, how they solved them, and how to ensure you end up with an enviable talent pool once interviews are long over.

Keynote: Winners’ Traits: How to Take Your Team to Gold Medal Success

Speaker: Dr. Kimberley Amirault-Ryan, performance consultant to the NHL, NBA, and Olympians.

As one of the leading mental performance consultants in the field, Dr. Kimberley Amirault-Ryan has coached and trained some of the world’s top athletes and teams. Throughout her career, she has witnessed what habits and behaviours are required for success and will share her expertise on how you can create an environment that is more conducive to achieving success, winning and excellence. Whether you’re on the rink or in the boardroom, Kimberley will share universal traits that are possessed by those that experience the most success in their field and how you can replicate it within your own careers, teams and organizations. Interspersed with real life examples from her Olympic, NHL and NBA championship experiences, Kimberley will ensure you leave this session armed with the recipe for success.

Summit closing remarks, door prizes