Program at a Glance
The program agenda is updated on a regular basis. As speakers and content are confirmed, we will continue to upload the most up-to-date agenda.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Follow the EXCELerate conference signs to the foyer for check-in to receive your name badge, program guide, and fill your bag with goodies! You only need to do this once to get your badge, then you are free to come and go from the conference as you please.
Make sure you join us at 6:30 pm for the “Welcome Reception” in the Waterfront Ballroom for refreshments and appetizers. “Meet, Mingle and be Inspired” with other entrepreneurs from around the globe!
Hosted by: WBE Canada
Moderator: Betty Wood,VP Certification and Partner Relations, WBE Canada
EXCELerate your share of the diverse supplier opportunities. Meet with procurement professionals and buyers… learn, ask, grow!
BY INVITATION ONLY to all certified women business owners including:
WBE Canada / CAMSC / CGLCC / WBENC / NWBOC / WE Connect International
Corporations:
- Michelle Taylor- Supplier Diversity Specialist, Cummins
- Ashifa Jumani- Director Procurement, TELUS
- Melanie Bonnar- Supplier Diversity Specialist, TransCanada Pipelines Limited
- Jason Young- Procurement Manager, Coca-Cola
- Jeff Findlater, Group Operations Manager, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
- Jayme Chisholm, Supplier Diversity Chairperson, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
Speaker & Trainer: Marg Hachey
“An Evening with Entrepreneurs from around the Globe: Meet, Mingle, and be Inspired!” Hosted by Fasken Martineau
Master of Ceremonies: Pamela Martin, Liaison to B.C. Premier Christy Clark and former TV journalist
- Featuring performers Zabrina and Rachel, Sarah McLachlan’s School of Music
- Welcome Remarks
- Barbara Mowat, President & Founder, GroYourBiz
- Will Westeringh, Managing Partner of Vancouver, Fasken Martineau
- Andrea Reimer, Deputy Mayor of Vancouver
- Mike Bonner, Sr. VP of BC & Yukon, BMO
- Speaker: Julia Hubbel “Meet Mingle and Be Inspired”
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Breakfast, Opening of Exhibits, Conference Opening & Plenary Session
"Collaborative Impact: Leaders EXCELerate Economic Empowerment-- Globally!"
Open to the business community. For additional breakfast tickets, click here.
Master of Ceremonies: Pamela Martin, Liaison to B.C. Premier Christy Clark and former TV journalist
- Traditional Musqueam Welcome – Audrey Siegl (ancestral name sχɬemtəna:t), Musqueam First Nation Leader
- Julie Barker-Merz, President, BMO InvestorLine
Plenary Session:
“Collaborative Impact: Leaders EXCELerate Economic Empowerment-Globally”
Increasingly women play a powerful role in driving global economy. Women share a unique approach to business, to customers and by collaborating will drive unprecedented positive change. Women know that it’s through unique ways to connect that powerful new solutions emerge. Our keynote panelists, prominent leaders share their views on the four major conference themes: leadership, global competitiveness, business growth and megatrends. Each panelist brings a tremendous expertise and offers insights gleaned from their global knowledge and unique life experiences. The conversation will discuss: government policy to support women’s economic empowerment, barriers that women-owned businesses face, opportunities to invest in women-owned businesses, global engagement strategies and the need for leaders to collaborate all while balancing life and business, and respecting their authentic core values.
Moderator: Pamela Martin, Liaison to B.C. Premier Christy Clark and former TV journalist
Panelists:
Julie Weeks, President and CEO, Womenable
Doug Porter, Chief Economist & Managing Director, BMO Bank of Montreal
Jody Wilson-Raybould, Ex-Official, Chair of the Board, BC Assembly of First Nations Society
Mairead Lavery, Sr. VP, Business Development, Export Development Canada
Make sure you visit each of the exhibits with your “Global Passport” and receive the EXCELerate 2015 stamp from each exhibitor. Answer the question on the back of each passport and hand in your completed form to the staff at the registration desk by 2:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd, and you will be automatically entered into our raffle for great prizes, including an International Air Canada flight, a helicopter experience for 2 with lunch, plus much more. Winners will be announced at our “Closing Session” and you must be present to win.
Please choose one of the following concurrent sessions from the four major conference themes: Leadership Power for the “BEST YOU”, Global Competitiveness, Business Growth and Megatrends.
Janice McDonald and Carleton University’s Centre for Women in Politics and Public Leadership executive director, Clare Beckton, teamed up to conduct a landmark study examining how women who are entrepreneurs evaluate risk differently from men and the impact of those differences on the Canadian economy.
The study, funded by BMO Financial Group will shed new light on how men and women approach business decisions and whether their gender affects how they manage their firms.
The researchers interviewed over 100 business owners from across the country, both male and female, asking them what criteria they used to evaluate the risks of launching their own companies and if their attitudes toward risk changed over time.
The researchers also asked the business owners how they financed their companies. The study also cast as wide a net as possible to account for potential regional and ethnic as well as gender differences.
McDonald will share their preliminary findings as they trust that a potential outcome will help financial institutions, and venture capitalists, may change their risk analysis around women entrepreneurs.
FAST FACTS
- According to Industry Canada, 47 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses in 2013 were entirely or partly owned by women
- In 2010, Quebec had the highest proportion of majority-owned female SMBs at 19 per cent, followed by Atlantic Canada and Ontario
- When women do decide to start businesses, they tend to stay in business longer than men
- The proportion of women who plan to expand their businesses is generally higher than men
- About 51 per cent of aboriginal-owned SMBs belong partly or wholly to women
- The average net profit before tax of female-owned businesses has increased from 52 per cent of male-owned business profits in 2000 to 89 per cent in 2007
- Majority women-owned SMBs represent more than $117 billion in annual economic activity
Moderator: Julie Barker-Merz, President, BMO Investorline
Sources: Stats Canada, Industry Canada, TD Economics Special Report (2012), TD Economics Observation (2012), CIBC Economics in Focus (2013), Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa
“Exporters Do Better”
Making Foreign Less Foreign: Companies That Export Do Better Than Companies That Don’t
Hosted by Export Development Canada
Learn how you can increase your company’s profitability, productivity and innovation through exporting. As a key sponsor for EXCELerate 2015, Export Development Canada is proud to present this session highlighting the benefits of exporting to your company. The session will explore strategies and tips on how to overcome common barriers such as finding new customers, accessing market intelligence and getting the working capital you need to finance your export business. You will also hear firsthand from highly successful entrepreneurs who will share their inspiring stories, lessons learned, and practical tips for success.
EXCELerate Moderator to Introduce EDC: Angelica Mirza
Moderator: Mark Senn, Regional Vice-President, Western Region, Export Development Canada
Panel: Barriers for new exporters
- Finding new customers – Speaker: Heather Stokes, Account Manager, Export Development Canada
- Getting the working capital you need to finance your export business – Caterina Papadakos, MBA, Commercial Account Manager, BMO Bank of Montreal
- Khris Singh, Director for Infrastructure and Professional Services, Ministry International Trade
Panel: First-hand experience
- Dr. Dionne Laslo-Baker, PhD in Medical Science and CEO, DeeBee’s SpecialTea Foods
- Alice Chen, CEO, Export Ventures Group
Moderator: Leann Hackman-Carty
Michele Bailey is interested in empowering Entrepreneurs to succeed in business and to cultivate a robust process of goal setting and strategic thinking that will help them with their business and life skills. The reality is that women are earning, spending and influencing business worldwide to the tune of 23 trillion dollars. Michele Bailey will share her incredible journey for the last two decades as CEO of a creative communications company (Blazing The Agency) and how she has been driven by passion, hope and curiosity. When Michele was a young working mother in the communications and advertising world she made an audacious decision to start her own Marketing Agency out of her home in order to take control of her destiny. Within in a year she had established an office and hired two employees. That was twenty-two years ago, she now has a staff of twenty-five employees and Blazing the Agency is a multimillion full service agency based in Oakville and serving clients across North America.
In 2013 Michele launched Michele Bailey Inc., a media and education company dedicated to teaching entrepreneurial skills, like how to pitch ideas and how to set and achieve business goals that will drive your business forward.
Michele will share her personal story and how she decided to take a leap of faith sharing her insights into:
- How to build a marketing strategy? Why it is so critical to growth and profit
- How clarity of goals and strategic planning can help participants to pitch and sell their business products and or services.
- Michele will take participants through a process of how to build personal awareness, reflection and how the unique practice of goal setting can be a personal and business game changer.
- Participants should expect to walk away inspired to create goals both personal and professional and create a strong diversified network.
Moderator: Susanne Hemet
Just like a company’s brand is built on defining and packaging what makes it special and unique, personal branding is also about packaging our expertise and story to reflect who we are and what we stand for at our very core.
Companies invest a lot time and effort on developing their brands. Why shouldn’t that be true about people? It seems to be especially important in this new era where there are so many of us doing similar things, and where it is getting harder and harder to differentiate ourselves.
Just like a company’s brand is built on defining and packaging what makes it special and unique, personal branding is also about packaging our expertise and story to reflect who we are and what we stand for at our very core.
In this interactive seminar, you will learn how personal branding can help you position yourself in a crowded marketplace, grow your business and reputation, and have a success story that people will really want to hear!
Moderator: Isabel Banerjee
Women who can approach anyone, anywhere, and develop collaborative relationships inside and outside their organizations are the most likely to succeed. In this exciting and action filled session, Julia will teach you the skills to connect with anyone, anywhere- which is key in this global economy. This highly interactive, skills based program will help you overcome any misgivings you ever had about your ability to network, no matter where you may be on the globe.
- You will walk away with skills you can put to use RIGHT AWAY
- You will create valuable, lasting relationships that can lead to business, partnerships and long term friendships. Double the value of your attendance!
- Never be tongue tied again!
- Learn how to approach people as well as how to extricate yourself from uncomfortable situations (worth the price of attending right there!)
Lunch & Keynote: Dan Price, CEO Gravity Payments
"Building a Business with Value and Integrity"
MC: Diana Bishop, The Success Story Coach and Former TV News Reporter
Keynote Speaker: Dan Price, CEO & Founder of Gravity Payments
Open to the business community. For additional lunch tickets, click here.
“Take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of your customers.”
Gravity Payments has been awarded the 2014 Best Workplaces Award, the 2013 Hire Power Award by Inc Magazine, and our workplace perks have been recognized by Forbes and NBC News. Dan was honored by President Obama with the 2010 SBA National Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of 2014″.
Sit with different Industry sectors and a facilitator to generate diverse discussions.
Audience Participation through audience response technology.
Make sure you visit each of the exhibits with your “Global Passport” and receive the EXCELerate 2015 stamp from each exhibitor. Answer the question on the back of each passport and hand in your completed form to the staff at the registration desk by 2:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd, and you will be automatically entered into our raffle for great prizes, including an International Air Canada flight, a helicopter experience for 2 with lunch, plus much more. Winners will be announced at our “Closing Session” and you must be present to win.
Please choose one of the following concurrent sessions from the four major conference themes: Leadership Power for the “BEST YOU”, Global Competitiveness, Business Growth and Megatrends.
Moderator: Leslie Meingast– CEO, TPD
Panelists:
- Anita Agrawal- CEO, Best Bargains
- Marty Britton- President & CEO, Britton Management Profiles Inc.
- Kay Douglas- President, Douglas Marketing Group
- Marla Kott- CEO, Imprint Plus
“Thinking Like a CEO”
Avoiding the 5 Dysfunctions Capping Your Income at 250K or less - With Vanessa Shaw
Moderator: Brandi Wingrove
It’s time to get real. You started your business to live with more income, freedom, and clients. But now, that dream of entrepreneurial success has started to fade. You wake up and realize that instead of running a business as CEO, you’ve become your own poorly paid employee, working longer hours with unpaid vacations.
That entrepreneurial dream doesn’t have to fade, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed, wearing too many hats, and hitting a financial glass ceiling in your business—you’ll never reach the next level of success and leadership you crave.
If you’re feeling trapped in your own business without the clients, income, and freedom you desire, then it’s time to fully and confidently step into your role as CEO.
And once you start thinking and acting like a CEO, you’ll start to see the real, measurable results you truly want in your business and your life.
In this dynamic and authentic break out session Vanessa Shaw brings her international expertise of working with top corporate executives to guide you to step up powerfully as the CEO in your own business so that you can make a much bigger impact and add real results, cash, and clients to your bottom line.
In Vanessa’s powerful session, you’ll walk away knowing…
1. The top 5 dysfunctions that are keeping you from the income, success, and clients you want—and the best way to create immediate results and momentum in your business right now
2. The mindset you must embrace in order to step confidently into your role as CEO of your business
3. How to step out of overwhelm, stop working in your business, and turn your “busy” workdays into successful multi-figure payouts
4. How to leverage your brilliance and work from your vision to create a powerful business you love
5. The exact winning strategy that’s a real game changer in your business—and one that business schools won’t even teach
Technology is the new given. Just as the onslaught of the internet has changed the landscape of business communication and presence, so innovative technological developments will create new opportunities for business growth and success in the future. Technology is expanding faster than responses to it. How are women business owners currently using technology to create global companies with their innovations? And how can they win the struggle to commercialize their innovative products down the line? These panelists discuss those issues and show the way forward for any business.
Moderator: Emily Ohler, CEO, Broadleap Solutions LTD
Panelists:
- Carolyn Cross, CEO & Chairman, Ondine Biomedical Inc.
- Maryam Sadeghi, CEO & Founder, MetaOptima
- Monique Maissan, CEO, Waste2Weave, Waste2Wear
“Claim Your Power”
Discover the 5 Critical Mistakes Ambitious Women Make that Keep Them Playing Small - With Eleanor Beaton
Moderator: Marg Hachey
In this presentation, you will discover:
- The 5 Critical Leadership Skills of 7-‐Figure Businesswomen, and how they use these skills to build highly successful businesses that are changing the world.
- The words that you use in meetings and presentations that diminish your credibility
- The “I need more training” trap – and how to overcome
- The growth-‐killing myth of perfect clarity – and how it’s holding you
- The dangerous attitude of “I can’t network/schmooze, I have work to do” – and immediate steps to help you be a better networker
- The “I can’t make my next move until…” excuse, and how to play a bigger game starting
More than ever, women are starting businesses, redefining leadership and changing the world through our innovative approaches to growth.
But while we have made genuine progress, we still have work to do. According to the World Economic Forum, we will not close the gender gap in workplaces for 81 years. Meanwhile, fewer than 2% of all women-‐owned businesses have broken the 7-‐figure mark, the number of women in C-‐Suite positions continues to hover under 5% in North America’s largest corporations, and women struggle to secure the capital we need to grow our businesses.
Calling women entrepreneurs! Learn about the tremendous opportunities to open doors, gain access, knowledge and business with “Big Brands”:
The consulting firm A.T. Kearney estimates that women determine 80% of consumption, purchase 60% of all cars and own 40% of all stocks. The million-women-owned businesses in Canada represent $117 billion per annum of economic activity. With a 20% increase in total revenues by these firms, they would contribute an additional $2 billion into the Canadian economy (Taskforce for Women’s Business Growth, 2011). Helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses is a strong economic stimulus strategy. Although women buy products they account for just a small percentage of the products and services that corporations buy. Savvy corporations have developed a business process known as supplier diversity. The goal is to increase visibility to under-represented suppliers like women business owners and open doors to connect with what they offer: innovation, nimbleness and often cost savings. . Helping women entrepreneurs grow means building capacity to scale to new business. Studies show that women-owned businesses are more likely to give back to the community; so supporting women business truly offers a greater social impact.
- Learn why corporations implement supplier diversity programs and “best practices”
- Gain insights into the process to become a “women business enterprise” and why this is important
- Understand unique ways that corporations identify and develop new suppliers including women owned business
- Develop an understanding of international diversity procurement strategy works and the role of supplier diversity
Moderator: Betty Wood, VP Certification and Partner Relations, WBE Canada
Panelists:
Mélanie Bonnar– Supplier Diversity Specialist, TransCanada Pipelines Limited
Michelle Taylor– Supplier Diversity Specialist, Cummins
Sheryl Sauder– CEO, Mi5 Print and Digital Communications
Make sure you visit each of the exhibits with your “Global Passport” and receive the EXCELerate 2015 stamp from each exhibitor. Answer the question on the back of each passport and hand in your completed form to the staff at the registration desk by 2:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd, and you will be automatically entered into our raffle for great prizes, including an International Air Canada flight, a helicopter experience for 2 with lunch, plus much more. Winners will be announced at our “Closing Session” and you must be present to win.
(Business Attire)
Open to the business community. For additional gala tickets, click here.
BMO Bank of Montreal is proud to host a fabulous evening celebrating the achievements of women entrepreneurs from across the country. The evening will be an opportunity to network, be inspired and to learn from each other. This event is open to all the delegates plus an additional 150 business people, government representatives, as well as trade practitioners from all sectors.
The Gala will feature a sit-down three course meal served with wine, speakers and live entertainment. The evening will be honouring and celebrating the achievements of women entrepreneurs from across the country in 3 categories: 1)global growth; 2) charitable and community giving; and 3) small business growth.
MC: Pamela Martin, Liaison to Premier Christy Clark and Former TV News Anchor
BMO Welcome: Susan Brown, Sr. VP, Alberta & NWT and Sr. VP, Women’s Market
Keynote Speaker: Ann Mukherjee, President, Global Snacks Group and PepsiCo Global Insights
Performances by Erica Dee (in A Cappella)
Watch Erica Dee’s “Me and the Moon (A Cappella)”
Friday, October 2, 2015
Breakfast, Keynote & Plenary Session, David Suzuki, Award-Winning Scientist, Environmentalist & Broadcaster
“Balancing Environment & The Economy: Caring About OUR Planet"
Open to the business community. For additional breakfast tickets, click here.
Industry sectors sit together with a facilitator generating questions.
Plenary Session: Balancing the Environment and the Economy: Caring About Our Planet
We have to care about our lonely planet — it’s the only one we have. Fortunately, business can be part of the solution. Although commerce has often been seen as the nemesis of the environment, many businesses and their leaders are actually paving the way to a more sustainable future. This session presents a variety of perspectives and possibilities for businesses doing more to care about our planet by balancing economic interests with environmental needs. How can your business contribute to creating a smaller environmental footprint and a more sustainable economy? What opportunities already exist and what new ones are developing? What’s stopping you from making this one of your personal and professional goals? Why do we owe it to ourselves and future generations to care and do more? The panelists are drawn from a wide range of entrepreneurs in fields as diverse as textiles and television to seaweed and snacks. Each of them in their own way has operationalized the the triple-bottom line of social responsibility, environmental sustainability and financial viability. They will discuss the benefits of a “circular economy” and ways that you can make your company or organization more planet-friendly.
MC: Diana Bishop, The Success Story Coach and Former TV News Reporter
Keynote Speaker: David Suzuki, Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, Award-Winning Scientist, Environmentalist and Broadcaster
Moderator: Belle Puri, CBC Reporter and Producer
Panelists:
- Diane Bernard, CEO, Sea-Flora
- Dr. Dionne Laslo-Baker, PhD in Medical Science and CEO, DeeBee’s SpecialTea Foods
- Joy MacPhail, Co-owner and Chair of OUTtv
- Monique Maissan, Waste2Weave, Waste2Wear
- Ratana Stephens, Co-Ceo & Co-Founder, Nature’s Path
Make sure you visit each of the exhibits with your “Global Passport” and receive the EXCELerate 2015 stamp from each exhibitor. Answer the question on the back of each passport and hand in your completed form to the staff at the registration desk by 2:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd, and you will be automatically entered into our raffle for great prizes, including an International Air Canada flight, a helicopter experience for 2 with lunch, plus much more. Winners will be announced at our “Closing Session” and you must be present to win.
Please choose one of the following concurrent sessions from the four major conference themes: Leadership Power for the “BEST YOU”, Global Competitiveness, Business Growth and Megatrends.
Moderator: Marg Hachey
Are you tired of being one of the large number of companies who miss their sales targets each year? Do you want to grow beyond word-of-mouth? Is it possible that you’ve been concentrating on the wrong target client type or been focused on the wrong niche? Most companies fall into their niche or their niche finds them through years of trial and error. Why not use the strategic method big brands like Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Frito-Lay use to determine their niche markets and find out how you can accelerate your growth through refining or re-defining your niche?
In this informative and case packed session, you will learn:
- What are the benefits of picking a well-defined niche
- How to use 3 simple questions to come up with the best solution for your business
- How to build a marketing plan based on this niche
Moderator: Leann Hackman-Carty
Register for Finka’s “How to Fascinate®” Session HERE and Receive Your Free Fascinate Advantage Express Assessment!
In today’s business world, women entrepreneurs face many challenges. From start-ups to expansion, growth and cash flow to succession planning. Now more than ever, a woman needs to know, understand and bring their value and strengths to the table. No longer, can fear of failure, lack of self-promotion or the desire to please all, stand in the way. In this competitive and distracted world, they need to know what makes them distinct before they become extinct.
How to Fascinate® will help participants know and understand the distinct value they bring and what they do best. Not from their eyes, but the eyes of others. How to Fascinate® is the first science based professional branding system that is based not on how you see yourself, but how the world sees you. It does not use psychology but rather the principles of branding and marketing.
Finka Jerkovic, a Fascinate Certified Advisor, will deliver a workshop exploring the Fascination Advantage® results of each individual. In this high-energy session, participants will be engaged in an interactive and engaging presentation. They will walk away with:
- A basic knowledge of the Fascination Advantage® system so that they can apply their Advantages in their business and learn to communicate at their
- Leverage their Advantages by standing out through their differences to contribute their unique
- Describe their value in 2-3 words confidently by creating an Anthem; also known as your personality tagline.
- Once people have taken the assessment they will also receive ongoing email follow-up specific to their assessment results, supporting and building their understanding and confidence in using their
The key objective is for participants to walk away feeling more confident in who they are and what they are already doing right, so that they can:
- Identify their own top Advantages
- Make stronger first impressions
- Build more powerful relationships
- Leverage their Advantages to have more influence and impact
In past How to Fascinate® events, participants walked away feeling more confident. On average, participants experienced a 25% increase in confidence, while some as high as 165% after the training. Individuals walked away knowing and understanding the value and impact they brought to the table. On average, participants had a 36% increase in the awareness of the value and impact they brought to their work, while some had a 200% increase.
Moderator: Chamika Ailapperuma
Companies invest a lot time and effort on developing their brands. Why shouldn’t that be true about people? It seems to be especially important in this new era where there are so many of us doing similar things, and where it is getting harder and harder to differentiate ourselves.
Just like a company’s brand is built on defining and packaging what makes it special and unique, personal branding is also about packaging our expertise and story to reflect who we are and what we stand for at our very core.
In this interactive seminar, you will learn how personal branding can help you position yourself in a crowded marketplace, grow your business and reputation, and have a success story that people will really want to hear!
We all know that access to capital benefits not only the individual or company, but also importantly it drives the economy through the acceleration of economic growth, creating jobs in our communities and increasing competition. Bottom line – ensuring viable businesses have access to capital fuels our economic engine and contributes to our GDP. Ensuring businesses have access to capital is important and it is a big deal. So, what are the key barriers that women entrepreneurs and business owners face in gaining access to ready and sufficient financing? Of course, it takes money to start, grow and expand a business. This session explores the plethora of possibilities — from traditional banks to government banks to crowd funding and angel investors focused on women. Yes, you have to turn over a few rocks, but at the end of this session you should see that there really is a source of capital funding out there for you, if you do your due diligence, know who you need to collaborate with, and discuss your business plan and strategies with the right financier. Panelists include financiers who have developed, provided and overseen billions of dollars of capital financing to women business owners.
Moderator: Keith Spencer, Partner, Fasken Martineau
Panelists:
- Ian MacKenzie, Filmmaker & New Paradigm Media Activist
- Lesley Lawrence, Senior-Vice President, Financing and Consulting – BC and North, Business Development Bank of Canada
- Michael Clouser, Academic Entrepreneur & Angel Investor for Women-Owned Businesses
- Sheri Griffiths, Regional Vice President of Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal
“The Secret to High-Impact Communication”
(hint: it’s not what you say!) - With Deborah Johnson
Moderator: Isabel Banerjee
Break through unconscious habits to have greater impact and better bottom-line. Dramatically improve your communication skills in high-stake situations when there is a lot on the line. Learn the skills and “secret sauce” to be more confident and influential in your professional and personal life.
Presenter Deborah Johnson is a six-time EMMY Award-winning writer and producer. During her 2+ decades in the highly competitive world of commercial television, she fine-tuned her ability to break through the noisy clutter and influence an audience. Her Master’s Degree in Cognitive Psychology and Television Production helped her hone her skills at understanding what makes people tick – who are they, what they want, what they need, how they think, what motivates them, and how to emotionally connect to them.
Her presentation leverages her experience to give you a fresh perspective on how to breakthrough your unconscious habits and dramatically improve your communications skills. Easily. You will learn how your DNA dictates your perception. How taking a few minutes to reverse-engineer your conversations can have a powerful impact.
You’ll be empowered with six easy tips to craft your communication style to more effectively engage your listener and increase your success. All of which you can implement today. Including the unspoken secret and most-often overlooked part of every conversation that will help you become more confident, more influential, and more sought-after in your professional life.
Today, Deborah uses her lifetime of experience and expertise to groom people for a wide variety of high-stakes situations – from an interview with Barbara Walters or the New York Times to multi-million dollar law suits or a civil rights case.
Whether it’s in the courtroom, the boardroom or in front of the media, she knows that every facial expression, very word, every nuance has a profound effect on your success. She works nationally to help prepare witnesses for deposition or trial. She works with executives to prepare them for presentations, fund-raisers or to dramatically enhance their leadership skills. She is especially committed to supporting women going through the stressful and crucial steps of divorce to help them come across as calm, clear, compelling, and confident.
Lunch & Plenary Session with Moderator Samantha Legge
All-Male Panel: "Investing with a Gender Lens"
Open to the business community. For additional lunch tickets, click here.
Hosted by Sauder School of Business
“Investing with a Gender Lens” All-Male Panel
If women are to play more significant roles in business and in larger numbers, then what are some strategies for making this happen? And, how do men see they can help promote the gender agenda? This session will look at the topic through this male lens to explore fresh insight and perspective. Led by a renowned Key Female Executive, our keynote panel involves all-male leaders to bring an alternative gender-based perspective to this topic. The panelists are prominent leaders in various fields who have all championed the need to foster and promote women in business, whether by increasing the number of females in executive positions, donating funds to sponsor education programs for female entrepreneurs, or simply being passionate about gender equity and increased success for women in business. Their conversation will explore why it is important for boards to include more women as members, why it is sensible for society to invest more in fostering women-owned businesses, and how the concept of “Lean In Together” can be practiced to promote gender equality.
Moderator: Samantha Legge, President, Canada Wide Media Limited
Panelists:
- Bob Elton, Chief Risk Officer, Vancity
- Scott Shepherd, President & CEO, NORTHSTAR Trade Finance Inc.
- Keith Ippel, Co-Founder & Partner, Spring.is
Make sure you visit each of the exhibits with your “Global Passport” and receive the EXCELerate 2015 stamp from each exhibitor. Answer the question on the back of each passport and hand in your completed form to the staff at the registration desk by 2:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd, and you will be automatically entered into our raffle for great prizes, including an International Air Canada flight, a helicopter experience for 2 with lunch, plus much more. Winners will be announced at our “Closing Session” and you must be present to win.
Choose Your Meet the Expert Sessions and/or Business Meetings
Choose from the Following Concurrent Sessions or Self-Selected Business Meetings
Please choose one of the following concurrent sessions from the four major conference themes: Leadership Power for the “BEST YOU”, Global Competitiveness, Business Growth and Megatrends.
OR Choose to meet with someone you want to get to know better!
“Love Yourself on Video”
3 Simple Secrets That Give Successful Women Entrepreneurs More Confidence and Sales - With Jaeny Baik
Moderator: Judith Richardson
Welcome to the video revolution. With a click of a finger, you can engage in facetoface conversations, promote your expertise, host team meetings with anyone online. Facetime, Video Skype, YouTube, video conferencing, webinars, Google Hangouts… the tools are often free and easy to use.
A Vancouver based entrepreneur can consult with a client in Singapore through her cell phone video camera. She can get clients from anywhere in the world without boarding a plane. This represents a massive opportunity to increase market share, both locally and globally. Online video represents the explosive future of business relationships.
However, most women avoid video because their mindset is stuck in the past.
“I’m afraid of sounding stupid.”
After speaking at conferences across North America, and training more than a thousand women entrepreneurs, this is the most common fear I hear. Researchers have found that society defines feminine as being “skinny, quiet and nice.” Trivial insecurities, such as wrinkles are stopping smart women from leveraging video to grow their businesses. Most women still compare themselves to perfect, young, beautiful celebrities. However social media is a place where flaws and vulnerabilities are perceived as authentic. If you’re too perfect, people won’t trust you.
Women are choosing to stay silent and invisible while this video revolution passes them by. An updated mindset is critical. Women can change the world. One first step is providing them the techniques and skill set to shine online with video.
It’s time we’re seen and heard.
Moderator: Hilda Gan
A thirty second elevator commercial is way too long! In this fun, swift moving and skills based program, you will learn how to present your seven second Value Proposition and a 15 second verbal Capability Statement. Learn how to play in the Majors with one of America’s top experts in this field. Julia is the only certified WBE, ISM-Certified Supplier Diversity Professional, prize winning author on this topic.
- You will leave this seminar primed and ready to answer the moment someone asks you that key question: “So, what do you do?”
- You will know what corporations want, what they don’t want
- You will know how to prepare for working with huge corporations
In 2012, Diversity Plus Magazine named Julia one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Diversity for her work in developing women and minority suppliers to sell to America’s largest corporations. As for her own company, she was worked with 21 of the Fortune 100, and many more of the Fortune 500.
Her award winning book “Tackling the Titans: How to Sell to the Fortune 500” is the only handbook for suppliers looking to break into the supply chains of these huge companies.
Moderator: Marg Hachey
It isn’t enough to publish your expertise in a blog or on a e-newsletter. You now need to be an expert at distributing that content far and wide. Well, when does that leave time for you to run your business? This presentation will teach you proven ways to get more mileage out of your content before you feel the need to create more. You’ll learn how to think about your content differently and more effectively and walk away with time saving techniques and tips you can put into practice that day.
In this presentation Jen will show how to get more mileage out of your online content such as blogs, existing website information and events such as EXCELerate 2015. Based on real-world client frustration and complaints as a starting point, she’ll illustrate the methods her team has come up with to solve them. Jen will share a focused, methodical and tactical approach to content distribution that even the one-man band can execute.
Moderator: Corina Walsh
Social Media is more than just another channel, tactic or public billboard. Social media is a critical part of your business’ marketing and communication plan that can be the difference between being in business 5 years from now, or not. Learn how to harness social media to engage with your customers, create a strong following and grow your business strategically.
There are few things less obvious than the fact that women are half of humanity. So why does the reality of women as economic players remain so mystifying to so many?
Women constitute the largest consumer base in the world while also being the largest unemployed population. Women entrepreneurs show consistently higher rates of return and faster exits for investors, yet remain underfunded. Board performance increases measurably with better gender balance, yet it would take 81 years to reach gender parity under the status quo. There are more reasons than moral imperatives to support the principle that women and men should have equal access to participation in economic life as consumers, workers, producers, and leaders.
We’ve heard about the importance of leaning in, but who needs to ‘lean out’? We’ve heard about the need to stop apologizing, but who needs to listen differently? This panel will focus on forging an actionable path toward three goals:
- Better leveraging the productivity and contribution of women workers;
- Increasing funding and scaling of women owned businesses;
- Reaching Board parity (or at least reasonable representation).
Moderator: Ted James, Real Estate Investor, Editor, Writer and Past Dean & Registrar
Panellists:
- Emily Ohler, CEO and General Counsel, Broadleap Solutions Inc.
- Anu Agarwal, President and Founder, Shastra Home Inc. and Chetna
- Julie Weeks, President and CEO, Womenable
As a delegate, you will have an opportunity to meet with others you have met at the conference. You will be able to post who you would like to meet with on a designated board.
Conference Closing, Rainbow Creek Dancers & Raffle Draws
Pre & Post Conference Tours Available!
Remember you must be present to win fantastic raffle prizes!
“The objective of Rainbow Creek is to bring meaning back to the songs and dances of our ancestors, performing them as they were taught to us by our elders. Following along the path of our ancestors, we strive to continually grow and connect with ceremonies that are relevant today to all people. To do so, we create new songs and dances, building upon the cultural foundation of our ancestors, and drawing upon our collective cultural, ceremonial and professional stage experiences.”
Rainbow Creek Dancers derives its name from a creek that runs behind the village of Massett, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). The creek only runs in the winter, the ceremonial season and traditional time of the year for songs and dances to be revealed. Rainbow Creek Dancers remains together today, performing in Haida Gwaii and throughout
the world.
Enjoy traditional Haida dances and stories, as well as the stunning masks created by brothers Robert and Reg Davidson, two of Canada’s foremost Haida artists, along with the award winning vocals of Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, whose life’s work and passion has been to preserve the Haida songs of her culture.
All delegates are welcome to participate in any Pre & Post Tour (Seperate fee) Available September 28 – October 4th, 2015
EXCELerate 2015 is pleased to offer Pre & Post Tours before and after the Conference (separate fee):
For those wishing to take full advantage of traveling to Vancouver, we have included information on recommended sites to visit both locally and in other regions.
Momo from Skyland Travel is taking care of the tour bookings. She can inform you who has signed up for which tour, so that you can travel together with other members of the Conference. Contact Momo at: momo@skyland.ca or 604-685-6885 ext 527.
For more information, click here
Pre & Post Tours
