Stouffville Blog

 

Read more Stouffville Blog posts!

Don't Miss Business Innovation in Changing Times on Nov 9

November 4, 2011

What is business innovation and why should you attend Business Innovation in Changing Times next week?

Technology is moving the business world along at a break-neck speed, leaving many business owners and managers to ask: how they we keep pace? Events like Business Innovation in Changing Times are great forums for businesses to gather a spectrum of ideas around innovation that can help them keep pace, and grow.

Next Wednesday's event will be the fifth in a new six-event seminar series in the "N6" (northern six) communities put on by the York Region Small Business Enterprise Centre (YRSBEC).

"The YSBEC has always had a positive relationship with the Chambers of Commerce in the past, but realized that if each Chamber, along with the municipal economic development officers, worked collaboratively together, we could put on a high-value, premiere class business education and networking series that would benefit all small businesses in the area," said Dan Ruby, a small business consultant with YSBEC. 

"We wanted to build an attractive business model that would leverage the resources and networks of the Chambers to help collectively raise the profile of each organization.  Individually, no one organization could pull the series off;  by working together and aggregating the market audience, we were able to attract high profile speakers and sponsors to the series, of the kind that are normally only available in downtown Toronto."

Here is a quick overview of the day's agenda:

• The event will kick-off with a light networking breakfast (7:30 - 8:30 am) with StouffvileConnect's publisher, Julie King, acting as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.
• Breakfast will be followed by a keynote address from Jody Steinhauer, founder of The Bargains Group. Jody has won many accolades for her business achievements, including the 2001 Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (innovation category) and the Top 40 Under 40. The topic of her address will be The Bargains Revolution: How Today's Companies can Profit from the Shift to Thrift.
• A panel on Navigating Business Success, networking lunch and a second panel on eBusiness will then follow the morning keynote.
• The day will wrap up with two final keynotes from 1:00 - 2:45 pm. The first keynote speaker in the afternoon, Mark Morton, is the Senior Product Manager at IBM while the second is Stouffville's own Patrick Lannigan, VP of Marketing at Strategic Information Technology (SIT). Mark will explore how businesses can gain insights from their data, while Patrick will speak to the issue of using "embedded social strategies" to dominate a market.
• The day will then close with some final networking and exhibits.

Tickets to the event cost $75 + HST (lunch included), with a special rate of $25 + HST available for young entrepreneurs (young entrepreneurs must call to take advantage of this special rate).

Purchase your event tickets: tickets can be purchased at: http://www.investinyork.ca/business-services/small-business-enterprise-centre/conferences-events. Buy your tickets now - we look forward to seeing you there!

With good support for the pilot series so far, businesses may see more events like this in the N6 communities going forward.

"We've seen tremendous results from the first four events - over 28 sponsors and more than 600 attendees have already participated, and the local Chambers have been very pleased with the results," said Ruby.

"Now that we've proven the collaborative model can deliver exceptional results, we hope to continue the positive and productive partnerships, reinforcing the N6 Northern York region brand, as well as the individual Chambers and municipalities.  We've set a high water mark for the calibre of content in the events, and we are excited to explore how to take it even higher over the next two years."