Featured Speakers and Workshops


Featured Speakers …


Mayor Gregor Robertson - City of Vancouver

Mayor Robertson committed to building a sustainable and prosperous future for Vancouver. Prior to entering politics, he co-founded Happy Planet, and grew the Vancouver-based socially responsible company up to 50 employees in 10 years. Happy Planet produces organic juices, promotes health and nutrition, and supports family farms and communities. Happy Planet received the Ethics in Action Award in 2004, and was awarded the Vancouver Mayor’s Environmental Award for exemplary achievement in 2003. For his achievements as a successful entrepreneur and community leader, Gregor was named one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” by The Globe and Mail in 2004.

In 2005, Gregor was elected to the provincial legislature as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver–Fairview and served as the Opposition Critic for Advanced Education and the Critic for Small Business and Revenue. As MLA, Gregor led a successful campaign to protect affordable rental housing, fought for the regulation of carcinogens and toxins throughout BC, and advocated for small businesses impacted by Canada Line construction.

Mayor Robertson has a long record of involvement in the community. He has served on a number of boards, working for sustainable farming and forestry, and to protect wild salmon. Through his business, he’s helped support over a thousand community organizations and events, from the Food Bank to the Folk Festival.

Mayor Robertson and his wife Amy have four children: Terra, Satchel, Jinagh and Johanna. He is an ardent bike commuter, and in his spare moments he plays soccer, explores the great outdoors, and gets musical.

His current local and regional appointments:

  • Director, Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro Vancouver)
  • Hastings Institute Inc. Board
  • City of Vancouver Public Housing Corporation
  • Vancouver Civic Development Corporation
  • Harbour Park Developments Ltd.


To Believe in a Vision

Dr. Kevin Ham - Reinvent Media Group

Dr. Kevin Ham is Chairman and CEO of the Reinvent media group. He is a Harvard Business School AMP graduate, a medical doctor by profession and a graduate of U.B.C.

In 2000, Kevin formed the Reinvent media group of companies, and today the group has offices in Vancouver, Canada and Barbados. Kevin is heading up several initiatives to become a dominant presence in the Web 3.0 Semantic Web, the advertising industry and local space, looking to reinvent media and lives.

In a 2007 cover story in Business 2.0 magazine, Kevin Ham is referred to as “The Man Who Owns the Internet.” The same year, Kevin was proclaimed “Domainer of the Year” by industry association T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

He most recently received the “Industry Achievement Award” at the DomainFest 2008 Conference in recognition of his leadership in the monetization of premium domain names and portfolios. He was also awarded the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Technology in the Pacific region.


Make Mine a Million!

Fiona Walsh - FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Want to know what it takes to build a million dollar business?

As a featured speaker, columnist and business coach, Fiona Walsh has entertained audiences throughout North America with her powerful, cutting-edge information on building million dollar companies.  After 17 successful years in corporate sales, she stepped out and formed her company - FM Walsh & Associates Inc - to deliver business coaching programs to entrepreneurs and corporate employees.  Over 4,000 people have gone through the Ghost CEO business coaching program world-wide.

Fiona is passionate about helping people succeed in business by teaching them effective tools for getting ahead.  She delivers practical and insightful solutions that have an immediate impact.  Fiona regularly shares her experience and knowledge on various business topics with business groups and associations throughout North America, as well as doing custom training for corporate clients like Intel and Royal Bank of the Sage Spark business blog.  You can also check her own blog and business resources out at www.fmwalsh.com.


Think You’re Special?  Fact & Fiction of Being Truly Unique

Paul A. Joo - Ascent Group

We’ve heard it from all quarters: “Follow your passions and you will succeed.” This is but half of some very sound advice. Here’s the other half: Just because you love doing something, doesn’t guarantee success! Separate fact from fiction with straight talk that you’re not likely to find in “How To” books.

Paul is a senior advisor and the founder of Ascent Group - specialists in innovating, designing & delivering services. Recognized for his unique combination of experience, humour and relentless discipline, Paul has a proven track record of effectively collaborating with clients to transform their potential into performance.

With the experience & insight to ask the tough questions and “raise their bar”, he has advised and mentored business leaders from around the world. Paul passionately shares his advice and strategies to help entrepreneurs & executives alike identify opportunities & sand-traps as well, guiding positive transformations for both themselves and their businesses.


Lori Joyce & Heather White - Cupcakes

Heather White and Lori Joyce are best friends and co-founders of Cupcakes, a stylish Vancouver-based retail bakery specializing in whimsical cupcakes, cakes and other nostalgic baked goods baked fresh daily. They met working in retail when they were 15 years old in Victoria, BC and shared a common dream of owning their own company one day.

In 2001, the two best friends came up with the idea to open a cupcakes bakery. Their first bakery opened in April 2002 on Denman Street in Vancouver’s West End. Four years later they opened their second location on West Broadway and have now three corporate bakeries and three franchise bakeries across Vancouver’s Lower Mainland.

While they both share the drive and determination to succeed, Heather’s strengths can be seen in the attention to detail required to successfully brand and market the Cupcakes’ product lines while Lori focuses her drive on the exciting opportunities created by their bold decision to franchise the Cupcakes brand.


Top 10 Tips to Start and Run a Hyper-Growth Company

Ken Sim, Co Founder, Nurse Next Door

Prior to co-founding Nurse Next Door, Mr. Ken Sim was a financial analyst at KPMG in Vancouver, an investment banker at CIBC World Markets in Vancouver, Toronto, and London, UK; a merchant banker at CIBC Capital Partners in Toronto and a contracted CEO/COO/CFO at numerous technology companies. Ken, along with fellow Nurse Next Door co-founder John DeHart, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award as an Emerging Entrepreneur in Canada’s Pacific Region, was named to Business In Vancouver’s “Top 40 Under 40” list and received a Master’s in Entrepreneurship through the collaborative E/O / MIT Birthing of Giants Program.

Ken’s proudest professional achievement to date has been building Canada’s fastest growing homecare franchise system with a 3,400% growth rate since inception. Ken’s work with Nurse Next Door has been featured in Canada’s National Post; The Globe and Mail; Fortune Small Business Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine.


Monetizing Social Media- a Panel Discussion

Hosted by Victor Chew Wong Make It Business, with Panelists Martin Wong, SmarttNet and Rich Patterson, Nine Point Ten

It’s nice that you have a Facebook page and are Tweeting. But are you making money from all of the time you’re investing in the upkeep. Learn how to turn your Social Media investment into better returns - be it in dollars or better traffic to your website. Victor Chew Wong, publisher of Make It Business Magazine, moderates this mini-panel with two social media experts. Martin Wong of SmarttNet and Rich Patterson of Nine Point Ten give you the ins and outs of getting the most bang for your time.

With close to a decade of industry experience in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Martin Wong knows exactly how to drive visitors to a Website and convert them once they are there. Martin’s expertise in SEO comes from running his own highly successful Internet Marketing firm for seven years before joining forces with SmarttNet as a partner. Martin is a Certified Google Analytics Individual and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia.

Rich has a twenty years of experience in Public Relations, Marketing & Sales. He was the youngest ever spokesperson for the BC Government handling media relations and news release/speech writing for a major department. He spent almost ten years working closely with brand powerhouse Roots Canada as their Marketing Director and Regional Marketing & Sales Manager (BC). He owns a successful Licensing, Apparel & Promotional Product company and has seen the power of Social Media. Rich was born and raised in Cranbrook B.C. and is married with a young daughter.


How to Separate Yourself from the Competition

Brad Worthley - Brad Worthley International, Inc

Brad Worthley is an accomplished business consultant with over 35 years of management experience.  He is also an internationally acclaimed leadership and customer service expert who has trained over a million people in a wide range of industries throughout the world in the last 18 years.

His client list contains some of the largest and most prestigious corporations in the world from a diverse range of industries.  As an expert in his field, he teaches businesses of all sizes how to consistently build and retain both customer and employee loyalty by changing their culture and not just their people.  He is passionate about helping organizations establish and sustain service cultures:  This is a place where employees love to come to work and customers love to do business.

Brad’s content is not only innovative and incredibly powerful, but delivered with passion, enthusiasm and humour.


101 of Setting Up Your Business’ Computer Network

Vaclav Vincalek, Founder - Pacific Coast Information Systems (PCIS)

In 1995 Mr. Vincalek founded Pacific Coast Information Systems Ltd. (PCIS). Under his leadership, PCIS evolved into a leading technology consulting services organization with a team of quality-focused professionals representing a broad range of technical and management expertise.

His background combines a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and four years post-graduate university research with over fifteen years work experience in the Information Technology sector.
Mr. Vincalek’s primary responsibility is setting the vision, tone and strategic direction for PCIS while overseeing the day to day operations of the organization.

In 2007, Mr. Vincalek brought to fruition PCIS’s new products division, Boonbox. The division was established in response to growing demand from businesses trying to remain competitive while faced with a shrinking talent pool, decreasing budgets and an increasingly complex I.T. landscape.


The Boss of You

Lauren Bacon - The Boss of You

Lauren Bacon is the co-author (with her business partner Emira Mears) of The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business, a guidebook that combines practical advice, real-life wisdom from successful entrepreneurs, and a fun, creative approach Bust magazine describes as “like chatting with a knowledgeable friend over afternoon tea.”

A veteran web designer, Lauren co-founded Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, Inc. with Emira Mears, her co-author and all-around right-hand woman. The two have been in business together for nine years, and during that time have developed a reputation for helping clients in the nonprofit, government and progressive business sectors use online tools more effectively.

Lauren started her design career during the web’s infancy; more than a dozen years later, she remains passionate about facilitating online communication and helping people connect heart-to-heart through technology.

Workshops …


Entrepreneurship from a Different Perspective

Alex Shipillo, President, British Columbia - Impact Entrepreneurship Group

Alex Shipillo is an aspiring young entrepreneur from Vancouver. Alex is the British Columbia President of the Impact Entrepreneurship Group, Canada’s largest youth-run entrepreneurship organization. He is also the Co-Founder of Youth Canada, the most comprehensive online resource for Canadian high school students. In 2009, Alex was named as one of Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 by Youth in Motion. He is also a recipient of a City of Vancouver Youth Award, Millennium Excellence Award, and the Gold Standard of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Alex has worked for 2010 Legacies Now, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and web start-ups TeamPages and Penzu. In addition, Alex spends a lot of his time refereeing high-level soccer. Alex’s interests include youth engagement, current affairs, and mentoring younger students through their own exciting experiences.


How Profitable Is Your Idea?

Scott Armstrong, Director - Peter Thomson Centre for Venture Development, BCIT

“Ready, shoot, aim” is not the way an entrepreneur should bring their product to market. Before investing your time, money and efforts entrepreneurs need to understand how money and other valuable items will flow back to their businesses. Using these simple but essential idea assessment techniques will help make sure you make the most of your time and money. Remember, it is great to love your product but it is even more fun if the market loves it as well!

Scott Armstrong is the Director of The Peter Thomson Centre for Venture Development at BCIT (www.bcit.ca/venture) which has been providing leading entrepreneurial training to over 2000 start up businesses since 1986. Scott has over 25 years experience as an entrepreneur, small business educator, business leader and professional presenter (www.scottarmstrongtraining.com). His energetic, interactive and motivational presentations have energized and focussed thousands of business people across North America.


So you want to be an Entrepreneur?

Sara Couper, Women’s Enterprise Centre

Do you dream of being your own boss and running a successful business?

Do you want to work for your passion and not just a paycheque?

Then maybe it’s time to put your idea into action!  This interactive workshop will help you assess if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how to find the right business for you.

Exceeding Customer Expectations (Internal & External Customers)

Brad Worthley - Brad Worthley International, Inc.

Businesses can no longer have the goal of meeting the customer’s expectations; the goal today must be to exceed them.  What does that look like from the customer’s perspective?  Brad will entertain you with great stories and hilarious examples of businesses that step out of the box and find ways to “Wow” the customer.  You will learn about how customers create their perceptions of you, your employees and your business.  You will walk away with actionable information with which to make changes the very same day.  This session is targeted to anyone, from any industry, at any level.  Some of the topics covered will include:

  • Three Customer Levels
  • Creating Emotional Attachments
  • Perception Becomes the Customer’s Reality
  • The Three Levels of Listening
  • Using Pedestal Words
  • How People Judge Us

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