A few Invest Barrie team members had the pleasure of attending the 2023 reIGNITE Conference, along with a community of entrepreneurs, start-ups, angel investors, leaders, venture capitalists, and innovative business peers for a three-day mini-MBA opportunity at Olympia Sports Camp in Muskoka.
The Conference saw over 140 participants take in 30 hours of professional development, networking, camp activities and more. The program included 25 speakers who shared their insights through keynote speeches and presentations, pop up talks, and workshops like A.I. and scale-up camps; a series of talks demystifying fast-moving technology and helping participants understand how they can effectively incorporate technology into their offerings and services.
Stephannie Schlichter, Director of Invest Barrie, Sarah Young, Senior Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Briar Kelly, Program Coordinator reflected on their experiences at reIGNITE and came away with these top five takeaways:
- It is okay not to have a plan. Embracing the ebbs and flows of not just industry trends, but life as a whole can introduce some of the greatest opportunities. The Daigle Adventure Crew, led by Monica and James, are marketing nomads travelling in their RV on a journey of healing and growth, whose pop-up talk allowed attendees to reevaluate their own entrepreneurial direction.
- Persistence is key! Keynote speaker Nicholas Reichenbach, Founder, Chairman and CEO at Flow Alkaline Spring Water, knew that his family-owned artesian spring here in Canada was special. By not rushing to market, Nicolas was inspired by a mountain of discarded plastic to create eco-friendly packaging that is 68-75% renewable and 100% recyclable.
- Push yourself to live outside your comfort zone, while maintaining your core values and embracing failures. These are some of the practices that have led keynote speaker Shelby Taylor, founder of Chickapea, to be ranked in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations in the world.
- Stripping it back to basics can be impactful. Keynote speaker Bruce Croxon chose to deliver his remarks on a sandy beach while attendees spread out over various docks. Moving outside of a formal theatre to connect with nature allowed for his candid lessons on being resilient to forever stay in the hearts of all who were there.
- You can always meet one more person. While it’s always nice to reconnect with friendly faces, being intentional about meeting new people at events like reIGNITE allows you to continue building partnerships, collaborations and valuable business relationships.
Invest Barrie is a proud supporter of this unique conference for its ability to bring the dynamic entrepreneurship community together to learn from one another and make meaningful connections that will help propel them forward. The experience is unforgettable, and the memories and connections live on well after the conference ends. And that’s what makes this ecosystem different.
reIGNITE is a chance to reSTART, reBOOT, reCHARGE and reconnect. The Invest Barrie team looks forward to joining next year’s campers.
You can read more about reIGNITE from founder Chris Adams in his ‘Rearview Mirrow Reflections’.
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