Get ready for a bonanza of awesome at Small Business Week Calgary 2016

Have you heard the news? Next week is Small Business Week Calgary! Get started planning now, because there's a lot to see.

Here's a couple of the great events we're looking forward to:

• Small Business Calgary Conference
• BoostR Stage Calgary
• Tackling Canada’s productivity gap: It starts with entrepreneurs
• Foodies fuel Calgary’s entrepreneurial renaissance

Head to SBWYYC.com to check out the full calendar of events, and even add your own if you've got one going on!

From the blog

SBWYYC guest blog: Digital marketing tips and tricks for the modern small business owner

In our lead up to Small Business Week Calgary (SBWYYC) 2016 we have reached out to some of our partners to provide valuable content to our small business friends.

This week Yellow Pages has shared a blog jam-packed with tips on how to kickstart your entrepreneurial business' online presence. 

Kickstart a local business at the BoostR Stage

📅 October 17th      🕒 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm      📍 National Music Centre

This event is part of Small Business Week Calgary.

Kick-off Small Business Week Calgary at the BoostR Stage live pitch event, where 4 local entrepreneurs lay it on the line in front of 300 Calgarians and an all-star panel of judges. You get to be in the audience and decide who gets funds for their business that night.

So which local businesses do you get to hear pitch? Here are the finalists:

• Enable
• Girl Gotch
• Meal Blvd
• The Complete Plate

Join us to help shape the future of one of Calgary's up and coming entrepreneurs.

Tackling Canada’s productivity gap

📅 October 18th      🕒 7:00 am – 9:00 am      📍 St. Louis Hotel

This event is part of Small Business Week Calgary.

Join us at the historic St. Louis Hotel for an insightful discussion with Michael Denham, President and CEO of BDC on productivity in the entrepreneurial business. He will be revealing the results of a comprehensive study on productivity of 1,500 Canadian business owners as well as Canada's first ever business productivity benchmarking tool BDC is launching this fall.

Conditions of success: A modern and vibrant national transportation system

📅 October 19th      🕒 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm      📍 Fairmont Palliser

Canada’s vast size and reliance on trade and travel mean that an efficient, competitive, and accessible national transportation system is essential to the country’s prosperity and social fabric. 

Join us to hear from Scott Streiner, Chair and CEO of the Canadian Transportation Agency, and learn about opportunities and challenges before the national transportation system – and key steps the Agency is taking to keep pace with change.

Foodies fuel Calgary's entrepreneurial renaissance

📅 October 19th      🕒 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm      📍 National Music Centre

This event is part of Small Business Week Calgary.

Calgary used to be all meat and potatoes but these days, there's a foodie renaissance happening and it's being driven by local entrepreneurs. Join McLeod Law for an evening of up-close and personal interviews moderated by Partner Robert Fooks (aka "Fooksie") with Village Brewery's Jim Button, Jennifer Carlson and Jill Vos from Baby Gourmet, and CHARCUT's John Jackson.

The 2016 Small Business Calgary Conference – got your tickets?

📅 October 20th      🕒 12:30 pm – 9:00 pm      📍 BMO Centre

This event is part of Small Business Week Calgary.

The highlight of #SBWYYC 2016 is a half-day of professional development for entrepreneurs: the Small Business Calgary Conference, where you can attend valuable breakout sessions led by expert presenters. Check out sessions like:

• Small business innovation: Getting passed the buzzwords
• Go, grow and succeed abroad
• HR in a box: Shifting skill sets in the new economy
• Making your strong business, stronger: What steps will you take towards operational efficiency?

Fast-Growth Champions: Tech disruptors

📅 October 25th      🕒 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm      📍 Double Zero Chinook

Calgary is emerging as a hub for some of the most innovative tech companies anywhere. At this Fast-Growth Champions, you'll hear from local tech disruptors who are shaking up emerging and established industries. 

Hear from:

• Bryan de Lottinville, Founder and CEO, Benevity
• Tom Short, Founder and President, Kudos
• Tom Bielecki, Founder and CEO, PrintToPeer

Join us after work for a slice of award-winning Neopolitan-style pizza, and stories that show tech is thriving in Calgary.

Business After Hours at Cococo Chocolatiers

📅 November 3rd      🕒 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm      📍 Cococo Chocolatiers

Please note that Business After Hours are members-only events.

At this uniquely interactive event hosted at the little castle-esque chocolaterie on Macleod Trail, Cococo's expert chocolatiers will handcraft a selection of their award-winning creations before your very eyes for you to sample. You will even have the opportunity to design your own chocolate creation by selecting from a variety of popular fillings and decorations.

Expanding your influence

Voice your thoughts on the minimum wage increase

Recently Alberta’s minimum wage increased to $12.20 per hour. Increases have already been scheduled for the next 2 years as well on course for a $15/hour minimum wage in 2018.

If this has a significant impact on your business, positive or negative, we’d love to hear from you. There will be opportunities to contribute to the Chamber’s policy work, and potentially even to be featured in the media.

Tips to grow your business

Digital tip: Is your business ransomware ready?

Ransomware is a type of computer virus that prevents users from accessing their systems until a sum of money is paid. Preying on human error, cybercriminals trick users into activating this malicious software. Often disguised in email as HTML links or attachments, ransomware encrypts data using a private key only the attackers possess. Users are locked out of their machines; ransom is demanded.

Ransomware may be spreading, but so is awareness and there are ways you can prepare your business.

What we are reading...

• New $2 billion Calgary airport terminal ready for takeoff
• A checklist for more persuasive presentations
• Alberta sees positive job growth, but ranks of job seekers swell
• A formula to tame your never-ending to-do list
• What your definition of innovation says about your company

Member insights

Chamber Member: Emera Inc.

Emera Inc. is a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company invests in electricity generation, transmission and distribution, gas transmission and distribution, and utility energy services with a strategic focus on transformation from high carbon to low carbon energy sources. 

Emera companies work towards creating cleaner energy, and delivering it to market. They maintain high standards in safety, reliability, customer service and environmental care.

Members get exclusive savings from Western Compensation & Benefits Consultants

You can’t afford to make mistakes with employee compensation. Pay below market and run the risk of losing valuable employees and limiting your ability to attract talent. Pay too much and impact your HR budget. Annual compensation surveys can help you know if your salaries and total rewards are competitive.

As a Calgary Chamber member, you can save 15% off any of WCBC’s 10 compensation reports.

From our partners

Help us celebrate Calgary with #LoveYYC

Today our partners and friends at Calgary Economic Development and Tourism Calgary launched a new campaign to celebrate the countless things that make our city the most amazing city in the world. It's called #LoveYYC, and is all about celebrating all that makes our city terrific.

The Calgary Chamber is proud to support this effort, and we want to invite you to do the same. Watch the video Calgary Made, then join the conversation online with #LoveYYC.

Members save on the Women in Leadership and Business Conference

📅 November 23rd & 24th      📍 Hyatt Regency

The 8th Annual Women in Leadership and Business Conference on November 21st and 22nd, 2016 is a national, 2-day interactive learning and professional development event focused on growing your business and advancing your career. The event is designed to engage delegates with speakers and other attendees, and includes a total of 12 workshops, plus keynotes, discussion groups and networking.

To support Calgary businesses during Small Business Week Calgary, the Women in Leadership and Business Conference is offering a special Chamber Friends and Family Rate on tickets.

Use promo code CCOCVIP by October 21 to get your ticket for $499 (regular price is $1595).

Community leaders