With over 1000 small businesses nominated across 8 diverse categories, from indigenous entrepreneurship to innovation, this year's 38 finalists truly represent some of the best and brightest in Calgary small business.

From ingenious mattress recycling and dynamic dance classes, to game-changing apps and airplant-filled terrariums, your Calgary Chamber is proud to announce the finalists for the 2016 Small Business Calgary Awards.

Check out who made it through at SBWYYC.com/finalists.

But who's taking home the hardware? Join us October 20th at the Small Business Calgary Conference to find out!

Wednesday, October 5, 2016
11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Hyatt Regency Calgary
700 Centre St SE

During times of economic uncertainty, it's important for employers to invest in the right kind of mental health programs to support a mentally healthy workforce.

To kick off National Depression Screening Week, the Calgary Counselling Centre in partnership with the Calgary Chamber will host Dr. David Goldbloom, Senior Medical Advisor at the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, to discuss how to build a corporate culture that is supportive and open about mental illness.

Join us for this important conversation, and tangible takeaways that you’ll be able to apply in your business.

Do you know a great local business that's doing great things for sport in Calgary? Nominate them for Sport Calgary's Business and Sport Award!

This award, co-presented by your Calgary Chamber at the Celebration of Sport on October 13th, recognizes and celebrates a business that provides outstanding and innovative support to sport in Calgary. 

If this sounds like someone you know, hurry and get that nomination in by Thursday, September 15th!

Thursday, October 20, 2016
12:30 pm – 9:00 pm
BMO Centre – Hall C
1410 Olympic Way SE

Amazing things happen when entrepreneurs get together, and that's what Small Business Week is all about. This year the highlight of the week is the Small Business Calgary Conference, the biggest celebration of small business in Canada.

It's also where you will find the Small Business Calgary Awards. Hosted by Andrew Phung, this is the part of the event where the city’s greatest small businesses get to shine and be recognized for the important contribution they make to Calgary.

Come help us celebrate our city's greatest small businesses with your whole team and over 1000 other business leaders!

The Talent Pool has teamed up with the Human Resources Institute of Alberta and Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University to conduct a study on Calgary employers’ perceptions of hiring and integrating internationally trained professionals into their workplace. 

This study is a continuation of work they started in 2006 on the same subject, and they're looking to see how those perceptions have changed (or haven't) over the last ten years. To gather data, they've created an online survey and as a member of the business community, we'd like to invite you to get involved.

Take the 20-minute survey for a chance to win one of three $100 Amazon.ca gift cards – responses are due by September 21st.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Bow River Barley Mill
201 Barclay Parade SW

There is no doubt that companies get beaten up in a down economy. But, with the right leadership, there are still many businesses in our city that are thriving and even experiencing exponential growth.

But how do they do it? At our next Fast-Growth Champions, get first-hand advice on everything from their strategic decision making process to addressing change management, and leading through exponential growth to handling stress.

You'll hear from:

• Ryan Hoult, CEO, Hatsize Learning Corporation
• Teresa Spinelli, President, Italian Centre Shop Ltd.
• Mike Dunn, Professional Implementer, EOS

Join us for an after-work cocktail, a slice of prawn and pesto flatbread, fantastic networking and inspiring stories.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce wants to capture the level of involvement that businesses across the country have had in the initial integration and support of newly-arrived Syrian Refugees.

They want to hear your stories as a member of the Calgary business community, gather information about best practices, and gain a big-picture perspective about where community efforts are being focused to help others learn how they can get involved.

Fill out this five-minute survey, and tell the Canadian Chamber of Commerce how your company has helped in the effort.

Even if your company has had no involvement, your input is still valuable so please take a minute to click “no” throughout the survey.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
7:00 am – 9:00 am
St. Louis Hotel
403 8th Avenue SE

'Measure up! Shape your future' is part of Small Business Week Calgary.

What's at the root of Canada's much-discussed productivity gap? How is this impacting the bottom line of our small- and medium-sized businesses and their ability to compete? What do the most successful entrepreneurs do to up their game?

Come hear the answers to these questions as Michael Denham, President and CEO of BDC—the only Canadian bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs—reveals the results of a comprehensive study on productivity of 1,500 Canadian business owners. You will also hear about Canada's first ever business productivity benchmarking tool that BDC will be launching this fall.

Join us at the historic St. Louis Hotel for this insightful discussion on productivity in the entrepreneurial business.

• Agrium-PotashCorp merger could signal 'next great frontier,' Calgary Chamber president says
• Overcome resistance to change by enlisting the right people
• 4 things to think about when launching your innovation program
• eCommerce giant AlibabaA is creating a new entry point for Canadian companies into the Chinese market
• How to express frustration productively

LinkedIn ads are a great way to generate high-quality leads, acquire new customers, and raise brand engagement. However, insights on the performance of those campaigns has been lacking. Well, not any more!

Last week LinkedIn introduced conversion tracking, a set of capabilities built directly into LinkedIn Campaign Manager. With conversion tracking, you can understand more about the specific ads and even the unique LinkedIn audiences that are driving your campaign conversions -- including the seniority, industry, job function, and company size of the people you’re converting to leads.

Learn more about how you can use conversion tracking to optimize your LinkedIn ads.

Miller Thomson LLP is one of Canada's largest national law firms, with over 500 lawyers working across Canada in offices located in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Markham and Montréal.

The firm provides a complete range of business law, advocacy and personal legal services to Canadian and international corporations, entrepreneurs and institutions. 

Learn more at MillerThomson.com.

The Petro-Canada SuperPass fleet management program gives you the power to control expenses and puts valuable information at your fingertips. The kind of information that helps give you more control over the costs that impact your bottom line.

As a Calgary Chamber member, you save 2.0 cents/litre on gasoline & diesel and get a 20% discount on car washes at all Petro-Canada retail locations.

Learn more about the Petro-Canada SuperPass fleet management program.

These Prestige members have shown a substantial and unwavering commitment to supporting the work of the Calgary Chamber. We thank our Prestige members: Suncor, TELUS, CNOOC Nexen, AltaLink, BDC, ATB Financial, Brookfield Residential, Shaw and University of Calgary, for helping to make Calgary a better place to live and work for all.