How do we navigate and stay aware of mental health and wellness while eliminating stigma? For Bee, this topic is personal. As someone who has been transparent about her experiences with depression, anxiety, and postpartum depression, Bee has combatted stigma with openness, encouraging others to do the same.
Booking Contact: salexander@nsb.comWhat can we learn when we really listen to each other? Bee Quammie’s presentations centre on the stories that often aren’t told, providing spaces where audiences can learn, be empowered, and find a relatable voice. In addition to speaking... Read More →
Booking Contact: spencer@2thewest.comAfter losing both legs from the pelvis down at the age of five due to a genetic disease, Spencer West tackled challenge after challenge, learning to navigate a world set against those with disabilities.Spencer is a successful global keynote speaker... Read More →
Tuesday June 10, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT Grand BallroomDelta Hotels Toronto Mississauga
GenWell Education & Engagement Programs are delivered in workplaces, classrooms, community organizations and seniors groups year-round. We aim to deepen understanding of the growing issues of social isolation, disconnection and loneliness, their impact on individuals and society and the power of human connection to solve for it before a crisis or need for intervention. Are you interested in taking a leadership role for your organization, community or group?
In today’s fast-paced, hyper-digital world, students are more connected than ever—and yet, many are feeling more isolated, anxious, and overwhelmed than generations before them. In this engaging and timely workshop, GenWell founder Pete Bombaci will explore the rising importance... Read More →
This introductory-level session strives to have information that can be applied to various streams. It will cover basic planning steps: from conceptualization to execution of events. Topics include booking venues, managing budget, strategic planning, managing a team on site, ticketing, crowd management, and more.
You know your services matter—but do your students? In this practical, story-driven session, Dr. Mathieu Yuill unpacks how student associations can stop leading with governance and start leading with value. Drawing from real-life case studies and years of hands-on work with student associations, Mathieu shares how small shifts in messaging—like talking about what students care about instead of what you want them to care about—can drive big increases in web traffic and engagement. You’ll walk away with low-cost, high-impact ways to use your website and digital content to build connection, boost engagement, and help students feel seen and supported. Because clarity cures frustration—and it’s your story, told so everyone gets it.
Dr. Mathieu Yuill is a communicator at heart and a strategist by trade. His doctoral research, Beyond The Town Hall: Aligning Teams With Scalable, Personalized Mission Messaging, explored how leaders can use digital tools to build connection and clarity across organizations. With... Read More →
Tackle various conflicts that exist within and between clubs, as well as externally (e.g. with the college or external partners). Share your experiences and strategies and talk about when it is best to mediate or to get assistance from your Student Rights and Responsibilities departments.
Over the past several years, the team behind Bounce has worked hand-in-hand with student unions, campus clubs, and administrators to support over half a million Canadian students, while also collaborating with major festivals, artists, and venue partners. In this ed-session, they share what that journey revealed about the mechanics of modern student engagement and you’ll hear first-hand from Jovan Popovic, the outgoing President of the McMaster Students Union, about how they identified and implemented best-in-class initiatives to reinvigorate campus life and foster a more connected student community. Packed with data-informed insights and field-tested strategies relevant to staff and students leaders alike, the session explores what it really takes to engage today’s campus communities and how institutions can meet students where they are.
This session covers recruitment, management, training, and best practices for team functionality, including blending personalities, assigning work, assessing performance, and establishing responsibilities and workflows. It will address functional day-to-day operations, such as tabling versus being mobile, keeping your team motivated, and making your team stand out. This session will also address ways to get team members to contribute to promotional strategies, based on their needs as a student, and touch on brainstorming sessions, facilitating pop-ups, and differentiating between general promotion vs. specialized (e.g. Days of Significance).
This introductory session will cover “everything” beginners need to know about clubs and student groups, touching on the differences between colleges and universities, funding, events, marketing, etc.). It will talk about registration and maintaining membership and engagement, as well as club collaboration (internal, such as club-to-club, and external, such as club to community) and event planning for clubs.
This session will talk about how you can enhance your department with events specific to clubs (e.g. executive meetings and trainings, club fairs, club conferences, etc.) and explore strategies for incorporating departmental initiatives into your semesterly and annual planning, working with club coordinators to execute these events. Different schools would be encouraged to share their best practices and strategies, keeping in mind participant numbers, budget, and student interest, and give feedback on different club management software being used.
This session aims to cover several topics about working with booking artists and working with agencies. How to engage with artists and agencies, the art of negotiating, the science of group booking with other schools, finding artists that align with your campus, and more will be touched upon in this session. It will also address the basics of production and technical set up for live performances.
Kyle Wappler is an events coordinator at Conestoga Students Inc. He starter with the school in 2020 but his events career started long before. Founder of Have Hope Shows since 2008, kyle has produced and ran hundreds of concerts across southern Ontario in almost all genres. With humble... Read More →
Imposter Syndrome is a deep dive into the psychology of how imposter syndrome can show up in, and impact, daily life. Whether you’re a creative, a team member in a fast-paced work environment, or a high achiever , Coach Carey uses an interactive survey to personalize effective strategies that will combat imposter syndrome. You’ll leave with the tools you need to feel confident in your decision-making, less stressed with deadlines and open to taking leaps without the fear of failure.
Booking Contact: Jeff Lohnes jl@talentbureau.comRaia “Coach” Carey is a driving force of motivational energy. After overcoming various personalhardships, Raia transformed her mindset and set forth to help others find confidence andempowerment.She is a corporate wellness and... Read More →
Booking Contact: Jeff Lohnes jl@talentbureau.comMeghan is an actor and playwright who has written ten professionally produced plays and canbe seen on stages and screens across the country. In 2003 she premiered Dissolve, aone-woman show based on her experience of being drugged and... Read More →
Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT Grand BallroomDelta Hotels Toronto Mississauga
Your Organization’s Brand: More Than Just a Logo This session aims to touch on the elements of a brand outside of the usual suspects and how the small details and decisions matter for building your organizations identity and brand voice. Attendees can expect to see examples of content written in a brand voice and applications of treatments that help organizations stand out in their respective spaces. It can also focus on defining and differentiating your brand voice from other professional voices, and tips and strategies to teach your design teams to recognize and work within your organization’s brand and where to find opportunities to reinforce your it on campus.
Booking Contact: Sam Demma sam@samdemma.comSam Demma InstaSam Demma XSam Demma FacebookSam Demma TikTokSam Demma YouTubeSam Demma is a best-selling author and one of the most in-demand keynote speakers in the education and association sectors. He delivered two TEDx talks, co-founded PickWaste—an organization that mobilized volunteers to pick up over 3000 bags of litter—and was awarded the pr... Read More →
Zack Dodge is the Supervisor, Esports Operations with Conestoga College from Cambridge, ON. With over a decade of leadership experience in the Ontario college sector, Zack has been rapidly advancing esports at Conestoga through the Athletics & Recreation department since 2022. As... Read More →
This session aims to examine how AI can be used, responsibly and effectively, as a tool in every stage of the design process, highlighting the positives (e.g. time optimization) but without replacing the creative process. It will touch on the ethics of AI use in design (e.g. originality, intellectual property, bias, accessibility, etc.) as well as some current major pitfalls and deficiencies with AI design and how they can be addressed. This session can also look at how AI prompts can be structured to match the aims of your branding, i.e. how you can make the language commonly used by AI work for your brand voice.
Examine how to use various venues to their fullest potential and determine which type of venue is best for your event. Taking into account low-cost, high engagement in various formats, this session will also compare small group events and activations with larger events, while focusing on acquiring deep engagement at all levels. We will explore different levels of programming, how they appeal to different student crowds, and how to improve engagement based on venue.
Kelsey is an outgoing go-getter who loves to have a good time and create memories that last a lifetime. She started her career off in journalism working her dream job in radio, but after an unexpected lay off, she took the opportunity to pivot into the events industry and never looked... Read More →
Friday June 13, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT Grand BallroomDelta Hotels Toronto Mississauga
