NSBest 2015 | A Review

This year marked our sixth annual speaker showcase and once again the event took another step forward. Our best speaker showcase yet, with a great mix of speakers who shared valuable insight and their “Words to Live By” with our valued clients. Not to worry if you didn’t get a chance to see either event in person, we’ve got a full digest for you:

Engage Speaker Talks Vancouver

Once again our Vancouver event was held at the beautiful Vancity Theatre and it proved (once again) to be a wonderful home for NSBest. Here’s some of the great scenes from Vancouver:   Host Dawn Chubai kept the energy high in the early morning with her upbeat personality. She delivered solid transitions and thoughtful anecdotes from one speaker to the next. Dawn did a great job tying the whole event together and keeping the event on track.   Our first speaker of the day was Freshii’s Founder & CEO Matthew Corrin. He started his presentation with a interview clip with Fox New’s Stuart Varney discussing the recent challenge he issued McDonald’s. Matthew’s talk shared some of the story behind the creation of Freshii and tips for reaching millennial audiences while offering an overview of the five guiding principles that has helped lead Freshii in its rapid growth.   Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation Ken Coates was the morning’s second speaker. He started out with a personal story and showed off his sense of humor before diving into some compelling facts on the future of Canada, oil, renewable energy and much more. His high-energy talk presented plenty of great ideas for where opportunity and Canada can converge.   The final speaker before intermission was acclaimed Lawyer Lesra Martin. He built a connection with the audience right off the bat by using a great personal story and commanding the audience with his incredible stage presence. Lesra’s masterful skills as an orator were on full display as he delivered plenty of inspirational messages to our audience.   Investor, Business Expert & CBC Dragon on Next Gen Den Michael Hyatt brought us back from intermission with an engaging, thought-provoking, and insightful presentation. His great stage presence and high-energy were on full display. He looked at the state of business in North America offering our audience plenty of takeaways and humour throughout.   Olympic Gold Medallist, Adventurer & Social Entrepreneur Adam Kreek closed out the morning with a talk filled with inspiration. From references to Disney’s Frozen, his time on the world-class Canadian rowing team and what it takes to succeed after a gold medal, he shared some personal stories which helped the audience relate to his presentation on overcoming challenges and succeeding despite the odds.  

Engage Speaker Talks Toronto

This marked the second year we held our Eastern event at the The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon in the Toronto Reference Library. It was the perfect setting for a morning of inspiring, insightful and engaging presentations. Our host Deborah Kimmett kicked the morning off by getting our audience laughing with her token sense of humour.  She brought some good fun along with her strong personality to keep the event flowing nicely throughout the day.   Interactive Producer & Expert on Digital Media Culture Ramona Pringle was the first speaker to hit the stage. Her presentation was focused on the power of story. She discussed how we need to embrace technology as a conduit for humanity to connect & share.   Rocket Scientist & Advocate for Women in Technology Natalie Panek was our second speaker of the morning. She brought down-to-earth charm and an engaging stage presence to inspire our audience to break through barriers and achieve great things. Natalie shared her experiences with NASA to show how persistence can reap unexpected benefits, even if you don’t get what you want on the first try.   The room was buzzing for our third speaker, Broadcast Journalist & Advocate for Indigenous Inclusion, Wab Kinew. His unique style, combining a sense of humour with stirring anecdotes of cultural significance was a hit right before intermission. His new memoir The Reason You Walk (making it’s publishing debut at the NSBest Toronto event) was snapped up by many attendees over the break.   Ontario’s 21st Premier & former Liberal Party of Canada Leader, Hon. Bob Rae was the mornings forth speaker. He also has a new book, What’s Happened to Politics, which he discussed with our audience. Mr. Rae shared some great sound bytes that sum up our current political climate with several insights into some of the facade in the political cult of personality. His presentation style was casual yet comprehensive, the perfect way to capture peoples attention around the topic of politics- especially in election season.   Freshii’s Founder & CEO Matthew Corrin closed out the morning. He started his presentation with a interview clip with Fox New’s Stuart Varney discussing the recent challenged he issued McDonald’s. Matthew’s talk shared some of the story behind the creation of Freshii while offering an overview of the five guiding principles that has helped lead its rapid growth.   We captured more of the mornings buzz via storify:

We will have some NSBest videos on our NSBest Playlist when they become available. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the latest content. NSB Engage Speaker Talks would not be successful without partners who also believe in the power of engagement, learn more about them:

And our charity partner: