On December 9th, join PEI’s Startup Zone (in partnership with NB’s Planet Hatch and NS’ Ignite) for a day of learning to focus on you and your business. As one of the last big events of the year, the workshops from the Winter Startup Summit are meant to leave you with a strategy to grow your business (or start a new one!) in the new year.

This event will now be entirely digital, and available to watch from the comfort of your own home!

Workshop Schedule:

9am-10am: “From In-Person to Online: Building a New Community”

Learn how to quickly adapt and grow online communities and events and why virtual opportunities should be a part of your plan for the future.

Host: Mike Morrison, Founder of SocialatHome, SocialEast, SocialWest, and Social Central.

Mike Morrison is one of Canada’s most successful content creators. Since, 2006 Mike has brought millions of Canadians together through a variety of projects including his highly successful blog, a best-selling guide for cyclists called “Calgary By Bike”, a podcast for budding entrepreneurs called “I Quit”, and a series of popular digital marketing conferences called SocialWest (Calgary), SocialCentral (Ottawa) and SocialEast (Halifax). In 2020, after having to cancel all live in-person events, Mike successfully pivoted his three conferences into a series of online events called SocialAtHome, featuring hundreds of attendees from ten provinces and one territory. The events were highly rated, with 92% saying they would attend future online events.

10am-11am: “The Importance of Self Care for Entrepreneurs”

Self care is NOT one-size-fits all, and this session is intended to break that idea down and emphasize the importance of self-care for entrepreneurs. Join this authentic and open session on common struggles that entrepreneurs face with their mental health, from financial stressors to burnout!

Hosts: Stephanie Perreault-Bittner and Julie Ann Gauthier, Co-Hosts and Co-Founders of the Thriving Tides Podcast.

Thriving Tides is an entrepreneur’s self-care podcast.

Outside of her role at Thriving Tides, Stephanie is a multi-disiplinary designer obsessed with creating customer centric brands. She is the Founder of Summer Street Creative (a Graphic Design, Branding & Brand Consulting business in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island), as well as an In-House Branding & Marketing Specialist at Startup Zone. Throughout her 6+ years expereince in Design, she gained knowledge in other fields such as UI/UX, Marketing and Search Optimization.

Julie Ann, on the other hand, focuses her time outside of Thriving Tides on helping entrepreneurs and leaders build skills needed to focus on what matters to drive business results. She works as a Leadership Coach at Chandler Coaches where she delivers group and 1:1 coaching for leaders in Prince Edward Island. She is also a tourism operator at Joey’s Deep Sea Fishing. Her focus is creating conscious, playful and profound experiences for leaders to transform themselves and our world.

11am-12pm: “Facebook Ads for Beginners”

Learn everything you need to know from how to create, run, and properly target using Facebook Ads. Learn how to build a campaign from start to finish, focus in on your marketing strategies, and create a predictable, profitable, and scalable customer journey.

Host: Josh Vessey, Founder & Inbound Marketing Specialist at VSSY Media, and Director of Marketing & Programming at Holland College.

Josh Vessey is the Director of Marketing & Programming at Holland College, and the Inbound and Digital Marketing Specialist for VSSY. Over the last decade, Josh has stayed ahead of the trends in Digital Marketing. Having created multiple successful independent online products, Josh has honed his craft through entrepreneurial endeavours. He has then applied his in-depth understanding of digital marketing with his clientele, using his data driven strategies that he developed in the trenches. A true practitioner who is constantly testing and learning to stay at the cutting edge of the industry.

12pm-1pm: Lunch Break with Pride PEI!

This fun-filled lunch break with our friends at Pride PEI is sure to be FABULOUS!

1pm-2pm: “The Art of Storytelling”

The most effective form of communications is to tell a compelling story. For managers and leaders, we need to create stories around our products and around our company. In this session, we will look at the art of Storytelling through the prism of the best storyteller in the 21st Century – Pixar. We look at what Pixar can teach us about effective storytelling.

Host: Permjot Valia, CEO and Founder of MentorCamp.

Permjot Valia is the CEO and founder of MentorCamp and regularly travels the world mentoring startups. He is a goodwill ambassador for the state of Arkansas, having many business connections with the state. Valia received his bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from the University of Leeds. Afterwards, he became the youngest sales and marketing director of Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Services in London. In 2005, Valia became a consultant through a company called Help With Sales. He also became an active angel investor and co-founded Flight and Partners, a London-based fund manager that is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to carry out investment business. To date, Valia has invested in more than 30 companies around the world, including several in Arkansas. He started MentorCamp in 2011, bringing the best mentors and investors from around the world to places like Halifax, Arkansas, and Cape Town. In addition to running MentorCamp, Valia sits on the board of various companies including Bluelight Analytics, Wooshii and Flight and Partners. In 2011, Valia was recognized by TechCrunch as one of the best mentors in Europe.

2pm-3pm: “Brand versus Branding- What’s all the fuss about?”

The language around brand can get confusing. We hear about our USP and our positioning, logo and tag line, brand guidelines, look and feel. What does it mean and why does it matter to your business? How do you find your place in the market and does it matter to your bottom line? Hint- brand tools’ sole purpose should be to increase sales and make ads, communications, and PR activities more effective.

Host: Dee Enright, Founder of JEBBCA Strategies, and SUZ In-House Specialist.

As the Principal at JEBBCA strategies, a division of JEBBCA Holdings Inc, Dee provides strategic business and marketing plans for clients. She has built businesses including an agency in Yukon, Canada that grew from two people to a team of 28, with global clients. That agency, Outside the Cube, was awarded National Tourism Campaign of the Year, National Media Relations Innovation Award, And Gold Medal Media Planning and Buying Innovation Award from the Canadian Marketing Association. She purchased Charlotte’s Rose Inn in PEI and set out to increase the ranking and profitability through new bran positioning. She increased her star rating to 4.5 and revenues, securing a sale within 36 months of purchase. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Dee has held senior sales and marketing positions with Honda, Suzuki Canada, Maritime Broadcasting, CBC television, and Cossette Communications as VP Media Planning and Buying. Her clients have included large brands like Holland America, McDonalds, Coke, Bell Aliant, Canada Games, World Fastpitch, World Athletics, and Chukka Caribbean Adventures as well as entrepreneurs, NGO, DMO’s and start ups. Dee is recognized as a specialist in tourism, sponsorship, sport, and event revenue strategies and has been invited to speak at conferences and events on entrepreneurship, Brand, DMO marketing, media planning and buying, and sales.

3pm-4pm: “Finding Your Dream Customers Online”

The internet is a big, noisy place. It’s impossible to be everywhere and do “all the things” – founders will just burn out. If teams want to succeed online, they must get focused. Hosted by Katelyn Bourgoin, this 1-hour group training is designed to help teams to quickly learn how to find their dream customers online.

Host: Katelyn Bourgoin, Founder of Customer Camp.

Katelyn Bourgoin is a 4X founder turned growth strategist and trainer. She understands the challenges business leaders face because she’s been there Herself. With operational experience spanning the marketing, tech, and hospitality sectors, Katelyn has been named as an influential entrepreneur by Forbes magazine and featured in Inc., HuffPost, Bustle, CBC, CTV, Global TV and more. Katelyn is recognized as one of the “top 20 wonder women of SaaS marketing and growth.” Katelyn’s past clients include high-growth tech startups, SMBs, business support organizations, and Fortune 500 companies like Target and Holiday Inn. Today Katelyn helps frustrated marketers, founders and salespeople to focus on what really matters— their customers. After all, whoever gets closer to the customer wins.

4pm-5pm: “Using AR & VR to Solve Problems”

In the final session of the day, leave feeling inspired after learning about how different technologies and tech solutions can be used to solve problems. With a focus on AR & VR, this session will bring a new way of thinking to many entrepreneurs on the future of startups!

Host: Riya Mehta, Artificial Intelligence & Genomic Researcher at SickKids Hospital.

Riya Mehta is a 17 year old global health innovator, lifelong learner, and technology enthusiast on a mission to change the world and solve humanity’s most pressing problems in global health. She is an artificial intelligence & genomic researcher under the Hospital for Sick Children, where she explores different ways of applying AI in the future of genomics for diseases. Currently innovating the fields of AR/VR, she is developing ways of integrating virtual reality experiences in models for developing countries. Passionate about the global epidemic for healthcare, she loves researching how we can solve this problem by leveraging emerging technology!