The following post was written by Andrew Smith, Digital Coordinator of the Commerce Students’ Association and member of both the 50th Annual Business Banquet and the 2016 National Business School Conference (NBSC) organizing committees. This is the second of two highlight articles from events this past weekend.

NBSC GET UP!! Whether you were still to get out of bed, needing to move to another session, or arriving at a destination on one of the NBSC buses, if you attended NBSC 2016, you certainly heard this phrase a lot.

The Commerce Students’ Association hosted the 24th Annual National Business School Conference November 17th – 20th, 2016. This year, over 130 delegates from 15+ schools across Canada traveled the Road to the Viscount for this conference. While majority of these delegates were executives from the student associations that make up the Canadian Association of Business Schools (CABS, of which the Commerce Students’ Association is a member), we were also joined by JDC West captains.

When delegates arrived at the Winnipeg Airport on Thursday, they were greeted by members of the NBSC committee who drove them to the Viscount Gort hotel. After everyone was checked in, delegates hopped on the bus to Winnipeg’s own World Famous Palomino Club for the first night event of NBSC 2016. The theme for the first night was delegate shirts.

The first night event at the Palomino Club was the most memorable moment for Blake Dechka, co-chair of NBSC 2016:

[The most memorable moment] for me was the first night event at the Pal on Thursday when I walked in and saw all the delegates in their shirts having a blast and just thinking to myself “wow, this is actually happening”. It was nice to see everything just kind of come together after all the effort that went into it.

– Blake Dechka, Co-Chair, 24th Annual National Business School Conference

Delegates were whisked off early Friday morning to the Drake Centre at the University for breakfast. Following breakfast, delegates broke out into smaller sessions on internal conflict prevention and resolution prior to attending presentations by various corporate representatives. Following lunch, executives had the opportunity to meet with others fulfilling the same position to discuss what their students’ associations were doing. The night concluded with Dress like Mom / Dress like Dad night at the TYC Event Centre.

Following the delivery of breakfast in bed Saturday morning, delegates were engaged in sessions presented by Wayne Cadogan and event title sponsor Johnston Group. Then, after lunch delegates attended a presentation by Paul Bowles (father of NBSC Director of Marketing Aly) and Obby Kahn, Former Blue Bomber and Founder of Shawarma Kahn. This session was followed by a similar schools breakout where schools with similar budgets were able to learn more about each other’s initiatives.

Prior to the full close of the conference, delegates attended a gala dinner at The Metropolitan Entertainment Centre. Delegates from various schools were mixed together to create an unique networking opportunity with peers from across the country. This gala also featured a keynote address by Steve Chipman, President and CEO of the Birchwood Automotive Group.

For co-chair Leah Suderman, the gala was her most memorable moment of the conference:

[The most memorable moment] for me was the gala with the tables being made up of various schools and just seeing everyone interacting with people outside their own councils after spending the entire weekend together and getting to know each other.

– Leah Suderman, Co-Chair, 24th Annual National Business School Conference

The conference closed out with the 2nd Annual JDC West Team Toba / NBSC Social. The theme for this social was the authentic Winnipeg Whiteout. Delegates donned their white attire at Reset Interactive Ultralounge, where they were joined by other Asper students and members of JDC West Team Toba.

The Commerce Students’ Association would like to thank everyone who made the trip out to Winnipeg for this year’s conference. We greatly enjoyed having you as our guests for the weekend. Additionally, we would like to thank conference co-chairs Blake Dechka and Leah Suderman for the tremendous amount of time and energy they put into making NBSC happen. Lastly, a huge thank you goes out to the members of the NBSC Organizing and Logistics committees – without which NBSC 2016 would not have been possible.

NBSC Committee at breakfast

Some members of the Organizing Committee at breakfast Sunday following the conference.

The Commerce Students’ Association looks forward to welcoming the next group of delegate back to Winnipeg next November for the 25th Annual National Business School Conference. Join us on the #RoadToTheViscount2017.

Did you attend the 24th Annual National Business School Conference? Share your experience in the comments below!