The following article was written by Chris Prendergast and Rachel Aluko. Chris and Rachel recently attended the Ted Rogers Management Conference, hosted by the Ted Rogers School of Business, alongside four other Asper students; Hilary Ranson, Andrew Martin, Tony Quach and Artur Coelho Reis.
The Ted Rogers Management Conference brings Canada’s brightest young minds together in Toronto for a weekend filled with speakers, panels, workshops and parties. It is run by the Ted Rogers School of Business at Ryerson. This year was the tenth edition and the organizing team went all out to ensure an incredible experience for their delegates. This year, Asper sent six delegates to the conference: Chris Prendergast, Rachael Aluko, Hilary Ransom, Andrew Martin, Tony Quach and Arthur Coelho Reis. If you are interested in learning more feel free to reach out to any of us!
The conference started on a Thursday afternoon with an opening keynote address from Melinda Rogers (Ted Rogers eldest daughter). Her most impactful point was that innovation is not the same as invention and that improving existing technology or using it in a new way, like her father did is a very effective way to innovate. This was followed by the top five case competition teams presenting over dinner with the hopes of winning the opportunity to meet Steven Wozniak (Co-founder of Apple) on Saturday. The day concluded with an opportunity to get to know other delegates at a social downtown.
Rachel’s team was one of the five teams (out of 30) chosen to present their case solution in front of the 150 delegates and panel of judges from Deloitte Canada. Deloitte was looking for a real solution to creating a product that they wanted to launch into the Canadian market. This was an amazing opportunity to throw on my entrepreneurial hat for the weekend and think of a legitimate marketing campaign for our proposed product. At the end of the case competition, Deloitte awarded $2000 to the winning team and decided to fly the top two teams back to Toronto this summer, to help create this marketing campaign. Sadly, her team didn’t make it into the top two but she was extremely proud of her team’s presentation!
Friday was the busiest day. The highlights were Jim Reid’s (CHRO at Rogers) talk on leadership and a panel featuring the head of the Canadian arms of Google, Facebook, Cisco and the CEO of the LCBO. Jim highlighted habits that turn talented people from good to great. His advice was to know what our strengths and passions are in life and to find a way to combine them. The panellists were inspiring and motivated delegates to use inclusive management styles and pursue their dreams. After the leadership panellists, our afternoon was filled with interactive workshops from industry specialists in Digital Marketing, Sales and Cryptocurrency who gave their expertise on where these markets are headed. The day concluded with multicultural night which included a buffet of ethnic cuisines and exciting performances from dance groups from various nationalities.
Saturday was the last day of the conference, it started with an amazing sports panel discussion about the future of business and sports. Followed by a start-up challenge with five entrepreneurs pitching their products to OMERS and the CEO of Drop for a $5000 prize. Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for had arrived and all delegates were brought to the Memorial Gala dinner in limos. The keynote speaker of the night was none other than the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak. He was one of the humblest and kindest men we have ever met, and he was a great example of someone who followed his passions in life in order to reach success.
TRMC was an amazing opportunity to network with accomplished business leaders and with some of the top business students from across North America. They held a career fair with companies such as LinkedIn, Blackberry, PwC and more looking to hire for the summer. As well, they put on socials on Thursday and Friday night to help all of the delegates bond during this jam-packed weekend. The amount of learning and growth that we have experienced as a result of this conference is incredible. We would highly recommend everyone in Asper to apply for this once in a lifetime opportunity!