Former prime minister to speak at chamber event
STEPHEN HARPER KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT OPPORTUNITY SOUTH CONFERENCE
He once held the top seat in Canada. The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, Canada’s 22nd prime minister, will be the keynote speaker at the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Opportunity South Conference and Business Expo in October.
The announcement was made on Friday, along with a guest speaker lineup of top business leaders. This year’s theme is “Forward YQL!,” and the focus of the conference will be on the future and economic potential of our region.
“Opportunity South is an opportunity for us to profile the economic region of southern Alberta to the national and international world,” said Harry Gross, Lethbridge chamber’s president. “The intent is to make people realize here is a time to come to southern Alberta to understand where the opportunities connect with different business people from even different cultures and countries.”
The two-day conference has a full schedule, featuring a local issue discovery townhall, a trade show that is open to the public, networking mixers, numerous educational breakout sessions, a steak and lobster dinner, and the chamber of commerce’s customary all-candidates municipal forum in advance of the local election (open to the public).
Harper will be speaking on international trade, and will share some of his national and international experience with the southern Alberta region that he grew up in.
“We’re very fortunate to have the 22nd prime minister of our country come and talk about that and some of the opportunities he’s seen in his travels and share with our region,” said Gross. “We are a commodity-based country that needs to process and take our commodities and ship them around the world. How do we do that more efficiently? How do we do that faster? What do we need for infrastructure? What are the barriers in the international market?”
Ron Buist, former marketing director for Tim Hortons and inventor of the “Roll up the Rim to Win” contest, will be speaking about million-dollar marketing. Canada’s leading futurist, Richard Worzel, will be mapping out future trends that will shape how we do business, and Lorne Rubis, who’s served in key leadership roles for several large companies, will talk about how to build terrific teams.
“Those are day-to-day things we struggle with — marketing strategies, team building, what are the future trends we have to deal with,” said Gross. “I think we’re so fortunate to have this conference. This is number two of many more to come that we want to be of national and international calibre where people want to come and talk about our region and put us not only on the Western Canada map, but internationally.”
Opportunity South is scheduled for Oct. 3 from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. and Oct. 4 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Lethbridge Lodge. Tickets are limited and are available at www.lethbridgechamber.com or
by calling 403-327-1586.
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