Toronto Small Business Forum 2008: Building A Green Foundation For the Future

Enterprise Toronto: Small Business Forum 2008
Credit: enterprisetoronto.com

The emergence of "green marketing", and "green businesses and enterprise” was a prevalent theme for this year’s Forum. It seems that "green" is now the primary foundation colour for building any current and future successful business venture.

On October 20th, 2008, I attended the Toronto Small Business Forum 2008 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel.

As usual, it featured a diverse perspective in its presentations, seminars, round table discussions, and break out seminars by various successful entrepreneurs and industry experts.

Renowned key note speakers and their presentations, such as Laurie Simmonds' "Green Enterprise"- President of Green Living Enterprises, and "Lessons Learned from Building a Green Business" by Tom Heintzman - President of Bullfrog Power, stressed the global concern for environmental issues and eco-friendly products.

Also, impressive was the tremendous wealth of resources available for those just starting their business and for the seasoned entrepreneur as well. These were well-displayed in the small business trade show hosting 50 exhibitors, including government agencies, educational institutions, business associations, and companies providing a wide range of products targeted to entrepreneurs.

Particularly helpful was the networking session facilitated by the energetic Wendy Woods of Watershed Training Solutions. It offered a great opportunity to meet and greet so many wonderful people who can become vital connectors in growing anyone's small business.

The emergence of "green marketing", and "green businesses and enterprise" was a prevalent theme for this year's Forum. It seems that "green" is now the primary foundation colour for building any current and future successful business venture.

After enjoying this year's, I now look forward to the one in 2009 to see the new hot trends that will continue to emerge for us in the 21st century.

Copyright © D. A. Wright, October 2008. All rights reserved
Business Communication Specialist and Career/Life Coach
B.A. , Dipl. in Ad. Ed, Certified ESL Teacher
Author: "Serendipity: A Journalling Workbook"
Website: http://diwright.info/index.htm
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/diwright
Blog: http://diwrightsig.blogspot.com/
Voice Mail: 416-208-3982

Toronto Small Business Forum 2008
Going Green for the Entrepreneur of the Future
October 20th, 2008
Delta Chelsea Hotel
33 Gerrard Street West, Toronto
8 am to 5 pm

Free Admission!

The Toronto Small Business Forum 2008 will bring together entrepreneurs and experts on small business strategies to help you take your business to the next level of success. Haven't started a business yet? No problem. You'll find all the information you need to get on the road to self-employment and personal success.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start a business and those wanting to expand their business should attend Toronto Small Business Forum 2008. Discover the latest trends and tools for operating a successful business from start-up to early growth. Explore potential financing sources, make valuable business contacts and access new markets all in one location!

Career Face of Social Networking: A Reality Check

Screenshot: Career Door Technology & Technology Sales Career Fair
Toronto, September 24, 2008 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Credit: Career Door Inc.

The Career Face of Social Networking - How Online Communities Can Affect Your Career
Social networking has revolutionized the way we communicate and share information with one another in today's society. Various social networking websites are being used by millions of people everyday on a regular basis and it now seems that social networking is a part of everyday personal and business lives.
Max Haroon will discuss:
Can Social Networking (such as facebook, linkedin, youtube, meetup) helps you build your career?
Social Networking Sites in the context of Web 2.0
Types of Social Networking Sites
Your reputation precede your business
Be careful of digital dirt
How Employers are using Social Networking Sites & Services
Presented by Max Haroon, Founder & President of the Society of Internet Professionals

Attending the presentation "The Career Face of Social Networking" presented by Max Haroon - Founder and President of Society of Internet Professionals, at the Technology Career Fair, September 24th, gave me a reality check re: blogs, social networking sites, and social bookmarking sites (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Meetup, Twitter, Plaxo, Digg, del.icio.us, etc.) and their ability to significantly impact our career development and our professional lives.

If you fail to connect and interact with these sites, you are missing the opportunity to leverage their tremendous power to promote yourself, your key skills/ competencies, and talents to the targeted companies in your job search/career plan. By making full use of these sites, you are truly optimizing your competitive advantage, because they are the primary results-oriented, self-marketing tools of the 21st century for all "careerpreneurs", particularly for those who wish to be proactive about implementing a well-designed strategic career plan.

Copyright © D. A. Wright, September 2008. All rights reserved
Business Communication Specialist and Career/Life Coach
B.A. , Dipl. in Ad. Ed, Certified ESL Teacher
Author: "Serendipity: A Journalling Workbook"
Website: http://diwright.info/index.htm
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/diwright
Blog: http://diwrightsig.blogspot.com/
Voice Mail: 416-208-3982

University of Toronto Department of Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series 2008-09

Screenshot: Department of Computer Science • University of Toronto • Distinguished Lecture Series • 2008-2009
Credit: cs.toronto.edu

Speakers for 2008-2009 DCS Distinguished Lecture Series Announced. Seven lectures focusing on technology, strategy and government of Internet-based systems, machine learning, text and web mining, human values in the design of information systems, advanced systems and programming design, computational models of human and machine language processing, computer vision systems, and many other ideas for future information systems.

Department of Computer Science • University of Toronto
Distinguished Lecture Series
2008-2009
Collaboration. Innovation. Discovery.
link: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/dcs/documents/DCS_LectureSeries_2008-09_000.pdf

All Distinguished Lectures take place in
the Bahen Centre for Information Technology
40 St. George Street
Room 1180
Toronto, Ontario
11:00 a.m.
There is no registration for this event. However, seating is limited, so arriving early is recommended.
For any questions about the series, contact the department at
dcsevents@cs.toronto.edu
or 416.978.3619
www.ccs.toronto.edu

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Eric Brewer
Professor, Computer Science Division University of California at Berkeley
Dr. Brewer focuses on all aspects of Internet-based systems, including technology, strategy and government. He has led projects on scalable servers, search engines, network infrastructure, sensor networks and security. His current focus is high technology for developing regions.
In 2000,working with President Clinton, Dr. Brewer helped to create USA.gov, the official portal of the United States Federal government. Among other recent accolades,he was named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow ” by the World Economic Forum and elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.


Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Daphne Koller
Professor, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University
Koller’s research focuses on developing and using machine learning and probabilistic methods to model and analyze complex domains, such as biological systems or the physical world. She is the recipient of numerous awards,including the ONR Young Investigator Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, the Cox Medal for Fostering Excellence in Undergraduate Research, the MacArthur Fellowship and the ACM/Infosys Award.


Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Prabhakar Raghavan
Head of Yahoo! Research
Dr. Raghavan is head of the advanced research organization for Yahoo! Incorporated. His research interests include text and web mining, and algorithm design.
He is a Consulting Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the ACM. Raghavan received his PhD from Berkeley and is a Fellow of the ACM and of the IEEE. Prior to joining Yahoo, he was Chief Technology Officer at Verity; before that he held a number of technical and managerial positions at IBM Research.


Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Batya Friedman
Professor, Information School; Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Director, Value Sensitive Design Research Lab, University f Washington
Friedman pioneered Value Sensitive Design (VSD), an approach to account for human values in the design of information systems. First developed in human-computer interaction, VSD has since been used in information management, human-robotic interaction and urban planning.
Friedman is currently working on multi-lifespan information system design and other new ideas for future information systems.


Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Alan Kay
President, Viewpoints Research Institute
Kay is one of the earliest pioneers of object-oriented programming, personal computing and graphical user interfaces. At Viewpoints Research Institute, he and his colleagues continue to explore advanced systems and programming design; they are also deeply involved in activities such as the "One Laptop Per Child" initiative.
Kay’s numerous contributions been recognized by prestigious awards such as the Charles Stark Draper Prize of the National Academy of Engineering, the Turing Award of the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Kyoto Prize from the Inamori Foundation.


Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Dan Jurafsky
Associate Professor, Departments of Linguistics and Computer Science, Stanford University
Jurafsky works at the nexus of language and computation, focusing on statistical models of human and machine language processing. Recent topics include the induction and use of computational models of meaning,the automatic recognition and synthesis of speech, and the comprehension and production of dialogue. He is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and an NSF CAREER award. His most recent book is the second edition of his widely-used textbook with Jim Martin, Speech and Language Processing.


Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Shree K. Nayar
T. C. Chang Professor, Computer Science Department, Columbia University
Nayar co-directs the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center, and heads the Columbia Computer Vision Laboratory (CAVE), which is dedicated to the development of advanced computer vision systems. His research is focused on three areas: the creation of novel cameras, the design of physics-based models for vision, and the development of algorithms for scene understanding. His work is motivated by applications in the fields of digital imaging, computer graphics and robotics.
He has received awards such as the David Marr Prize and the National Young Investigator Award, and he was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

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Invitation to Unique Toronto Innovation Forum Harnessing the Intellectual Power of Immigrants

Poster: Toronto Innovation Forum 2008
"Harnessing the Intellectual Power of Immigrants"

We've got an e-mail:

Dear Friends,
Please, be advised about the Innovation Forum 2008.
We will be glad to see you as a participant of this unique event on June the 5th.

Forum Steering Committee

We are delighted to extend this invitation for you to join us in harnessing the intellectual power of immigrants.

INNOVATION FORUM 2008
"Harnessing the Intellectual Power of Immigrants"

Day: Thursday, June 5, 2008
Time: 9:30am to 5pm

Location: North York Civic Centre,
Address: 5100 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, M2N 5V7
Council Chamber

INNOVATION FORUM 2008 - PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Free admission, but advance registration is required.
Register online now or call 416-395-7416 as seating is limited.

Organizers: City of Toronto Economic Development, Alliance of Technology & Science Specialists Toronto

Come spend a day of creative thinking, innovation, entrepreneurial education and business networking! Visit www.enterprisetoronto.com regularly for updated schedules, topics and speakers.

links:
The Enterprise Toronto
http://www.enterprisetoronto.com
The Alliance of Technology & Science Specialists Toronto
http://www.atss.org/

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Is there an Art to Mastering Change?

Mastering the Art of Change
Photo: 2008 @ bizjunction.blogspot.com

Get practical tips and recommendations for managing change from D. A. Wright, Business Communications Specialist and Coach

Mastering the art of change is essentially the embodiment of transformation of the spirit within.

Masters of change transform adverse situations and challenges into learning opportunities for growth and development, not only for themselves, but also for others. They essentially shape transformation through challenge!

Managing change is then the ability to look at life from a different kind of perspective. Life, according to masters of change, is a mosaic yet to be filled in with new experiences that they are about to embark upon.

But how do we open our minds to see the mosaic yet to be created and to transform the spirit within?

• Leave the past in the past.
• Forgive those who do not acknowledge the significance of the past and its accomplishments in your life and in the life of the company you work for. Don’t hold grudges.
• Maintain an ongoing dialogue with all those involved in the change. This strategy will go a long way to creating synergy that will drive the change process for you and for others.
• Keep a learning journal to record and track your progress.
• Look at the experiences through the enthusiastic and passionate eyes of a child - now as a new wonder to behold - a puzzle to solve – even as a new challenge to energize you.
• Have faith in yourself and others based on mutual respect for one another.
• Use mind mapping techniques to draw out the concepts and feelings evoked by the process of change. For more information on mind mapping, you can read The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential by Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan ( 1996), Mind Mapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity by Joyce Wycoff ( 1991 ), and Mind Maps in a Week by Steve Morris and Jane Smith. In fact, Tony Buzan has actually come out with his own software in 2007- go to: http://www.imindmap.com/ .
• Seek a re-birth – a re-entry - into this new world you envision by writing out your vision statement for the company or your department. From there, develop your mission statement and evolving from this will be your SMART goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-sensitive. You can shape this process by doing a flow chart or a pyramid chart to facilitate the development of a decisive action plan or even use something as simple as a collage of pictures depicting the various stages of development to achieve your vision. You can also make a collage of pictures from your own life and insert them into this one to personalize it even more for yourself.
• Videotape yourself as you describe and act out the change process you are going through. Watch your posture and body language and observe them for changes and reflection, and take notes as you watch. This exercise will help create a self-awareness that will promote the learning process.

These techniques will help foster your intuition as a valid source of information and analysis, because they will enhance your ability to not only see the early signs for future developments but also to take appropriate action and get results.

Such techniques will also allow you the ability to see patterns in your own behavior and relationships within organizations that will ultimately facilitate the change process.

Copyright © D. A. Wright, May 2007. All rights reserved

Di Wright, BA, Dipl. Ad. Ed, ESL Instructor’s Specialties:
Teaching, training, and coaching in business communications and business etiquette for internationally educated professionals, customized curriculum design, development and implementation of experiential communications e-learning program.

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Invitation to Russian Health Fair

Flyer: Russian Health Fair, April 13, 2008

What a wonderful opportunity we have today to participate in the first ever in Toronto:

Russian Health Fair

Everyone is welcome to come and get info on

• Non-profit Services for Russian Speaking Community,
• Alternative Medicine,
• Home care,
• Retirement Residences
• and much more

Sunday, April 13, 2008
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Bernard Betel Seniors Centre
1003 Steeles Ave. West
Toronto, Ontario M2R 3T6

Hope to see you there!
Drop In – Free of Charge

For information and/or RSVP participation, please call
Alyona Popova at (416) 928-2548
To reserve and/or pay for your table, please call
Natan Gendelman at (416) 250-1904

Toronto Job Fair in Celebration of Women's Day

Poster Celebrating Women Job Fair
Source: JVS Toronto

On March 20 come out to this job fair in celebration of the 2008 International Women's Day theme "Strong Women, Strong World." Meet with a diverse range of employers including Wo-Built Inc, a women-led design and build construction company that helps women enter and thrive in the building and construction industry. They are especially interested in helping women enter the skilled trades, and as Martina Ernst, the CEO of the Wo-Built Inc said, "Women have a lot to offer to the building industry and the building industry can offer great career opportunities to women." ! Come and learn about the Pre-Apprenticeship Course for Women in the Finishing Trades.

Event Details:

Celebrating Women Job Fair
Celebrate this year's International Women's Day Theme, "Strong Women, Strong World"
Network!!!!!
Free Resume Critique & Tips for Job Search

Date: Thursday, March 20, 2008
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Metro Hall, Room 308
Address: 55 John Street, Toronto
Directions: South-east corner of King and John, two blocks east of Spadina.
To get to Metro Hall by Public Transit: subway to St. Andrew, then walk through "PATH" to Metro Hall or walk above ground 2 blocks west.

Participating employers include:

• Avon
• CAMH
• Canadian Tire
• Circle of Care
• Home Depot
• IBM
• Porter Airlines
  
• Starbucks
• Sunnybrook Health Centre
• Vivah Jewellery
• WO-BUILT
• Woodbine Entertainment
• and many more...

For more information contact
JVS Toronto
Name: Doreen Cort
Phone: 416-661-3010 ext.305
Email: dcort@jvstoronto.org
Website: www.jvstoronto.org

Come meet with employers that embrace this year's International Women's Day Theme, "Strong Women, Strong World"

Status of Women Canada Poster:
IWD 2008: Strong Women, Strong World

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NAPP Canada Job Fairs 2008

nappcanada.com: JobFair 2008 Poster

We've got an e-mail.

Subject: Jobfair 2008 dates

NAPP Canada is organizing Job Fairs 2008

OPEN TO EVERYONE
FREE FOR JOBSEEKERS
3 Great Locations
making it extra easy to access jobs

Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Date: Friday, March 28, 2008
Place: Delta Markham
Address: 50 East Valhalla Drive, Markham, ON
(Hwy 404 & Hwy 7)


Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008
Place: International Centre
Address: 6900 Airport Road, Hall 5, Aviation Ballroom, Mississauga, ON
(Corner of Airport Rd. and Derry Rd)


Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Place: Centennial College Residence and Conference Centre
Address: 940 Progress Avenue, Toronto, ON
(HWY 401 and Markham Rd)


ADMISSION: FREE for everyone, parking FREE

WEB: www.nappcanada.com

For more information
Tel: (647) 203-8759
Email: Jobfair 2008


Looking for work?
Register at http://www.nappcanada.com/attendeeregistration.php.
It is Free to attend.

Working?
Please forward to friends, email contacts and relatives.
Thanks.

links:
AboutUs Wiki Page: NappCanada.com

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Toronto: Skilled Trades Forum & Diversity Job Fair for Women and Youth

ScreenShot: Diversity Job Fair & Skilled Trades Forum for Women and Youth
Credit: Wobuilt Inc.

What a wonderful opportunity we have tonight:

Diversity Job Fair & Skilled Trades Forum for Women and Youth

Wednesday, January 16, 2008, from 5-9:30pm

Location: Toronto City Hall, in the Rotunda

100 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M5H 2N2


Presented by Zack Steel in partnership with the City of Toronto’s Access and Diversity Unit / Parks, Forestry and Recreation

Sponsors:

• City of Toronto - Parks, Forestry & Recreation
• Wobuilt Inc.: The Vision Builder
• CAWIC: Canadian Association of Women in Construction
• CYBF: Canadian Youth Business Foundation
• Diversity Careers.ca: Apply Now and Get Your Dream Job!
• The Career Foundation: Developing Human Potential
• Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute
• On-Track Career & Employment Services for Women
• Adecco Job Search Engine
• Toronto Job.ca
• Centennial College

There will be many industry representatives presenting on a variety of topics:

Apprenticeships, Workers’ rights & Women’s rights & Self-employment
You will find JOB OPPORTUNITIES, onsite interviews and refreshments.

Program:

5-6 pm:
Welcome and opening remarks by Zack Steel & the City of Toronto

6-6:30 pm
RUI CUNHA, Director of Operations for the Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute, will discuss the following topics:
Demand for trades in: Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Alarm Systems, Network Cabling, Estimating on both skills side and sales side, Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program, Youth Apprenticeship Council, Trade expectations and more

6:30-7 pm
Intermission and Refreshments served in Committee Rooms 3 & 4
Also, use this time to meet and greet employers and network.

7-7:30 pm
MARIE HERON, Executive Director of On-Track for Women, will discuss:
"Trading-Up". The jobs are there, the money's there, where are you? Learn about this free program which is designed specifically for women who want to know more about working in skilled trades.

7:30-8 pm
MARTINA ERNST, CEO of Wo-Built Inc, will discuss:
How her organization assists women to enter and succeed in the skilled trades;
How the skilled trades can make a difference in your life;
Looking at opportunities for women in the industry.

8-8:30 pm
SARAH HASHEM, Business Manager - GTA, for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, will discuss:
How the CYBF program can help young women entrepreneurs start a successful business in Skilled Trades.
The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) is a national charity that provides youth, age 18-34, who have a great business idea but are unable to access funds through other traditional sources, with the start-up financing, mentoring and business resources to create their own successful business.


In Committee Room 3

5-9 pm
ANGELA WILSON, President of CAWIC, will speak:
About mentorship and membership in the Canadian Association of Women In Construction (CAWIC).

In Committee Room 4

5-9 pm
COLIN MORRISON, Executive Director of the Career Foundation, will deliver a presentation on:
The Career Foundations’ Complete the Circle - Apprenticeship Model for Women.
We are currently operating in our 20th year with 11 programs including Job Finding Clubs, Employment Assessment Centres, a Resource Centre and 4 Completing the Circle Programs, to name a few. We have 8 different physical locations that are spread across the GTA including Toronto, Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York and Richmond Hill and we employ over 80 staff members and serves over 50,000 unemployed people each year, the majority of whom are multi-barriered individuals.


8:30-9 pm
SUE ALLEN, Coordinator - Women In Skilled Trades at Centennial College, will present on:
"Bringing Women Back to the Skilled Trades - The Long Road Home"
Sue will explore some of the history of women in the skilled trades and provide concrete analysis to why so few women choose this road.
Sue will also discuss what she and Centennial College are doing to help women find their way home.

9-9:30 pm
LISA LUDMER, Director of Permanent and Professional Placement for Adecco Canada, will discuss:
How Adecco embraces skilled workers in Canada and the different challenges her company faces nationally, due to tight candidate market for qualified employees in the Skilled Trades.
Adecco is able to assist skilled workers with job opportunities across the country, both on temporary assignments and permanent jobs.
Adecco is involved in national partnerships that promote diversity in the workplace through various outreach initiatives with Community Partners.
We have active campaigns that attract job seekers from a diversified candidate pool.
Our company seeks alliances with training schools, colleges and other educational programs geared towards preparing skilled workers for employment.