Victoria’s Susan Low to host Young Business Leaders’ Summit
Normally, I would just re-tweet a local news item on my Twitter stream, but what Susan Low proposes is so important (and so in synch with my thinking) that I’m re-blogging it, the whole darn announcement, A to Z.
In her own words:
Young Business Leaders’ Summit
Join me in this special event to explore how to make Victoria’s business economy more resilient and diversified.
Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
–Margaret MeadBackground:
Victoria’s a great place to live. We have the weather, the natural environment, and the people to make this a world-class city. However, we seem to be overly reliant on the public sector and tourism to keep our economy alive. When there is a public sector cutback, or events abroad harm our tourism sector, Victoria hits the “panic button” and begins to take on an air of doom and gloom.Young people grow up in Victoria and then leave to pursue careers because there are few opportunities to make it big here. Despite our highly educated population and desirable quality of life, Victoria has very few corporate headquarters – meaning that to “make it big” our best and brightest leave the city for Vancouver, Calgary and further afield.
What Can We Do About It?
I’m bringing together young professionals and business leaders from a variety of sectors to participate in a discussion about Victoria’s economy. I want to create real, actionable solutions for how we can bring about change in our city.During the event I’ll be using graphic facilitation to capture our ideas and make the discussion fresh, creative and productive. What’s graphic facilitation? As our discussion progresses, I’ll be capturing the key ideas and energy of the moment by creating a mural in real-time using colored markers and pastels, drawing on 4’x8′ chart paper taped to the wall. See my blog, www.pictureyourmeeting.com for more about this amazing way to transform meetings!
Who should come?
I’m targeting young business people (under 40) from all sectors as participants in the session – we have the most to gain from transforming Victoria’s economy as we are the ones who will take leadership roles in the coming years. If you have an interest in this topic and want to throw in your two cents (even if you’re over the “recommended playing age”), feel free to join us!Observers are quite welcome – perhaps you’re curious about what’s going to come out of this, or you’d like to see graphic facilitation in action! You don’t need to speak up – just come along!
The Details
Date: March 31, 2009
Time: 8:30am to 11am
Place: Maximum Furniture Showroom, 3-576 Hillside Ave
RSVP: By email or phone (250-479-8303) by March 24, please.Please feel free to invite others who you think would be interested!
Yours in action,
Susan Low
Directis Consulting Group
www.directis.ca
New! www.pictureyourmeeting.com
250-479-8303Please pass this on to other Victoria-area folks – it’s a great idea that deserves a great turnout.
2 Comments
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Cool. Wish I could make it. Unfortunately, a detail of Victoria is that it is so expensive for young people to live here, it often means working full time for stabilities sake while working the small business on the side.
Comment by Davin Greenwell — March 14, 2009 #
Sorry I’ve been lagging in responding to comments…!
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You have a great point, Davin – the meeting is in the middle of a work-morning, which means many people who would benefit from attending won’t be able to.
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I haven’t met Susan yet, but I get the feeling she’s amenable to putting online all the visuals she generates from this session, and that she would probably be willing to host another similar event at another (more convenient?) time. Maybe it would lend itself to a vlogcast? (Not that I have that sort of equipment, but…)
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I hope to attend (observe, since I fall out of the target age bracket), and if I do, I’ll do my best to take notes and blog it.
Comment by Yule — March 17, 2009 #