By Paige Cey, CABS F2021 Director of Media Outreach
Earlier this fall, the Canadian Association of Business Students hosted our first virtual conference, the Virtual Canadian Leadership Retreat (CLR). This event is a great opportunity to learn from incredible industry leaders, gain new skills and resources, and network with the amazing BSA executive community. While conferences may look different for the next while, we feel lucky to have the opportunity to virtually meet and engage with our BSA leaders across Canada.
The conference planning team was extremely creative with making the first virtual retreat a huge success! As with any CABS conference, the delegates had a lot of fun socializing. While this conference looked different than a typical in-person conference, we had games nights and Outback Team Building and Training brought team building activities which were a lot of fun and incredibly well-received.
Alongside amazing opportunities for socializing and networking with other BSA executives, CLR was honoured to have some incredible speakers share their stories. Our first keynote was with Claude Guay, who is the President and General Manager of IBM Canada. With over twelve years of executive experience, Claude shared amazing advice for the future leaders of business in Canada. Jamie Wood, the founder and CEO of AUTONOMIC., a Neuroscience as a Software company centred around the science of mental performance, works with executives and leaders to optimize the cognitive performance of both the individual and the teams they lead. She shared amazing advice through her years of experience with the delegates, in order for them to optimize their work. Our final keynote was Frank Kollmar, the President and CEO of L’oreal Canada. As CEO of the Canadian beauty industry leader, Kollmar is driving the company’s digital transformation while ensuring the development of its internal talents. He shared his incredible learnings from nearly twenty years with L’oreal.
The retreat brought immeasurable value through three main workshops, presented by Deloitte, RBC, and LinkedIn. Deloitte’s Business Chemistry is a proprietary system designed by Deloitte to provide insights about individuals and teams based on observable business traits and preferences. This session is not only extremely valuable as the attendees join the workforce as the brightest new Canadian leaders but throughout their terms as BSA executives to build on ever-important soft skills and people management. RBC presented a workshop centring around credit, leaving attendees with tips and tricks to build credit as a young adult, as well as dispelling all the myths about credit scores. LinkedIn Learning presented Rock Your Profile, sharing the best practices on how to connect and find new opportunities through LinkedIn.
Another component of the event, The Virtual Expo, gave delegates moving into an online executive term the opportunity to learn about and explore different platforms and best resources. As with any CABS conference, some of the greatest learnings come from collaboration and conversation with fellow executives. Having the opportunity to listen and learn from those in similar positions is especially important and helpful right now. We are so thankful to everyone who made this event possible and wish the BSA leaders all the best in their terms!
To stay connected with CABS, check us out on our social media channels (@cabs.online) or our website cabsonline.ca. We consistently post updates on different activities that you can get involved in whether that is with our Member Schools or within our CABS operations.