As part of the Impact National Conference, Canada's premier student entrepreneurship event, a gala event is to be held the evening of Friday November 21st. The Gala will bring together over 800 guests, including the top 500 student delegates from across Canada and over 300 industry guests. This event is a unique opportunity for Canada's most promising young leaders to learn, discuss and network with peers and distinguished members of the entrepreneurial community.
Impact brings together a diverse range of people that include:
- Distinguished academics
- Business leaders
- Politicians
- Media representatives
- Exceptional students
- Industry professionals
This year’s Gala will be ‘A Night With the Stars’, the stars signify the bright, distinguished entrepreneurs that shine through the community and throughout the conference. All who attend will have a chance to mingle and meet the stars as they share their success stories with tomorrow’s leaders.
The Impact National Conference Gala is proud to feature a silent auction raising money for a local charity. In past years, money raised through the silent auction has been donated to deserving charities such as Free The Children and Engineers Without Borders.
One of the exciting features of this year's Gala is the 2008 Impact Awards ceremony where 5 aspiring "Stars" will be honoured for the following awards:
- Social Entrepreneur of the Year
- Technological Entrepreneur of the Year
- Green Entrepreneur of the Year
- Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
- Arts Entrepreneur of the Year
For details on how to apply, how to nominate someone you know or for general information, please click on each award for a full description. All inquires with regard to the 2008 Impact National Conference Gala should be directed to rsvp@impact.org.
Keynote Speaker
Impact pleased to have Rebecca MacDonald speaking at this year's Gala. Rebecca MacDonald, is one of the founders and current Executive Chair of Energy Savings Income Fund, a Toronto based marketer of deregulated gas and electricity. Energy Savings, which signed their first customer in 1997, currently supplies approximately 1,700,000 customers in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec, B.C. New York, Texas, Indiana and Illinois. Ms. MacDonald has been involved in the sale of deregulated natural gas for more than 19 years. Prior to forming Energy Savings in 1997, Rebecca was the President of EMI, another successful gas marketing company.
Charity Silent Auction
This year, Impact is proud to be donating all proceeds to the SickKids Foundation – Canada's largest non-government foundation in children's health. Since 1972, SickKids Foundation has raised over $500 million in grants to the Hospital for Sick Children, Canada's largest and most research-intensive centre dedicated to bettering children's health.
Master of Ceremonies
This year's Gala will be MC'd by Erica Ehm. Erica Ehm is one of Canada's most recognized personalities. Chosen to be the first female MuchMusic host, she became the voice of her generation. Since then Ehm has remained in the spotlight as her multi-faceted media career has blossomed in television, radio, film, theater, journalism, songwriting, and music publishing. Erica has won two Junos, three Country Music Awards and three SOCAN Awards.
Guest Performance
We are happy to announce that this year's Gala will feature a very special performance from one of Canada's up and coming classical musician Susanne Hou (http://www.susannehou.com). As an internationally celebrated violinist, she has left her mark in music history by being the first violinist ever to capture 3 Gold Medals with unanimous decisions at international violin competitions: Concours International LONG-THIBAUD (France, 1999), LIPIZER International Violin Competition (Italy, 1999) and SARASATE International Violin Competition (Spain, 1997)." She can also be heard performing the violin solos in the Atom Egoyan film "Adoration".
Venue
The 2008 Impact Gala will be held at the Westin Harbour Castle in the elegant Metropolitan Grand Ballroom, one of Toronto's foremost attractions.
The Westin Harbour Castle is located at 1 Harbour Square, Toronto, ON.
For parking information, please visit the Westin Hotel's website.