By Shaun Penner

Growing the North Conference set for its tenth year

Jan 22, 2019 | 11:00 AM

The 10th annual Growing the North Conference is set for February 20-21, and the schedule has been finalized with a plethora of speakers.

“It’s a 20,000 square foot look at the economy (in Grande Prairie) and in the Peace Region.” Says Marketing and Communications Manager with the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce, Tom Pura. “It’s to provide an overlook of the economy and how world activities affect us here in the Peace Region.”

The conference will cover a wide variety of topics about several different industries, including oil and gas, agriculture, marketing, digital media, technology and entrepreneurship.

Though the official start to the conference begins on Wednesday the 20th, there will be a preregistration event held 6-8 p.m. on the 19th, at Centre 2000, where drinks and appetizers will be served to attendees, as well as an auction that will be hosted by Olympic Gold Medalist and host of The Amazing Race Canada, Jon Montgomery.

Proceeds from the auction will go to the Dan Pearcy Health Sciences Scholarship fund for students working in an internship in pharmacy, medical, nursing, or other health-related fields of post-secondary education. 

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The event will then get underway on the morning of the 20th at Evergreen Park, which will kick off the speaker and presentation portion of the event. With the event being in it’s 10th year, Pura notes that this year’s roster of speakers is a diverse and exciting one

“We always strive to have different speakers every year. We try and shake up the topics each year too, but there are always industries that we want represented every year (oil and gas, agriculture). But we always want to bring new ideas to the conference every year.”

A few of the speakers at the event include:

• Jay Baer, President of Convince and Convert
• Mark Pinney, Manager of Markets and Transportation, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
• Chris Slubicki, President, CEO and Director, Modern Resource Inc.
• Pierre Cleroux, VP of Research and Chief Economist, BDC
• Chief Clarence Louie, Osoyoos Indian Band

Tickets to the event cost $250 per person for member of the Economic Developers of Alberta, and $300 per person for non-members.

“There is a cost to bringing in world-class speakers, so there is a cost to bringing those people in. We keep the price point as reasonable as we can.”

A full list of presenters, as well as a full schedule can be found here.