Join CICC at its First Summit in Toronto

The Convenience Industry Council of Canada will bring together retailers, distributors, and manufacturers from across Canada at its first National Convenience Industry Summit in Toronto at the new Hotel X. The event will provide relevant research, inspiring keynotes and networking events that will offer insight into future opportunities, challenges and trends.

The Networking Party kicks off the summit on the evening of Tuesday September 24th. Anne Kothawala, president of CICC, encourages all registrants to join in on the evening, “meet up with old industry friends and meet new ones.” The next day features a full day program with speaker sessions, a new roundtable session ‘The Inside Scoop: Meet with Retailers and Distributors’ and ends with the gala awards event. The final half-day of programming includes a Trade Exchange and keynote speaker – beer baroness, entrepreneur, and television personality – Manjit Minhas.

Sessions

The summit program features business sessions that focus on the matters that affect members’ businesses. Speakers like:

Neil Parischa shares his story of how resilience, change, and growth can come from times of challenge, how the mindset one cultivates ultimately enables success, how the secret to getting happy is to be happy first. Attendees will leave his session with the tools needed to achieve their biggest goals and learn how leadership comes from within.

The Inside Scoop: Meet with our Retailers and Distributors is new to the summit program. Anne Kothawala, president of CICC, is excited to add it to the programming. “This roundtable offers our vendor partners a great opportunity to meet directly with our retailer and distributor members. In a timed rotating style, host retailers and distributors will discuss their company’s priorities and short-term strategic plan.”

Bobbi Sahni, co-founder of Ethnicity Matters, a multicultural marketing and advertising agency leads a panel discussion on shopper diversity – attracting and understanding newcomers. Customer diversity awareness is essential for living and working in Canada today. For convenience stores, manufacturers, and distributors, understanding how to harness this knowledge in the form of effective business strategies is increasingly becoming a key catalyst for growth.

With his finger always on the pulse of the CPG landscape, Carman Allison joins the summit again to provide vendors, retailers, and distributors the consumer insights they need to make strategic and impactful business decisions.

And, Manjit Minhas joins the summit to speak on two topics on which she is undoubtedly an expert: empowering women and the beer and wine industry, particularly in convenience stores across Canada.

Trade Exchange

A key networking component of the summit, the Trade Exchange is a mini-trade show where vendors showcase their products and connect with senior retailers and distributers for future business.

National Convenience Industry Awards Gala

On the evening of the 25th at neighbouring Beanfield Centre, CICC will honour individuals and companies for industry excellence and innovation as the recipients of the Convenience Innovation Awards and the Awards of Excellence are celebrated together.

The Convenience Innovation Awards recognize top product development in the convenience industry. The program provides a benchmark for leading innovation, recognizes those top products in the industry, and awards suppliers for outstanding research and development.

The Awards of Excellence recognize individuals and businesses that contribute to the growth of the convenience industry. The Awards of Excellence ceremony pays tribute to the recipients, acknowledges their accomplishments, and announces their induction into the CICC Hall of Fame.

The 2018 National
Convenience Industry
Summit is taking
place in Toronto,
Ontario at Hotel X,
Toronto on
September 24-26.