Stay abreast of developments in the evolving linen, uniform and facility services markets in Canada with participation in the TRSA 5th Annual Canadian Summit. Industry leaders from around the world are encouraged to partake in the educational sessions, tours and networking opportunities that will positively impact your personal management and production skills.
Earn CPLM Continuing Education (CE) Credits
Individuals who have earned TRSA’s Certified Professional Laundry Manager (CPLM) credential may earn one Continuing Education (CE) credit towards recertification with participation in this event. For more information about TRSA’s CPLM credential, visit www.trsa.org/cplm
Dress Code
Business casual attire for all sessions.
Hotel Information
Intercontinental Hotel Toronto
225 Front St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2X3, Canada
Attendees may call InterContinental Toronto Centre reservation line at 800-235-4670 and reference the 2024 Canadian Summit. All individual reservations must be guaranteed with a major credit card at time of reservation. After the due date of October 1, 2024, if a guaranteed room is not canceled 72 hours prior to arrival, payment for the full rate on that room will be charged. Attendees may book directly using this link.
Room Rate/Group Code HPN- Hotel code
Reference 2024 Canadian Summit to get the TRSA room rate of $299 CAD before October 1, 2024. Limited availability. After the October 1, 2024, deadline, regular room rates will apply.
Location/Airport
The InterContinental Toronto Centre is located about 17 miles (26.3 km) from Toronto Pearson International Airport (EWR).
Location
Speakers
Paul Zikopoulos, VP IBM Technology Group Skills Vitality & Enablement, IBM
Paul is an award-winning professional writer & speaker who’s been consulted on the topic of AI & Big Data by the popular TV show “60 Minutes”. Paul’s been named to dozens of global “Experts to Follow” & “Influencers” lists, including Analytics Insight’s “Top 100 Global AI & Big Data Influencers”. Paul’s written 20 books (including “The AI Ladder” and 3 ‘for Dummies’ titles) and over 360 articles during his accidental 26-year career as a data nerd. Currently, Paul is writing an O’Reilly book on Hybrid Cloud.
At IBM, Paul leads from the front, owning accountability and strategic direction in a ‘tech years are like dog years’ world for the entire IBM Technology Unit’s (all IBM software & hardware) sales, tech sales, and partner ecosystem learning journeys and upskilling programs.
You’ll find Paul taking a very active role around Women in Technology (he’s a seated board member for Women 2.0, who he became involved with after his tweet was mentioned on the TV show, “The View”), general workplace inclusivity (completing an intensive D&I certificate at Cornell University), and Coding for Veterans. In addition, Paul sits on the world recognized Masters of Management Analytics & AI program boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.
Paul’s always keeping with his grass roots — a newbie with no computer courses before coming to IBM. He knows on his dumbest days he’s never as dumb as he feels, and on his smartest days, he’s never as smart as he feels either. Ultimately, Paul is trying to figure out the world according to Chloë — who competitively rides a horse he show-named “Better than a Boyfriend”.
Follow him on X (formally Twitter) at: @BigData_paulz.
Michele Cadario, Wellington Advocacy
Michele Cadario was the first woman in Canada to run a national election as Campaign Director for the Liberal Party in 2004 following her success as National Director for Paul Martin’s leadership campaign. She served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Martin and was a key member of each of his transition teams. More recently she was a senior strategist in the 2013 & 2017 BC Liberal campaigns and Deputy Chief of Staff to Premier Christy Clark until 2017. Today, Michele is CEO of Vanguard Strategy Inc., a consulting firm specializing in organizational structuring, strategic communications, and issues management and a Principal of J&M Network. Michele is also a regular political television commentator.
Rebecca Dutcher, President, RED66 Marketing
Rebecca is the founder and president of RED66 Marketing. The RED comes from her bold hair. And, the 66 was her jersey number when she was the first girl to play football at 8 years old. Prior to starting her own firm, Rebecca worked for leading agencies in West Michigan.
Since the start of RED66 in late 2016 with Rebecca and 1 contractor, the agency has grown to a team of 17 marketing professionals, serving clients across the US and Canada. Their work focuses on helping clients understand their prospects and customers to create content strategies that connect with audiences where they are in their buyer’s journey. All of which is delivered through comprehensive marketing and communications.
She is a self-proclaimed Marketing Nerd. She has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, mostly agency side, working with various clients and industries, primarily in the B2B space. She always enjoys talking about ways business challenges can be met and overcome with marketing, and even using marketing content to shorten sales cycles.
She is involved in local organizations as a 3.5-time President for the American Marketing Association West Michigan Chapter, on the Steering Committee for Davenport University’s Marketing Department, and most recently completed 7 years as a board member for GROW, an entrepreneurial organization primarily for women, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
She received the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award from Davenport University, Donald W. Maine School of Business.
When not working, you can find her at a kickboxing class, spending time with her family, and filling up on industry thought leader blogs, books and podcasts.
Agenda
Tuesday, October 29
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Session
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8:00 am
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Registration Opens
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7:30 - 8:15 am
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Breakfast
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8:15 - 9:15 am
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Welcome & Keynote Session
AI’s Potential for the Linen, Uniform and Facility Services Industry
Paul Zikopoulos, Future Trends Expert, and VP of Technology Group Skills Vitality & Enablement at IBM
Generative AI - The Good, The Bad, and the ChatGPT
While AI has gone through many hype cycles, seemingly overnight, it went from a 'Need to eventually have…" type of conversation to one that "Needed to be had last month." Even to skeptics, the release of ChatGPT seems to have marked a turning point with AI able to tell jokes, churn out essays that look human-written, and oh so much more. And while ChatGPT has captured the world's imagination, the real question is if AI is actually ready to deliver a transformative change for companies. The answer, unequivocally, is "Yes."
ChatGPT is part of a new class of AI systems referred to as Generative AI. Based on the concept of Foundation Models, this class of AI can do more than just write words — it can create images, write code, and more — and that's why it has such big potential as a creative partner for a company's workforce.
The use cases for Generative AI seem to grow by the week as it becomes obvious this type of AI presents unparalleled opportunities for business to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and improve decision-making.
In this high-octane demo-rich keynote, Paul Zikopoulos (an award-winning author and speaker who's been named to numerous "Thought Leader" and "People to Follow" lists on the topic of Data and AI, including CIO Look's "Top 10 Most Intelligent Leaders in Data Science & Analytics") delves into the topic of Generative AI in language everyone can easily understand: Just what is it? How does it work? What are the opportunities it present to organizations across all industries.
But it's not a fairy tale. A better world won’t necessarily come about simply because a company is using Generative AI. Why? Because data has a dark underside. Today many companies (and some countries for now) have banned the use of AI models like ChatGPT as they seek answers to questions like "What are your sources?" (Generative AI has a knack for making things up — they can hallucinate) or "Who owns the data we gave you to make something for us?", and more.
There's no question that Generative AI will usher in a new democratized relationship with AI, but there's a lot to understand on how this type of AI is made, their pitfalls, the opportunity for fine-tuning, safety, responsible use, and more.
Thomas Edison once said, "Vision without execution is just hallucination." This keynote will not just help attendees demystify the new world of Generative AI, but help them prepare a strategy to execute and take the next steps in this pivotal moment for business — leaving the hallucination to the AI.
LEARNING OUTCOMES— Introduction to GenAI— How to spot strategic opportunities to deploy AI in your business— Identify and understand key risks and considerations for deploying GenAI (AI is not magic)
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9:15 - 9:30 am
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Networking Break
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9:30 - 10:30 am
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Interactive Small Group Workshop: Applying AI to Your Business
Facilitated by Paul Zikopoulos and Friends
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10:30 - 10:45 am
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Networking Break
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10:45 am - 12:00 Noon
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Canadian Regulatory and Legislative Update
Nick Koolsbergen, CEO, and Michele Cadario, Welling Advocacy and Kevin Schwalb, Vice President, TRSA
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12:00 - 12:30 pm
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Lunch
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12:30 - 1:30 pm
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Creating a Safety Culture: Fire Safety
Brian Varner, Safety Solutions
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1:30 - 2:15 pm
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Leveraging Your Communications Strategy for Success
Michele Cadario, Wellington Advocacy
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2:15 - 2:30 pm
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Networking Break
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2:30 - 3:30 pm
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Rethinking the Sales Funnel by Understanding & Mapping Your Customer Journey
Rebecca Dutcher, President, RED66 Marketing
Every customer goes through a journey with your business - from first hearing about it to becoming a loyal supporter. This process has several stages, including awareness, discovering your company, considering their needs and pain points, becoming a customer and eventually recommending you to others. Taking time to map out and optimize these crucial journeys for your customers is paramount to your customer’s experience.In this presentation, you will learn:
- Key points and considerations for sales and marketing that impact your buyer’s journey- How and what to create at each stage of the journey- Considerations to connect the dots across multiple touchpoints |
3:30 - 3:45 pm
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Networking Break
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3:45 - 4:30 pm
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Hot Topic Discussions / Interactive Roundtables
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5:00 - 7:00 pm
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Networking Reception
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Add New
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Wednesday, October 30
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Session
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7:00 - 7:30 am
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Breakfast
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7:30 - 7:40 am
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Board Bus for Plant Tour
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7:40 am
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Depart for Plant
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8:30 am - 12:00 Noon
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Plant Tour
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12:00 Noon
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Summit Adjourns
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Sponsorship Options
Cancellation Policy
Written cancellations received by October 11, 2024 will receive a full refund minus a 25% processing fee. Cancellations received after October 11, 2024 will not be refunded and cannot be credited to another TRSA program or event. We will accept substitutions. After this date, TRSA has incurred costs associated with hotel guarantees and other expenses. All cancellations will be addressed and processed within 30 business days after the event.
Add to Calendar
Event Info
Date(s)
October 29, 2024 - October 30, 2024
Time(s)
8:00 am - 12:00 pm EST
Event Categories
Event Format
In Person
Event Type
Summit
Venue Name
Address
Pricing
Member
$995 | $1095
Member Supplier Partner
$1095 | $1195
Non-Member Operators
$1595 | $1695