Nominate a Business or Your Own Organization for the Burnaby Business Excellence Awards

It’s that time of year again when Burnaby businesses and not-for-profit organizations can nominate an organization (or themselves!) for an excellence award. Businesses both large and small have the opportunity to submit their nominations for 8 different categories. The annual awards presentation and dinner take place each November at the Hilton Metrotown Vancouver ‘
Nominate a business today!

Check out last year’s Roaring Twenties Gala pics.

It’s Official! We’ve Launched Our Student Career Development Program

For the last 8 months or so we’ve been hard at work putting together a student career development program. Today we’re thrilled to announce that we are officially launched! The program called “Access: Student Career Development“ ,  assists  post secondary students in developing business skills and key relationships with leaders in the Burnaby business community. Cory put together a visual presentation of the program right here  (which is quite cool).  Or you can read about the program right here or better yet you can visit our new Access web site.

A big thanks to our committee, partners, BCIT and SFU, student groups and everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen.

Burnaby’s Mayor Corrigan Delivers State of the City Address

As the economic development arm of the City of Burnaby we work very closely with them on a variety of initiatives, particularly when it comes to showcasing Burnaby’s strategic business, community and sustainability objectives.

The annual State of the City address is an opportunity for the Mayor to address an exclusive business audience and share the highlights and challenges that Burnaby is facing over the next year.

Today we were graciously hosted by the Hilton Metrotown Vancouver Hotel who served a delicious lunch (grilled basa in a delicious buttery sauce – I could have eaten 2 it was so good)  to a sold-out (our biggest turn-out ever) crowd.

Highlights of the Mayor’s talk included included energy conservation, sustainable development, community planning, affordable housing initiatives and what’s next for Burnaby. Pictures to come but you can get the full read of the Mayor’s speech right here.

Burnaby on pace for blistering growth spurt – Globe & Mail

While I was making my way through the weekly edition of the Globe & Mail this past weekend I came across this article. Kerry Gold outlines why Burnaby is such a great place to do business.

“The Burnabyskyline is about to be transformed. The city is looking at plans to raise skyscrapers in Metrotown possibly as high as 59 storeys, with plans for more major towers to sprout over the next few years.

Since the city nearly doubled allowable building density in 2010, Metrotown has become one of the fastest growing areas in the Lower Mainland, with a projected growth of 30,000 more residents and 20,000 more workers over the next 30 years, according to Edward Kozak, Burnaby’s assistant director of current planning. Projects under way include Intracorp’s 46-storey Metroplace and 38-storey Silver towers, and the accompanying major revitalization of Beresford Street, as well as Polygon’s 37-storey Chancellor.” Read the whole article here.

Amazing Food and a Warm Welcome From Burnaby’s Scandinavian Community Centre

A big thank you to everyone at the Scandinavian Community Centre last night for the warm welcome, entertainment and incredible food! The old world charm and generous welcome helped make the monthly BBOT Free Members’ reception a huge success. We had a big turn-out even from some Vancouver-based members.So thanks to everyone for coming out.

The Scandinavian Community Centre is a wonderful facility for holding events. An event that I’m keepingmy eye on is the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival (June 23rd and 24th) which includes the famous “Wife Carrying Contest”. The Grand Prize? Carlsberg Beer of course:)

2012/2013 Federal Budget Recap

Federal budget day is a big day for all Canadians but it’s particularly important for the business community.  With input from BBOT member KPMG LLP we culled the highlights from the budget and have posted them here for you.

A Few (great) Changes for the 2012 Burnaby Business Day Tradeshow Expo

I started working at the BBOT around this time last year. When I arrived everyone was madly planning the annual BBOT Tradeshow.  This year we’ve planned it from the ground up so we’ve had a chance to make a few changes that we hope you’ll like. For example we’ve changed the time the show runs. It doesn’t matter what’s going on it’s impossible to compete with the play-off series so to save ourselves (and possibly you the attendee or exhibitor the stress) we changed the time from 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm.

We’ve also changed the name from The BBOT Business to Business Tradeshow to The Burnaby Business Day Tradeshow. It’s a small but important re-focusing of the event. The Tradeshow is not just an opportunity for business to showcase their products/services and network but also to have it serve as a valuable resource for the business community. This year we’re introducing the Business Resource Booth where exhibitors and attendees can learn more about things like getting business referrals or using social media tools to help you grow your business.

We also want to increase value for our exhibitors so we’ve decreased the cost of booth registration.

Booth Prices:                Last Year          This Year

• BBOT Member  -      $395                $295
• Not-For-Profit    -     $295                $250
• Non Member     -      $495                $395

Better yet, if you register your booth before April 24st you’ll be entered to win a draw for free registration.

Last but not least this year’s Tradeshow will  have amazing prizes and the public is welcome (free of charge).

Stay tuned for more updates to the Tradeshow.

For more information or to register visit us right here.

Serevi Vancouver International Sevens Tournament Comes to Burnaby

This is exciting news. Burnaby’s  Swanguard Stadium will be home to the Serevi Vancouver International Sevens rugby tournament July 22nd and 23rd. On Tuesday Paul and I attended the press conference at Wings Pub who have signed on as an official sponsor of the games. There was a rugby 7s tournament on in Vegas while we were there at a conference recently and it is a big EXCITING deal. The tournament is the largest rugby 7s tournament in Canada and the 2nd largest in North America.

Douglas Okero, President of the Serevi Vancouver International 7s said “We are honoured to have WINGS Restaurants and Pubs as the official title sponsor of this entertaining international rugby 7s event that is attracting national and international interest from teams, media, corporate sponsors and fans around the world. “

Tickets to the Serevi Vancouver International Rugby 7s tournament will go on sale in the near future. Further information can be obtained at the tournament’s official website vancouverinternationalsevens.com.

‐Exciting news for Burnaby sports fans and businesses!

Burnaby-based Fire Pots brings the Hot Pot into the 21st Century

Charlie Xu – owner of Fire Pots, has taken the traditional nutritional qualities of Hot Pot dining and brought it into the 21st century. Fire Pots which opens in Burnaby on March 23rd, is a contemporary twist on an old delicious Chinese favourite dish inspired, of course, with a dash of west coast cuisine.  Selfishly I’m happy to see that Fire Pots caters to a variety of culinary tastes and dietary needs – Seafood Medley – Garden Fresh Vegetarian – Coconut Curry Chicken – Crown Daisy Steak (even for a non-meat eater this sounds delicious – steak slices, crown daisy needle and oyster mushrooms with yakisoba noodles in satay spice soup!)

Congratulations and a big warm welcome to Fire Pots on opening an exciting new culinary experience in the Burnaby community.

Check out their web site for more details.

Guess Who’s Coming to Town?

From August 21st to the 25th Burnaby will be home to 4,000  baby boomer athletes (55 and over) who will take part in the 25th Annual Seniors Games. Now I speed skate with a woman who is  82 years old (the famous Agatha V) and it took me well until last year to catch up with her and let’s just say I’m quite a bit younger than she is so these 4000 athletes are competitive and skilled in their event categories.

Athletes will compete in over 26 different activities and the Games will  involve close to 2,000 volunteers.If you’re interested in registering as an athlete or becoming involved as a sponsor or volunteer check out the web site for details.