I met Nicola Burdeniuk last week at the TechRev event in Calgary. Nicola is the Associate Executive Director of the Banff Venture Forum.
This year's event is taking place on October 2 & 3, 2008 in ... well, Banff ... just like the name says. Certainly, the opportunity to mix business with pleasure is high on the list for this investor's forum, as it's setting in Banff is unequalled, especially as the larch trees will be in their full autumn colours. Larch trees, as you may or may not know, are the only deciduous tree who's needles fall off in the winter ... but that's another topic entirely.
Of course, it's not all about the scenery at the Banff Venture Forum. One of western Canada premier high-tech financing events, last year it drew 28 VC, private equity and angel investors to see more than 30 high-tech investment presentations. The weekend also includes networking events and panel discussions to revitalize and/or forge new partnerships.
Companies looking for funding come from three different streams: IT, Energy and Life Sciences.
Unlike some other funding events, Banff Venture Forum offers general delegate attendance ... if you have a business or will be seeking investment at some point, you can learn about raising money from the best of the best, while developing relationships with both investors and other senior business leaders. Last year, there were over 320 delegates.
I checked out the online registration ... it's closed for 2007 and the 2008 system looks a bit bumpy at this point. Nicola lists her email address on the site "if there's problem's with registration" so she's the one to talk to if you want to get on the list early.
To get more info about Banff Venture Forum, visit their website or subscribe to their eNewsletter.
Stephen, you're blowing your already shaky credibility. Larch Trees are coniferous, not deciduous. Were you not listening in Grade 5 science class?
I used to get confused about Stalagmites and Stalactities, too (until a Bearnstein Bear's book cleared that up for me). You are correct, of course, they are coniferous ... the point being that unlike their pine tree brothers and sisters, their needles fall off seasonally.
I feel I can lay some of the blame of my inaccuracy to wikipedia's crowd-source dictionary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larch that states "They are deciduous trees" ... and, I didn't think hard enough to second-guess. Upon further Googlin', I found confusion elsewhere ... these guys also called Larch's deciduous:
http://www.larchhillswinery.com/index.php?p=wineArticles&id=4
But, Nick is right ... it's coniferous ... final word is Hutchison's Encyclopedia:
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/larch+tree
And, if you want your own, try Porcupine Hollow Farm, a.k.a. porkyfarm:
http://porkyfarm.com/evergreen.a
:)
I've recently joined and wanted to introduce myself :)
