Tuesday, May 1, 9:30am-11:30am
Income Tax Basics for the Incorporated Business
This basic corporate income tax session is invaluable for the newly incorporated business. It highlights areas that every corporate director should be aware of. Topics include:

• Transferring assets into a corporation
• Director’s liability
• Shareholder loans and salaries
• Business expenses and capital expenditures
• Corporate filing requirements, corporate tax rate structure and installment payments

Presenter: Canada Revenue Agency Cost: $10 | Recording not available for this session

Wednesday, May 2, 1:30pm-2:30pm
Your Library Means Business
Public libraries often have a number of print and electronic resources that would be of interest to the small business community. The session will review the various print and electronic resources that the Edmonton Public Library has to offer on business (which may also be available in your local library), and how to navigate their electronic resources. You will hear about:

• Demographics, business plans, funding, management, accounting, and marketing
• Sources ranging from books, magazines, ebooks, databases and newspapers
• How to search for the information you need to set up and make your small business a success

Presenter: Patti Sherbaniuk, BA, MLIS and Louise Dorner, BA – Edmonton Public Library Cost: $10

Le jeudi 3 mai, 12h à 13h
La bonne gestion interne d’une PME
La santé interne d’une PME repose, entre autres, sur une bonne gouvernance de celle-ci. Il est donc important pour une entreprise de développer de bonnes politiques internes et un manuel de l’employé qui donne un code de conduite sur des thèmes aussi variés que l’usage des réseaux sociaux au travail, le harcèlement sous toutes ses formes et la protection des informations personnelles des employés et de la PME. Lors de cette session d’apprentissage, vous apprendrez :

• l’importance d’un manuel de l’employé
• ce que vous pouvez inclure dans un tel manuel

Conférenciers : Me Pierre C. Desrochers et Me Justin Kingston – McCuaig Desrochers LLP Coût : 10$ | Cette session n’est pas enregistrée

Thursday, May 3, 6:30pm-8:00pm
Developing Online Content
We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king”. Developing engaging web content is key to any online marketing initiative. Unfortunately for many business owners, creating this content is easier said than done. This session will focus on creating, sharing and sourcing online content. We’ll look at:

• Types of online content
• Finding inspiration and ideas
• Hosting and sharing your content
• Tools, tips and tricks

Presenter: Brian Siddle and Trevor Tessier – SBX Media Inc. Cost: $15

Tuesday, May 8, 9:30am-10:30am
Finding Statistics for Your Financial Plan
This session will provide a basic understanding of what information is available on Statistics Canada’s website that you can use to develop your financial plan. While the needs of each business are unique and will not be specifically addressed within this session, you will discover information to help:

• Estimate the operating costs for your new business
• Find financial performance averages in your industry
• Compare your company’s financial performance to that of the industry and address issues such as profitability, efficiency and business risk
• Conduct inter-industry comparison

Presenter: Statistics Canada Cost: $10 | Recording not available for this session

Wednesday, May 9, 1:30pm-2:30pm
What’s in a Brand? Everything!
Walmart knows the success of their brand is much more than the 'rollback' happy face, or their bibbed door greeters. They know their brand must flow through their entire business. Explore the concept of branding your business by discovering your 'touch points', defining your core business brand and creating a brand promise you can consistently deliver for every customer.

Presenter: Jana Clarke, BA, PR – Grant MacEwan University, School of Business Cost: $10

Thursday, May 10, 12:00pm-1:30pm

Selling to the Alberta Government

The Government of Alberta is looking for YOU – and your goods and services. With over 2000 purchasers, they buy everything from agricultural goods to professional services and everything in between – and these opportunities are being posted daily for you to find. This session helps you to understand the Alberta Government’s buying practices, who buys what, how they are purchased, and how to get onto their electronic tendering site – the Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC). You will learn about:

• Government of Alberta procurement practices
• Registering your business on the APC
• Searching for opportunities
• Tips on how to bid for opportunities

Presenter: Chelle Busch – Government of Alberta Cost: $10

Thursday, May 17, 9:30am-10:30am
*rescheduled from Tuesday, May 15, 9:30am-10:30am
Opening a Restaurant
This session will highlight what you should consider before starting in the restaurant business. Do you want to run a business or do you want to own a restaurant because you love to cook? Whet your appetite and explore:

• The fundamentals of running a successful restaurant business
• Enjoying the high points and confronting the challenges

Presenter: Pamela Freeman, MBA, CMC, COO – TEC Edmonton Cost: $10

Thursday, May 17, 12:00pm-2:00pm
Tips for the Trusted Advisor or Consultant to Family-Owned Businesses
If you’re providing consulting services to family-owned businesses, this session is for you! Gain an in-depth understanding of the unique issues facing family business owners. Discover proven structures and mechanisms to help navigate family businesses through critical issues. Practical tools and checklists will add value to your technical experience as you work alongside your clients in the development and implementation of a transition plan. This session will provide an introduction to the concepts and systems provided in ABFI’s full day workshop, and will discuss:

• The 3 circle family business model
• Key transformational issues for family business clients
• Key structures implementation for family business clients

Presenter: Gary Coskey – Alberta Business Family Institute, University of Alberta School of Business  Cost: $20

Thursday, May 17, 6:30pm-8:00pm

Preparing Financial Statements
Balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow – what are they? This session helps you understand financial statements, their components and how to prepare them. You will see examples of each as you improve your financial literacy to help you with yearly financial reporting. This session will explain:

• How to read and prepare financial statements
• Key financial ratios that are key signs of business growth

Presenter: Michael Oli, MBA, CMA, P.Eng. – EB Vision Engineering & Business Consulting Inc. Cost: $15

Tuesday May 22, 11:30am-1:30pm
HR Basics
When hiring employees, you will need to know what to look for, what to ask, and how to advertise. This session will provide you with key human resources (HR) knowledge for hiring staff for your small business. An overview of how the predicted skilled labour shortage for Alberta and Canada will affect businesses over the next 25 years will be discussed. Important information included in this session:

• HR laws in Alberta
• Labour standards legislation overview
• Occupational Health & Safety highlights
• Management expectations for finding, selecting and hiring employees

Take-away: FREE practical booklet on HR legislation and practice in Alberta.

Presenters: Kate Young, Employment Standards | Sharon Chadwick, Occupational Health & Safety | Kevin Ramnarine, The Business Link’s HR Consultant Cost: $20

 Wednesday, May 23, 1:30pm-3:30pm
Project Management
This introductory session will discuss why project management practices are beneficial to all businesses, and shouldn’t be ignored. It will review:

• The generic life cycle of a project from initiation, managing a project to project finalization
• Common existing project management practices (including project management maturity assessment and targets)
• Project requirements planning, project management plan development and project management office
• Project management knowledge areas

Presenter: Tony Colabella, BMgmt, CMC, CHRP – MNP LLP Cost: $20

Thursday, May 24, 12:00pm-1:00pm
How to Pitch Your Product or Service
You’ve spent a significant amount of time, money, and energy on developing a brand new product or service and you’re finally ready to introduce it to the public. So how do you actually sell it? Being able to properly present your idea is one of the most important aspects of getting your product to market. This session will go over what an elevator pitch is and how to properly write one. Get tips on the art of persuasion that will assist you in attracting investors, recruiting partners, and marketing your venture.

Presenter: Randy Thompson, Entrepreneur in Residence – novaNAIT Cost: $10

Tuesday, May 29, 9:30am-11:30am

Promotional Strategies: Creating Buzz for Your Biz
Limited budget? Want to create a buzz about your product, service or company? Join us to learn cost-effective and often free promotional tips and techniques. Find out how to effectively promote using traditional and electronic methods for a wide range of products and services. In this session:

• Understand how promotion differs from advertising
• Discover often forgotten promotional techniques
• Learn how to identify new opportunities
• Find out how to leverage online technologies to increase your visibility

Presenter: Greg Gazin – Gadget Guy/Parallel 2000 Corp. Cost: $20

Wednesday, May 30, 1:30pm-4:00pm
Strategic Marketing Planning
The current economic crisis calls for innovative solutions to improve sales performance. Strategic marketing planning will help you identify future trends that provide opportunities to exploit or threats to overcome. You will also learn to develop a holistic approach to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Find out how to draft a marketing plan with all the vital components to help you maximize profitability.

• Develop a more strategic marketing plan that addresses short and long term issues
• Incorporate the eight important components in a marketing plan
• Set SMART goals which are measurable and attainable

Presenter: Mark Loo, PhD – Concordia University College of Alberta, Mihalcheon School of Business Cost: $30

Thursday, May 31, 12:00pm-2:00pm
The Two Sentence Business Plan
Welcome business startup companies and aspiring entrepreneurs! Are you overwhelmed with the thought of putting together a business plan? Avoid the fear of writing a lengthy business plan or wasting time and money on irrelevant help, products or services. Attend this session to help you get focused on decisive actions for realizing your dream. Together we will:

• Write an actionable, easy to execute, and precise business plan by marrying an action plan, business overview, and a to-do list
• Challenge ‘whole-scale’ business plan writing (all at once) versus a ‘piecemeal’ process

Presenter: Devesh Dwivedi, MBA – entrepreneurinmaking.com Cost: $20

Thursday, May 31, 6:30pm-8:00pm
Improve Your Communication Skills, Improve Your Bottom Line
One cannot become a great speaker, presenter or communicator overnight. It takes time, dedication, practice and a good teacher. There are, however, a number of tips and techniques you can learn to use immediately to improve your impromptu speaking, add impact to your presentations, engage your audience and overcome those butterflies in your stomach. The better you can communicate, the better chance you will make that sale. What you will learn from this session:

• Tips to reduce nervousness
• How to engage your audience with how you say it
• How to use storytelling techniques to connect
• How to respond when you are put on the spot

Presenter: Greg Gazin – Gadget Guy/Parallel 2000 Corp. Cost:$15