C2 Montréal
C2 Montréal is a nonprofit organization which holds an annual 3-day international conference in Montreal, Quebec. Its intention is to stimulate the economy in the province of Quebec by facilitating collaboration and networking within the business and creative communities. The conference was conceived by the Montreal-based creative agency Sid Lee in partnership with Cirque du Soleil and has been held every year in May since 2012.[1] C2 Montréal is subsidized by profits generated by C2 International Inc.[2]
| C2 Montréal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Business conference |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Montreal |
| Country | Canada |
| Years active | 9 years |
| Inaugurated | 22-25 May 2012 (Montreal) |
| Founders | Jean-François Bouchard, Daniel Lamarre |
| Most recent | 22-24 May 2019 |
| Next event | 19-30 October 2020 - C2 Online |
| Attendance | 7,500 (2019) |
| Leader | Jacques-André Dupont |
| Organized by | C2 International |
| Website | c2montreal.com |
Conference
Intended to represent an "intersection of commerce and creativity"[3] (the "Cs" of C2), C2 Montréal was founded in 2012 by Jean-François Bouchard from Sid Lee and Daniel Lamarre from Cirque du Soleil,[4] with Benoît Berthiaume appointed as executive producer at the time.[5] It is held every year in Montreal, Quebec in the month of May. Over 72 partners currently sponsor the conference, including Royal Bank of Canada, Cirque du Soleil, Solotech, BMW, and Facebook.[6] Formal minutes following the conference have been made available since 2015.[7]
The conference requires active participation from the attendees. Participant activities include attending speaker segments, participating in workshops, and one-on-one meetings with other participants (referred to as “Braindates”).[8] Due to the media exposure generated by the conference, attending participants are required to agree to a recording and image waiver.[9]
History
| Year | Theme(s) | Speakers | Attendees | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Thinking Pattern
Multi-disciplinary Thinking Creative Spaces Corporate Culture Flexible Business Models Research and Development Success Indicators Collective Creation Path Dependency Startup Mentality |
Francis Ford Coppola
Marc Chapman Robert Safian |
Winy Maas
Robert Wong Bertrand Cesvet |
Dr. Rex Jung
Lotfi EL-Ghandouri Sakchin Bessette Deborah Dugan |
1,500 participants[10] |
| 2013 | Connection
Inspiration Experimentation Celebration |
Sir Richard Branson | Fred Dust
Tom Gentile Tracey Bleckzinski |
Stephan Ouaknine
Nicole Piasecki Will Travis Sanjay Poonen Steve Brown |
2,500 participants[11] |
| 2014 | Inspiration
Experimentation & Connection Celebration |
James Cameron
Prof. Muhammad Yunus Abigail Posner Simon Berry Esther Lee |
Ray Davis
John Hardy Denys Lapointe Philip Sheppard Jonas Tåhlin Jonathan Becher |
Kevin O'Brien
Marie Saint Pierre Welby Altidor Graham Douglas Rafik Belmesk Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud |
4,000 participants[12] |
| 2015 | Choices | Alec Baldwin
Carolyn Everson Jonathan Martin |
Morten Albæk
Bertrand Piccard Marika Anthony-Shaw Terry Stuart Adam Garone Jane McGonigal David Rose Michelle Dennedy |
Ayah Bdeir
Alex Kazaks David Edelman Carsten Thoma Jordan Brown Rangu Salgame Robert T. Cancalosi Sean McDonald |
5,000 participants[12] |
| 2016 | The Many | Massimo Bottura
Dr. Kate Darling Prof. Nick Bostrom Tim Brown Paul Bennett Chad Dickerson Dr. David Suzuki A.J. Paron-Wildes David Davies Dr. Beth Altringer Alex Fiance Hon. Bardish Chagger Byron & Dexter Peart Christine Renaud David Manela Diane Bérard Elke Govertsen |
Emily Chang
Estelle Métayer Esther Song Elizabeth Tobey Elora Hardy Guy Crevier Hicham Ratnani & Ethan Song James Cooper James Jackson Joanna Peña-Bickley Jonathan Glencross Justin Kingsley Marc Blanchard Mark Brand |
Dr. Maxwell Anderson
Michel Laprise Mike Yapp Prof. Muhammad Yunus Nanxi Liu Nyla Rodgers Olivier Royant Patrik Frisk Paul DeLong Paul Gray Rangu Salgame Ricky Solorzano Sandy Speicher Stowe Boyd Tasha McCauley Tatiana Fraser Thomas John Muthoot Will Travis |
6,000 participants[13] |
| 2017 | Ecosystems | Steve Wozniak
Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal Paul Allard Assaf Biderman Linda Boff Jean-François Bouchard Ben Boyd Joel Beckerman Prof. Yoshua Bengio Ian Bernstein Monika Bielskyte Richard Brown Kirpatrick Day Simon Da Baene |
Magaly Charbonneau
Katie Emery Nicola Farinetti Jean-François Gagné Farah Ramzan Golant Gabriella Gómez-Mont Erik Grab Peter Grimaldi Claude Guay Laura Henderson Tom Herbst Amanda Hill Christine Jacovcic Hon. Mélanie Joly Félix Lajeunesse & Paul Raphaël Nathalie Le Prohon Amy Liu |
Dario Meli
Prof. Gautam Mukunda Maestro Kent Nagano Kyle Nel Prof. Dava Newman Joanna Peña-Bickley Valérie Pisano Howard Pyle Dr. Naveen G. Rao Karim Rasheed Bob Richards Daisuke Sakai & Takashi Kudo Sean Stanleigh Dr. Michelle Thaller Angela Tran Kingyens Neilson Vignola Lauren Wesley Wilson Christian Yaccarini Prof. Muhammad Yunus |
6,000 participants[14] |
| 2018 | Transformative Collisions | Snoop Dogg
Noelle Acheson Dr. Foteini Agrafioti Hon. Dominique Anglade Katie Bardaro Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek Sakchin Bessette His Excellency Omar Bin Sultan Olama Alex Bodman Diane Brady Brian Braiker Mark Brand Emma Carrasco Stephanie Carrulo Bertrand Cesvet Buffy Childerhose Ted Chung Louis-Yves Cloutier Kim Cope Her Excellency Hon. Linda Dessau AC Ryan Detert Dr. Sylvia Earle Robert Elliott Annalisa Enrile Daniel Franklin |
Jean-François Gagné
Luca Gamberini Erik Gatenholm Timnit Gebru Suzanne Gibbs Howard Lex Gill Françoise Girard Anna Gong Adam Greenblatt Kelsey Halling Arlan Hamilton Kyle J.J. Kemper Hon. Mélanie Joly David Jones Dennis Kastrup Tunde Kehinde Justin Kingsley Tom Klein Tim Kobe Jessica Lauretti Dominique Leclerc Eamon Leonard Bruce Linton Andrew Lufty Arwa Mahdawi Heather Mann Dr. Carl Marci Philippe Meunier Christofer Mowry Sean Mullin Jessica Neal |
Jimmy Nelson
Anna Neistat Jowan Österlund Her Excellency the Right Hon. Julie Payette Marie-Joëlle Parent Dr. Joëlle Pineau Jean Raby Dr. Noah Raford Katerine-Lune Rollet Colombe Saint-Pierre Richard St-Pierre Martine St-Victor Beth Schechter Siim Sikkut Jordan Soles John Stackhouse Sean Stanleigh Christine Sunu Dr. Robert Sutor Dawn Taketa Riordan Ciara Trinidad Illiana Oris Valiente Stephanie van der Wiel Corrine Vezzoni Austin Wang Freya Williams John Winter Russell Lauren Yoshiko Terry Dave Zaboski |
6,500 participants[15] |
| 2019 | Tomorrow | Angela Ahrendts
Dr. Foteini Agrafioti Alexandre Amancio Anousheh Ansari Samarth Athreya Cam Battley Conn Bertish Carolina Bessega Michael Birkin Marc Blanchard Daniela Bohlinger Laura Bourbeau Tom Brunet and Yoan Prat Jessica Brillhart Bertrand Cesvet Jason Chen Jacomo Corbo Hope Cowan David Cox Gordon Cox Jon C. Flint Ian Daly Dax Dasilva Isabelle Depatie Stephanie Dinkins Pedro Domingos Rena Effendi Emily Eisen Layla El Asri Steve Ellis Ian Ernzer Ayaan Esmail |
Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild
Dominique Fularski Dr. Pauline Gagnon Mitch Garber Piera Luisa Gelardi Sabrina Geremia Isabella Grandic Katherine Graham Loren Grush Dr. Brent Hecht Nicole Jacek Lisa Jackson Sarah Jenna Michael Jung Prof. David Keith Daniel Lamarre Pierre Laramée Génifère Legrand Jean-François Lépine Lisa Lindström Selena Lu Shagun Maheshwari Charles Melcher Estelle Métayer Dr. Luke McKay Rob McLaughlin David McMillan Debbie Millman |
Angelique Mohring
Amanda Parris Elizabeth Plank Jane Poynter Paul Propster Diane Quinn Jui Ramaprasad Sandrine Rastello Ruth Reader Jacy Reese Jenny Rooney Olivier Royant Michael Sabia Richard St-Pierre Bekah Sirrine Dr. Justin Sanchez Aithan Shapira John Stackhouse Elissa Strome Tom Standage Sean Stanleigh Humza Teherany Mark Tercek Valentine Thomas Alicia Tillman Afo Verde Manish Vora Jameson Wetmore Dave Williams |
7,500 participants |
| 2020 | Resilience | Gary Vaynerchuk | Stephanie Harvey | Malcolm Gladwell | TBC |
Governance
Fourteen administrators govern C2 Montréal, two of whom are representatives from the organization’s cofounding partners (Sid Lee and Cirque du Soleil).[16]
Board of directors (as of 2018)
- Jean-François Bouchard - Chairman and Co-founder of Sid Lee - Chairman
- Richard St-Pierre - President, C2 Montréal - Treasurer
- Michel Boislard - Partner, Fasken Martineau - Secretary
- Claudine Blondin Bronfman - Co-Chair Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation
- Jade Raymond - Group General Manager, Electronic Arts
- Jean Novak - President Vidéotron Business Solutions, Vidéotron
- Luc Bernard - Chief Executive Officer, Groupe Multi-Prêts
- Michel Leblanc - President and Chief Executive Officer, Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal
- Myriam Achard - Director of Communications and Public Relations, Centre Phi
- Pierre Larochelle - Vice-President, Power Corporation
- Roger Duguay - Managing Partner, Boyden
- Simon Olivier - Senior Vice-President, Agropur
- Stephane Lefebvre - Chief Financial Officer, Cirque du Soleil
- Yves Lalumière - President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourisme Montréal
- Richard Masse - Director of Public Health for Montreal
Leadership team (as of 2018)
- Jacques-André Dupont - President and Chief Executive Officer
- Génifère Legrand - Chief Creative Officer
- Anick Beaulieu - Vice President - Growth and Partnerships
- Chris Cowley - Vice President - Digital Innovation and Technology
- Julia Cyboran - Vice President - Marketing and Audience
- Yannick Bocquet - Vice President - Production
- Thomas Guité - Vice President - Finance
- Martin Corbo - General Manager
- Linda Leroy - Vice President - Talent and Culture
Funding
As a nonprofit organization, C2 Montreal receives its funding from corporate sponsors and from the Government of Canada. For its first conference in 2012, the organization received grants totalling 40% of its total budget from the federal government. In 2017, the grants had been reduced to 15% of the organization's total budget as C2 Montréal had successfully secured more significant funding from their private sponsors.[17]
The Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, an agency working within the Government of Canada providing assistance to Quebec-based organizations,[18] has awarded a $1.5 million non-repayable grant to C2 Montreal, with half of the amount allocated to the 2018 conference and the other half allocated to the upcoming 2019 conference.[19]
C2 International Inc.
Created in 2015, C2 International Inc. specializes in the facilitation and logistical services for international high-profile events. It is owned by the Montreal-based creative agency Sid Lee. Earnings gained by C2 International finance C2 Montréal. The for-profit company shares expenses with C2 Montréal, which includes employees. C2 International also produces the Movin' On Summit and C2 Melbourne (now cancelled).[17][20]
C2 Melbourne
C2 International was preparing for the C2 Melbourne conference, scheduled for October 2018. Arrangements for this event came to a halt upon an announcement from its creator Martin Enault, claiming health issues.[20] It would later be confirmed by current president of C2 Montréal, Richard St-Pierre, that low ticket sales and the retraction of a major partner were the cause of cessation of C2 Melbourne. Thirty employees were discharged from C2 International as a result.[21]
Criticism
Economics professors François Vaillancourt of Université de Montréal and Amine Ouazad of HEC Montréal stated that C2 Montréal's $167.5 million economic impact affirmed in a 2017 study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers produced "exaggerated" claims. The professors declared issues with the study, one being that C2 Montréal doesn't follow the method mandated by Tourisme Québec to calculate economic impact, and the other being that the value of the contracts between the participating Québec institutions and C2 Montréal is unknown.[17]
References
- "C2 Montréal: 126,1M$ in economic impact - Economic Return Increases Over Previous Year". Newswire. April 6, 2016. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- Brousseau-Pouliot, Vincent (May 25, 2018). "Subventions à C2MTL: retombées importantes ou impact exagéré?". La Presse (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- "C2-MTL: The business of storytelling, and how to make a circus". mediaincanada.com. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- "C2-MTL: faire de Montréal le "Davos de la créativité" | Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot | Économie". La Presse (in French). 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- "This is not business as usual: C2-MTL's first edition a success". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- Poiré, Anne-Sophie (May 25, 2018). "C2 Montréal: des activations pour engager la connectivité". Infopresse (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- "C2 MONTRÉAL COMMERCE + CREATIVITY 26 – 28 MAY 2015" (PDF). Cdn.coverstand.com. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- Plamondon Emond, Etienne. "L'innovation sociale à C2 Montréal". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- "Recording and image waiver - C2 Montréal". C2 Montréal. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- Hinse, Geneviève (June 18, 2012). "Bilan de la première édition de C2-MTL : Événement surprenant et innovant, promesse tenue". www.newswire.ca/fr. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- Ducas, Marie-Claude (May 24, 2013). "C2-MTL : un bilan, des suites". L'actualité. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- Jolicoeur, Martin (June 18, 2014). "Nouveau président chez C2MTL". Les Affaires (in French). Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- "C2 Montréal a accueilli 6000 participants". Le Journal de Montréal (in French). 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- Houdassine, Ismaël (May 27, 2017). "C2 Montréal: un bilan au-delà des attentes selon les organisateurs". www.quebec.huffingtonpost.ca. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- "C2 Montréal 2018". www.economie.gouv.qc.ca (in French). May 22, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- "Governance - C2 Montréal". C2 Montréal. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- "Subventions à C2MTL: retombées importantes ou impact exagéré? | Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot | Québec". La Presse (in French). 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- Regions, Government of Canada, Canada Economic Development for Quebec. "Home - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions". www.dec-ced.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- "Financement public pour C2 Montréal | Direction Informatique". www.directioninformatique.com (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- "C2 Melbourne cancelled as creator suddenly steps down | Conference News". www.conference-news.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- Orfali, Philippe. "Trente emplois en moins chez C2". Le Journal de Montréal (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-12.