From September 6 to September 9, the tech and business community from across North America will gather at the fourth annual Fireside Conference.
Taking place at a remote private lake just outside Bancroft, Ontario, the Fireside Conference is an invite-only retreat that aims to bring together startups, entrepreneurs, government members, investors, and C-level executives.
This year, the conference is expanding its industry focus to include leaders from the cannabis, blockchain, and health and wellness industries. Some of the speakers at this year’s conference include founder and director of Foundry Communications Zahra Al Harazi, Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, and Jordan Harbinger, founder of the Jordan Harbinger Show.
Organizers said that the Fireside Conference has also committed $40,000 to a diversity and inclusion fellowship, which marks the launch of the conference’s Pledge 5 movement. The Pledge 5 movement aims to inspire other conferences, organizations, and summits to pledge at least five percent of attendance tickets towards underrepresented members of the community.
“Last year we committed $10,000 to the diversity and inclusion fellowship,” said Steven Pulver, co-founder of Fireside. “The program was a resounding success and, with special thanks to our partners at Hover and MinuteBox, we are extremely excited to announce that we have quadrupled the size of the fellowship fund to $40,000, or five percent, of tickets.”
Fireside will also host a live benefit auction to support a mental health charity at this year’s conference.
Applications are open on the conference’s website. While the official deadline was August 15 for applications, organizers say there are still spaces available.