Toronto Community Week 2025 is bringing some of the most influential names in community leadership to Startwell from October 23 to 25.
A gathering dedicated to professionals who drive exceptional community experiences in the B2B landscape, Toronto Community Week is produced by Led by Community, a British non-profit that has presented Community Week events in London for two years, and next year, will be hosting events in Lisbon and New York.
“The talks and people behind it truly understand what it takes to build meaningful professional networks.”
Ilker Akansel, TalentLed
The Toronto edition is designed to elevate the community profession as a strategic business function, rather than a siloed initiative.
In its first-ever Canadian edition, the three-day event will give hundreds of professionals from tech, SaaS, customer experience, and more a place to explore what it takes to build communities that truly scale.
Community has become a serious business function for many tech companies. Once seen as a marketing add-on, community building now entails dedicated teams that are at the heart of how companies connect with customers, gather feedback, and shape products in real time.
Here are three reasons you’ll want to be at Toronto Community Week 2025.
The structure
Toronto Community Week is structured around sharing, testing, and building on ideas. It will kick off with a workshop day focused on community strategy and customers. Attendees will work directly with experts to apply frameworks for advocacy, engagement, and customer connection within their organizations.
Day two of the conference will feature keynote presentations and panels from some of the brightest minds in the community building space. Sarah Masterton-Brown, Head of Community at Mews, said these sessions always bring a broad mix of insights.
“Each session feels like a genuine exchange of ideas, not just another conference,” she said.
The week will end with Unconference Plus Toronto, a high-energy, participant-led day where attendees set the agenda. The day will allow attendees to pitch and vote on topics, followed by breakout conversations workshops, and a chance to share key takeaways from the day.
The speakers
Toronto Community Week brings together some of the most recognizable names in community and customer experience from Canada and around the world.
Richard Millington, Founder of community consulting firm FeverBee, will unveil his playbook for building resilience as engagement patterns shift across industries.
Erica Kuhl, EVP and General Manager at Silicon Valley-based Gainsight, will explain how a community can become a company-wide centre of excellence, drawing on her experience at companies like Salesforce.
Caitlin O’Hanlon, Toronto-based Head of Creators and Community at Wattpad, will share what it means to listen at scale, drawing on the millions of voices that have shaped the storytelling platform.
Ashley Williams, Community lead at Stripe, will dig into strategies for turning skeptics into champions and making community indispensable to business growth.
Jillian Bejtlich, Senior Manager of Community and Advocacy at Calendly, will explain how design and architecture shape user behaviour and engagement.
The energy
The London Community Week hosted earlier this year drew hundreds of attendees and more than 50 speakers from across Europe.
Ilker Akansel, Founding Partner at TalentLed, said the event has become a regular source of fresh ideas. “Community Week has become my go-to source for inspiration,” Akansel said of the London version. “The talks and people behind it truly understand what it takes to build meaningful professional networks.”
Erin Lynch, Senior Customer Success Manager at Hivebrite, said the conversations at Community Week were refreshingly candid. “It was inspiring to be surrounded by community builders willing to share their experiences and successes,” she said.
Ruthie Berber, Director of Community at Grow Therapy, said the conversations reminded her of why she got into the field in the first place. “It’s about people, purpose, and shared learning,” Berber said.
Toronto Community Week picks up where those conversations left off, and aims to give professionals a place to reconnect, share notes, and turn community into a measurable business advantage.
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If you’re building exceptional community experiences in the B2B landscape, buy your tickets now.
All photos courtesy of Led by Community.