Meet The Team Behind the Gala

Canadian Special Events

The 60K+ readers, friends, fans and followers that make up the CSE community represent the social, corporate, agency, association, conference, event and marketing professionals from St John’s to Victoria. We connect them with the ideas, inspiration and resources they need to create powerful and meaningful experiences. We do this through our social channels, high-impact digital products, and live events like CSE Live, The Show for People Who Plan Events. CSE Live is Canada’s longest-running, and most attended industry gathering drawing over 2000+ event professionals annually. We also produce the Canadian Event Awards, the Planners Choice Awards, and in 2022 are getting ready to bring a mini version of CSE Live to a city near you.
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Liberty Entertainment Group

For over three decades the Liberty Entertainment Group, led by Nick Di Donato, has been redefining Toronto and Miami’s restaurant, nightlife and special event experience. As developers and operators of numerous landmark establishments, the Liberty Entertainment Group has become recognized as one of the most successful and innovative companies in the industry. Their impressive roster of unique venues includes Toronto’s premier special event facilities; Casa Loma and the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex as well as Toronto’s most prolific restaurants including BlueBlood Steakhouse, Don Alfonso 1890, Xango, three Cibo Wine Bar locations as well as the city’s most vibrant nightlife space – Arcane. In addition, Liberty Entertainment Group operates several international properties including the Coral Gables Country Club in Coral Gables, Florida. 
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TK Events

At TK Events we create global event experiences for some of the world’s leaders in innovation and technology. With offices in Canada and the UK, we’re event producers, designers and execution experts who move fast, just as our clients do. We are laser-focused on bringing brands to life, creating connections and ROI from events. Our custom-designed virtual event platform has been wowing audiences worldwide, with increased engagement, networking and high production value – a visually rich and truly immersive experience. Combining our 30+ years of experience in Live Events, with our new “Virtual Venue” platform we are poised to be your one-stop, integrated solution for hybrid, in-person, and virtual events. 
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bb Blanc

Creating Event Magic” is bb Blanc’s guiding philosophy. Founded in 2008, bb Blanc is a Canadian-owned and operated live event company supplying award-winning audiovisual/staging production and live entertainment to both the corporate and social event markets. Whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid, bb Blanc is committed to showcasing a clients’ vision with a personal touch. 
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OneWest Event Design

Settings change, technologies evolve, and zeitgeists shift, but If there’s an experience to be imagined, shaped, and realized, OneWest is there. Through partnership and collaboration and with the community always at the heart, OneWest designs and produces innovative live, virtual, and hybrid events. OneWest has collaborated as an event partner with many of Canada’s flagship corporations, impactful non-profit organizations, and world-renowned shows, building a reputation as both creative risk-takers and safety and production aces. For over a decade and on hundreds of projects across Canada, OneWest has used design to transform spaces into something entirely new, a concept to transport guests somewhere they never imagined and will never forget, and foresight and planning to pull it all off behind the scenes. From the grand concept to the smallest detail, OneWest puts both head and heart into realizing the vision, ultimately driven by a belief in the power of community, connections, and bringing people together.  
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Experience Factory

Experience Factory is an innovative, flexible, and purposefully built hybrid event space and turnkey broadcasting studio that brings the power of exceptional experience to virtual and hybrid events and content creation. The 7,000 square-foot dedicated space was built by and for event professionals and designed to exceed expectations. A joint venture led by Dustin Westling of OneWest Events and Pierre Marleau of Orange Frog Productions, Experience Factory bridges the gap for safe, agile, and professional experiences while leading the way to the expanding possibilities and changing expectations for the future of live events. Thanks to uncompromised safety merged with uncompromised experience, Experience Factory has opened new possibilities for meetings, conferences, summits, non-profit events, corporate events, and content creation. 
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Orange Frog Productions

Much like first impressions are made within seconds, an event should aim to welcome, charm and dazzle guests the moment they walk in. Here at Orange Frog Productions Inc., we specialize in turning ambitious concepts into reality to create the most memorable events. We pride ourselves on drawing from decades of event experience and knowing exactly how to transform a room using lighting, chandeliers, drapery, decor and various state-of-the-art technologies to make any event stand out. We work with trusted partners all across North America to deliver flawless events from rock concerts, corporate events, weddings, spectacular outdoor gatherings and everything in between.  At Orange Frog Productions, our goal is to always exceed our clients’ expectations by creating the unexpected so that the first impression is a long-lasting one for all the right reasons.
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ProShow Audio Visual

Proshow is a Western Canadian-owned and operated company with extensive experience providing technical services for meetings, conferences, fundraisers, media announcements, awards galas and broadcast events. 

Since our inception in 1991, Proshow has constantly been adapting and innovating to meet the needs of our clients.  Over the years, we’ve gained an outstanding reputation in Canada for our ability to provide an integrated solution for the technical staging of a wide array of events.  Our philosophy is straightforward – anything short of perfection is unacceptable; this philosophy has earned us the reputation of being second to none in customer service and presentation excellence. 
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Event Imaging

Event Imaging is a mobile, instant, one-stop service centre for all of your photographic, video and live streaming studio requirements. Event Imaging has been reinventing the way events throughout Canada are captured for over thirty years. Whether live or virtual, our unparalleled customer service and attention to detail are what allows us to offer the best and most unique services to our customers. Our core business provides high-quality candid photography, on-site branded printing, digital activations in addition to live and virtual entertainment for both corporate and private functions. Event Imaging’s state-of-the-art digital products and services are recognized throughout the event industry for outstanding quality and ingenuity. Event Imaging takes pride in satisfying its client’s desires by providing unforgettable experiences with a dedication to excellence that defines their first-class reputation. 
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e=mc² events

Since 2001, e=mc2 events has delivered world-class live, virtual and hybrid experience services to corporate, business improvement organizations, non-profit, and social organizations in over 40 Canadian and global locations, including the International Space Station. All events, regardless of their scope or size, receive the same high standards of quality, creative innovation, seamless service, and financial transparency. We
aim to exceed expectations by understanding the purpose, turning your vision into reality and, respecting your time, energy and budget. This is how we’ve grown to be one of the leading event management and production companies with a team of passionate full-time people. We are experts in the industry, and we invest in inspiration, education and professional development to ensure cutting-edge creativity and a thriving
culture. We will give you our best ideas, our best people, our best effort. Always. 
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MG Group

As founders of The Magen Group and lifelong entrepreneurs, twin brothers Jian and Page Magen are Toronto’s event production leaders. Beginning as a high school-era passion project, their company has blossomed into a full-service entertainment powerhouse employing over 100 exceptional team members. While planning and executing thousands of large-scale corporate and private events over the past two decades, the Magen’s have broadened their business portfolio, remaining closely involved in each venture they take on. Jian and Page own event venues, a music agency, digital activation businesses and much more. The ever-enthusiastic brothers have also expanded into film production, video game development and Esports, channelling their young-at-heart mindset into a vast media dynasty. Most vital to the Magen’s is their tireless commitment to humanitarian causes, which has led to the annual Grads Go Global event benefiting a Tanzanian orphanage the brothers were instrumental in building. No matter the task at hand, Jian and Page’s belief in hard work, integrity, and bringing people together has cemented The Magen Group as the first-class presence in Canada’s entertainment community. 
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Lynn Fletcher Weddings

LFW loves every kind of love, and when they produce weddings, that is top of mind. From a variety of different backgrounds, their team all found themselves together, dedicating their passions to all things wedding. Nothing brings more joy than to help couples have their wedding THEIR way, breathing life into their wedding vision! At Lynn Fletcher Weddings Inc., love is relaxed, it is kind and generous, it is joyful and celebratory, and it is pretty darn exciting! For all of life’s celebrations in Calgary and the Rockies, LFW is the team to call. 
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Carol Priest Entertainment

CPE’s customer service and unparalleled database of talent are what you need in today’s event climate. With three decades of repeat customers counting on us more than ever, we continue to focus on the exceptional.  Don’t you find that entertainment experiences are more complex than ever before?  As we merge into the fast lane of hybrid, live and virtual entertainment offerings, choose CPE. We bring experience, trust, reliability, diversity of scope, and stress-free execution to your team. Whether your vision is exact and aligned with serious objectives or a dream that requires creation, we are the experts to help you reach those goals. Always hands-on collaboration from beginning to end and entirely “in-sync” with your agenda, concepts, budget, and logistics.
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The Idea Hunter

Your Go-To source for corporate entertainment and event management ideas. Whether you are looking for an à la carte entertainment menu to choose from or full event management services, you have come to the right place. Think of us as your idea google search engine – No request is too small for our team of huntresses. We have been providing our clients with the best quality entertainment, activations and interactive experiences for the past 17 years. We have everything from cocktail hour bands and roaming entertainers to magnificent stage performances and virtual activities. If we don’t have it, we will find it!
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BTown Sound

B Town Sound is an award-winning Recording | Rehearsal | Event Facility in Burlington, Ontario. From Rock and Country to Hip Hop, we’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the best names in the industry and have been doing so for the last nine years. We offer a professional and relaxed atmosphere to provide artists with a comfortable and creative recording experience.The building was originally established in 1988 as The Music Gym and was a mainstay as a rehearsal and recording studio for Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton bands. In 2006 the building underwent a complete renovation to establish it as a professional music production facility in the area and to continue the legacy of producing great local talent. In 2008 B Town Sound was named Recording Studio of the Year at the Hamilton Music Awards in only its first year of operation.
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A2D2 Aerial Dance Cirque Company

A2D2 – Aerial Dance Cirque Co., has been serving the event industry since 2008. Over time, A2D2 has grown from offering a handful of “sister acts” (including hoop, double hoop, and dance routines) into a robust entertainment service with several resident professional performers and an additional 35 artists on the company’s roster. Acts range from aerial silks, aerial hoop, static trapeze, hand-balancing, contortion, acrobats, characters, dancers to name just a few! In 2010, A2D2 established and purchased a facility for Cirque Centre, essentially, headquarters for the company rehearsals. Because of a demand for circus arts training in the City of Mississauga, the ladies decided to run a few classes out of the studio just to satisfy the requests. Not long after, the classes expanded beyond hoop and silks to include a variety of cirque disciplines alongside an intensive training program designed for students who wanted to train at a higher level and eventually compete provincially.
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Brand Alive

Unlock human culture by harnessing the power of strategic events with the team at Brand Alive. Founded by Alberta-based business leader and event pro Lisa Marks, Brand Alive is a micro business that blends full-stack agency capabilities with a lean and agile company structure, leveraging a tenured collective of event professionals and partners to bring client projects to life. Learn more about strategic and purposeful events at brandalive.ca.
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Deuce Vodka

Matt Doucette sent me a DM on Instagram in January, 2020, and said something like, “Hey, I have a vodka company, and I’d like to sponsor you!”  

When I replied back, I invited Matt to Moose Jaw, where we had a meeting backstage at a Brad Paisley concert (I was a surprise special guest that night).  In the dressing room, I tried the vodka, and was honestly shocked — because it was so smooth, and had a little hint of sweetness to it.

I told Matt, “Look… most vodkas are so harsh.  They burn.  They’re tough.  How did you make it so smooth?”  

He replied, “Let’s partner.  And I’ll tell you everything.”

Within a few short months, we formed a new company – Deuce Vodka Corp., strategized a Canada-wide launch, rebranded the logo, and here we are – with an extraordinary vodka and an extraordinary story!

–Brett Kissel
Owner – Deuce Vodka

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Production Canada

Production Canada is an award-winning company that helps clients manifest their event vision into experiences with impact. As the only company to blend set construction, full-service event production, and a celebrated approach to client service, Production Canada is expertly positioned to build strong, lasting relationships with its customers across Canada.
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CanSPEP

The Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners (CanSPEP) is a dynamic, diverse and innovative society of entrepreneurs with a leading national voice in the event industry. We are the ONLY association in Canada that offers membership exclusively to the entrepreneurial event professional, and their team. CanSPEP was formed in 1996, providing members with forums to exchange ideas, develop skills and create awareness around the profession of event planning. Our membership represents a diverse group of experienced business professionals that cater to clients in the corporate, association, government and not-for-profit sectors, as well as the special events market. 
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ILEA Canada

Be inspired and motivated by new, fresh ideas. Meet event professionals from around the world, and from your own backyard who share your passion for excellence. ILEA – the International Live Events Association is the global association for event industry professionals that is focused on promoting creativity, inspiration, teamwork, education and relationships within its membership.

Members of local Canadian Chapters are connected to thousands of cities and professionals around the globe, creating a network of partnerships and knowledge as our live event industry continues to grow and evolve.  The creativity within our global membership helps to promote and inspire our members and invite collaborations that will benefit the individual, company, city, and worldwide association.

Become a member of ILEA Canada to get the best of ILEA industry networking, receive educational opportunities and build relationships with live event professionals that will help expand your own professional career.
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PCMA Canada West

The Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners (CanSPEP) is a dynamic, diverse and innovative society of entrepreneurs with a leading national voice in the event industry. We are the ONLY association in Canada that offers membership exclusively to the entrepreneurial event professional, and their team. CanSPEP was formed in 1996, providing members with forums to exchange ideas, develop skills and create awareness around the profession of event planning. Our membership represents a diverse group of experienced business professionals that cater to clients in the corporate, association, government and not-for-profit sectors, as well as the special events market. 
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Jenn Beaupre

Whether you’re looking for a fabulously luxe cocktail performance with Jenn at the piano, a curated pop of high-energy vocal entertainment to wow your guests, or a full-on concert, Jenn is sure to dazzle. This Canadian Idol alum has collaborated with award-winning musicians, beatboxers, Cirque du Soleil talent, brilliant graphic specialists, and beyond to captivate audiences throughout North America. Jenn is also a sought-after voice coach and masterclass facilitator. She enjoys hosting both online and in-person events. You can find Jenn’s original music on Spotify/Apple/etc. under her artist moniker, Rozette.
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New Moon Junction

If you’re craving relief from the uncertainty of troubled times, New Moon Junction has just what you need. With their debut single, ‘Real Good, Feel Good Kind of Thing’ the Ontario-based country trio of Barb Doran, Tamara Maddalen, and Matt Rogers celebrate the moments that make life worth living and encourage their listeners to do the same. Recorded with Multi-platinum selling producer Jeff Dalziel (Brett Kissel, Jim Cuddy, Lights) ‘Real Good, Feel Good Kind of Thing is a rarity – a seamless blend of new and old school country that will make you feel that much better with each successive listen. 
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Olga Pankova

Innovative live art performances dedicated to your brand while inspiring & connecting people. Olga has been painting since the dawn of time! Her spirited, vibrant and energetic art hangs in private collections around the world. In addition to her traditional visual art and exhibitions,  Olga’s career highlights include being the 2017 Entertainer of the Year, the 2016 Queen’s Plate Official Artist, the 2014 Canadian-Russian Artist of the Year and has performed her signature live VR Art Show in Europe. A Russian National, born in the USSR, Olga developed and honed her melodious style from studies in art and design.  Olga graduated from The Republican Art Collage “P.Benkova” as an Artist-Designer from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Now living in Markham, Olga is available to design your next unique live art performance! 
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Concept Catering

Concept Catering YYC was created by conversation…. We believe in a fresh sensory approach that builds upon the concept of your event experience.

Our Core Values: Technique, Play, Education & the ‘Why Not?’ Boundaries inspire us to find creative solutions that transcend expectations. 

This is why we do what we do.  From start to finish, we are committed to giving you the ultimate experience in cuisine, service and artistry. 

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Modern Rentals

MODERN LUXE RENTALS Founded in the fall of 2017, Modern Luxe Rentals was established with the intent to offer the Alberta market with a curated selection of furniture, bars, event décor and tabletop accessories that inspire creativity and elevate design. The Modern Luxe inventory is a hand-chosen selection of items that are unique, timeless and on-trend.

GREAT EVENTS RENTALS Since 2000, Great Events Rentals has been serving the Calgary market with affordable products and reliable service. From glassware to tenting and everything in between, Great Events Rentals has every component needed for any type of event.

TOGETHER We offer one of the most extensive inventory selections in the country. Available to planners, designers, and individual customers alike, we invite you to tour our collection. Now under common ownership, we are called MODERN RENTALS INC..
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DJ ChargedUp

Joel, aka DJ ChargedUp, has been making mixtapes since they were actually on tape. Over the years, this spinning hobby has turned into a side hustle as an independent DJ. When he’s not CEO’ing behind a desk, you’ll find him mixing behind the decks. Combining the breadth and depth of his music appreciation with his industry knowledge of events gives you an unforgettable experience. Joel joined the Pez Productions team in 2020.

DJ ChargedUp has a simple formula for success: keep it simple, keep it fresh. Feel the crowd’s energy and connect the emotions to the tracks that will take the energy to the next level. He combines smooth mixing across a variety of genres and has a powerful party presence… As long as the crowds keep bumping, he will keep spinning. 

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