After considerable deliberation, the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (CCSBE) board and the conference chair are announcing the cancellation of the 2023 CCBSE Conference scheduled for October 25-27.
Dr. Mary Kilfoil, the Executive Director for CCSBE unexpectedly passed away on September 7, 2023. Mary was a key contributor to CCSBE and the backbone of the conference. For those of you that knew Mary, we extend our condolences, as we are all trying to deal with this loss.
We knew Mary would have wanted the conference to proceed if possible, so the CCSBE board and conference planning committee immediately started working on a remediation plan to engage additional resources. Unfortunately, the tragic loss of our dear friend and colleague also coincided with some significant technical challenges that precluded much of our efforts and ability to contact participants directly. Even with additional resources it recently became clear that the conference could not proceed as planned.
For those participants that submitted abstracts, papers, and session ideas this year, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience resulting from this cancellation. We know you have all worked hard on your submissions and looked forward to presenting your work, while getting feedback in a collegial setting. However, we hope that you understand these circumstances were beyond our control and rather than risk delivering a lower quality experience we decided to cancel the conference entirely, including the awards competition.
The University of Calgary has agreed to host the CCSBE Conference in 2024 and we are already planning for a spectacular conference that hopefully will include both in-person and virtual streams. Please stay tuned to your regular communication channels for announcements of the 2024 conference and the new call for submissions.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
CCSBE Board and Conference Chair
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Chad Saunders
Associate Professor
Haskayne School of Business, U. of Calgary
Calgary AB
(403) 220-6075
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