- Dipanshu Grover, Hridya Chaudhary
“Dream Big”, Ikdeep Singh @ Leader’s Edge Conference
Cape Breton University hosts Leader’s Edge Conference for the first time ever, to provide an entrepreneurial spirit to the students and community members.
To help build connections, the event started with a networking reception on the evening of November 22, 2019. The attendees were provided with a welcome kit, which included professional personalized business cards.

Photo Credits – Parteek Brar
President David Dingwall addressed everyone the next. He emphasised the importance of learning through credential experiences and life stories of a panel of motivational speakers. He also emphasised on our University’s motto, “PERSEVERANCE WILL TRIUMPH”.
Have you ever come across crazy energetic people, who always look like they are on 3 cans of energy drinks? One such person, Cameron Hughes, public speaker and a renowned sports entertainer, entered the theatre with blasting music and proceeded to do what he does best, hyping up the crowd!

Photo Credits – https://www.instagram.com/cameroncheers/
While motivating the crowd about having a positive outlook on life, being open to opportunities, he mentioned, ” The moment in life when you wake up and go for it, is the most scary whilst being the most incredible moment of your life”.

Photo Credits – Parteek Brar
It has been always said that hard work is the key to success; Ikdeep Singh, personification of a perfect immigrants story, was the next in line. He was triumphant in inspiring everyone with his life journey, jam-packed with struggles and successes alike. He is a CBU Alumini, and as a result, is very passionate about the community here. He encouraged everyone to get out of their comfort zones and push themselves to work hard. Some themes that underlined his talk were about resilience, courage, and hard work. Singh, having succeeded in GMAT after attempting it 5 times and being accepted into Harvard after applying 3 times, is the epitome of an average student. Singh mentioned, ‘he compensated with heaps of hard work for never being the smartest kid at school’.

Apart from the keynote speakers, Hannah Graham, Yves Boudreau, Alexander Zorychta were some of the highlighted speakers at the conference.
Boudreau’s speech involved a few tips and tricks for ‘perfecting one’s digital profile’. Encompassing his power point with a few memes, he was sure to get a few laughs from the audience.
Zorychta dealt with the amalgamation of personal connections with business in a very innovative manner. In a highly interactive session, he made listeners duplicate a pyschological experiment, which made sure that you left with a new found “best friend” from the event.

Additionally, each participant received a complimentary ticket to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles game after conclusion of the event; where everyone painted the stadium orange with Cameron Hughes.