By Sally W.
The 6th annual edition of Elevate Festival took place October 1st – 3rd, 2024 in Toronto. Founded in 2017 as a Canadian non-profit organization. It is an intimate and accessible event for all attendees.
The opening night started with a few special start-up pitching presentations. Amber Mac was the animated MC for the 3 days. Lisa Zarzeczny, Co-Founder and CEO of Elevate proudly opened the festival on the evening of Monday, October 1st at Meridian Hall. She was joined by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow who spoke of the importance of Tech and new start-ups to our city. This was followed by other special guests including Astronaut Chris Hadfield. The ceremonies were an excellent start to the Elevate Festival which was buzzing with young talent and attendees anxious to connect with other like-minded colleagues. Olympic Gold Medalist Breakdancer performed. It was an inspiring opening to introduce us to the excitement of the next two days.
As in previous years, the workshops were held in both Meridian Hall on the main stage, in the lobby area, at a tented area to the west side, on the lower level and in the upper level. Each area had talks on transformative ideas bringing us up close and personal to top leaders in tech while we learned about career advancement and innovation. The second venue again this year was the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, also on Front Street in Toronto. A perfect venue with its 2 separate theatres for the festival stages, work spaces and areas to meet. The Braindate networking lounge was a very popular place with lots of networking and exchanges of ideas. The two venues are steps away from each other so it is the perfect set-up. In between were food trucks including a coffee truck for lunches and snacks. Many restaurants and coffee shops in the area as well. Everyone enjoyed the popcorn flavours offered by Google AI! The Black Innovation area was extremely busy with networking.
Stage topics included such as Cybersecurity, authors, athletes, Lisa Laflamme, Calgary singing duo Tegan and Sara who shared their experience of being hacked. They spoke on the main Festival stage and then gave a more personal talk in the Women in Tech area which included a limited number of complimentary copies of their new book. Topics included Cybersecurity, Finance, Mental Health, Lifestyle among others- the variety of talks included topics of interest for everyone – and lots of chance to learn about new topics of present importance.
Not only are there all the fascinating workshops and talks over the two days, but there are Happy Hour networking opportunities. One of several events took place at Bier Markt on the Esplanade. There were many students in tech there who were highly motivated to connect and meet others in the industry.
Elevate Festival, Canada’s fastest-growing tech and innovation festival, unites the community once again in Toronto from Sept 30-Oct 2, 2025. Network with your people, build your business and mark your calendars for 2025 in Toronto! Not to be missed!
“Elevate is an incredible place to not only be inspired, but to really leave with this desire to impact the world around you.”
Whitney Wolfe Herd
Founder & CEO of Bumble
@elevatetechca#elevatetechca @lisazarzeczny
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