By Sally Warburton
Elevate attendees were greeted with a big surprise on September 22nd in Toronto! The Elevate Festival has been around since its inauguration in 2017. On Opening Night, Co-Founder and CEO Lisa Zarzeczny announced the rebranding of Elevate to NRTH Festival. NRTH will expand its focus on year-round business growth and technical direction. Attendees accreditation badges had been given out without Elevate written. So NRTH stickers were handed out to everyone upon exiting the venue. Very unique!
Joining the line up of guests for the opening evening this year was Kyle Lowry Toronto Raptors legend and six-time NBA All-Star. Kyle Lowry (North Twenty Ventures) was in the house! Kyle spoke about his career, connection to Toronto, and how to cultivate a winner’s mindset. Kyle Lowry spoke at opening night of the NRTH (Elevate) Festival to discuss his transition from NBA champion to tech investor and CEO of North Twenty Ventures. In addition to Kyle Lowry, Cohere and Reddit leaders and more headlined the NRTH Festival 2026.The event was filled with brilliant, creative minds! Over the past decade, Elevate’s stage has welcomed some of the world’s most influential leaders, founders and thinkers, including Michelle Obama, Harley Finkelstein, Sam Altman, Venus Williams and Geoffrey Hinton. Check out @NRTH for more of this year’s speakers
What is NRTH? It is described as “More than a Festival. Stay Ahead and stay connected”. Workshops, speakers, keynote speakers, discussions, table talks with like-minded others. Three days of ideas, conversations and connections. designed to move you forward — whether you’re looking for your next customer, partner, investment, insight or opportunity.
“The stakes only continue to get higher, which is why conversations around AI and sovereignty are at the forefront of this year’s programming.” This year’s theme was definitely AI. Who attends? Startups with their pitches, Tech customers, partners, investors, those who share their insight and opportunities. Everyone is willing to help and share their knowledge and contact info.
The use of space on the lower level of Meridian Hall was excellent. The big area was divided into some retail booths, huge round tables for group discussions, an seated area with each attendee wearing headphones to listen to the speakers on stage – so clear, so well done. And such a comfortable setting.
The speaker sessions were held at Meridian Hall and St. Lawrence Centre – buildings just steps from each other. At Meridian Hall in the main ‘concert’ hall and the Trail Blazer Lounge & Patio (enjoyed immensely with gorgeous sunshine!) in the lower levels with an open area and smaller rooms for group meetings. Booths in the front foyer represented businesses, sponsors such as TD, Tangerine Business, DELL, Zafin AIOS, University of Toronto, City of Toronto, MaRS, 11ElevenLabs and others. Wednesday cuteness reigned with the Puppies from Puppy Yoga. Attendees could sign up to have a comforting and calming puppy cuddle (not Yoga at this time)
Also held at St Lawrence Centre for the Arts in the Jane Mallett theatre and Bluma Appel Theatre. So conveniently located in Toronto near TTC subways and buses and Union Station GO Trains and subways. Perfect sunny weather allowed for walking, spending breaks and meeting outdoors. A variety of trucks offered different food options in addition to nearby restaurants. For those attending related events, they were already downtown and on transit lines. Easy to get around.
NRTH App included map, schedule, creating your own schedule. Easy to access and extremely essential in organizing time at NRTH.
As with any big conference, Volunteers played a big part in helping the event flow. They were amazingly helpful with their big smiles – and they changed t-shirts from Elevate to NRTH after the Opening Night rebranding Announcement!
The Elevator Pitch Competition winner was MORO TECHNOLOGIES INC. $50K was the big prize! Congratulations to them!
The first festival of NRTH was just as exciting as other years of the Elevate Festival. The buzz of people connecting, making deals, learning all about new technologies and ways of running businesses was all there. Speakers were amazing and very motivating! It was another wonderful tech conference with much to look forward to over the year before the next NRTH Festival in Toronto in 2027! Stay connected on what’s happening at NRTH. Sign up for NRTH Signal for the latest programs, events, news, announcements etc. nrth.ca
