BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ChamberMaster//Event Calendar 2.0//EN METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:P3D REFRESH-INTERVAL:P3D CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20260522T113000Z DTEND:20260522T190000Z X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:FALSE SUMMARY:Workshop: Crisis Management: Recession-Proofing Your Business\, amplified by AI DESCRIPTION:PLEASE NOTE: This training has eligibility requirements for participation listed below - please read carefully\n\n\n\n\nJoin us as Symplicity Designs delivers an intensive\, one-day masterclass that equips business leaders with a proven playbook to survive\, stabilize\, and ultimately thrive during economic downturns. Drawing on the same frameworks we used with more than 400 organizations in crisis\, now amplified by AI tools that compress weeks of analysis into hours\, the session moves quickly from insight to action\, arming participants with the tools to safeguard cash\, protect customers\, and seize opportunity\, even when the market contracts.\n\n \n\n\n\nWhat Will Be Covered\n\n Setting the Stage: Adopt the Safety-Liquidity-Creativity mindset and align leadership on a clear purpose. Understand how AI reshapes what's possible when speed and clarity matter most.\n\n Forecast: Build weekly rolling forecasts for Customers\, Cash\, and Constraints to see trouble before it strikes. Learn how AI-powered scenario modeling lets you stress-test multiple futures in the time it used to take to build a single forecast\, so decisions are grounded in data\, not gut feel.\n\n Plan: Use the Triple C framework (Cut\, Control\, Continuously Improve) to unlock working capital and fund smart bets. See how AI surfaces hidden cost anomalies\, identifies where cash is trapped\, slow-paying customers\, stagnant inventory\, process bottlenecks\, and prioritizes improvements by dollar impact so you act on what moves the needle first.\n\n Execute: Establish a consistent meeting rhythm with brief daily check-ins and weekly reviews to keep teams aligned and informed. Discover how AI auto-generates meeting briefs from live dashboards\, tracks action items\, and flags slipping commitments before your next review\, turning good intentions into consistent follow-through.\n\n \n\nParticipant Takeaways:\n\n A customizable 30-day recession-response plan ready to deploy the next morning.\n\n A cash-flow dashboard template that pinpoints burn rate and credit headroom in minutes.\n\n A catalogue of low-cost\, high-impact improvement ideas proven to release trapped cash during past crises\, prioritized by AI analysis for your specific operation.\n\n Meeting scripts and agendas to install a high-velocity communication rhythm that keeps teams focused when\n\nit matters most.\n\n Access to our digital toolkit\, worksheets\, calculators\, to reinforce learning long after\n\nthe session ends.\n\n \n\nSymplicity's crisis work has helped owners unlock multi-million-dollar exits and scale revenue 4 in turbulent times.\n \n\n\nMEET YOUR FACILITATOR\n\nMatt Symes\, CEO & Founding Partner\n\nSymplicity Designs\n\nMatt Symes is the CEO and founding partner of Symplicity Designs. He has guided 600+ private and public-sector organizations through strategic transformation\, unlocking over $1B in profitable growth and helping Symplicity earn and sustain B-Corp certification with impact that places the firm among the global top decile for the triple bottom line. As a serial company builder\, he has started\, acquired\, and scaled a diversified portfolio from a specialty coffee roastery to professional services giving him credibility that most consultants can only reference.\n\n\n\nHe is the AI Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UNB's Technology Management & Entrepreneurship (TME) program\, a transformation strategist\, and an AI-first organizational architect. Matt's point of view is direct: AI is no longer an IT project\; it's a management discipline. Since 2023\, he and the Symplicity team have introduced practical AI to more than 300 organizational leaders. Their deeper deployments have produced millions of dollars in unlocked productivity and capacity by redesigning workflows\, compressing cycle times\, and instrumenting decisions with data. His playbook blends leadership behaviors\, change mechanics\, and hands-on systems integration so teams can ship value on Monday not someday. \n\n\n\nHis operating experience includes stepping in as COO to help scale a CPG firm from $20M to $155M in revenue\, doubling a global IT firm's revenue in less than three years\, and has supported systemic performance improvements in education and healthcare. His grandfather was a roofer who started a roofing company and his heart lies with helping small business owners. That breadth informs how he mentors founders and executives: align on a compelling future\, make the few hard choices that matter\, and build an environment where execution becomes routine.\n\n\n\nAn award-winning CEO and award-winning educator\, Matt was named Business Leader of the Year by the Halifax Chamber in 2021 for his role in helping the region navigate the Covid-19 pandemic and he has been recognized four times as Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOs (2022 2025). Through keynotes\, workshops\, and his 12-month Levership cohort\, he distills what works in the field into pragmatic tools leaders can use immediately to scale without sacrificing their desired lifestyle. Offstage\, you'll find him enjoying his own espresso\, logging miles as he works toward seven marathons on seven continents\, and living a life of intention and adventure with his partner Emily and their two young daughters. Matt's a business builder\, a curious human\, and proud girl dad committed to showing up with purpose (and not just talking about it).\n \n\n\nELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES\n\nAs per the guidelines for LSI funding\, there is eligibility criteria for participants. **\n\nA business is eligible to participate if it:\n\n\n is located in Nova Scotia\n is registered and active in the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies or incorporated by an Act of the Nova Scotia Legislature\n has a direct workforce development need (like upskilling employees\, adopting new technologies or addressing critical skills gaps within their industry) X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

PLEASE NOTE: This training has eligibility requirements for participation listed below - please read carefully

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Join us as Symplicity Designs delivers an intensive\, one-day masterclass that equips business leaders with a proven playbook to survive\, stabilize\, and ultimately thrive during economic downturns. Drawing on the same frameworks we used with more than 400 organizations in crisis\, now amplified by AI tools that compress weeks of analysis into hours\, the session moves quickly from insight to action\, arming participants with the tools to safeguard cash\, protect customers\, and seize opportunity\, even when the market contracts.
\n\n
 \;
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\nWhat Will Be \;Covered
\n▪\; \;Setting the Stage: Adopt the Safety-Liquidity-Creativity mindset and align leadership on a clear purpose. Understand how AI reshapes what'\;s possible when speed and clarity matter most.
\n▪\; \;Forecast: Build weekly rolling forecasts for Customers\, Cash\, and Constraints to see trouble before it strikes. Learn how AI-powered scenario modeling lets you stress-test multiple futures in the time it used to take to build a single forecast\, so decisions are grounded in data\, not gut feel.
\n▪\; \;Plan: Use the Triple C framework (Cut\, Control\, Continuously Improve) to unlock working capital and fund smart bets. See how AI surfaces hidden cost anomalies\, identifies where cash is trapped\, slow-paying customers\, stagnant inventory\, process bottlenecks\, and prioritizes improvements by dollar impact so you act on what moves the needle first.
\n▪\; \;Execute: Establish a consistent meeting rhythm with brief daily check-ins and weekly reviews to keep teams aligned and informed. Discover how AI auto-generates meeting briefs from live dashboards\, tracks action items\, and flags slipping commitments before your next review\, turning good intentions into consistent follow-through.
\n \;
\nParticipant Takeaways:
\n▪\; \;A customizable 30-day recession-response plan ready to deploy the next morning.
\n▪\; \;A cash-flow dashboard template that pinpoints burn rate and credit headroom in minutes.
\n▪\; \;A catalogue of low-cost\, high-impact improvement ideas proven to release trapped cash during past crises\, prioritized by AI analysis for your specific operation.
\n▪\; \;Meeting scripts and agendas to install a high-velocity communication rhythm that keeps teams focused when
\nit matters most.
\n▪\; \;Access to our digital toolkit\, worksheets\, calculators\, to reinforce learning long after
\nthe session ends.
\n \;
\nSymplicity&rsquo\;s crisis work has helped owners unlock multi-million-dollar exits and scale revenue 4×\; in turbulent times.
\n \;\n\n
\n

MEET YOUR FACILITATOR

\n\n
Matt Symes\, CEO &\; \;Founding Partner
\nSymplicity Designs
\nMatt Symes is the CEO and founding partner of Symplicity Designs. He has guided 600+ private and public-sector organizations through strategic transformation\, unlocking over $1B in profitable growth and helping Symplicity earn and sustain B-Corp certification&mdash\;with impact \;that places the firm among the global top decile for the triple bottom line. As a serial \;company builder\, he has started\, acquired\, and scaled a diversified portfolio&mdash\;from a specialty coffee roastery to professional services&mdash\;giving him credibility that most consultants can only \;reference.
\n
\nHe is the AI Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UNB&rsquo\;s Technology Management &\; Entrepreneurship \;(TME) program\, a transformation strategist\, and an AI-first organizational architect. \;Matt&rsquo\;s point of view is direct: AI is no longer an IT project\; it&rsquo\;s a management discipline. \;Since 2023\, he and the Symplicity team have introduced practical AI to more than 300 \;organizational leaders. Their deeper deployments have produced millions of dollars in \;unlocked productivity and capacity by redesigning workflows\, compressing cycle times\, and \;instrumenting decisions with data. His playbook blends leadership behaviors\, change \;mechanics\, and hands-on systems integration so teams can ship value on Monday&mdash\;not \;someday. \;
\n
\nHis operating experience includes stepping in as COO to help scale a CPG firm from $20M to \;$155M in revenue\, doubling a global IT firm&rsquo\;s revenue in less than three years\, and has \;supported systemic performance improvements in education and healthcare. His grandfather \;was a roofer who started a roofing company and his heart lies with helping small business \;owners. That breadth informs how he mentors founders and executives: align on a \;compelling future\, make the few hard choices that matter\, and build an environment where \;execution becomes routine.
\n
\nAn award-winning CEO and award-winning educator\, Matt was named Business Leader of the \;Year by the Halifax Chamber in 2021 for his role in helping the region navigate the Covid-19 \;pandemic and he has been recognized four times as Atlantic Canada&rsquo\;s Top 50 CEOs \;(2022&ndash\;2025). Through keynotes\, workshops\, and his 12-month Levership&trade\; cohort\, he distills \;what works in the field into pragmatic tools leaders can use immediately to scale&mdash\;without \;sacrificing their desired lifestyle. \;Offstage\, you&rsquo\;ll find him enjoying his own espresso\, logging miles as he works toward seven \;marathons on seven continents\, and living a life of intention and adventure with his partner \;Emily and their two young daughters. Matt&rsquo\;s a business builder\, a curious human\, and proud \;girl dad&mdash\;committed to showing up with purpose (and not just talking about it).
\n \;\n\n
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ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES

\n\n

As per the guidelines for LSI funding\, there is \;eligibility criteria \;for participants. **
\nA business is eligible to participate if it:

\n\n\n LOCATION:Halifax Chamber of Commerce Lighthouse Boardroom 32 Akerley Blvd Dartmouth\, NS UID:e.2481.4401 SEQUENCE:3 DTSTAMP:20260502T073459Z URL:http://business.halifaxchamber.com/events/details/workshop-crisis-management-recession-proofing-your-business-amplified-by-ai-05-22-2026-4401 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR