Highlights from the Meating Place Conference in Muskoka: Revive and Thrive!

This past weekend, MPO held our bi-annual Meating Place Conference, which took place at the picturesque JW Marriott in Muskoka. The event drew a remarkable 170 attendees from various corners of the meat industry.

Throughout the conference, our members had the opportunity to participate in a multitude of  activities, including the TableTALK Tradeshow, which showcased the latest innovations and products in the industry. Educational sessions delved deep into crucial topics, while the Handtmann Reception provided a wonderful networking opportunity. Additionally, the Ontario’s Finest Butcher Competition and the Red-Carpet Gala added an extra layer of excitement, celebrating outstanding talent in our industry. (Some celebrities may have been spotted along the way, too.)

Against Muskoka’s backdrop, the conference provided valuable insights and left everyone motivated to shape the future of the meat industry.

Meet Our Speakers

Natalie Dumond, Leadership Coach

Passionate, a word used often when describing Natalie.

Whether she is helping you go after the life and dreams you were always meant to be living or showing organizations and leaders that there is a different way to lead, work and connect together, she brings enthusiasm, boldness, and kindness with her every time.

As a professional certified leadership coach, facilitator, and contributor to Brene Brown’s latest best-selling book, Dare to Lead™, Natalie focuses on two areas, leadership coaching, and workplace culture communication. Working in partnership with leaders and teams helping build their capacity for courage, candor, connection, accountability, vulnerability, and trust in the workplace.

Natalie has over 15 years of experience in human resources, organizational development, and employee and leadership coaching in the technology, manufacturing and fashion industries.

Along with coaching credentials through the Coaching Training Institute and the International Coaching Federation, she holds a BA (Hons) in Sociology, a degree in Human Resources Management, and a certification as a facilitator in Dare to Lead™.

Natalie also loves living in Muskoka on her hobby farm with her busy family, two dogs and 30 chickens.

Courageous Leadership – Where Leadership Headed and Why

Leaders are being called to lead in a brave new way to help build more courageous cultures and individuals. Organizations need cultures that cultivate innovation, take risks, and have honest and open conversations through trust and continued resiliency.

During this talk, participants will come to understand what courageous leadership is but how this type of leadership is not only high in demand but can be taught, measured, and observed.

This presentation will touch on progressive research from Dr. Bréné Brown and how to incorporate the new insights, tools, and confidence in participants’ experiences in all aspects of their lives.

This talk will share how the power vulnerability plays an impactful role in leadership, what it looks like when done well, and how it strengthens teams and builds greater connection.

This talk will also dig into self awareness and how the stories we tell ourselves shapes our reality and relationships in the workplace.

Participants will walk away more curious about how they show up in the workplace as leaders and how they can start to cultivate stronger relationships through vulnerability and self awareness.

Keynote Speaker: Ken Wong

Ken Wong is the Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. In addition to his academic responsibilities, Ken frequently appears in the media as a commentator on business and marketing strategy and has addressed audiences around the world on how to respond to the pressures on profitability created by consumers, competitors and the economy at large. Ken has an extensive list of consulting clients from the private and public sector and sits on a number of Boards of Advice and Directorships. He is a past winner of the Financial Post’s Leader in Management Education and an inductee in the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends

Revive & Thrive

Ken last addressed our group in 2018, just as Covid was beginning. While almost every aspect of personal and professional life were altered during the pandemic’s outbreak, certain of these changes now seem a part of the “new normal”. Unfortunately, many of those changes have led to a period of high inflation and thereby encouraged an obsession with cost-reduction.  In this talk Ken will identify the major vulnerabilities of that approach and suggests some alternative ways we can “reduce cost without destroying quality in the process.

Speaker: Hussam Malek , P.Eng, M.Eng, MBA
Partner MNP

Hussam Malek, P.Eng, PMP, M.Eng, MBA, is a Partner with MNP in Mississauga and leads the firm’s Operations, Performance Improvement team within Consulting.

Hussam provides customized practical solutions to his clients, helping them implement management systems that position their businesses for transformation, growth and profitability. Hussam helps organizations improve their top and bottom lines, working with clients to establish a management system that allows operations to run more efficiently, effectively and independently.

Hussam has extensive experience in manufacturing, and in operational transformation, performance improvement, business optimization, automation and business management systems. His cross-industry expertise includes food, consumer goods, automotive, medical technology, robotics and automation.

Hussam is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) and a Project Management Professional (PMP). He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in mechanical engineering from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in leadership and strategic management from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. Hussam mentors youth from marginalized communities helping them prepare for career and financial success.

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