KORE Outdoors Speaker Series
Free online webinars that can help level-up your business
The KORE Outdoors Speaker Series is a free webinar featuring compelling talks from experts across the global outdoor gear industry. Once a month, KORE hosts a different speaker to share engaging stories, practical insights, and innovative ideas. Wherever you are in your career, this webinar offers a unique professional development opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in gear manufacturing and design.
Recordings of recent Speaker Series presentations can be found on KORE’s YouTube channel and summary articles can be found in the Blog section of this website. Follow KORE’s social channels for more info about the KORE Outdoors Podcast.
Adam Ketcheson on the Future of Outdoor Retail
Outdoor industry veteran Adam Ketcheson has worked with some of the biggest brands in the business including The North Face, Patagonia, MEC, and Salomon. In this Speaker Series, he shared his insights on navigating the rapidly evolving outdoor retail sector and outlined five key macro trends that are reshaping the world’s markets. He detailed the challenges ahead, as well as the opportunities, emphasizing the need for adaptability and forward-thinking strategies. Specific details and a video recording of his webinar can be found in our summary article.
How The Circular Economy Can Help Your Business
At the recent KORE online Speaker Series, Gavin Fernie-Jones & Heather Davies of Re-Action Collective, based in the United Kingdom, discussed how organizations and businesses around the world can make positive environmental and social impacts while also making money. The main points from their presentation can be found in our summary article along with a video recording of the webinar.
How To Triple Your Sales Using Social Media Advertising
Ricky Lee Jones is a Canmore, AB-based professional who has worked with a variety of brands and who has launched his own company called North45, which manufacturers merino wool headwear and face masks with anti-fog capabilities. In his Speaker Series presentation he talked about the importance of identifying a clear target audience, creating effective ad content, and strategically increasing budgets to scale small- and mid-size companies. The Five other key points he made during his presentation are summarized in our article here.
How to Protect Your Intellectual Property
Pablo Tseng is a partner with Vancouver, BC-based McMillan LLC and an expert at intellectual property law. In his hour-long Speaker Series presentation he discussed how BC business people can utilize government programs to save their ideas from theft. The three key points from his webinar are shared in our summary article where you can also find a video recording of the presentation.
How to Incorporate AI Into Your Business Right Now
“AI is like having an Einstein in your pocket,” says Brett Price. He’s a founder of the AIQ Group in Vancouver, British Columbia as well as the owner of a custom cycling apparel company called Kazoom. In his Speaker Series presentation, he shared five ways small-to-medium-sized businesses in the outdoor gear sector can put AI to work right now. Read the key points of his presentation in our summary article here.
4 Secrets To Supercharge Your Success
Not only does James Friedrich manage a consultancy that helps early-stage entrepreneurs grow their businesses, he’s also a product designer and engineer and a senior merchant with MEC who manages a $60 million product portfolio that includes The North Face, Arcteryx and Patagonia. Those are his successes. He also launched a snowboard company in 2007 that was a failure. All his experiences convinced him to help others so they can successfully get their products to market and avoid the pain that he had endured. In this Speaker Series, he shares what he’s learned throughout his career and how to apply the lessons to your own business.
A Portable Rope Tow For The Backcountry?
Zoa Engineering is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and at it’s founder Robert Button shared the story of his new invention that could change the backcountry at a recent Speaker Series event. He discussed the process and technology behind what he’s calling the Zoa PL1 personal backcountry electric rope tow, from concept to beta testing to product release and he also shared what he learned about the Kickstarter process. Read our summary article about his presentation here.
Is MADE Custom Apparel the Future of Outdoor Clothing?
At the recent KORE speaker series, Capri Philip and Dustin Butcher, the co-founders of MADE Custom Apparel, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, shared the story of their new startup and how it’s set to reinvent the outdoor clothing market. Our summary article describes their workflow, the technology they have in place to support the process, and how it’s completely changing the way gear manufacturers look at the apparel market.
How to Use Social Media to Become a Top Seller
This Speaker Series features Dan Durston, the founder and designer of Durston Gear in Golden, British Columbia. He shared his story of designing the world’s top-selling trekking pole tent and his grassroots methodology that got him there. In our summary article about Dan’s presentation we share his four key strategies to free marketing.
4 Things I Learned Creating a Successful Craft Gear Business
Greg Hardy, founder and owner of Rockgeist in Asheville, NC, gave a Speaker Series presentation about the growth of his company, which makes bikepacking gear. He is part of a collective that’s similar to KORE called the Outdoor Gear Builders (OGB) of Western North Carolina and says that was the key impetus for levelling up his company. Read about that and his three other tips in our summary article here.
3 e-Commerce Revenue Indicators Small Businesses Must Track
The first KORE Speaker Series webinar, held on November 16, 2020, featured outdoor gear entrepreneur Jamie Clarke and digital marketing expert and founder of eCommerce Canada David Nagy. Jamie provided colour commentary while David shared tips about how to best use online tracking stats to impact revenue. Read the key points of the presentation in our summary article here.
