1 – Provide a Venue for People To Come Together
Roger Killen has always been a thinker. As an organizer and emcee of the Vancouver Business Network (VBN) meetup (one of the largest of its kind in the world), Roger has been responsible for showing entrepreneurs and professionals all over Vancouver how to improve their game as a result of knowledge that various speakers share every week at his VBN meetups. I’ve had the privilege of being featured as an expert at VBN myself about how to connect with people from all walks of life and build trust and understanding. As a result of coming to several VBN meetups I’ve met some really big influencers like blogging guru Ricky Shetty and thought leaders like Sandy Chernoff both of whom have become friends and who’ve gone off to do some big things in their worlds.
2 – Fail Your Way Towards Success
It’s this passion for thinking and connecting people to one another that led him to putting together ‘The Sizzling Sales Show’ which had a format similar to “Dragon’s Den” and featured 3 business owners at each ‘episode’ and a panel of ‘experts’ who offer their valuable marketing, sales or operations management insight to whichever participant they felt inclined to support. It was a brilliant concept that won a lot of fans but unfortunately, not enough traction was generated to make Roger’s show last. But as any maverick entrepreneur (he has owned a total of 12 businesses) knows, failure is simply a part of the price one has to pay to experience massive success in the end, and he has soldiered on with an even bigger project, which was TEDxStanleyPark.
3 – Create Your Own Revolution
Roger became an organizer of TEDxStanleyPark after attending one of the TEDx events in Vancouver a few years ago thinking “I could do that too”. Always the man to scratch an entrepreneurial itch when he feels it, Roger had an epiphany and decided to apply for a license to organize his own yearly TEDx talk. Unlike most people who simply sit by and watch other people make things happen, he has chosen to act on behalf of entrepreneurs and thought-leaders in Vancouver, by bringing them together once a year in an ‘intellectual variety show’ where people can be inspired to actively pursue those projects that will cause massive change.
Vancouver has become a hotbed of creativity and ideas, and continues to spark innovation and breakthroughs in the fields of film production, gaming and software design partly due to the efforts of thought leaders like Roger who work tirelessly to connect people so they can empower each other to succeed. As TEDxStanleyPark has completely sold out, a wait-list has been created. So do sign up to take advantage of any last minute seats that may become available to hear some of B.C.’s brightest minds talk about their stories at TEDxStanleyPark happening on May 23 at the Granville Island stage.
Photo Credits
Photo of Roger – ShowYouGo
Home page thumbnail – Jessica Jillings Photography
Guest Author Bio
George Verdolaga
George Verdolaga is an author, educator and speaker. He helps people get out of their own way so that they can reach their career and lifestyle goals faster and more efficiently via The Job Farmer and The Contractor Lifestyle books and his Sitting Pretty Course.
Read his blog here and be sure to subscribe to his e-Newsletter.
Blog / Website: Verdolaga Learning Systems
[…] high of winning throughout your life once you’ve attained the unattainable? That’s what I asked Roger Killen after he sold out 400 seats several weeks before the highly acclaimed TEDxStanleyPark event last […]