The sign on the podium was not needed to tell me it was a photo from 1999. The vanishing hair tells the whole story. It was a glorious farewell address to an organization I loved, the International Small Business Congress, held in Toronto in October with roughly 1,000 delegates from over 60 nations.
And of course, the key organizers were the Department of Industry headed up at the time by the Hon. John Manley. CFIB played a vital role in the Congress, bringing key speakers and participants for all the various sessions.
It was a time to say goodbye to colleagues who had been close friends over the years. In this photo, we can see Jack Faris from the National Federation of Independent Business and next to him Hiroo Kinoshita, who headed up the contingent from Japan. And of courde, someone who was the central figure in the CFIB delegation, the new President of CFIB, Catherine Swift.
I had learned so much attending these Congresses over the years that influenced my effectiveness as the leader of CFIB. My first significant advantage was understanding how nations built and promoted their small firms sector which was a function of their culture and history. Canada's bureaucrats had linkages with their counterparts in England, France and the US, but had no knowledge of the SME sectors in nations like Germany, Japan or Brazil.
On so many of the big issues, attending the Congresses and making critical international contacts kept me on top of changing points before they became public knowledge. I could see the developing global economy a decade before it became a public issue in Canada. And I could see how small firms applying new technologies could expand their markets years before these changes started to impact on small business growth in Canada.
I was so amused hearing an academic say back in the 1970s that 80% of small firms sell their products and services ten miles from where they live. He could not say that today.
And isn't life about friendships. In the photo at one of the Congress lunches, I am sitting with Stan and Brenda Mendham of the Forum of Private Business in the UK, and at the end of the table are Jack and Anne Faris of the National Federation of Independent Business of the US. I will never forget the full Board of the NFIB meeting in Toronto when we were celebrating our 25th Anniversary as an organization in 1996.
But on the negative side, I could see the growing costs of attending global conferences and the future decline in international delegations.
International Congresses are about personal relationships, not about garnering knowledge. In many ways, Internet technologies are making global conferences obsolete. I used to think to go to a Conference and getting one new idea made it all worthwhile. That one good idea is available today from searching the Net.