"Status quo sucks” is the motto of Jean-Francois Bouchard, 44. So when seeking to invent a new type of international business conference, he paid strict attention to eschewing any staid formulas. “There were several conferences on innovation, but none was truly creative in its approach,” he says.
With support from his team at Sid Lee, a Montreal-based advertising and experiential marketing firm, Bouchard created C2-MTL. The conference focuses on finding creative business solutions; the goal, Bouchard says, was to “go beyond just talking about creativity.”
The conference had its first run in May 2012 and drew a sold-out crowd of 1,300 guests from 40 countries. Bouchard developed the content, landing speakers such as Arianna Huffington, Michael Eisner, and Francis Ford Coppola.
C2-MTL’s style reflected the forward-thinking nature of its speakers. Instead of a typical convention center, it took place in Montreal’s rapidly Âgentrifying Griffinhood neighborhood, where an “Innovation Village” was erected outside the New City Gas building. In the tented area, guests lounged on plastic futons and sat in Adirondack chairs while artists created Lego sculptures and giant scarves.
To enter the event, guests strolled through a “reset tunnel” filled with immersive audiovisual components. Inside, motorized robots hung from the ceiling and responded to visitors’ movements below. The only things outlawed from the anything-goes Âsetting were PowerPoint presentations and sponsorship signage.
This year’s event, speakers included Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck, and Bobbi Brown. “C2-MTL is about removing barriers that too often exist between disciplines, industries, businesspeople, and creative people,” Bouchard says. “The key to successful innovation is the mix of Âinfluences, the ability to be as interested in financial statements as in a new creative concept. That’s the whole idea behind C2: commerce and creativity.”