Bill Johnson ~ former CEO of McDonalds in Canada & Mexico

Bill Johnson, former CEO of McDonalds in Canada and in Mexico, has worked with hundreds of franchisees since he started flipping hamburgers at a McDonalds in London Ontario when he was just an 18 year-old. From this unique inside point of view, he shares with his audiences what it takes to be a successful franchisee. With anecdotes and front-line stories, Bill tells it like it is. Learn, for example, how the franchisees dealt with the challenge of trying to sell beef during the mad-cow disease scare, or what was the effect of stopping pizza. Get your questions answered in his signature no-holds-barred question and answer session.

Dan So ~ McKenzie Lake

Daniel F. So specializes in franchise, licensing and intellectual property law and heads the franchise law department at McKenzie Lake Lawyers LLP. Dan is a member of the Canadian Franchise Association’s legal and legislative committee, and has spoken and written numerous articles about franchising for the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Franchise Association, and Franchise Canada magazine. Dan was consulted by the Province of Prince Edward Island for input on their franchise legislation and regulations, and is the official legal advisor at North America’s largest franchise show series. Dan is the author of the best-selling text Canadian Franchise Law Handbook published by Lexis-Nexis Butterworths in 2005.

Dan is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law in the University of Western Ontario, an instructor of Business Law at Kings College at the University of Western Ontario and the Canadian Institute of Management, an instructor at Fanshawe College, and an advisor to Fanshawe College’s International Business Program. In his spare time, Dan is an avid offshore sailor.

Canadian Intellectual Property Office of Industry Canada

Intellectual property (IP) refers to the creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, as well as symbols, names, pictures, designs and models used in business. Patents, trade-marks, copyrights, and industrial designs are referred to as "IP rights." Just as rights are acquired when a building or land is purchased, IP rights are "property" in the sense that they are based on the legal right to exclude others from using the property.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a special operating agency of Industry Canada, is mainly responsible for the administration of the IP system in Canada. Having identified your IP assets, you can start putting in place strategies to safeguard them and prevent others from diminishing your competitive advantage. By learning how to exploit the wealth of strategic information contained in various IP databases, whether they are Canadian or international, you can give your business a competitive edge and really stand out from others.