10 Years of SocialWest

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Morrison — the founder behind SocialNext, Canada's grassroots marketing conference, for a conversation about building something from nothing, surviving a global pandemic, and why Calgary will always feel like home.Mike shares the origin story of Social West, from his early days running "Mike's Bloggity Blog" and teaching small businesses how to use Twitter and Facebook ads, to growing a national conference series now spanning six cities across Canada — Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.We dig into:How Social West became a 10-year overnight successThe hardest business decision of the pandemic: offering full refunds when competitors foldedWhy Mike pivoted to virtual events and sent care packages to attendees across the countryWhat makes Social West different — no ego, no pretension, just real marketers learning from each otherHow the Calgary Marketing Association and Social West are partnering for a special CMA member experience= The acquisition of Marketing News Canada and the vision of becoming the home for Canadian marketers