Gain in-depth knowledge from leading experts on franchising with Concurrent Sessions. These sessions are divided into four (4) tracks: Business Development, Legal, Management and Operations. With sessions available on both Sunday and Monday, be sure to review them all to attend the sessions you want to reach your ultimate goals!
The educational programming has been designed to help all members of your team learn and grow! Follow this legend to identify which team members can take away relevant key learnings from each session:
National marketing builds brand awareness, but local activation drives real sales. This session explores how franchisors can empower franchisees to “own their turf” through effective local area marketing (LAM), community engagement, and grassroots brand-building—without sacrificing consistency or control. Through examples from leading franchise systems, the panel will discuss how to strike the right balance between national campaigns and local authenticity, and the tools, training, and guardrails franchisors must provide to help franchisees execute confidently and compliantly.
Learning Objectives
1. Link local activation to same-store sales and system-wide growth
2. Balance national campaigns with authentic, high-impact local strategies
3. Equip franchisees with the right tools, templates, and governance to execute LAM well
Legal is a growth partner, not just a safeguard. This session will explore how franchisors can work effectively with legal professionals to support growth, whether through in-house teams or external counsel. Topics will include structuring franchise agreements for scale, managing regulatory risk across jurisdictions, and aligning legal frameworks with long-term business objectives in both domestic and international markets. The discussion will focus on the practical realities of engaging legal early, how trusted legal advisors support responsible expansion, and what strong, collaborative franchisor–lawyer relationships look like in practice.
Learning Objectives:
- • Integrate legal counsel into strategic planning to support expansion.
- • Navigate multi-jurisdictional compliance with confidence.
- • Structure agreements, manage disputes, and implement system-wide changes to enhance scalability.
Field support is one of the most powerful levers of franchise performance—yet many systems still rely on outdated, reactive models that focus on troubleshooting instead of growth. This session brings together franchisors and experienced field coaches to explore what modern franchisee coaching looks like: how to balance accountability with partnership, reinforce standards without policing, and use tools like KPIs and scorecards to drive behaviour change and unit-level success. Learn how strong coaching practices protect franchisees from costly missteps, prevent issues before they escalate, and build a culture where franchisees are supported, aligned, and consistently executing the fundamentals that lead to profitability.
Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguish effective coaching from traditional “reactive support” models.
2. Balance accountability and partnership to reinforce brand standards and drive performance.
3. Use proactive coaching tools—like KPI scorecards and structured visits—to prevent issues early.
4. Build a field support culture that protects the brand and empowers franchisees to succeed.
Building a strong franchise system that is one day attractive to investors or buyers requires more than growth - it requires foresight. This session will explore how franchise brands can strengthen their organizations by understanding how potential financial partners assess long-term value. Attendees will gain insight into the operational, financial, and governance factors that signal scalability and resilience, including unit economics, performance visibility, leadership structure, legal and structural foundation and franchisee engagement. Adopting an investor-informed mindset can help franchisors make better strategic decisions today and build stronger, more resilient systems for the future.
This session offers a practical perspective on the choices and structures that support long-term system strength, credibility, and flexibility.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the key operational, financial, and governance indicators that finance, private equity and other potential buyers and investors consider when evaluating franchise systems.
- Understand how an investor-informed mindset can strengthen strategic decision-making and long-term system success and health.
- Evaluate common readiness gaps that franchisors encounter as their systems mature, based on peer experience and financial perspectives.
Selecting the right location remains one of the most critical drivers of franchise success. This session brings together experts in analytics, real estate, law, and multi-unit growth to explore how leading brands use data and disciplined site selection to build sustainable expansion strategies. Through QSR and multi-unit case studies, the panel will demonstrate how demographic, behavioural, and mobile movement data inform market prioritization and trade-area decisions; how to structure and protect a real estate pipeline; and how the quality of a site directly shapes franchisee performance over time. Attendees will gain practical guidance to choose better sites, avoid costly missteps, and connect location decisions to stronger system-wide outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
- Use data to make stronger site and market decisions
- Build a scalable, defensible real estate strategy
- Connect site quality to long-term franchise performance
Franchisee gatherings, whether annual conferences, regional meetings, or virtual touchpoints, offer a powerful opportunity to strengthen alignment, build community, and deliver meaningful value back to the system. This session explores how franchisors of all sizes design and execute gatherings that resonate with franchisees and drive engagement. Participants will examine how to create agendas that balance inspiration with practical, unit-level outcomes, explore different approaches to delivering content and connection, and identify strategies that boost participation before, during, and after the event. The focus is on building gatherings that are scalable, cost-effective, and capable of generating a clear return on investment for franchisees and the broader brand.
Learning Objectives:
- • Explore practical approaches franchisors use to plan and structure franchisee gatherings that deliver meaningful value.
- • Learn engagement techniques that foster strong participation and connection among franchisees, regardless of system size.
- • Understand how franchisors assess success and gather feedback to improve future gatherings and support franchisee ROI
Franchisors operating across Canada must navigate a franchise regulatory environment that is complex, high-stakes, and far from uniform. With seven provinces currently requiring franchise disclosure, and Saskatchewan’s franchise legislation coming into effect this summer, even well-established systems can face risk when obligations vary by province, timelines tighten, or internal processes fall out of sync.
This program highlights the top five compliance issues franchisors need to get right to reduce exposure and support consistent practices across the system, including key variations in disclosure content, exemptions, province-specific requirements, timing obligations, and acceptable methods of disclosure. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of where risk tends to emerge, what strong compliance looks like in practice, and how leading brands build repeatable, defensible processes that support growth while reducing rescission and litigation risk.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize the top five compliance issues franchisors must address to mitigate risk across Canada’s multi-province franchise regulatory landscape.
2. Understand key provincial variations in franchise disclosure requirements, including content, timing, exemptions, and method of disclosure.
3. Identify practical strategies to strengthen documentation and compliance consistency, and reduce rescission and litigation exposure across the system.
A strong learning and development (L&D) culture doesn't happen by accident—it’s built through intentional design, ongoing reinforcement, and clear accountability. In this session, L&D and operations leaders share how they're creating training systems that go beyond onboarding to support continuous development, enhance execution, and strengthen franchisee engagement. Learn how to design training that aligns with system priorities, leverage digital and in-person learning tools, build a culture where development is expected (and measured), and track the impact of training on performance, retention, and growth. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to elevate their L&D approach and embed learning into the DNA of their brand.
Learning Objectives:
1. Design training systems that align with operational priorities and drive franchisee performance.
2. Implement ongoing learning programs that improve engagement, execution, and retention.
3. Measure L&D effectiveness using clear KPIs, behavioural indicators, and performance outcomes.
Recruiting the right franchisees is the single most important predictor of system success. This session brings together leaders from high-performing franchise systems to explore how a modern, well-aligned recruitment and awarding approach supports stronger decisions and healthier long-term partnerships.
Using real examples from established and emerging brands, the panel will examine how franchisors define the ideal franchisee profile, design a recruitment journey that reflects how candidates evaluate fit and readiness, and apply clear standards at key decision points. The discussion will also touch on how systems, processes, and enabling tools can support consistency, education, and informed decision-making at scale, without losing the human judgment essential to awarding the right partners.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies to attract stronger candidates, guide them through a thoughtful evaluation process, and award franchises with confidence.
Learning Objectives:
- Align recruitment journeys to how franchise candidates evaluate opportunity and fit
— Decision milestones, expectations, readiness - Define and protect the ideal franchisee profile throughout growth
— Values alignment, competencies, non-negotiables - Use structured processes and enabling tools to support consistent, high-quality award decisions
— Readiness indicators, qualification standards, decision support
Franchise systems have more performance data than ever—but the brands seeing the biggest gains aren’t just tracking KPIs, they’re building cultures that make them meaningful. This session explores how franchisors combine the right metrics with the right behaviours to drive stronger unit economics, better franchisee performance, and system-wide growth. Through real examples and KPI frameworks, panelists will show how to identify the metrics that matter, measure cultural health and engagement, coach franchisees using transparent scorecards, and use operational and cultural indicators to predict (and accelerate) growth.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify the KPIs—financial, operational, and cultural—that drive unit-level performance and growth.
2. Use transparent scorecards and data conversations to strengthen franchisee accountability and engagement.
3. Build a data-driven culture that reinforces brand standards, improves behaviours, and accelerates continuous improvement.
AI, data analytics, and automation are transforming franchising—and raising legal risk. This session covers privacy compliance (federal/provincial), AI in employment/marketing, cybersecurity, and evolving disclosure obligations. Blend legal requirements with real-world practices to future-proof your system.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify legal risks in AI/data use (incl. PIPEDA and provincial equivalents).
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Understand how tech adoption affects disclosure obligations and agreements.
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Develop practical strategies to adopt AI/digital tools responsibly within Canadian legal standards.
The franchisor–franchisee relationship is the backbone of every successful system—but alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It requires clear communication, well-designed governance structures, and a shared understanding of expectations and accountability. This session explores practical frameworks franchisors can use to strengthen trust, reduce conflict, and create mutual value. Through examples of effective advisory councils, feedback loops, decision-making processes, and transparent communication practices, panelists will unpack what healthy alignment looks like in the real world—and how to fix misalignment before it becomes disruptive. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to build stronger partnerships across operations, marketing, legal, and development.
Learning Objectives:
1. Build trust and mutual accountability using structured communication models and governance tools.
2. Identify common sources of misalignment and address them proactively through clear expectations and transparent decision-making.
3. Strengthen franchisor–franchisee partnerships by aligning systems, documents, and communications with operational realities.