LGBTQ+ tech conference returns to Toronto for its fourth year

TORONTO, March 4, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada's first and largest LGBTQA+ tech and social impact conference, Venture Out, is returning to Toronto.

Since 2016, Venture Out has grown to attract over 650+ attendees, 45+ sponsors and 10+ community partners for its annual conference. Now in its fourth year, Venture Out 2020 will be highlighting speakers who come from industry, academic, and non-profit backgrounds, and will explore a range of topics that affect the queer community from accessibility to homelessness and beyond.

"This year, we took a sobering look at the world around us and asked ourselves: what big topics aren't we talking about that are impacting our community?" Rachel Shi and Shadib Bin Newaz, conference co-chairs of Venture Out, jointly stated. "What are the topics that keep us awake at night? What things make us human? We knew we had to reframe the conversation away from Diversity & Inclusion 101 to address the problems that are dividing us while creating space for conversations about how the queer in tech community can come together to solve these issues."

The conference features keynote speakers Kiana 'rookz' Eastmond, founder and director of Sandbox Studios, addressing her experience as an entrepreneur in Toronto. Viet Vu, Economist at Ryerson University, will lead the second keynote with a deep dive of the tech landscape in Canada and a look at how queer individuals are finding a place in it.

The conference will also include 9 breakout sessions and workshops, 2 plenary events, and 1 career fair. For the closing event at the conference, attendees will hear from participants of the Venture Out Founder's Program, a program designed to connect LGBTQA+ founders to educational content on technology and entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion training, mentorship, and the opportunity to pitch to some of Canada's top venture capitalists. The conference will wrap up with an after-party at the iconic Glad Day Bookstore. 

Venture Out is part of Start Proud, an organization dedicated to assisting the professional development of the LGBTQA+ community and educating other businesses on diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

Venture Out Conference takes place on March 19th and 20th at MaRS Discovery District. Tickets are available online here. Find out more information about the conference itself on the Venture Out website at www.ventureout.ca.

SOURCE Venture Out