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The Showcase Room: AI / Built for Non-IT Founders. 🧠 A curated night for Non-IT businesses done with business card theatre. You’ve been to the networking events. You know how they go. You walk in → collect cards → give cards → repeat the same conversation seven times → go home → follow up with two people → one replies. Three weeks later… you’re not sure why you went. This isn’t that. 🪑 Welcome to The Showcase Room A curated event for Canadian businesses running at least 3+ years who are done with surface-level networking. You don’t walk in as a name on a badge. You walk in with: Your business materials A roll-up banner A 1-minute stage pitch …in front of a room that’s actually paying attention. ⚙️ Then we build The second half of the night is the AI for SMBs Lab (SMB - Small Medium Business). This is a working session for business owners who want to walk out with a real solution, not a list of tools they’ll never use. Bring: The operational headache The marketing bottleneck The sales process held together with tape We’ll work through it live. 👉 You leave with something working 👉 Not something theoretical Bring a laptop. Bring a real problem. 🔄 And the conversation doesn’t stop The 10 showcase tables stay up through the Lab. So does the conversation. This is the first pilot of a planned recurring series: Village Hive × Segmentide × The AI Collective Canada x Toronto Tech Week 2026 The room is small on purpose. The same businesses come back. That’s how real collaboration compounds. 🗓️ Run of Show 3:00 PM — Showcase setup (showcase businesses only) 4:00 PM — Doors open, walk the room, meet the showcase 4:30 PM — Stage pitches (10 × 1-minute) 4:45 PM — AI for SMBs Lab begins 6:00 PM — Post-Lab networking (tables still live) 7:00 PM — Wrap 🎟️ Two Ways to Join 🧾 Business Showcase Table — $50 For Canadian businesses running 3+ years Includes: Table + chair Space for one roll-up banner 1-minute stage pitch Table stays live through Lab + networking ⚠️ 10 spots only — application required 💡 AI for SMBs Lab Attendee — $10 For founders and business owners who want to bring a real problem and walk out with a working AI-driven solution. 🎟️ 30 spots — first come, first served Total capacity: 40 👥 Who This Is For Non-IT founders. Caterers. Retailers. Agency owners. Consultants. Accountants. Product + service businesses. People with 3+ years on the clock and the scars to prove it. People curious about AI, but tired of being talked at about it. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Hosted By Charlotte Kirby, The Village Hive 👩🏻‍🏫Facilated By Keerthana Mahadevan Founder, Segmentide Regional Director, The AI Collective Canada 📍 Part of Toronto Tech Week 🔒 Showcase Table Application This is a curated room. Not all applicants will be selected. We review every application to ensure a high-quality mix of businesses in the room. Submitting an application does NOT guarantee a spot. The AI Collective is a global non-profit building the human layer for the AI era. We unite 200,000+ leaders, builders, and stakeholders across 100+ forums worldwide to democratize the frontier, build trust, and coordinate how society navigates the rapid acceleration of technological progress. All attendees and organizers at events affiliated with The AI Collective agree to our privacy policy and are subject to our code of conduct. Disclaimer: The AI Collective is a community partner of the event, and does not participate in the payments, fee-handling for this event. The Founders Loop The Founders Loop is a Toronto community for founders running businesses outside the digital services lane. Established or just starting. A room for the work, the loop, and the technology layer most founders never had time to add. The Village Hive Eglinton The Village Hive Eglinton has everything you need for a productive work day, from coworking to private offices and meeting space. We offer bright, versatile, furnished private offices for individuals/teams or single workstations in our coworking area with many extra amenities and services to help businesses succeed. Our focus is to build a collaborative community of entrepreneurs and remote workers who share space and support each other to thrive. Located in the heart of midtown Toronto, a short distance from TTC, fitness centres, restaurants, coffee shops and more. Our coworking space and furnished offices are available on a monthly or on demand basis. Contact our community manager to help you find the right workspace option! For more information please visit website. Toronto Tech Week is a citywide celebration of the people building what’s next. From May 25–29, 2026, founders, investors, and builders come together for hundreds of community-led events across Toronto, connecting tens of thousands of people around Canadian tech. Torontotechweek.com