The BSA is proud to be a part of:

The Canadian Association of Business Students (CABS)

What is CABS?

  • The Canadian Association of Business Students (CABS) is a not for profit organization that represents over 70,000 business students from 26 universities in Canada. Our purpose is simple; to develop superior talent and leadership within business students across Canada. We organize some of the largest business student conferences and competitions which involve leadership development and personal growth.

    1. JDC Central (JDCC): The largest undergraduate business school competition in Central Canada

    2. Canadian Business School Conference (CBSC): A national event that brings together members of Business Student Associations from across Canada to once again meet, collaborate and network.

    3. Canadian Leadership Retreat (CLR): An annual leadership development conference for business student leaders from the 26 member schools. CLR gives these delegates the opportunity to develop planning, implementation, and management skills that will improve their ability to perform as student leaders.

    4. Roundtable Conference (RT): CABS Roundtable is one of Canada’s largest and most prestigious student-run conferences, and the flagship event in the CABS conference circuit. An annual affair, it connects over 300 of the brightest student leaders from over 26 of the top business schools across the country. Every year since its inception in 2008, CABS Roundtable has been hosted in a different Canadian city.

    5. 5 Days: A national campaign run by the Canadian Association of Business Students that strives to raise awareness and donations for members of society that are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

    Learn more here!

  • On their website provided here!

    Their website lists who they are, their upcoming events, initiatives, how to partner with them, and how to join the CABS team!

    1. Similar Schools Session

    2. Similar Position Sessions

    3. Incoming and Outgoing Session

    These sessions along with additional presentations and workshops allow Business Associations to learn about areas of improvements for their own business schools. As well, it allows the perfect transition for incoming executives to learn how to carry on the achievements of the previous team.

  • We are grouped with business schools of similar sizes (~2000-4000 students) to discuss challenges our BSAs are facing and different approaches to solving them.

    This year, the following were discussed:

    a) Student Engagement

    b) Student Levies

    c) Partnership Relations

    d) Faculty Relations

    e) Student Union Relations

    1. The team can gather ideas for new student initiatives (ex. Asking Professors for credit for the involvement in extracurricular activities)

    2. We can grasp a better understanding of the business school landscape with improved advocacy angles

      1. Ex. No other CABS school has online classes with 1000+ students

      2. Ex. The ASOB has one of the lowest student levies nation wide at $10/semester, with some ranging all the way to $50 per semester

  • The money to send BSA executive members to these conferences comes from out-of-pocket, student grants, and operational money.

    NOTE: Operational Money is NOT the same as Student Money (which comes from the FAMF levies). Operational money is comprised of sponsorships and money carried over from previous years.

What We Learned From These Conferences?

Presidential Portfolio Takeaways

Across Canada, business education has changed → more focus on experiential learning.

With students participating in more extracurriculars, some schools, such as Sprott at Carleton University have changed how students are rewarded for their involvement.

Schools like McMaster, are providing their BSAs with EDI Specialists, to better help their BSAs navigate the landscape.

Internal Portfolio Takeaways

  • Incentivizing volunteering at bigger events helps increase volunteer sign-ups.

  • Anonymous Internal Conflict Forms.

  • Other CABS schools mandate funded bonding events. This helps to create higher traffic and encourage bonding.

  • TMU suggested adding more aspects to the Cohort Cup: points for most social media interactions, best slides, most followers, etc.

  • McMaster suggested a once-a-semester reciprocal performance review with directors to help set expectations and mitigate burnout.

External Portfolio Takeaways

  • Some schools pitch their entire BSA instead of 1 singular event (Club sponsorship instead of event sponsorship).

  • SFU does not have a tier list on their CPP. Instead, they have a “checkbox” created, kind of like buffet style where corporates can pick and choose what they’d like to have in terms of benefits.

  • Most schools call their directors “Corporate Managers” or CM’s.

  • One school uses Notion as a CRM tool to track conversations they’ve had with different corporates.

  • Most schools secure all sponsorships by the end of summer.

Event Portfolio Takeaways

  • Ideas for event turnover.

  • Other BSA’s structure their events team VERY differently! Our BSA needs a revamp that provides more support to each event.

  • Most schools run into the same issues of attendance at “learning” events.

Marketing Portfolio Takeaways

  • SFU and TMU utilize classroom talks to engage 1st and 2nd years right at the beginning of September → creates awareness of the BSA.

  • Assist students in enriching their resumes by tailoring director role NAMES to desired future roles (ex. “Marketing Coordinator”, “Project Manager”).

  • Track the success of traditional marketing through a QR Code Analytic website.

  • Other schools send willing students a monthly email newsletter with upcoming events and resources.

  • Create more exciting merch (ex. Bucket hats)→ more excitement and culture of the school.

  • Implement more marketing analytics (ex. VP Tech).

  • Short videos are more engaging.

  • Make sure to follow along with the trends.