C2-MTL Kicks off in Montreal - Montreal Comes Together to Celebrate Creativity: First Edition of C2-MTL Opens to Sell-out Crowd

Montreal (ots/PRNewswire) -

After months of fevered preparations, C2-MTL, the new
international business conference on commerce and creativity,
officially opens today in Montreal. From May 22 to 25, more than
1,200 movers and shakers from some 40 countries will attend the
unconventional immersive and collaborative event.

Over the next four days, some of the world's leading innovators
in all disciplines, including business people, artists and academics,
will be in Montreal to talk creativity and share their insights.
Google, Dreamworks, IBM, Fast Company and Cirque du Soleil are just
some of the big names that will be at C2-MTL. And IBM and Arianna
Huffington have both chosen C2-MTL as the venue for major
announcements.

"People are genuinely pumped about C2-MTL," said Benoît
Berthiaume, Executive Producer of C2-MTL. "Just a few months ago,
C2-MTL was no more than a gleaming, ambitious idea. Today, we are
proud to announce that the event's first edition has sold out. Nearly
50 public- and private-sector partners that want to spotlight
Montreal's creative talent have rallied behind C2-MTL, departing from
the beaten path to help make this a trail-blazing event in terms of
both the content and the experience. C2-MTL is aiming to break down
the barriers between industries and spheres of activity to help forge
original links between people and between organizations."

"All the conditions are in place to make C2-MTL a success that
will propel Montreal into the centre of the global conversation about
creativity," said Jean-François Bouchard, C2-MTL curator and
president of Sid Lee. "We see C2-MTL as a big sandbox where everyone
will want to come play. Our job isn't to do it all but to organize a
large-scale collaborative experience and give everyone a chance to
express themselves and show what they can do. Our goal is to make
this the largest annual event on creativity and innovation in the
world, one that clearly positions Montreal on the world stage and
provides a springboard for local talent."

Speeches, interviews and interactivity start today on C2-MTL Web
TV

C2-MTL will extend well beyond the confines of the event and the
borders of Montreal. Close to ten strategic alliances have been
established with distribution partnerships (including AOL, Huffington
Post, and Fast Company), which will allow C2-MTL to reach millions of
business people across the planet.

People the world over will be able to follow many of the
scheduled activities in real time on the C2-MTL.tv digital platform,
which will offer in full HD format, a host of interviews, including
interviews with daily interactive speakers and two live specials at:
http://live.c2mtl.com/en. Three conferences will also be webcast in
real time:

Today at 7:15 p.m. (EDT), Marc Chapman, Managing Partner,
Strategy & Transformation, IBM Global Business Services (GBS) will
discuss the results of the IBM 2012 CEO Study.

On May 23 at 11:15 a.m. (EDT), Arianna Huffington,
Editor-in-Chief, AOL Huffington Post Media Group, will present a
world preview of a customized mobile app called "GPS for the Soul."

On May 23 at 6:30 p.m. (EDT), C2-MTL will broadcast a special on
Fast Company's "100 most creative people in business 2012" list.

In addition to viewing these three talks, the public will be able
to participate in C2-MTL via social media. Anyone who wants to put a
question to director Francis Ford Coppola, former Walt Disney Group
CEO Michael Eisner, Cirque du Soleil CEO Daniel Lamarre or the other
high-profile speakers at C2-MTL can tweet it to #C2MTL
[http://twitter.com ]. Interviews with the featured speakers will be
broadcast live throughout the event.

Open house on May 26

After the conference is over, the public will be invited to check
out the e-merge exhibition, as well as the immersive installation
designed by Montreal-based Moment Factory, and an exhibit conceived
by Paprika and presented by Mission Design. This section of the site
will be open to the public on Saturday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. Free admission.

C2-MTL is being held in an exclusive Innovation Village designed
specifically for the event. The C2-MTL venue is as unique as the
conference itself. Its centerpiece is the historic New City Gas
complex, built in the 19th century to store the gas used to light the
streets of Montreal. After years of disuse, New City Gas has been
brought back to life to light up Montreal, city of creativity, once
again.

About C2-MTL

A brave new commercial world requires brave new business models,
and from May 22-25, 2012, Montreal's C2-MTL
[http://www.c2mtl.com/fr/lexperience ] (as in Commerce + Creativity)
conference will go where no business conference has gone before.
Curated by creative agency Sid Lee [http://sidlee.com ], this
unprecedented gathering of international business leaders is a
completely new kind of annual business conference, one that explores
the relationship between commerce and creativity, as well as its
potential to redefine business. C2-MTL is giving notice that the
business conference of the past is exactly that: in the past.

For further information:
Geneviève Hinse
+1-514-894-4166
For more information:
http://www.C2MTL.com
Twitter.com/c2mtl [http://twitter.com/c2mtl ]
Facebook.com/c2mtl [http://facebook.com/c2mtl ]

ots Originaltext: C2-MTL
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