The Oscar Contest Winners Are In!

The 2010 Academy Awards have come and gone in a flurry of glitz, glamour, and as always, a big surprise here and there. The second annual Rostie Group Oscar Contest was a great success – many thanks to all tenants that submitted ballots. The response was even bigger than last year, and some of the entries were astonishingly close. Here is a list of our 2010 winners:

Drum roll, please…

1st Place: Allison Melnick from HRG Recruiting (18/24 Correct!)
· Proud winner of a Night at the Movies for two, including tickets, drinks, and popcorn

2nd Place: Craig O' Neil from Exinda Networks
· Winner of two movie passes

3rd Place: Rob Dewar from Sigg Canada
· Winner of one movie pass, and was the Top Scorer at our Airport Location!

Thanks again for entering!

Free Tax Planning Seminar

On Monday, March 8th, The Rostie Group will be hosting a free Tax Planning Lunch N' Learn at its 20 Bay Street location. A complimentary lunch will be provided courtesy of the speakers.

Guest speakers will be...

Lyle Van Every, Chad Relf

& Daniel Constantine

from

The Investor's Group

Presenting...
"Tax Planning for Business Owners"

This seminar will focus on common tax issues and solutions for business owners. The presenters will review tips and best practices to help you ensure that your business is tax efficient both now and when you decide to sell it. This seminar will be an informal and interactive presentation of what can often be challenging business concepts.

Some Topics Include:

-Creditor protection of business and personal assets.
-“Eligible vs. Ineligible” dividends.
-Estate Freezes / Small business exception.

RSVP and Location Details:

This seminar will be taking place in the The Muskoka Room (20 Bay Street, 12th floor) from 12:00-1:00pm. To ensure seating, please arrive at least 10 minutes in advance.

To RSVP please contact dnoble@rostiegroup.com, and mention whether you will be bringing your own lunch or enjoying the complimentry lunch provided by the presenters.

Rostie Group Oscar Contest

Hurray for Hollywood!

The Rostie Group's Oscar Contest is back. Just pick up a ballot from reception and predict the winners of Sunday's Academy Awards. You could win a night at the movies for two (with popcorn and drinks), a Blockbuster gift card, or Cineplex movie passes.

Completed ballots must be submitted to a receptionist by March 5th at 5:00pm. Winners will be notified by phone or email the following week.

The Rostie Group Helps Raise $2535 for Haiti

On February 3rd, Go Transit and The Rostie Group teamed-up to host a buffet fundraiser for Haiti Disaster Relief. Both the buffet and raffle were a huge success - raising $2535 for The Canadian Red Cross

Go Transit took care of organizing all the delicious food and wonderful raffle prizes, while The Rostie Group donated the use of The Rainy Lake room, its showpiece meeting room located at 20 Bay Street in the heart of Downtown Toronto.

A big thanks goes out to everyone who attended this great event and helped raise money for a very worthwhile cause.

Apple's iPad - Will it Help Small Businesses?

With Apple’s brand new iPad scheduled to be released in the imminent future, the general public and media are fawning over this innovative new product. And why wouldn’t they? Apple has a long history of making cutting-edge products with tons of success. Who doesn’t love their iPod? The iPad seems like a really cool device with a flashy multi-touch screen and vibrant colours, making it a whole new way to experience email, the web, photos and videos.

As much as it will likely have huge consumer success, how will small businesses react to the iPad? Some small business owners are already concerned over the iPad being a huge pain when employees and clients start requesting to use it. The two biggest reasons for concern are Support Issues and Security Headaches.

Support Issues

Most companies’ IT departments are already stretched thin keeping up with the technology they already have – such as PCs, Macs, Blackberries, and iPhones – if they even have an internal IT department. Many small businesses do not, leaving non-tech savvy people to learn as they go or pay for expensive external support. Often, there just aren’t the resources to support new technology. So when an employee or client starts using their new iPad for work and have connection or printing issues, the small business owner is forced to step up and help so they remain productive. Which in turn means incurring more IT costs, either from their IT department or from an outsourced IT support network. And since this is such a new product, the turnaround time will likely be much longer (and thus more expensive) as the team learns how to support the iPad.

Security Headaches

New iPad users are bound to be so swept-away with the media ability of their new toys that they will likely forget about the new security issues that will come along with it. With a new way to access data on their networks, it opens up new channels for security breaches. When things start to go terribly wrong – disappearing databases, stolen information – there will be downtime while the problem gets sorted out. Downtime equals lost productivity which equals more incurred costs.

Now, this is not to say these problems will not be handled. They will. Apple is probably working around the clock to get support members trained and security up to snuff. The iPad will be a consumer hit, and justly so. But for a business owner, it all comes down to Return on Investment. And as it stands, it doesn’t look like the iPad will be on the profitable side of the fence.

If you want to read more about this subject, please read the complete Business Week article here.

From Fear to Fierce: Nailing your Next Presentation

On Monday, February 22nd join us at The Rostie Group's 20 Bay Street business centre for a free Lunch n' Learn. You can either bring your own brown bag lunch, or purchase one on-site for only $5.00. Lunch includes: Sandwich, Drink, and a Snack.

This week's topic will be...

From Fear to Fierce: How to Nail your Next Presentation

By Liz Radzick (Manifest Consulting)

Are you...

- A good presenter but still get nervous before speaking?
- Curious about how to stop saying ‘um’ when you present?
- Preparing for a big presentation and want to know how to appear confident?

Then join Liz Radzick, Founder of Manifest Consulting for an interactive, practical and fun session designed to help you take your presentations up a notch.

Learn the techniques to create and deliver A+ presentations including:

- The 3 common physical traps that undermine your credibility
- How to use your right brain to EASILY memorize your presentation
- What to do and not to do with your hands
- What you personally need to do to look powerful and confident during your presentations

Liz Radzick Biography:

As the founder of Manifest Consulting, Liz Radzick is an expert in coaching high-achieving executives, managers, entrepreneurs and salespeople to influence and persuade their audiences.For over 15 years she has delivered innovative, engaging workshops and communication skills coaching to thousands of individuals in Canada, the U.S. and Italy.

Registration and Location Details:

This seminar will be taking place in The Pacific Room (20 Bay Street, 11th floor)from 12:00-1:00pm. To ensure seating, please arrive at least 10 minutes in
advance. To RSVP please contact dnoble@rostiegroup.com, and mention whether you will be bringing your own lunch, or wish to purchase one at the seminar. If you will be purchasing a lunch, please also note your sandwich preference, options are Turkey, Tuna, Assorted, Ham, or Veggie.

Chili Cook-Off Winners!

A big thanks to everyone who came out the Chili-Cook Offs at both our Airport and Downtown locations. It was great to see so many familar faces participating in the competition and enjoying the assortment of delectable chilis brought in by our generous tenants. Below is a complete list of winners from both locations.

AIRPORT

Best Chili (TIE): John (Paragon Consulting) & Alan (Rostie Tech Rescue)

RAFFLE PRIZES

One Month of Reserved Underground Parking: Mary (The Advantage Group)
$50.00 Sky Lounge Gift Certificate: Madan (Chauhan Financial Services)
Sigg Water Bottle: Nita (PEO Canada)

DOWNTOWN

Best Chili:

1st Place: John (Paragon Consulting)
2nd Place: Alan (Rostie Tech Rescue)

RAFFLE PRIZES

Sigg Bottles: Craig (Exinda), Brian (Veritaaq) and Mark (Net IQ)
Tequila: Marcello (Tonbridge)
6-Pack of Corona: Mike (Veritaaq)
Pierre Cardin Pen Set: Andrew (Exinda)
Weston Harbour Castle Gift Certificate: Koushik (Exinda)

Next year Al and John will be competing against each other in their own seperate category, which means a brand new Rostie Chili-Bowl champion will be crowned at our 2011 event!