The Global Energy Show is a must-attend event for anybody in the energy industry with any kind of decision-making power, and politicians, organizations, and others tangentially surrounding the energy sector have to be there. In this episode, I'm joined by Nick Semaine, Senior Vice President of DMG Events, to talk about the history of the show, how it got its name, and why it's one of the most important events in the industry.
00:00:00.000G'day, I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard.
00:00:27.500Today, I'm joined by Nick Semain. He is the Senior Vice President of DMG Events, and for those who pay attention, that is the organization that puts on the Global Energy Show right here in Calgary every year.
00:00:43.720It is one of the must-attend events for anybody in the industry with any kind of decision-making power.
00:00:52.560Politicians, organizations tangentially surrounding the energy industry have to be there.
00:01:01.160Everyone's paying homage, coming on the Great Oil Hodge to Calgary next week, Tuesday to Thursday, I think, June 10th to 12th.
00:01:13.280I'm joined by Nick Semaine, Senior Vice President of BMG Events.
00:03:21.760You know, we had some bigger lounges and things like that that we do.
00:03:25.200uh but this year we really filled in the edges and brought back some yeah this is on an exhaustion
00:03:32.200from trying just to walk the perimeter of it little on every exhibitor yeah um but there's
00:03:37.100some big exhibitors that are that are at the event um you know some of the you know some of the big
00:03:41.280producers like a shell uh has a big stand in the show floor but also um this year a lot of the
00:03:46.620growth has come internationally um you know a lot of people um of course remember the oil show and
00:03:51.780It's always been international business, but this year, you know, we've got big pavilions, not just from countries like, you know, Korea, Czech Republic, Norway, Colombia, and many others.
00:04:05.360China is there as well. USA is a big pavilion, but also diversity.
00:04:10.180For example, the Korean Nuclear Association has a very large stand at the show.
00:04:16.180So there's a lot of oil and gas there, but also you'll find nuclear, geothermal, and several other sectors within energy on the show floor.
00:04:27.000Well, it used to be the Global Petroleum Show, right?
00:04:33.940So that was changed right around 2020.
00:04:36.560That was the best intentions for a couple of reasons.
00:04:39.340One, to open the door for us to grow the events.
00:04:42.280In particular, many of those sectors that are adjacent to the oil and gas sector, but also the name petroleum in itself was pretty singular within the oil and gas sector as well.
00:04:51.840We really wanted to welcome in LNG and gas and others there as well.
00:04:57.080And it's not the first time it's changed names.
00:04:59.820It's had others throughout its more than 50-year history.
00:05:04.320I want to talk a little bit about the history of this.
00:05:06.940So, yeah, it's been around for a long time.
00:05:10.760I guess its beginnings were a bit more modest
00:05:31.640a legend and certainly a legend here in Calgary as well,
00:05:34.400who was instrumental in starting that show in the late 60s.
00:05:37.420And it was really an add on to the Calgary Stampede, because at that time, there was a lot of the vision was there was a lot of people here in Alberta, but also in Canada.
00:05:48.900And they just didn't understand things like the oil sands, what exactly that was, but what the oil and gas sector was all about, what the men and women were doing in the oil sector and what opportunities would look like for for investments and generating new markets.
00:06:05.800It's strange, strangely, you know, we again, we fast forward 50 odd years.
00:06:10.620We've really come full circle, Derek, with a lot of those similar themes this year, such as finding more customers for for Canadian energy, for communicating what the oil and gas in the energy sector does to average Canadians that are that may, as we all do from time to time, whether it's things like grocery store, where's food come from?
00:15:01.200And so it's really actually mentioned that because we have had some good tailwinds being butted up right against the G7.
00:15:09.420We're really a platform to really air a lot of the discussion and debate and to be able to come out of the event,
00:15:17.420which we will as we close on Thursday, right prior to the G7.
00:15:22.840We are also this year going to be producing a full white paper
00:15:26.800on all of the findings from the executive conference.
00:15:30.580In addition to the public conferences happening,
00:15:33.240there is 12 curated closed door roundtables,
00:15:37.880which are not in front of an audience with industry CEOs
00:15:41.660and elected officials talking about specific issues.
00:15:46.700So we're going to be collecting all of that and producing a report that will release post events, which we hope some of those findings will land on the desks of those decision makers.
00:16:00.860And in a way, we've we've just we've done our part, our humble part as an event to really supercharge that attention on the energy sector, which it deserves.
00:16:09.560So we talked about Chairman of Olpec coming. What are some of the other guests or speakers coming that you're most excited about?
00:16:19.200Well, you know, from the C-suite, you really, many that will be familiar of is you've got CEOs coming from companies like Petronas, from like Synovus is going to be there.
00:16:31.540You've got Shell Canada, head of Shell Canada, that's going to be speaking, head of TransCanada Pipeline.
00:16:38.000And so there's, I get in trouble when, if I keep going, I don't mention anybody.
00:16:42.120that so i'm not putting the names uh but there's there's more than 20 major ceos speaking there
00:16:48.600alongside um i love elected officials uh as you mentioned uh is uh premier smith who we're
00:16:55.400thrilled uh to be able to welcome back to the events um also um energy ministers uh from
00:17:02.200saskatchewan and new brunswick and other provinces that are traveling here uh to talk energy uh to
00:17:09.000to talk trade, to talk about learning from how we do energy here in Alberta
00:17:15.480and how we can not just export more molecules across Canada,
00:18:46.580Um, and I'm glad you asked that question because, um, I think that's,
00:18:52.360we we're hearing that, um, from a lot of people coming is, you know,
00:18:55.920whether someone asked me, why should I attend?
00:18:58.000or I'm attending and hoping to find this out. It's exactly that, is that we know rhetoric,
00:19:05.840as you said, or we're hearing different things. How can I really get a sense of what the heck's
00:19:10.040going on? And so we've structured our program to directly address some of those things.
00:19:15.220You know, first and foremost is if we're going to build big infrastructure, what should it be
00:19:21.160And who should build it and where and how quickly can we overcome regulatory approvals? How quickly can we overcome attracting private investment? How can we ensure that we are engaging indigenous investment and buy-in on these projects and pull all that together?
00:19:44.420So building infrastructure is a big part of that.
00:19:47.000I guess if I say that, and there's a lot of others that topics that fall into that.
00:19:51.440Then on the other side is how do we diversify our energy customer?
00:19:56.380So and that doesn't necessarily mean how do we sell less?
00:20:01.200So we sell less to the I don't think that the least of my that's not what I'm hearing.
00:20:05.360It's more so that we have an abundance of energy.
00:20:07.940we want to, and some say have a responsibility to further develop that, whether that's in oil
00:20:15.720and gas or other opportunities in nuclear, in critical minerals or otherwise, and be able to
00:20:23.040export those. Certainly LNG comes to mind as well. So that's what we've really programmed the event
00:20:31.720around those two big themes and that's what a lot of talk is coming out and um you know getting back
00:20:37.840to to to the our our host is really going to be zeroing in on that we want to try and press as
00:20:43.540much as we can responsibly with our guests on stage is is to come up with yeah we should try
00:20:49.320this or this might be a way to be able to approach this because you're right we've been through a lot
00:20:54.480of this and i know that there is um and for those of us as you mentioned in previous years of the
00:21:00.260shows there's there's a bit of a fatigue of uh is this really going to happen this year um we we
00:21:06.500very much hope that the show where you get that many people together and that many power players
00:21:11.020together that and in person you know just like we are right now uh we tend to find that that that
00:21:17.060in-person medium um enables sometimes enables uh two people that that might have opposing views to
00:21:23.780maybe maybe see the other person's perspective a little bit and say yeah okay we want to get to
00:21:29.300the end goal so we hope a little bit that happens too you uh have unintentionally segued perfectly
00:21:35.060to my next question uh it's not all just speakers up a lot of it is panels um i don't think
00:21:42.140necessarily structured as debates with one guy one podium one guy another and a moderator but
00:21:46.320you know panels where you might have people with pretty different views on things uh you know do
00:21:52.580you have any where not debates but the panels where you expect to see some more vigorous debate
00:21:58.900where it's not necessarily different versions of the same view on stage?
00:22:03.220Well, you and I know each other pretty well, and I think that we would agree on this.
00:22:07.200And I've heard this before, the worst conferences, and I put my conference hat on
00:22:11.280because our responsibility ultimately is to the ticket holder.
00:22:15.060That's somebody that's paid some good money there.
00:22:17.020They're not paying for an echo chamber.
00:22:19.600That's first and foremost, and I'm not picking on that,
00:22:23.100but sometimes we all attend conferences that we want to hear what we want to hear.
00:22:27.740that's what we're paying for and that's okay that's not what this is about so that's first
00:22:31.900and foremost uh having all panelists yeah agree i agree with my fellow pet you won't hear any of
00:22:37.100that this year uh we have curated um you know we got a big executive committee that is diverse on
00:22:42.540this to help us go through and pick the right speakers um we want debate up on stage that's
00:22:47.920what we're paying for what is that um uh of course respectful debate that's what that is it's not
00:22:54.180about embarrassing anybody that's not what our show is about but it's about putting hard questions
00:22:58.580out there giving people an opportunity that want to make a mark they want to be able to get opinion
00:23:04.680out there the big difference with the global energy show as you hit through off the top is
00:23:09.560is it scale is it scale there's there's close to 80 media registered right now it gets national
00:23:16.620and international attention so with speakers on stage have a not just a big opportunity but
00:23:23.880we feel a responsibility to be able to contribute to that conversation and when we wrap all of that
00:23:31.940debate up what comes out of that that's what we want to share back with the community so
00:23:36.200so yeah I won't go there to say we'll sell you the whole seat but you only need the edge
00:23:42.360one of my favorite ones but but you know what I mean we owe that responsibility you can expect
00:23:47.300panels that are that are tight that move quickly that get to the point you won't see any power
00:23:52.560points especially upstairs you're not going to be able to sit through long drawn out speeches like
00:23:57.740that it's sit down and let's get down to business and see if we can come up with um some some new
00:24:03.660ideas or expand idea on ideas are out there and how we can make things practically happen so i
00:24:10.960when i asked you where some of the big other main speakers you were very careful to not say many
00:24:17.220because you don't want to get in trouble with those you don't mention but i'm going to try again
00:24:22.040in a different form on, you know, what are some of the, what do you think are going to be some
00:24:26.700of the most interesting and vigorous panels where people are going to be debating issues? Like,
00:24:31.080what are they going to be talking about? Those, those topics that, you know, the ones you're
00:24:34.740going to be a busy guy during the conference, but the ones you might slip into when you got a moment.
00:24:38.700Yeah. I mean, there's no question that I'm certainly going to be there, as you mentioned,
00:24:44.120to talk, to listen to what his excellency says when he's deliberately speaking right at the top
00:24:48.900end of the conference to really give that global context. I'm going to be there most certainly to
00:24:55.560listen to one of my favorite speakers, which is Premier Smith, to find out what she's going to be
00:25:01.580able to say and bring to the table. She always brings that for our conferences and Minister
00:25:08.220Jean as well. So those are three that are can't misses for me because they are very insightful
00:25:13.700and fresh on what what's happening with those issues of the day and it gets everybody buzzing
00:25:19.100and it really helps um it really helps every everyone else kind of put the rest of the event
00:25:24.800into context um you know aside from that you've got um uh fireside chats um i'm really interested
00:25:34.560to hear um uh country chair stazio west who's going to be sitting down with pier mansbridge
00:25:40.800who is going to be talking about not just what's very exciting for the country,
00:25:48.500the largest infrastructure project in Canada, the LNG,
00:25:51.520that's starting its first exports to Asia of Canadian LNG.
00:25:56.800I'll be looking to hear some insights on, and I know the rest of the country will,
00:26:01.180is that something that we can continue to grow and build on in East and West?
00:26:08.200I'll be looking out for conversations about pipelines.
00:29:55.020We see ourselves as DMG as stewards of this event.
00:29:59.080As you asked off the top, this is going back to the late 1960s.
00:30:02.760And we got a big responsibility to do our part as the organizers for the event right now to ensure that it's got another wonderful 50 years ahead of it.