C2 Montréal pauses 2026 edition to explore a new format
C2 Montréal is evolving. This will hardly come as a surprise to the thousands upon thousands of business innovators, entrepreneurs, C-level executives and creatives who have drawn inspiration from the annual, three-day gathering at the end of May. Founded on reimagination and embracing change, event organizers are now putting those principles into practice as they press pause on the 2026 edition of C2 Montréal to explore a new conference format.
Why C2 Montréal is a flagship event for change-makers
C2 Montréal operates at the intersection of business and creativity, exploring trends, opportunities and disruptions on the way to finding creative solutions to commercial problems.
Over the years, it’s been described as both business- and life-changing. Now change is once again a key driver behind C2 Montréal, which set out to reinvent the business conference at its inaugural edition in 2012, and will do so again in 2027 following a brief hiatus this year.
But first, a C2 Montréal “fun facts” primer:
- C2 stands for “Commerce + Creativity.”
- The one-of-a-kind conference was founded by Montréal creative agency Sid Lee and Cirque du Soleil.
- C2 Montréal has taken place at the historic New City Gas industrial complex in Griffintown, under a Big Top adjacent to and including Arsenal Contemporary Art (La Nesra) on the Lachine Canal, at Grandé Studios on the grounds of the former Grand Trunk Railway train repair yards, the prestigious Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel, and the Grand Quay of the Port of Montréal, among other venues.
- Described as a “playground for the imagination,” each year C2 reinvents the sprawling, lively indoor and outdoor site — known as the C2 Village — where the event takes place.
- Closing night party performers have included Moby, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Snoop Dogg and members of Arcade Fire.
A playground for the imagination
Among its many awards and accolades, Harvard Business Review called C2 Montréal “a conference unlike any other,” The Economist said it’s “challenging conventions,” and BizBash named it the Best Conference. Whatever else it may be, C2 Montréal, as they themselves like to say, “is not your father’s business conference.” And this is due to a number of different reasons:
- Globally renowned speakers and field-leading experts share their insights and challenge conventional thinking.
- C2 replaced PowerPoint presentations with 360-degree multimedia projections.
- Hotel conference rooms are largely shunned, giving way to thought-provoking, playful, in-house designed environments, stimulating art installations and conversation-starting meeting spaces.
- Workshops and masterclasses aren’t the sterile show-and-tells of yesteryear, but rather, places where ideas get put into practice and participants troubleshoot solutions to real-world problems.
C2 Montréal’s speakers are part of the “in” crowd
Innovative, inspirational, intriguing — just some of the “in” words that describe world-class speakers representing a broad range of sectors. Since its inception, C2 has provided an opportunity for conference participants to be in the same room and often rub shoulders with some of the great thinkers and doers of our time. The following are but a few examples of prominent voices from past years:
- Tech and innovation ground-breakers like Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, pioneering AI researcher Yoshua Bengio, e180 founder Christine Renaud (responsible for the Braindate shared-learning platform), and Segway inventor and businessman Dean Kamen.
- Top-tier sports figures such as champion alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, pro tennis player Andre Agassi, mixed martial arts champion Georges St-Pierre, world-famous skateboarder Tony Hawk, and pro tennis player and equality-in-sports activist Billie Jean King.
- A-list arts and entertainment creatives including rapper Snoop Dogg, filmmaker Spike Lee, actor and activist Jane Fonda, filmmaker James Cameron, and author Malcolm Gladwell.
- Business thought leaders and entrepreneurs like Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson, TV personality and businesswoman Martha Stewart, marketing executive extraordinaire Bozoma Saint John (Apple Music, Endeavor, Netflix etc.), best-selling author and historian Yuval Noah Harari, and The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington.
- Preeminent social and climate voices such as The Clinton Foundation’s Chelsea Clinton, environmental photographer Edward Burtynsky, marine biologist and oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, women’s and children’s rights activist Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and environment scientist and defender Dr. David Suzuki.
Embrace change at a new C2 Montréal in 2027
Every year, C2 has devised new, atypical and experimental brainstorming settings and learning environments designed to propel participants out of their comfort zones and towards thinking about challenges and innovation from a new perspective. And now it’s their turn. What the next iteration of C2 Montréal might look like is anybody’s guess, but if past precedent is any indication, next year’s event will once again see business and creativity cross swords in spectacular fashion.