LimeLight Communications Group Inc.

 Kim George isn’t about to let the gloomy reports of a downturned economy dampen her enthusiasm for business opportunities.

 “I don’t use the word recession,” says the ever-optimistic George, president of LimeLight Communications Group. “I prefer to say new economy.”
 
Business is “awesome” for her niche company, which delivers “inspiring speakers and show shopping entertainers” for corporate conferences. Last year, the dynamic Nova Scotia-based LimeLight hummed along with a 60 per cent growth while many businesses were in retreat.
The key to her success, she explains, is commanding the niche and always delivering top-notch results for her clients and her ever-expanding roster of inspirational speakers, musicians and entertainers.
 
“We look after our clients, and we look after our people as well,” says George. “Building a rapport on both sides is key to our success.”
 
Born in Dartmouth, she moved frequently with her family across the country until finally returning to Nova Scotia to finish high school. She left again to study marketing and public relations in Alberta, then settled back in Nova Scotia in 1988. “I had to get back home,” she says.
 
Having inherited her father’s business drive and entrepreneurial spirit, she soon joined the dynamic marketing team at Air Nova (now Air Canada Jazz). After that, she moved on to help with the start-up of radio station Sun FM.
 
“Still, I always wanted to start my own business.”
 
With her background in public relations, marketing and sales, George was well suited to starting her own firm. She operated her own marketing consulting firm PromoWorks for eight years, working with a number of local companies to build and implement marketing plans.
 
But when she organized a conference for the former Federal Business Development Bank (FBDB), she found her calling.  She credits her current career path with the first speaker she booked for that retail conference back in 1995 — greengrocer and inspirational speaker Pete Luckett.
 
“The rest, they say, is history,” laughs George. “Pete came out and delivered a great presentation. Afterward, he told me he’d been doing some speaking and was looking for someone to represent him.”
 
“I remember thinking how weird it was to market a person.”
She quickly recognized the potential in the local market for delivering dynamic guest speakers and entertainers for the busy conference industry. So in 2003, she started LimeLight Communications. It’s a niche that George has carefully carved for her company.
 
“We’re not meeting planners and don’t do logistics for the meeting. We handle what happens behind the podium and on the stage.”
 
LimeLight now has more than100 speakers, musicians and comedians on its roster. The company is an active member of Meeting Professionals International, and George is the current president of the Atlantic Canadian chapter. The group recently launched Vertigo, an initiative to encourage environmental sustainability in planning meetings, while reducing the carbon footprint from those events.
 
George has been able to steadily grow her business, while expanding the markets where she operates. Most of her business is in Atlantic Canada, but about 20 per cent is done in the US.
 With a versatile roster and an intuitive talent for matching speakers and entertainers with the client, LimeLight can undertake most any challenge.
 
Last year, LimeLight was contracted to provide Nova Scotia entertainment for the annual Christmas tree lighting in Boston. George decided to mix it up by moving away from Nova Scotia’s famed Celtic music tradition, and booked Juno-winning bluesman Garrett Mason. It was huge hit.
 
LimeLight has also worked with international performer and producer David Foster, coordinating his Star Search Atlantic to uncover new talent for his gala fundraising event in Halifax in March 2007.
 
They handle busy corporate speaker Tyler Hayden, General Rick Hiller, florist Neville MacKay, environmentalist David Suzuki, comedian Bill Carr and dozens more. George prides herself on being able to match the right speaker for any event.
 
“We have such a talent pool of creative people here…. I’m working in my own backyard for sure, but I can do business anywhere from here.”
 
LimeLight is a member of the International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB), which allows the company to connect with other agencies around the world.
 
“If you want Al Gore or Bono, we have the connections to try and put that together.”
While her business continues to expand into exciting new markets, George says Nova Scotia is the best place to call home.
 
“We’re a small province, but there’s something special here. Relationships and connectivity are very important in doing business.
 
“I’m deeply proud to live and work here. I chose to come back here, and to make my business successful — I don’t have to go anywhere else.”