Workshops by Series

Before embarking on your venture, understanding the problem you're trying to solve is an important step in validating your business idea. This workshop will introduce you to key research strategies and resources that will support you research your problem

In this workshop, you will:

✅ Understand why it’s important to learn about a problem before trying to solve it

✅ Identify impact gaps between problems and solutions using the Impact Gaps Canvas

✅ Learn where to find information using library resources

✅ Gain essential searching skills using Omni and library databases

Who should attend? TMU students of all disciplines, aspiring entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to ground their ideas with research. In order to access library resources in this workshop, you need to be a current member of TMU, such as a student, Zone member, faculty, instructor or staff.

No prior entrepreneurship experience or venture idea required! If you’re interested in entrepreneurship but don’t have an idea yet, this workshop will be useful in helping you build key research skills using proprietary business databases.

Get recognized for your skills! This workshop is badged. Learn more about how to earn a badge.

Understanding your industry is an essential step when starting a new venture. It will help you become aware of trends, understand competitive forces, identify emerging opportunities, and more. This workshop will introduce you to key research strategies and resources that will support you when doing industry research.

In this workshop, you will learn:

✅ How to identify your industry

✅ Where to find industry information at the library

✅ How to read an industry report

Who should attend? TMU students of all disciplines, aspiring entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to ground their ideas with research. In order to access library resources in this workshop, you need to be part of the TMU community as a student, Zone founder, faculty, staff, etc.

No prior entrepreneurship experience or venture idea required! If you’re interested in starting a business but don’t have an idea yet, this workshop will be useful in helping you build research skills using proprietary library business databases.

Get recognized for your skills! This workshop is badged. Learn more about how to earn a badge.

To learn more about conducting secondary market research for a new venture, this workshop is best when taken alongside the following workshops: Competitor Research: Know your Rivals, and Market Research: Customers and Consumers.

This virtual 30‑minute lunchtime session, led by a Medical Librarian at the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library introduces clinical faculty to the library’s core services, collections, and support for teaching, research, and clinical practice. The session is designed to be concise and practical. 

By the end of the session, faculty will: 

• Understand the scope of medical library services and collections available both in person and online 
• Navigate and access key library resources for teaching and research 
• Establish a point of contact for ongoing collaboration with library staff

Understanding the competitive landscape will give your venture an advantage. Discover how library resources can help you identify competitors and find company profiles for private and public companies.

In this workshop, you will learn:

✅ Where to find company profiles and financials

✅ How to identify competitors, both direct and indirect

✅ How to create company lists and map business locations

Who should attend? TMU students of all disciplines, aspiring entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to ground their ideas with research. In order to access library resources in this workshop, you need to be a current member of TMU, such as a student, Zone member, faculty, instructor or staff.

No prior entrepreneurship experience or venture idea required! If you’re interested in starting a business but don’t have an idea yet, this workshop will be useful in helping you build research skills using proprietary library business databases.

Get recognized for your skills! This workshop is badged. Learn more about how to earn a badge.

To learn more about conducting secondary market research for a new venture, this workshop is best when taken alongside the following workshops: Industry Research: Big Picture Trends, and Market Research: Customers and Consumers.

Understanding consumer trends and identifying your target market is important to building a successful business. Discover free and library resources to help you understand your audience through secondary market research.

In this workshop, you will learn:

✅ Where to find consumer market reports and data

✅ How to find information on target market segments (demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural)

✅ The differences between primary and secondary research, with a small intro to primary research methods

Who should attend? TMU students of all disciplines, aspiring entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to ground their ideas with research. In order to access library resources in this workshop, you need to be a current member of TMU, such as a student, Zone member, faculty, instructor or staff.

No prior entrepreneurship experience or venture idea required! If you’re interested in starting a business but don’t have an idea yet, this workshop will be useful in helping you build research skills using proprietary library business databases.

Get recognized for your skills! This workshop is badged. Learn more about how to earn a badge.

To learn more about conducting secondary market research for a new venture, this workshop is best when taken alongside the following workshops: Industry Research: Big Picture Trends, and Competitor Research: Know your Rivals.

Representation matters. Not just on screens and pages, but in the information and data we share. Join us at the School of Medicine in Brampton, Ontario to celebrate National Indigenous History Month by learning to edit Wikipedia. Anyone can make a difference by helping to improve coverage of Indigenous histories online. Come for community, and learn to edit Wikipedia pages if you're new!

This event is open to the TMU Community. We will begin at noon with a keynote by Connie Walker. Connie will deliver a talk titled Truth Before Reconciliation which will explore truth and agency and their relationship to the creation of narratives in our news media and sources like Wikipedia.

Connie Walker is a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist and host of the acclaimed podcasts Stolen and Missing & Murdered. Her work has exposed the crisis of violence in Indigenous communities and the devastating impacts of intergenerational trauma stemming from Indian Residential Schools.

A member of the Okanese First Nation, Walker has spent over two decades shedding light on often overlooked stories within Indigenous communities. Walker’s podcast Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s, is one of the most comprehensive investigations into a single Canadian residential school. The series won a Pulitzer Prize and a Peabody Award, becoming the first podcast to win both awards in the same year. The podcast also won an Edward R. Murrow Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, a National Magazine Award (Ellie) from the American Society of Magazine Editors, and an honourable mention from the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma.

Walker is an Assistant Professor and the Velma Rogers Research Chair in the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The keynote will followed by optional training for beginners. Collective editing will begin after the training. Drop in and out anytime.

A warm lunch will be provided. Please inform us of any dietary upon registration. While we will do our best, requests after this date may not be accommodated.

Bring your own laptop. Laptops will not be provided.

Participants will be eligible to win gift cards to Good Minds.

Finding the TMU School of Medicine 

This event is hybrid. The in-person event will take place in Room 117 and 118 at the School of Medicine. The School of Medicine is located at 150 Central Park Dr, Brampton, ON L6T 2T9. The zoom link will be emailed to you upon registration.

Access to the library: Access to TMU buildings requires a OneCard. Someone will be at the entrance to the TMU School of Medicine until 12:15 pm to assist with wayfinding. The Library is located at 150 Central Park, Brampton, Ontario. If you arrive after 12:15 or have issues with access, contact the workshop facilitators via email.

The National Indigenous History Month Wikipedia Edit-a-thon is sponsored by Wikimedia Canada. 

This virtual 30‑minute lunchtime session, led by a Medical Librarian at the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library introduces clinical faculty to the library’s core services, collections, and support for teaching, research, and clinical practice. The session is designed to be concise and practical. 

By the end of the session, faculty will: 

• Understand the scope of medical library services and collections available both in person and online 
• Navigate and access key library resources for teaching and research 
• Establish a point of contact for ongoing collaboration with library staff

This workshop is one of two that focus on developing Generative AI fluency. AI Fluency 1 introduces the idea of defining goals and delegating tasks, as well the development of techniques to prompt iteratively. Participants will explore the strengths and limitations of large language models (LLMs) such as Gemini and Gen AI tools within library databases and discuss how to define a project, guide the AI's process, and specify desired performance to achieve results that align with their goals. 

This session is eligible for two TMU Libraries badges. Badges are meant to recognize that you’ve developed a particular skill or concept through attendance at a library workshop, and completion of an activity after the session. There are two types of badges we offer:

1) badges for individual workshops which recognize specific skills, and

2) stacked badges, showing you have completed 3-5 workshops in a group of related workshops and demonstrating the interrelated nature of the different skills.

Artificial Intelligence Fluency 1 can be used to earn two individual badges, or as a component of the Artificial Intelligence Fluency badge.  Complete both Artificial Intelligence workshops and the four associated activities to earn the Artificial Intelligence Fluency badge.

This workshop is the second of two that focus on developing Generative AI fluency using the framework of Delegation, Description, Discernment and Diligence. 

Discernment & Diligence introduces the idea of determining the usefulness and accuracy of Generative AI outputs and using them ethically and appropriately. Participants will explore the strengths and limitations of large language models (LLMs) such as Gemini and Gen AI tools within library databases and discuss how to decide if a tool is good for the task at hand, guiding AI towards your vision for success, and ensuring you are operating within the bounds of university policy and ethical AI use.

This session is eligible for two TMU Libraries badges. Badges are meant to recognize that you’ve developed a particular skill or concept through attendance at a library workshop, and completion of an activity after the session. There are two types of badges we offer:

1) badges for individual workshops which recognize specific skills

2) stacked badges, showing you have completed 3-5 workshops in a group of related workshops and demonstrating the interrelated nature of the different skills.

Artificial Intelligence: Discernment and Diligence can be used to earn two individual badges, or as a component of the Artificial Intelligence Fluency badge. Complete both Artificial Intelligence workshops and the associated activities to earn the Artificial Intelligence Fluency badge. 

Expectations for Participants: The session is designed to be interactive, and collaborative. You will be invited to participate in small group activities and discussion.

A note for the group-activity-averse: If you usually shy away from group work, please don’t let the mention of small group activities deter you. The group portion will be brief, just around 10 minutes, and we’ve designed it to be light, and manageable. No pressure, no overwhelm. Promise.

If you have any questions about this workshop, email Magdalen Sinson at msinson@torontomu.ca or Sonya Panangaden at sonya.panangaden@torontomu.ca

This virtual 30‑minute lunchtime session, led by a Medical Librarian at the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library introduces clinical faculty to the library’s core services, collections, and support for teaching, research, and clinical practice. The session is designed to be concise and practical. 

By the end of the session, faculty will: 

• Understand the scope of medical library services and collections available both in person and online 
• Navigate and access key library resources for teaching and research 
• Establish a point of contact for ongoing collaboration with library staff

This virtual 30‑minute lunchtime session, led by a Medical Librarian at the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library introduces clinical faculty to the library’s core services, collections, and support for teaching, research, and clinical practice. The session is designed to be concise and practical. 

By the end of the session, faculty will: 

• Understand the scope of medical library services and collections available both in person and online 
• Navigate and access key library resources for teaching and research 
• Establish a point of contact for ongoing collaboration with library staff