Several communities gathered at the Uniplex Wednesday for the Main Street Conference.

Entrepreneur, real estate developer, professor at the Telfer School of Management, and founder of the Ottawa Senators, Bruce Firestone was the keynote speaker covering the topic of entrepreneurs and their role in creating vibrant downtown's.

Firestone said the hardest part in getting these main street programs underway is getting the community on board.

"It's a big hurdle, not everyone likes change and not everyone is comfortable with that so you have to have your council, the mayor, or councillors, economic planners, urban planners, and of course the community has to support change or you'll just do what you've always done and there won't be any change."

He added that entrepreneurs disrupt the normal course of events which helps with the success of revitalizing downtown's.

Firestone plans to revitalize a community in Saskatchewan and part of that plan is to start up a reality TV show, "I'd like to come back to Saskatchewan, next year I'm writing a book and I come back in June and i thought maybe I'll double end it and see if I can propose something to HGTV which would be to look at a town and animate the town and get the whole town involved, I think it would be a lot of fun."

Animating a town was another point Firestone shared in his presentation, "animation is all about mixing together different uses, it's about making your place a walk-able place and it's about being a bit more flexible in terms of economic development but also its about making your community a learning place."

Downtown's and communities as a whole need to be focused on people instead of being built for cars according to Firestone.

Firestone's full interview with Bolt FM's Angie Dukart can be heard below.