Click here to view the [...]]]> I WANT TO WORK HERE… Karl, can ya get me in?

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Click here to view the [...]]]> Merry (digital) Christmas to you and yours!

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Are you as cooperative or as collaborative as you could be?

How well have you embraced enabling technologies?

Rheingold discusses the technologies of COOPERATION & SHARING economies. He hypothesizes that if in the past, new forms of cooperation created new forms of wealth we may be moving into yet another economic form [...]]]> Are you part of a smart mob?

Are you as cooperative or as collaborative as you could be?

How well have you embraced enabling technologies?

Rheingold discusses the technologies of COOPERATION & SHARING economies. He hypothesizes that if in the past, new forms of cooperation created new forms of wealth we may be moving into yet another economic form that is significantly different …

Are you prepared?

Take 20 minutes, have a listen, ponder the possibilities, then think about your answer.

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Howard Rheingold on Collaboration

Question of the day

If your answer is “no, you’re not prepared”, what are you going to do about it?

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Click here to view the [...]]]> Click here to view the embedded video.

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There it was. In print. The brochure arrived.The annual event that I look forward to year after year.

Finally in 2010, after 20 years of membership in the association, I’m achieving a milestone. I’m on the agenda for the 2010 IABC Word Conference, taking place in my home city of Toronto. I won’t be playing the role [...]]]>

There it was. In print. The brochure arrived.The annual event that I look forward to year after year.

Finally in 2010, after 20 years of membership in the association, I’m achieving a milestone. I’m on the agenda for the 2010 IABC Word Conference, taking place in my home city of Toronto. I won’t be playing the role of sage on stage. I won’t be at the microphone talking at an audience for an hour. Instead, I’ll be joining three others in facilitating a conversation.  An approach that I think is far more fun!

I’m both honoured and excited to join an international crew Bryan Person from Texas, Jeremy Schulz from Arizona and Christopher Swan from California in facilitating a three hour Unconference Session, entitled Emerging Communication Channels

Beyond a love for warmer climates, we all share sense for what’s possible, a passion for marketing and communications, an interest in social media, and an obvious infatuation with technology and new ideas. It was these that brought us together at last year’s IABC World Conference. The four of us first met online through the conversations that took place through the outtathegate campaign. That was the start of a great collaborative experience. We continued  our conversations long after the 2009 conference, brainstormed some ideas and then pitched a few to IABC for this year and… tada…this session was the result.

I think this is a prime example of how a conversation between strangers with something in common, backed by the power of social media can lead to an incredible exchange of ideas and the creation of something wonderful.

Just how wonderful? You’ll have to be part of our unconference session to find out!

We’d be honoured if you join our conversation…

Click here to view the [...]]]> Some messages should just be shared. And, then shared again. Pass it on…

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What Matters Now is the latest free  e-book from Seth Godin and friends -it’s provocative, insightful, inspiring and just plain powerful!

Download it, read it, live it….just trust me on this…this IS what [...]]]>

What Matters Now is the latest free  e-book from Seth Godin and friends -it’s provocative, insightful, inspiring and just plain powerful!

Download it, read it, live it….just trust me on this…this IS what matters now.

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue [...]]]> What a great day at the SME Technology Summit 2009 This was an AWESOME way to kick off the month. HUGE thanks go out to @trib aka Stephen Collins whose generosity made it possible for me to attend. “You da man!”

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue – well chosen! The Insight Exchange team ran a great conference and they diligently made sure that the speakers and delegates alike enjoyed the day’s experience.

The keynote speakers – Tim Pethick and Mark Pesce were both compelling and knowledgeable. I thank them for sharing their experiences, their thought provoking ideas and predictions for the future. It was obvious to those in the room that a future that relies heavily upon technology is as real for SMEs as it is for large multinationals.

I came away from these sessions reassured that I am one of the lucky ones. I get this stuff. I already have many of the skills necessary to participate and even lead in the use of technology in meeting the strategic marketing and communications agendas of organisations, large, small and anywhere in between.

Throughout the day, I jumped across all three tracks (Marketing, Social Media and Effectiveness) in the sessions

I attended. I noted a number of tips from the presenters, learned of some terrific examples, many of which were tweeted by a vocal group of us who populated the hundreds of tweets that became the #smetech hash tag dialogue.

I also came away with a long list of things I must learn/do more about – including:

•    investigating freelancer.com (and other such offerings) as both a buyer and supplier of services,
•    joining the Australian Business Women’s Network and possibly AIMIA
•    diving deeper into the sea of analytics
•    continuing my own efforts in blogging, podcasting, tweeting and so on…
•    pursuing potential opportunities with a number of the presenting companies
•    and furthering the conversations/connections, online and off,  that began face to face today with a number of fabulous and talented people

Attending an event like this really brings home the need for both community and conversation in our professional lives. I’m grateful I could take advantage of this opportunity. Now, it’s time to leverage it and see how far I the journey will continue past this first step!

Thanks to the organizers, the venue staff, the speakers, the sponsors and the many delegates who all did their part in making the day worthwhile.

After social networks, what next?

Are social networks [...]]]> PDA, the digital content blog, featured a recent post that highlighted the discussions of a star-studded internet rock star panel who met at Said Business School in Oxford recently to discuss the future of the web. These great technology minds considered some basic, yet tough and far reaching questions including:

After social networks, what next?

Are social networks the internet’s last big development? And how much will they change?

Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal  and was an early investor in Facebook and LinkedIn reminded everyone to evaluate first what stage we’re at with social networks and suggested that maybe there is no innovation left any more, and we have to look for it in a completely different direction.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s CEO was quite sure that  for him, Peter’s suggestions were not the case, there was further innovation to come and that using open technology, open platforms that encourage transparency is where we’ll continue to go and that this open exchange of information will create a resounding global impact.

Ram Shriram, a founding board member of Google and one of the search giant’s first investors, moved discussions to the mobile internet, suggesting quite assuredly that “Combining social and mobile – there is a new wave of opportunities coming up, a growth of users, so mobile internet is clearly the next major computing cycle.”

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman observed,  “I actually think we are just beginning to see how people launch the eventualities of social networks into their life.”

Given that so much information is now being generated through social networks, but we’re just getting started on determining what can be done with it. Oxford lecturer, Dr Kate Blackmon summed up the discussions  in a nutshell in saying that the future was not about crowd sourcing but crowd filtering.

So, where is the web going? Who can really say for sure. There are  many questions, a few sound predictions, but no clear agreement about exactly where the web is headed. Personally, I’m fine with that, because for me, not knowing and being there to evolve along with it is half the fun. Besides, if these web-savvy minds can’t come to a clear agreement or shared predictions, how can I?

I know one thing though, I’ll be sailing on into the future of the web, clutching tightly to my mobile.

Question of the day:

After social networks, what do you think is next?