Last month, a few of us (entrepreneur Michael Mcderment, lawyer Rob Hyndman, Globe & Mail journalist Mathew Ingram and marketing whiz Stuart Macdonald, who started Expedia.ca) got together to talk about blogging and all the cool things happening within the Web 2.0 world. After awhile, someone brought up all the interesting conferences happening such as Northern Voice, Les Blogs and LIFT - and why there wasn't something like this going on in Toronto. Well, one thing led to another and we've decided to have a conference in early-May in Toronto. Why such a rash decision? Well, we're enthusiastic bloggers and we're excited about the idea of an event where people can get a better understanding of the impact the blogosphere is having on the media, P.R./marketing, business/finance and politics/society. We haven't got a cool name yet but we have been busy lining up keynotes, panelists and moderators. We're hoping to capture the same kind of enthusiasm, spirit and interactivity as other conferences and local events such as BarCamp and TorCamp. To make sure the conference flows with conversation and ideas, it would be great if the community can help us with suggestions about ideas/topics they would like to see on the schedule, tips on what worked well at other events, and some of the pitfalls we need to avoid. We're really excited about this event because it's important to get together, learn and exchange ideas. There will be more details to follow in the next few weeks.
|
||||
|
Mark Evansthe blog - examines the world of telecom and technology from a distinctly Canadian perspective.the person - lives in Toronto, CA with his wife and three children, and works as director of community with PlanetEye Inc. 
|
Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 07:59 AM EST | Permanent Link
Last month, a few of us (entrepreneur Michael Mcderment, lawyer Rob Hyndman, Globe & Mail journalist Mathew Ingram and marketing whiz Stuart Macdonald, who started Expedia.ca) got together to talk about blogging and all the cool things happening within the Web 2.0 world. After awhile, someone brought up all the interesting conferences happening such as Northern Voice, Les Blogs and LIFT - and why there wasn't something like this going on in Toronto. Well, one thing led to another and we've decided to have a conference in early-May in Toronto. Why such a rash decision? Well, we're enthusiastic bloggers and we're excited about the idea of an event where people can get a better understanding of the impact the blogosphere is having on the media, P.R./marketing, business/finance and politics/society. We haven't got a cool name yet but we have been busy lining up keynotes, panelists and moderators. We're hoping to capture the same kind of enthusiasm, spirit and interactivity as other conferences and local events such as BarCamp and TorCamp. To make sure the conference flows with conversation and ideas, it would be great if the community can help us with suggestions about ideas/topics they would like to see on the schedule, tips on what worked well at other events, and some of the pitfalls we need to avoid. We're really excited about this event because it's important to get together, learn and exchange ideas. There will be more details to follow in the next few weeks.Comments
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mobilemedia
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 08:38 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
It's about time!
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 09:54 AM EST | Permanent Link
I agree! I'll certainly want to participate.
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Darren Barefoot
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 10:37 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
You need a cool name.
I'd be happy to come east and yammer on about something, as long as I'm allowed three free shots at the Leafs. Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 10:43 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
how about northern voice (east)...:)....we'd love to have you participate.......any ideas/suggestions would be great.
mark Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Darren Barefoot
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 02:01 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
We had originally planned Northern Voice to be 'Northern Voice YVR', so that other Canadian cities could do their own version. We kind of dispensed with that when nobody else took us up on it.
I'd have to confirm with the organizers, but I'm pretty sure that we'd be happy to loan you the branding and could set you up with a sub-domain on the NV site. When I first thought of Northern Voice, I ran a little ad hoc survey on my site to guage interest. Here are the results. I'd recommend running a similar survey, and soliciting what people would look for from the event. In my view, there are three categories for blogging conferences: business, technology and social (which is what NV mostly has been). They're not mutually-exclusive, and can co-exist, but that's the way I break it down in my head. There are, I think, three analogous audiences with some overlap. I wouldn't necessarily aspire to serve all three in one event, though. So, start with a survey, see where that gets with you, and plan accordingly. I'd be happy to provide any informal (read, minor) assistance or advice to the organizers, and would probably apply to speak at the event. Re: Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Darren Barefoot
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 02:17 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
One further note--obviously there'd be some marketing value in building on the NV name.
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Jeremy
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 11:07 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Yes, yes, yes!
I would absolutely LOVE to be involved in this (any way I can). I'm in New Brunswick right now, but I'll be back in Toronto March 6-10 (for the Naked Conversations dinner at the Peel). Love to brainstorm, work with whoever to setup websites / blogs, speak, anything. Toronto has needed this for a long, long time. Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 11:25 AM EST | Permanent Link
Seeing one of Toronto's mnay nicknames is "The Big Smoke" and the rest of these events have quirky names anyway - how about "The Big SmokeIN" Hell, at least it's original -
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
memer
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 11:59 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
It is surprising something like this hasn't happened in ol' tee dot yet. Does that say something about Toronto cynicism?
As for names, I'll try a hacky play on hobknobbing, blogging, and Toronto's old nickname, "hogtown:" HogBlog 2006 (cuz "TorBlog" doesn't cut it). Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
bigfish
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 01:57 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
My suggestion is to make the focus of the conference clear. At northern voice a good 30% of the audience were people who had a blog that was their first site and they had maybe 100 visitors/day. I'm not sure that you can do a conference that focus's on both blogs and web 2.0 as the education level of the audience will be all over the map.. Would i be wrong in assuming that the web 2.0 aspects will draw developers/software people and blogging will draw hobbyists?
Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 02:08 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
thanks for the feedback! mark
Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Jeremy
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 03:09 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Agreed. Focus would be absolutely key. You'll get totally different audiences if this is a "blog-in" (ie: every blogger can come) vs a "business blogging" conference or even a "techy blogging" conference.
I love NV for the fact that it's much more "blog-in" than anything. I'd also recommend keeping the timeline fairly tight. NV this year was 3 days. I'd think for a first event, to make sure it works, 1 day would be fine. Also, I'm sure you could borrow the NV YVR idea and use a university premises. It would be much cheaper than a hotel location, and would allow you/us to network with student groups, journalism / business students, etc. The more I think about this, Mark, the more I love it. Great on you guys for thinking of doing this! Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Darren Barefoot
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 05:03 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
+1 on keeping the timeline tight. NV this year was actually only 2 days, but obviously that was trickier to organize than the 1 day conference the first year. +1 also on a university setting--that makes all the difference in price. Hotels will rob you blind for conference facilities.
If you'd like me to lay out the budget for NV for you, I'll be happy to. Re: Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Jeremy
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 05:42 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
I stand corrected. I think a multi-day event is great, I just think as a first one it makes sense to build the community and such.
NV is a fantastic brand, and hopefully the rest of the crew okays its use elsewhere! Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 10:48 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
glad you're so keen. any other suggestions/tips on panels, etc.?
mark Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Jeremy
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 01:27 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Mark, that would depend on a lot of factors. Is it to be a multi-track event (I'd vote yes)? What the focus will be, etc.
Looking forward to more info from you, Rob, and the team! As I said, happy to be a sounding board :) Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Darren Barefoot
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 01:45 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
A couple more random thoughts, the next day:
* To reiterate what I and others have said, decide on a focus. You can't be all things to all people. We chose the social and community angle because we felt there were plenty of related tech and business conferences on offer. * Be aware of the hidden costs of parties--they can get out of control if no monitored. * Two critical pain points for tech and blogging conferences: power bars and wifi. Really grill your venue on the wifi robustness. Trust me. * Make cool t-shirts, give them away to speakers and volunteers. People will do a lot for a free cool t-shirt. If you give them away, you also need to sell them at the event. Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Tris Hussey
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 02:59 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Count me in!
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 12:07 AM EST | Permanent Link
Great news!
-Randy Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Peter Flaschner
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 07:21 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Count me in for sure!
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Siobhan McLaughlin
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 08:16 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi Mark,
This is a great idea. I would love to help out with this. Thanks for organizing. siobhan Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Rochelle Grayson
on Thu 23 Feb 2006 03:01 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi Mark,
A great idea! I just organized VidCamp - The media 2.0 unConference here in Vancouver last friday. My start-to-finish planning spanned only one month and the response was quite incredible. Since this was the first time for the event, I chose to limit it to one day and that was plenty of time to spark conversations and initiate professional and personal connections. Many who attended said they look forward to future events and saw it only as the beginning of an ongoing conversation. I would definitely recommend clarifying what aspects of blogging (social vs. business) that you'd like to discuss. Even at VidCamp, it was clear that some people were using media 2.0 as pure marketing/branding tools, while others were more interested in concrete business models. It is very possible to combine the two conversations, but it helps if people have a sense beforehand of the perpspective(s) you plan to cover. I held VidCamp at a conference center largely due to the fact that I put it together in a month. Educational facilities are a great options, but book your date soon as space fills up quickly! If you have any other planning questions, I would be more than happy to share my experience in whatever way I can! Once again, great idea and I look forward to seeing the Toronto unConference realized! -Rochelle Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Thu 23 Feb 2006 03:18 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
thanks for the note. we have a good idea of focus but we're definitely interested in what makes a conference call alive in terms of sparking ideas, conversation, etc. any tips you can pass along would be great.
mark Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Fri 24 Feb 2006 01:17 PM EST | Permanent Link
Mark let me know if I can help you with anything, the Blogonomics Business Blog Cruise has opened my eyes on planning an event.
www.blogonomics.net Jim Turner www.OneByOneMedia.com Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Fri 24 Feb 2006 01:27 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
if you've got any tips on how to make a conference work well - in terms of structure, format, interactivity tools,, that would be much appreciated.
thanks, mark Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Sun 05 Mar 2006 05:46 PM EST | Permanent Link
If you're thinking of a university to host the conference, think University of Toronto. I am part of a lab called Interactive Media Lab and we're doing research on blogs, social networks and Web 2.0. We've hosted a blogging workshop before at the CASCON conference and hosted a conference blog.
Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
GadgetMan
on Tue 07 Mar 2006 11:42 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi Mark,
Don't know if you've read my comment, but if you want to host sessions for talks and the conference itself, may I suggest University of Toronto. At the Bahen Centre for Information Technology, there are lots of rooms available that are adequate for a conference, in fact many conferences have been held at U of T. Also, here at the Interactive Media Lab, we're into blogging as part of our research and we've had experience in organizing a blogging workshop, so we could offer some suggestions. We'd also be happy to help out in anyway we can. At U of T, we have KMDI, which has a state of the art web conferencing system which can in real time do webcasts and archive them as well called ePresence. So by contacting us, we can try to get KMDI involved with this. Plus, I think lots of academics and students would be interested in attending if the price was right. Let me know if you would be interested in partnering with us and having our assistance. Re: Re: Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Mark Evans
on Wed 08 Mar 2006 06:51 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
sure, i'd be interested in talking about the lab's facilities. can you e-mail me your contact info to mevans@nationalpost.com?
Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Thu 26 Feb 2009 06:58 AM EST | Permanent Link
Thanks for good tips keep it up......
http://allnutri.com/pid1197/coleus+forskohlii+extract.aspx Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
by
Anonymous
on Thu 26 Feb 2009 06:59 AM EST | Permanent Link
Thanks for good tips keep it up......
http://allnutri.com/pid1197/coleus+forskohlii+extract.aspx Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
Actually these conferences should be organized more often and in all countries of the world because they are super interesting topics at the moment
Aprende a Trabajar en Internet
Don't waste another minute - by searching the internet
<a href="http://www.aprendeatrabajareninternet.blogspot.com/">Online Business</a> , There is nothing to lose, and everything to gain by getting on board now. Re: Let's Get Together in Toronto
Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, as about 49% of the population were born outside of Canada.A
|
My blog has moved.
Check out the new Mark Evans. It's part of my mini-blog empire that also includes All About Nortel and Twitterrati. You can subscribe to Mark Evans Tech by clicking on the RSS symbol above.
Check Out These Blogs
Search
Login
|
||
|
||||