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Monthly Archives: January 2012

Scott McCloud is a great storyteller. Be it in his own comics, writing about making comics or in his talks as below.

Anyone interested in presentations and storytelling could benefit from a look at his classic Making Comics.

From TED:
In this unmissable look at the magic of comics, Scott McCloud bends the presentation format into a cartoon-like experience, where colorful diversions whiz through childhood fascinations and imagined futures that our eyes can hear and touch.

This is very last minute but….

We are producing an in-house publication called SPIDER (Social, People, Ideas+Information, Design, Entrepreneurship and Rock’n'roll).

We have some extra pages and were considering ads, but have decided instead that art would be better. The theme of the first issue is failure. Now the work does not have to have failure as a theme – but if so, bonus.

It will be printed in full color at 8.5×11.

Interested?
Email rob@aquietrevolution.com
Please include samples + terms for use.

Thanks

Location: Alderney Landing: Third Floor Boardroom
Time: 9:15am <- On a Sunday. Clearly they do not know me. I'll be there in body for certain at least....

Description:
Everything’s changing. Scary for many yet the opportunity is there for real change for good. Get some context on what’s happening, why it won’t be stopping and how causing some disruptions of your own can be the change we all need.

Check out all the sessions

About Podcamp Halifax
On Sunday, January 22, 2012 Halifax, NS will be showing its true colours as the interactive, wired city that it has quickly become. The fourth annual Podcamp Halifax being held at Alderney Landing will feature blogging, mobile, podcasts and online video as its stars, bringing in experts and hobbyists alike to revel in social media’s glory.

Podcamp Halifax was founded by Ryan Deschamps, Jon McGinley and Craig Moore and first launched 2009. In 2011 we added Bessy Nikolaou to the organizational team. Now after its fourth iteration, we’ve got Tracy Boyer Morris and Joanne Macrae from the Hub Halifax on the team, and friendly neighbourhood web designers at hi there. We are looking forward to 2012 for a bigger and more exciting event.

A Podcamp is meant to have an open, participatory, user-generated series of presentations, discussions, or workshops. The people who attend are the presenters. In typical unconference style, audience members are encouraged to make the most of the experience by following their interests and allowing the conversation to flow both in and outside of the presentations.

We’re offering a 20% discount on social media training sessions or workshops booked by the end of January that can take place any time in 2012.

How it Works:
1) See below for topics and what we need to know from you.
2) With an idea in mind contact us at 902-402-1828 for a quick conversation (~15 minutes).
3) We will follow-up within two business days with a quote and proposal.
4) The quote will show the discount and remaining balance. If you accept the quote, pay a deposit of 1/3 of the balance by Jan.31st and you get your savings.

If You Have Yet To Embrace Social Media, You’re Missing Out
Facebook currently has over 800 million users, 50% of whom log in on any given day. Twitter has 100 million active users logging in at least once a month and 50 million active users every day.
While Youtube has 800 million unique users visit each month who watch over 3 billion videos are a day (YouTube mobile gets over 400 million views a day). And these are just the big three; ignoring LinkedIn for business professionals, blogging sites, niche networks and so much more (like mobile usage).

With all those users online looking to interact, social media can be used to impact a number of aspects of your business or organization. Some key areas you can use social media to impact include sales, customer service/support, research, and branding/marketing.

But We Understand Your Hesitation
IBM conducted a study last year polling chief marketing officers of global brands. The number one technology they plan to increase use of in the next 3-5 years is social media. Yet, the number two area they feel unprepared for: social media! (#1 was the data explosion).

Small businesses are not faring much better. While 88% recognise the potential of social media as well as that it has or will impact their company, 67% won’t be making additional investments in their social media marketing in 2012 (assuming they made any to start with).

Small business owners are overwhelmed feeling there are too many different social networking sites to manage, suffering from information overload and not having enough staff to assist.

We can help address each of those issues for small businesses while helping businesses of any size prepare for the changing culture brought about thanks to the rise of social media. Whether you need advice on where and how to start, to implementing specific goals to time management tricks – we can help you.

ALL SESSIONS INCLUDE (where applicable):
1) a workbook summarizing ideas, with worksheets, case studies and resources;
2) follow up for questions, seeking additional resources etc. (specifics determined based on attendees/companies involved);
3) an email containing a list + PDF of all online resources mentioned for easy visiting of such sites and;
4) access to a private feed/newsletter of targeted social media info for attendees with need to know updates/changes related to topics covered

All sessions and case studies are custom built to service your industry and needs.

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU/YOUR ORGANIZATION
1) Topics of interest from above [if something is missing, please ask us about it]
2) Your industry
3) # of attendees
4) General level of experience with social media [Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced]
5) Time available/desired: Set # of hours, half day, full day, two days
6) Location – on site, off site

The regular price for a half-day (up to 4 hours) session starts at $1,500.00 plus travel costs.

Continue reading for Topics
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It’s not often that I have anything positive to say about Facebook but I thought this was a nice little feature.

Was looking for something a while ago and in the process was presented with a list of nearby businesses [of which exactly zero are nearby what I was looking for - or each other for that matter, but we'll ignore that for the moment].

What caught my eye was a status on opening/closing for businesses listed. Reflections – a bar – was still open for a few hours. While Two If By Sea, was hours away from opening for a coffee+giant cookie.

I have some issues with the person Steve Jobs was – the abandoning of a young daughter tops the list – but for all his flaws when he had the right idea: he nailed it.

I hope everyone that sees this can keep this in mind through the coming year and be the kind of influence they think the world needs.

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you’re life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

- Steve Jobs

A life plan for disruption!