Let's Get Together in Toronto
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.
February 21st, 2006 at 8:38 am
It's about time!
February 21st, 2006 at 9:54 am
I agree! I'll certainly want to participate.
February 21st, 2006 at 10:37 am
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.
February 21st, 2006 at 11:07 am
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.
February 21st, 2006 at 11:25 am
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 -
February 21st, 2006 at 11:59 am
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).
February 21st, 2006 at 1:57 pm
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?
February 21st, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Count me in!
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 am
Great news!
-Randy
February 22nd, 2006 at 7:21 am
Count me in for sure!
February 22nd, 2006 at 8:16 am
Hi Mark,
This is a great idea. I would love to help out with this.
Thanks for organizing.
siobhan
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:01 pm
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
February 24th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Mark let me know if I can help you with anything, the Blogonomics Business Blog Cruise has opened my eyes on planning an event.
http://www.blogonomics.net
Jim Turner
http://www.OneByOneMedia.com
March 5th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
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.