Marketing Monster

Ever notice that the more interested you are in a subject and the busier you are, the faster time flies? Well, that would explain how I arrived at March 3rd while feeling like it should be January 15th. Here’s a brief recap of all the great things that happened, in addition to client work (which is, of course, one of the best things to have happened):

Twestival Montreal – With only a few weeks to  plan the event, I worked with a great volunteer team to raise more than $5,100 for  charity: water. Our target was $4,000; enough to build one well in Africa. Knowing that we’ve given people the gift of clean water, saving lives in the process and helping a community thrive, was worth all of the stress, my brief illness and serious lack of sleep.

The event wrap up has the full list of sponsors, volunteers and links to photos and video coverage. Thanks to everyone who  supported the event. You should be very proud of what you accomplished.

Collaboration – I’m a solo consultant, so I’m always looking for opportunities to collaborate with others on projects where I can put my skills to good use. I was fortunate to meet Mark Goren of Planting Seeds last year at a dinner in Montreal that I helped to arrange for Valeria Maltoni. Mark and I hit it off and have been collaborating on a few projects. I’m thrilled that we are working on a several new things to offer together in the coming year. Here’s one for team work!

2nd Social Media Marketing conference – I was invited to speak in Toronto about how brands can use Twitter. It was a small but lively group, where many were relatively new to Twitter and very few were tweeting on behalf of a brand.  I love speaking about Twitter and had fun presenting. I guess it showed.

(Thanks Colin!)

PodCamp Toronto – For my second time participating at PodCamp Toronto, I presented with Tracy Apps (@tapps) on video microblogging and communities. It was a blast! Tracy and I talked about the evolution of online communities and the different ways to participate in video.  Despite our faltering Internet connection, we managed to showcase a several services including Seesmic, Phreadz and 12seconds.tv, while giving mentions to Utterli, Tokbox and YouTube. We had great interaction and questions from the participants. You can download the Quicktime file of the stream or view Laurent Lasalle’s Qik of the session.

Congratulations to Sylvain Grand’Maison (who did TWO English presentations), Kim Valee, and the rest of the francophone contingent from Montreal who overcame language to make their mark on PodCamp Toronto. You did far more than most could do!

PodCamps are great for meeting friends that you don’t get to see very often or are meeting in the flesh for the first time. One of the highlights of the weekend for me was having dinner on Friday with Chris Brogan, Amber Nasland, Dave Fleet, Jeremy Wright, Dave Delaney, Merlene Paynter, Randy Matheson and Angela Misri. What a great mix of interesting and fun people that I can count as friends, new and old.

Skating Nut – Nothing could have capped off such a stellar month better than a visit by Laura Fitton (@Pistachio). Laura was on a mission to skate the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, and stayed at my home in Montreal on her way from Boston. We were up far too late catching up, but still managed to be happy and excited about our road trip the next morning.

Laura’s plans to skate the Rideau that day fell through when the Canal was closed due to poor ice conditions. Considering she’d driven 7.5 hours to be there and had the goal to skate the Canal for at least 5 years, did she fret about the timing? No way! Instead, she gamely accompanied my family to the Children’s Museum and called an impromptu Ottawa Tweet-up. Fortunately, the weather gods produced some very cold temperatures and the next day, Laura finally got her skate.

Seizing Opportunties – In retrospect, this action-packed February was about seizing opportunities and making the absolute best of things, despite obstacles. It was about taking a chance to get involved, making a difference, trying something new, working hard, sharing knowledge, meeting people face-to-face, collaborating and fostering friendship.

It was a blur.

It was wonderful.

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