Livre du jour : Comment bloguer dans un contexte d'affaires

Que je suis bien à Montréal! Après deux mois d'absence, je suis de retour dans notre belle ville et très contente d'apprendre l'excellente nouvelle suivante:

Le livre Comment bloguer dans un contexte d'affaires, une collaboration de plusieurs amis du blogosphère montréalais (Marc Snyder, Michel Leblanc, Marie-Chantale Turgeon, Philippe Martin, Sylvain Carle pour nommer que ceux-ci) est maintenant disponible en pré-vente. Précipitez-vous!

Des visages très familiers au Salon du Livre 2007, rien de moins.

Bravo!

Endorsements in the Social Media age

In today's blog, Donna Papacosta has publicly endorsed Tod Maffin, sharing information about his newest presentation, Recruiting in the Facebook Generation, with her readers. She describes him as a futurist, (...) brilliant and (...) funny as hell.

The immediacy of blog publication makes the already supportive environment of the social media community so easy.

So, I've decided to keep the cycle going.

Yesterday, I sat in on Donna's podcasting Webinar. Fantastic introduction to the world of podcasting by a highly respected mover-and-shaker. Donna's podcasts and blog are always full of interesting tips and tricks, most notably her checklist for podcasters, a must-read for anyone thinking about dipping a toe in the podcasting pool.

Donna, who is based in Southern Ontario, offers customized workshops to communicators and companies interested in exploring the social media landscape.

A very classy lady.

Toronto police and You Tube

Interesting tactic being used by Toronto police in the hopes of solving a homicide : they've released an audio excerpt onto You Tube in the hopes of attracting tips.

Audio here.

Geek Dinner : Toronto, Wednesday Aug 22nd, 6pm

I'm leaving Vancouver on Friday, after spending a great summer here on the coast, working, visiting family and making new friends. Vancouver's got a great blogger community and it was wonderful to meet some of the community's best and brightest face to face.

New horizons await : I'm heading to Toronto next to work, spend time with more family and start recording what should evolve into my own personal, limited edition podcast.

Mitch Joel is having a Geek Dinner on Wednesday the 22nd, at Eggplant at 236 King Street East.

Details here

If you're in town, join us. It's always a good time.

I digress ...

I love etymology. I've blogged about this already, but Charles Hodgson's new book, Carnal Knowledge, which was recently released in the States, is starting to cross the border into Canadian bookstores. Yesterday's trek to Vancouver's Chapters told me my visit was still premature, so I'm looking forward to picking it up when I fly to Toronto at the end of the week. Maybe even at the airport, Charles? His podcasts are perfect, short snippets of delicious information about the words we use and love.

The reason for my post? Other than to gloat once again about rubbing shoulders with a published author? Well, I learned the cool origin of an expression just now. I love it - thought I'd share :

Bread is buttered

Meaning: A person or place that has the potential to enrich.

Example: When her boss says jump, she says "how high", only because she knows where her bread is buttered.

Origin: The actual phrase is "knows which side her bread is buttered on." It is a reference to a Yiddish folk tale of the Wise men of Chelm.

In the tale, Chelm was a city in Poland where the people were incredibly stupid. One day someone dropped a piece of bread; it landed butter side up! Experience and Murphy's law tells us bread always falls buttered side down, the wise men of Chelm gathered to ponder why the bread landed buttered side up.

After a week the verdict was that the bread had been buttered on the wrong side.

So ... the phrase means "I'm not an idiot" (unlike the Wise men of Chelm). 1

Cool hmm?

So this blog entry is dedicated, not only to Charles, to whom I wish only the best with his book launch, but to my good friends from Montreal who are currently touring in their native Poland. Krzysztof Rucinski (a.k.a. Symeon Ruta) and (Marius) Nowak from Gedeon Jerubbaal : Great guys. I love them to death. Check out their MySpace page. They play in Ostroda on Saturday, if you happen to be in the neighbourhood.

1. source: http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm

Podcasting from your iPod

Tod Maffin gave me a great tip yesterday : I'm going to start recording a personal podcast through my iPod. Sorry, Mitch, but before dishing out $400 for a portable M-Audio MicroTrack, I've decided to test the waters for a more modest investment. I've picked up the iPod MicroMemo for $75 and the Memomic, iPod's "professional" lapel microphone, for $35. Just to be more professional-looking about the whole thing.

I was forced, against my will, to read the manual (being more of a trial and error person, myself, this was a daunting proposition). It was as tiny as an iPod and pretty straightforward. Whew.

You can record on low or high quality, and it all sounds surprisingly good through the earbuds. I'll know more when I convert it into an MP3. News at 11.

Now what is this personal podcast you ask? Well my fans might be disappointed to learn that the subject is quite niche, the idea being to try my hand at podcasting on a limited basis in order to be able to feel completely comfortable proposing it to my clients. To move beyond theory and actually get my elegant hands dirty.

This year marks my 20 year high school graduation (yes, folks, I graduated at 12. With honours.) Thanks to Facebook, I feel like I'm back in the gym at St Thomas Aquinas in Brampton Ontario again, re-acquainting myself with people I've known since I was 4. It's all been a little disconcerting, but other than the weird dream I had last night, none of it has provoked any bizarre flashbacks, so I think I'll be ok.

It's interesting (to me, and hopefully to a handful of other people) to find out what all these people have been up to -- and there are some surprises out there.

So I've approached a few of my former classmates and (hopefully) in the next few weeks will be launching a podcast that might interest about 60 people. A Where are they now, kind of deal with provocative interviews. Can't wait to watch those stats go through the roof and collect my Pullitzer (or the podcasting equivalent).

And yes, Virginia, the cheerleader DID marry the football player.

Thank you Mr Maffin, for taking me where no man has taken me before : to a Mac store. 'Twas lovely. I got shivers.

News of the day : CRTC

Former Radio-Canada editor Michel Morin has been appointed CRTC commissioner, a position that holds a 5-year mandate.

Morin spent more than 34 years in broadcasting and has been a journalist and economic news editor. Most recently, he was the chief editor of TV news for Radio-Canada and the French language news network RDI. (source: CBC)

Article here

Morin's nomination came courtesy of Heritage Minister Bev Oda. On an unrelated note, rumour has it that Ms Oda is on her way out. I can't say I know many artists who will be wearing black arm bands the day of Harper's cabinet shuffle.

Que faites vous le 3e mardi du mois d'octobre?

Je tourne mon regard de nouveau vers Montréal, pour constater que de plus en plus de professionnels chevronnés s'intéressent aux médias sociaux. Et je suis particulièrement heureuse de voir que mon mentor bien aimé, Alain Charbonneau (-ex journaliste, -ex Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosement, -ex Ville de Montréal et golfeur extraordinaire) s'est inscrit, aujourd'hui même, à Facebook.

Citoyens de la métropole s'intéressant aux médias sociaux prendre note : j'ai participé hier, à Vancouver, à une rencontre d'organisateurs du réseau Third Tuesday / Monday qui se préparent à lancer une série de soirées animées pour professionnels en relations publiques et marketing (et autres) dès le mois de septembre. On souhaite faire pareil à Montréal cet automne : je vous tiens au courant.

Ayant fait le voyage entre Montréal et Ottawa pour y participer à quelques reprises, je peux vous assurer que ça vaut le déplacement.

Parmi les conférenciers invités, par le passé, on trouve Shel Holtz, Shel Israel (guru et auteur de Naked Conversations), Jon Husband, Darren Barefoot, Colin McKay, Paul Wells (Maclean's), Stephen Taylor (Blogging Tories) et notre bon ami, Marc Snyder.

À suivre.

Book of the day: The Age of Conversation

Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan challenged bloggers around the world to contribute one page — 400 words — on the topic of “conversation”. The resulting book, The Age of Conversation, brings together over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators in a ground-breaking and unusual publication.

Published through Lulu.com, the online self-publishers, the proceeds from the sale of the book (cost less printing and publisher's commission) go to Variety, the Children's Charity. The editors of, and contributors to, this book have waived their rights to royalties in support of this charitable cause.

The book is available in hard cover, soft cover and e-book formats.

Includes a contribution by Canadian blogger Colin McKay.

Article of the Day: Slap in the Facebook: It's Time for Social Networks to Open Up

I'm loving Facebook - I'm having fun pushing its limits professionally, for my clients, while enjoying touching base with people I haven't seen in 20 years and with others I've been hoping to bump into again for a while.

That said, despite the hype, it's not the be-all-and-end-all. Scott Gilbertson of Wired does a good job of giving us a tour of the 'garden'.

Article here.

Now I just have to find the time to peruse all the goodies he's pointed us towards...

Plaxo's Pulse is first.

Thanks to Al Pasternak for the heads up. I'll take that as a thank you gift for introducing him to The Darylectones, who this weekend kindly gave me permission to use their music on the podcast I'm hoping to launch with one of my clients this fall. Check them out.

Video Site of the Day : My Ragan

My Ragan, the site for PR professionals, has (recently? today?) launched its MyRagan.tv site, offering resources for PR professionals who are more tv- than book- oriented.

Sit back, crack a cold one, and enjoy.

Blog Post of the Day : Mesh

I was disappointed not to be able to make the Mesh Conference in Toronto this past spring, but client priorities took precedence.

Luckily for me/for us, the Mesh organisers have most generously made videos of many of the presentations available through their website.

Summer blockbuster season has officially arrived!

Hope to be at Mesh '08.

Blog post of the Day : Donna Papacosta

I first met Donna Papacosta last June, at PAB2007 in Kingston. I was struggling with my Internet connection and she came over to offer her help. I looked up gratefully, thinking I was miraculously about to get back online, but instead received even more valuable advice about podcasting basics.

Today, Donna has posted a great checklist for beginning podcasters in her blog, Trafcom News.

Definitely worthy of a chapter in the ever-growing collection of tips and tricks I'm calling my Podcaster's Bible.

Vancouver : staying connected

Have I mentioned that I'm spending the summer in Vancouver? Taking advantage of my time here to hook up with some local social media illuminaries, including Tod Maffin and Kate Trgovac.

The great thing about social media is how effectively it can be used to network. I've taken advantage of LinkedIn to book meetings with Vancouver's telecom upper management in order to do some outreach for my Hall of Fame client. Very effective.

And just minutes ago, I had the somewhat mindblowing (one would say for small minds) experience of spotting a post on Kate's blog about a Vancouver Third Tuesday organizers launch meeting with Joseph Thornley next week, moving over to Facebook to message Joe to see if I could crash the party in the hopes of gleaning info that would be useful for starting up the Montreal chapter, and finally moving back to my Facebook homepage only to discover that Joe had already or had simultaneously sent me an invitation for the event.

Smooth.

As the tagline goes : Now if only life were like that ...

Article of the Day : Internet grips Canadians

Although my head is still firmly planted in my sister's moving boxes, I do manage to come up for air long enough to catch the day's news. This article in today's Windsor Star (CanWest online) caught my eye:


OTTAWA - An increasing number of Canadians are subscribing to high-speed Internet and companies are doubling their advertising efforts on new media platforms.

Although Canadians are watching less TV and listening to fewer hours of radio programming, operators in those sectors are squeezing more sales out of their businesses.

The annual broadcasting industry report prepared by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for 2006 suggests more Canadians -- most notably those aged 18 to 24 -- are turning to their cellphones and iPods for broadcast programming.

The study found that, in 2006, the number of Canadians who used the Internet for broadcasting services increased slightly. Roughly six per cent of Canadians started watching TV over the Internet last year, the study indicated, compared with no one doing that in the CRTC's 2005 analysis.

The CRTC study suggested the types of programming being viewed over the Internet breakdown as follows: TV shows, 40 per cent; news, 38 per cent; music videos, 21 per cent; movies, 20 per cent; weather, 10 per cent; and comedy, 10 per cent.

Moreover, Canadian households with Internet access climbed to 70 per cent from 64.

Advertisers appeared to have noticed and have almost doubled their spending on online marketing, to $1 billion last year from $562 million in the year-ago period, an 80 per cent hike.

As for the conventional sectors, Canadians watched on average 27.6 hours of TV per week in 2006, slightly under the 28.1 hours in 2005. Revenue for TV operators still increased almost eight per cent., mostly from pay-TV, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.

source : http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=df5cfa74-9b30-4f67-a574-0682e87a12cc&k=10013


What's that I hear? Could it be the raucous sound of podcasters everywhere rejoicing?