Get Mommy Some Gin

I went to BlogHer for the first time this summer and I really had no idea what to expect. I’d heard it compared to Spring Break for Moms and read posts about how BlogHer has changed women’s lives…or at least their careers. While neither of these things endeared the event to me, I do love learning.  When Ford offered up the opportunity to go, I jumped at it. I’m so happy I did. Here are a few things that stayed with me:

5. You should be sponsored. I’ve never been to a conference before where so many people were sponsored to attend. It really has me thinking about the next event I organize. I’d love to connect attendees directly with sponsors to build some long term relationships. I also really need to work harder at getting some stuff like I know smart people sponsored. Alas, there are only so many hours in a day. ps I was sponsored by Ford Canada. Yes, they deserve serious love for their pumped up social media outreach.

4. Working 9 to 5 is so last year. I didn’t meet a single person who answered “what do you do?” by spewing out a job title. BlogHer is an international convention for over-achievers. Everyone seemed to have several projects on the go, at least one book published and an overwhelming amount of adorable photos of their children. I couldn’t help but feel like I should be accomplishing a great deal more as I have zero children and nothing but time on my hands.

3. Don’t assume you know everything. This is a jerk thing to say, but I know you are thinking it too: What can a bunch of mommy bloggers teach *me* about the Internet? Big mistake. I use blogging, community building and social outreach as tools to promote businesses and organizations. For these women, those things are the business. It seems like a small difference, but hearing how they use, present and take advantage of each tool was really valuable.

2. Work harder than the person next to you. So obvious it hurts, right? Don’t just send out a pitch, include research on previous campaigns the company has run to show you know what you are talking about. Don’t just build a community online; get people to come together in real life. Think about next year right now. Write, publish, write, publish, write, publish. Spell check often.

1. You don’t have to be a bitch to make it to the top. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo’s CEO taught us about the 5 Cs of a successful leader: Competency, Courage & Confidence, Communication Skills, Consistency and Compass (integrity is critical). You’ll notice which C word she didn’t list in there. Listening to someone in such a powerful position seamlessly go back and forth between talking about her passion for business and her love for her family was inspiring. It’s a good reminder that you don’t have to choose between the two.

Bonus: Indra Nooyi shared with everyone that she drinks a can of regular Pepsi every day and her favourite snack are Kettle Chips warmed in the microwave for 15 seconds. Snack tips from CEOs (if that isn’t a website already, the Internet is doing something wrong).

I love TED. I watch TED talks and instantly feel smarter. When the TEDx program started, I jumped on board and organized one in Calgary with a great group of people. I’m proud of that event. However, I’m over TEDx and here’s why:

5. TEDx events are independently organized. TED has some pretty strict rules around how to put one on, but it’s hard to enforce.  I recognize that TED is very exclusive and that it ridiculously expensive, but that means you know what you are going to get. TEDx events are all over the map and this means I no longer trust the TED brand like I used to. This disappoints me.

4. You cannot be negative about TEDx. That’s not cool. I want conversation. I want intelligent arguments. I want stuff that inspires me to think! If a TEDx speaker isn’t doing that, I want to be able to tell them they need to up their game. TEDx shouldn’t be an inclusive event where you practice your talk. TEDx is an event where you should nail your talk or get booed off stage.

3. TEDx speakers don’t follow the TED commandments of speaking at TED. The one that gets broken most often by TEDx speakers is DO NOT SELL FROM THE STAGE. Ugh. Another forgotten TED commandment is that speakers need to tell a story. If you’ve done something great, don’t detail what you did, that’s what Wikipedia entries are for. Explain why you did it, or share your vision for what you’d like to do next. If you’re smart, you don’t even need to talk about your previous successes, I’d prefer to hear what’s weighing on your mind right now.

2. I want to hear from people doing jobs I didn’t even know existed. I don’t want to hear from people talking about something unless they invented it or perfected it. TEDx organizers should be looking for local people that we’ve never heard of or trying to bring in the best in the world. I know that is hard work, but that’s sort of what organizing a really great event is about.

1. We’re currently too caught up in our own intelligence. We’re a smug, self-congratulating bunch and that gets old, really fast. No more talk of innovation for innovation’s sake. I want expansive concepts, with focused scope. No more innovation coaches, creativity curators, social connectors or any other title that basically implies you don’t really do anything yourself, you just get the people that are doing stuff to pay you for your services. I realize this means if I organize another TEDx event, I probably wouldn’t invite myself. Blast!

I’m not writing this to say that the people that put TEDx events on don’t work hard. I can tell you from experience, it is really, really hard work.  I’m writing this to say that I’m looking for something different. I want interaction. I want dinner conversation. I just don’t know where to find it at an event. If you know of any, share a link to it in the comments below!

Ok, I can’t grow a mo, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be super pumped about Movember! As the captain for MovemberYYC, I’m really hoping I can get as many of you to join my team as possible. This means dudes need to sign up and grow a mo, the ladies need to sign up and support the mo growing dudes. You can grow your mo to raise money for the cause, or just grow your mo to raise awareness – both are reasonable grounds to bust out the soup strainer/walrus/cookie duster.

5. The mo is way cooler than a neck beard. When you are kickin’ it with a glorious ‘stache, remember that you need to tell people that you are emulating the likes of Tom Selleck, Lanny McDondald and Eddie Murphy circa RAW for a reason. If you were growing a neck beard, you wouldn’t get the chance to remind people, as they would be avoiding you.

4.  A feeling of camaraderie. You know when you’re out riding your bike and you give the nod/wave to everyone else riding their bike? Same goes with the mo, bro! When you see someone else with a mo, you can go ahead and give them the nod (or a subtle raise of your scotch glass). If you’re a mo sista, you can go ahead and let the unknown-to-you mo bro know that you salute him. Instant conversation starter, lifelong friends…

3. This is a nation wide challenge. We want to put Calgary on the map for being just as involved as other cities. Toronto has already compared mo growing to saving puppies. Since no one wants to hurt puppies, Calgary has a lot of work to do to catch up! Also, we need to embrace more than just the ironic mustache. The ironic mustache is dead. Manly mustaches are the way to go.

2. In my opinion, growing a mo is about getting dudes comfortable with that which is not-always-comfortable. Prostate cancer isn’t cool (dude, if there’s blood in your pee, go to the doctor*), but neither is depression, skin cancer or the multitude of other illnesses that guys generally don’t like to talk about. Ignoring it won’t make it go away, so learn how to talk about it, just like you’ll be learning how to rock a great mo this November.

1. I’m not really sure who Malin Akerman is, but she’s pretty hot and she made this video:

*first time I’ve ever written something like that on here…

Dear Team,

I’m skipping my wrap up on Amsterdam, mostly because there wasn’t much to report on WiMax post-Singapore. Conference went well, the sessions I attended ended up being really interesting, and the city of Amsterdam is perfection in the Spring. Ria, Ryan and I walked. A lot. Straight from there out to nextMEDIA – a conference with great content, people and location. Although I missed having Jasmine there with me this year, I still did some learning.

Dear team,

Ok, I tweeted enough about my love for Singapore, I’ll give it a rest. What I didn’t have much of a chance to talk about though, was the amazing people I chatted with during both the Mobile Marketing Forum and WiMax: Asia Congress. I came back feeling like I had the chance to connect with some true innovators. Definitely a great experience for someone like me who might sometimes feel a little jaded  

I’m lucky that my “several jobs” expose me to so much of the internet/mobile web. I see nothing but opportunity ahead!

That opportunity got me thinking with my crowdsourcing hat on – in the mobile space (what? I can’t help it!). I definitely want to think on/discuss topics like the four below with other people. 

1.      Mobile commerce – micro-payments from your phone. Not just crowdfunding Kiva.org style, but “hey, I’ll give you $5 to do task A” etc. or using 2D barcodes as a means to interact with your customers – A 2D barcode on a poster at a movie theater – snap a picture with your phone, sms your feedback, get a coupon, etc. Very cool companies like ColourZip SEA working on stuff like this

2.      Going into green fields – Africa etc. How do we crowdsource best practises? Do we need to? 

3.      Using crowdsourcing to Innovate on emerging technology hurdles you don’t think about. People talk about how India is this huge untapped market for mobile – but when Mobile Marketing through SMS and mobile web is just gaining traction, it won’t go anywhere in a market where most can’t read – how do you reach the illiterate?

4.      Crowdsourcing practical applications for new technology. Location based real-time information from your phone to ease everyday life – surveillance, health (monitoring patients, etc) Amber alerts with FemtoCells (lets you know when a phone/rfid chip is in the area), etc.

Huggles,

Blue

Dear Team,

The good times are over and I’m back home. WIsh I could have hit up W2E and CTIA, very curious to read up on what went down in San Francisco, but for now, the last of my thoughts on CTIA.

People were in agreement that attendance was way down at CTIA Vegas this year, but this gave people the opportunity to spend upwards of twenty minutes with companies that they would have previously only been able to exchange cards with. The word is that deals were getting done all over the place. Less people, more value. I like it. The other loudly discussed feeling was that for companies, the Green Initiative isn’t reason enough to do something. Companies are looking to save money on efficiencies and from this, there are side-benefits that are green/environmentally friendly, but no one is very concerned at the moment with Mother Earth

Got some great interviews and I’ll try and post some of the more interesting ones on here as they become available. I very much enjoyed speaking with Harald Braun from Harris Stratex, ignore the hair RIGHT IN MY FACE and instead listen to what he thinks the four growth pillars of mobile are.

Personal thoughts about Vegas: Everything happens indoors. It is such an interesting mix of everything that isn’t me! Also: it is just as dry in Vegas as it is in my home town of Calgary. I didn’t know that was possible. 

Huggles,

Blue

Dear team,
CTIA is eff-bomb huge. This is fantastic, and I love checking it all
out, but you know I’ve walked all over the Las Vegas convention centre
- several times!

 When at a mobile conference, as opposed to a web-two-oh one, it is ONE
HUNDRED PERCENT acceptable to walk around with the ol’ jawbone on. In
fact, from where I am now, it seems to be encouraged.

 BnetTV got some great interviews today, I was lucky enough to chat
with a number of founders that are really innovating and changing the
way we use wireless. Most of the focus today was really about
practical applications with wireless – the convergence of wireless and
health, security and of course, advertising.

 It was a long day and it appears to be only just starting. I’m lucky
enough to be the official ‘bag watcher’ at Pepcom, meaning I’m getting
a quiet moment. From here, its on to check out fierce wireless and the
skype party, which promises to be awesome.

 Looking forward to another packed day tomorrow!
Huggles,
Blue x