I had the pleasure of being invited to present at the Annual Economic Development Association of British Columbia Conference in Osoyoos on June 7th, 2010.

They asked me to speak to the 140 delegates about social media, so that they could get a better understanding of how social networking fits for an association like EDABC.

The conference was held at Spirit Ridge Vineyard Conference Centre in Osoyoos – the setting couldn’t be more inspiring.  The entire complex is nestled into the landscape – behind it the dramatic craggy cliffs, and in front, vineyards sloping down to the lake.  The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was the sound of crickets, and the cry of eagles soaring above.

For this online version of the presentation, I’ve condensed things quite a bit and removed the video vignettes I use in the live presentation.  It runs about 25 minutes.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Here are some links I spoke about in the presentation:

• NYCEDC on Facebook
• WorldBizChicago on Twitter
• Posting and content management via HootSuite
• Posting from Twitter to a Website
• A branded YouTube channel for DigiBC: VXChannel
• The Whitehouse on LinkedIn
• My Flickr page and my ’set’ of photos from the conference centre setting in Osoyoos

If you’re interested in having me speak to your organization please email me.

I also do workshops to help jump-start your organization into the world of social networking.

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I first started working as a journalist in 1976 in Calgary.  I’d been working in radio for a few years, but when I moved to CHQR Calgary in 1976, I became a full-on news reporter, working ‘the street’.

The tools of the my trade were my 1965 Mustang with a giant Motorola 2-way radio strapped under the dash, a pager, a Sony cassette recorder and a bag full of spare batteries.

1976 - self portrait -|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|- 2010 - photo by Kris Krug

Stories were my business – and on a good day I’d cover a couple of press conferences, stop by city hall or the police department (the cop shop), and I’d pick up one or two more stories by doing the rounds.

If the newsroom got hold of a good story they needed me to cover, they’d page me.  My beeper would go off and I’d have to find a pay phone to call back to the station.  I’d write my stories long hand on a steno pad, or if I was close to city hall, would pop in there where we had a desk and a typewriter I could use.

Filing stories meant cracking open a phone headset, and with 2 alligator clips, ‘patching in’ my cassette deck audio output to the phone wiring so I could feed clips back to the station.  Then I’d file my story over the phone while they recorded it at the other end.

It’s no surprise that in those days, we didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the technology of delivering the story.  We spent all of our time talking about ‘the story’ itself.

Flash forward to 2010.

I now have a huge collection of digital tools, both software and hardware, that make my 1976 toolset look ridiculously archaic.

These days, it seems to me we’re always talking about the technology.

And why not, it’s exciting.

Particularly in the social networking sphere where things are developing fast and furious.  But it’s easy to get lost in the conversation about the technology, and forget the point.  What are you there to talk about?  What stories are we actually going to tell with all these new tools?

One of the first things I tell clients is that for business, a social media strategy is actually a content strategy.  It’s about opening up and telling the stories about your product, your company, and your employees – really about anything that someone might be interested in learning about.  Interestingly, often this kind of content isn’t found on the company’s own web site.

The second thing I tell clients?

Stories talk back.  Social media is about engagement. Sure it’s ok to tell people about your products of what you’ve got on sale, but you also have to engage in the conversation.  The analogy I use is that it’s like the customer service desk, not the bulletin board.

I encourage my clients to get involved with social media – but – with a couple of key pieces in place. First, we spend some time thinking and planning the kind of stories they intend to share.  Second, that they understand that social media isn’t   ‘set and forget’; they need to be engaged in a meaningful conversation in order for it to provide meaningful results.

I wouldn’t for a minute go back to the dark ages of 1976. I love my digital studio and suite of distribution tools. I love knowing there’s something new coming at any moment.

I would, however, encourage you to remember that without ‘the story’ none of it means very much.

Oh.

And I would take the Mustang back.

—–

thanks to kk+ for the 2010 photo!

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A year and a half ago, Alex Beim was hoping his company, Tangible Interaction, would be involved with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. He never would have predicted that all together, he and his team would create 16 different installations related to the games.

Tangible Interaction Design creates full-on sensory experiences people can interact with in the everyday physical world. You can see them at Vancouver House, the BC Pavilion, and if you’re an athlete at the Games, inside the athlete’s village.

When I talked to Alex (on Feb 24) he was sworn to secrecy about yet another Olympic related project, Tangible Interaction’s contribution to the closing ceremonies.

“The ultimate achievement for us is to get someone so engaged with something they kind of want to hang out and enjoy their experience there…that’s why we do what we do”

To find out more about Tangible’s unique work, I spoke with Alex by phone from his studio in Vancouver…

click to play

If you aren’t able to see any of Tangible Interaction’s work at the various locations in Vancouver during the Olympics, you can see videos and photos of their projects on their website.

You can also see examples of their work in this video tour of the Multimedia Gallery at the BC Pavilion, or in this tour with photographer Kris Krug.

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Vancouver photographer Kris Krug is multi-tasking even more than usual during these Olympic Games, and that’s saying something.

He’s been contributing photos to DigiBC at VX Showcase events, his photos have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, he shares them with the world on Flickr, and at Staticphotgraphy.com (love the images of the skaters).

He and I got a preview tour of the Multimedia Gallery at the BC Pavilion last week, and I thought it might be fun to turn the camera around on him a bit – and give you a glimpse of kk+ in action…

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

You can find Kris on Twitter, or contact him through Staticphotography.com

There’s a full gallery tour video here.

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I’m working with DigiBC on a new project called VXperience, and one of the things we’re doing is spreading the word about British Columbia’s incredible pool of innovators working in a variety of digital sectors.

We’re just starting to gather up some of their stories,  but I wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible.

Branko Zurkovic from Upside Wireless emailed to say that IPIPI.com is offering free text messaging to Haiti.

He says the company wanted to do what it could to help out, so their offering their service free – making it possible for friends and relatives to text to either of the networks in Haiti for free.

I’ll let Branko explain more in this clip:

click to play

To get set up:

• go to IPIPI.com
• create an account (it’s free)
• click on ‘contact us’ and  let them know you want to be able to send messages to Haiti
• your account will be configured to let you send message for free

And you can help out by sending this information to anyone you think might be able to use it.

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Here’s a peak at my podcast production desk.

Almost all the podcasts I produce for clients involve on-location recordings – so after the sound has been gathered, I spend a lot of quality time huddled with this gear, assembling the material and doing whatever post-production is needed to the audio.

Typically, production involves multi track mixes of eight to 12 tracks, and up until recently I’ve been doing that work with Adobe Audition.

I switched to Pro Tools last year and regret not doing it sooner -  the learning curve is quite steep, but once it clicks, everything just falls into place, particularly if you’ve ever worked in a large multi track studio environment.

I should point out that even though I’m a huge fan of Pro Tools, I still recommend Audion to people – it runs well on just about any PC and is still an inexpensive way to get going with multi-track audio software.   (When Adobe bought what was then called Cool Edit, I thought they’d bury the software, but Adobe has continued to support it)

Here’s the guide to what’s on the desk (click either image to see a larger version).

1.   ProTools 8

2.   Tannoy Active monitors

3.   Ipod

4.   Phone audio interface/patch for
recording phoners, like on BrainPicker.ca

5.   Headphones

6.   Microphone

7.   CF cards from Sound Devices field recorder

8.   Pen for Wacom tablet

9.   Mixer for house sound

10.  M-box (audio interface for ProTools)

11.  Wireless keyboard

12.  Must have – coffee

13.  Must have – analog notepad

14.  Midi keyboard

15.  Mackie  MCU  control surface

In the field I use  Sound Devices gear – their digital recorders and field mixers are simply the best. People accustomed to those tiny consumer  recorders find the gear big, but for flawless & dependable field recording, there simply is nothing like it.  I am almost always running on battery power, and I can go for a solid 4 hours without even worrying about a charge – and that’s with a full 4 channel mixer feeding into the digital recorder.  And coupled with custom PortaBrace bags, I can use the stuff in any kind of weather.

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“We start to accept that ridiculous language in which citizens are referred to by politicians and administrators as clients.

We’re not clients of government.

We own the government, it’s our government.

There isn’t a single thing of government which we don’t own, how could we be clients ?

And we aren’t buying shoes, we’re talking about the rights of citizens within their own society.

We’re not stakeholders, we’re citizens.”

- John Ralston Saul, speaking at the PLAN 20th Anniversary evening at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Vancouver, November 20, 2009.

John Ralston Saul is an award winning novelist and essayist, and one of Canada’s most outspoken champions of freedom of expression.

His most recent book is called The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World. It’s just the latest in a series of best selling works that have been translated into 22 languages and sold in over 30 countries.  Earlier this year he become the first Canadian to elected president of International PEN, the association of writers devoted to defending freedom of expression.

John is also the patron of PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network),  and he was the featured guest speaker at PLAN’s recent 20th Anniversary celebration in Vancouver.

I was asked to record the evening, and you now can hear the John’s keynote on the Tyze.com website, or listen to it here.
 

click to play

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I’ve been meaning to build a simple online gallery to display photographs I take of my home on Vancouver’s North Shore.

I used Slide Show Pro quite a bit for client sites – the built-in content management system makes it easy to change high impact visuals, yet have lots of options for how they are displayed.

For this photo gallery I wanted to keep things really simple.  You can see it at iLoveNorthShore.ca

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I recently had the opportunity to interview John McKnight and Peter Block  – the first time these two men have been interviewed together.

The interview was done for Tyze.com and PLAN Institute for Caring Citizenship, and was released this week as  part of the newly revamped Tyze website, which also features video content I created for Tyze.com.

These two men are known around the world for their work in community development and citizenship empowerment.  Having the opportunity to meet with them was extra exciting for me. When I was first started out as a consultant, Peter Block’s book Flawless Consulting was in invaluable resource – and I return to it when I’m finding challenges in my work.

Here’s the podcast created for Tyze.

John McKnight’s landmark books on community development include Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets, and his series of articles collected in The Careless Society.  He’s a professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University in Chicago, and co-chair of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern.

Peter Block is best known for his book Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, and is the author of number of other best selling books including Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest and The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work.

Peter’s most recent book Belonging: The Structure of Community, has been called “the most important intergenerational book of our time”.

click to play

Runs 19:05

For more on John McKnight’s work, visit the Asset-Based Community Development Institute website. You can also read more about his work on the  Northwestern University website.

You can find out more about Peter Block’s work on his website.

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Digital content is really a collection of things. More and more, I find myself using them in conjunction with one another, building a series of communications channels that work in different ways, and often reaching different people.

Twitter.

I’m doing quite a lot of work with Twitter now on behalf of clients and on my own websites. I’m using it primarily to:

• augment posts and keep the site active
• build (extend) audience

Twitter messages are short – 140 characters – but can link to longer stories as well.

So, it’s particularly good at sending out quick blasts of info like events, updates, and special offers. It’s also great for posting something that might not warrant a full article, but you still want to mention.

Twitter is really helpful in building your community because of the way it connects a variety of people who might not even know about you (through other people who ‘follow’ your twitter feed).

The short story is, I’m really pleased at how effective it is in spreading the word and building community.

If this is something you’re interested in, let me know and we can talk about how it can serve your goals. Fees are based on time spent creating and sending ‘Tweets’ and managing the Twitter account for you.

You can see my full personal twitter feed at twitter.com/bigsnit and you’ll see a selection of my most recent “tweets” in the right hand sidebar of this page.

Facebook “Pages”

You may have a personal Facebook page, and know how for some people, it’s a key piece in keeping in touch with friends and family.

While Facebook isn’t open to the world in the same way a web page is, the fact that it’s a ‘friend to friend’ community makes it extremely powerful, and its usage continues to grow despite detractors who thought it would become passé.

Now you can have a Facebook page for your business.

The functionality is similar to a personal page.  You show up in Facebook search, and Facebook members can become ‘Fans’ of your page.  It’s also a handy place to list things like events, and of course you can link back to your web page.

LIke the Twitter feeds, I’m now managing Facebook pages and content on behalf of a number of clients. If this is of interest to you, please let me know and we can talk about how it can work for you.

Video

Even though traditional TV viewing numbers are down, I seem to be doing more and more video these days. This isn’t too surprising considering that people still consume a huge amount of video – it’s just that now they are watching it online at places like YouTube and SurfTheChannel.

Authenticity is something consumers value more highly then ever.  Videos give you an opportunity to  tell your company’s story and to bring people ‘behind the scenes’.

They’re also a terrific way to show people ‘how to’ do almost anything.

Email me if you’re interested.

You’ll find an example of a simple “how to” I did recently for BasicGov.com on their home page.

Recent Community Activity

NVOCA: This week I was invited to be part of a group of people sharing ideas with the North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs. It’s a fairly serious sounding organization, but in fact, is staffed by a great bunch of people who are working hard to bring the North Shore’s incredible arts community into the limelight. I’m looking forward to seeing how things unfold over the next few months as they start reaching out into the community.

LoCoBC: In October I was one of the presenters at the launch event for LoCo BC. They’re a new network for small and medium businesses in BC. I put together some screencasts of the organizer and one of the main presenters – you’ll find that on the VanGoGreen website.

Just for Fun

I always have a few side projects going on, where I try stuff out and play around.

I firmly believe that ‘doing’ is better than endlessly ‘talking about doing’.

Here’s the latest, called BrainPicker.

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