Yellow Pages Group joins mesh11
It’s been a pleasure working on mesh11 and representing such an awesome group of people. I was so thrilled when YPG, a company I was intent on connecting with was equally excited to get on board with mesh11. YPG continues its digital transformation with the launch of the YellowAPI.com Developer Program. They are focused on fueling digital innovation and supporting entrepreneurship in Canada.
The YellowAPI.com Developer Program helps web and mobile application developers, across all platforms such as HTML5, iOS, BlackBerry and Android, in building their apps through BETA funding as well as access to internal YPG resources such as consultation on design, quality assurance, legal guidance and technical assistance.
They’ll be the bright yellow bunch in the village, ready to talk shop. Oh yes, they are also looking for great developers to join their team.
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It Takes A Village. . .
Only two more sleeps ‘til mesh11!
As soon as you enter the Allstream Centre and head over to the mesh area, you will see a massive difference in this year’s event. You’ll enter what we call the mesh Village. Consider this the center of action for mesh11 in a similar way that a small town has a downtown core where citizens gather, share news, grab a bite to eat and really connect.
In designing the space, we knew that for a conference where the content is going to be so amazing, we would have to keep up on our end on this front so that we would not disappoint. So, in collaboration with our sponsors, we have created this place that we call The Village. This is not an exhibit side show in any way! Get rid of any notion of chipped tables and balloon arches – (Seriously, I would have lost my job in the first month if I even thought to propose that one!!)
Basically, this space is where we’ll play, connect and share. Be prepared to meet new friends, connect with other meshies, see what’s new & next, enjoy delicious breaks, win cool gear, get presents and drink for free (did I say that out loud?). But that’s just the overview…here is a bit of a sneak peak..
The mesh backchannel by BMO & Entrinsic
Have you ever had a burning question for the keynote presenter, but just wasn’t sure if it was something that you wanted to ask or if maybe others were looking for an answer as well? Or have you ever wondered what others wanted to know? As the mesh gang preps for their sessions they try to think about what you are wanting to know…sometimes we poll on Twitter, but we also wanted to look for other solutions. Then Eli at Entrinsic and his client, BMO, came to us with a solution that was developed by the MIT Research Lab and tailored by Eli’s team specifically for mesh.
Eli Singer, a Partner at Entrinsic, is amazing! Enough said. He’s doing big things with his company- they are leading the way with some amazing clients and he’s really just a passionate guy who works hard to do good business. Entrinsic is hiring and if you want to work with a company that is doing amazing things I’d seek out Eli at mesh11. Eli introduced BMO to our Platform of Sustaining Sponsors this year. BMO is introducing social media on a number of their platforms and we are pleased to welcome them to mesh11. You can thank both BMO and Entrinsic for the delicious breakfast on the Thursday!
Networking Lunches by KPMG
We are so pleased to include KPMG as a Presenting Sponsor at mesh11. They are offering further opportunity for connecting at their Networking Lunches on both Wednesday and Thursday.
KPMG has some excellent things to say on the importance of financial Management and Reporting in Entrepreneurial and Start-Up Companies. They are also offering their time for quick consults. Please connect with them in their lounge area in the village!
Thursday AM Break courtesy of Desjardins
Bonjour mesh11! Desjardins is coming to town with something to tempt your taste-buds. Back again this year as a partner, Desjardin continues to offer us their support and their enthusiasm.
You couldn’t ask to meet a nicer person than Maxime Dubreuil. I encourage you to get to know Maxime and his team as well as the services offered by Desjardins. As the largest cooperative financial group in Canada, they offer payment and financing solutions to companies across Canada. Desjardins is partnering with mesh11 to be closer to the e-commerce community. We hope that you can find a trusted partner in Desjardins in the same way that we have had them as our partner at mesh.
And on top of all that good stuff they are bringing you warm cinnamon buns and fruit smoothies Thursday morning! Bon Appetit!
All Powered Up with Chevrolet
At mesh, no one wants to shut down due to no battery juice. The team at Chevrolet have your back.
Chevrolet Canada is proud to be supporting mesh this year as part of their ongoing efforts to connect with people in new ways and in places that many may find surprising. Chevrolet will be providing attendees with their recharge lounge and an opportunity to see the all-new Chevrolet Orlando, which will be launching later this year. Plus, our own Mathew Ingram and Stuart MacDonald will be zipping around in the Official Vehicle of mesh11: the Chevrolet Cruze, so look for them too. To the mesh-mobile!
Wednesday Afternoon’s Special Break Brought To You by MailChimp
Ah- MailChimp! They are a team of about 70 developers, designers, professional problem solvers, tinkerers and takeout critics, working around the clock to make MailChimp the most powerful email–marketing service in the universe. They like to have fun, they don’t take themselves too seriously and they are joining us at mesh11. Welcome MailChimp.
MailChimp makes it easy to design exceptional email campaigns, share them on social networks, integrate with web services you already use, manage subscribers and track your results. You’ll love mixing and matching MailChimp’s templates, features and integrations to suit your needs—think of it as your own personal newsletter publishing platform. You know what else you will love? The surprise break they are sponsoring on Wednesday afternoon at mesh11! So in true MailChimp form- eep eep- and see you at mesh11.
Be Cool with CNW
Relationships mean a lot to us over here at mesh, when so when one partner comes back year after year, we are very cognizant of that. The ties with CNW have deepened over the years and they truly are friends. We are pleased to have them back as a Supporting Sponsor at mesh11.
CNW connects organizations to relevant news audiences through integrated, intelligent communications and disclosure services. CNW offers newswire distribution, social media releases , webcast , video photography , translation, regulatory filing services and MediaVantage , a web-based media monitoring and communications workflow solution. CNW has been an industry leader since 1960. www.newswire.ca.
And you know what else is cool? They are bringing us an ice cream break on Thursday!
Share and Share Alike with AutoShare
As mesh is Canada’s Web Conference, a new partner this year is home town proud as well. Autoshare, the first to introduce car sharing in Ontario and the first with an online reservation system, are also the first to introduce plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. We are pleased to have them on board as an Associate Sponsor at mesh11. Make sure to connect with Kevin McLaughlin at mesh11.
Align Yourself with WineAlign
I have to admit, I love wine! WineAlign answers the question: “What wine do I buy?” WineAlign can tell you what the top rated Cabernet is under $25 in stock at your local store, or help find the best wine under $30 to go with your grilled tofu dinner. They review over 20,000 wines annually to help you to avoid marketing gimmicks, save money and find great wines to share and enjoy. Look for Bryan McCaw in the village as he gives away awesome wine totes and even wine!
There is more great stuff happening in the Village. So instead of telling you all at once, I’ve decided tell you a bit more in the next post. I also think that I might save a few surprises for you…
Tags: Autoshare, backchannel, BMO, Chevrolet, cnw, Desjardins, Entrinsic, KPMG, MailChimp, mesh sponsors, Mesh11, WineAlign
Welcome to the World meshwest!
When we started mesh in 2006, our goal was to create a Canadian event where people could discuss how the Web is changing how we live, work and play. It’s taken a while but we are excited about taking mesh to Western Canada, starting with a one-day event in Calgary on June 8.
The creation of meshwest and the move to Western Canada reflects how communities across the country are enthusiastically embracing and leveraging the Web. Like mesh, meshwest is focused on providing insight and stimulating conversations about media, society, marketing and business.
From those humble roots, mesh has grown into an event that has attracted a long series of great speakers and – just as important – thousands of enthusiastic and engaged attendees. Calgary is the first stop on a Western swing that will see meshwest also happen in Edmonton and Vancouver.
Like mesh, meshwest features a line-up of keynotes and panels focused on four streams – media, society, business and marketing – that explore what’s over the horizon in the digital world.
meshwest speakers include Tobias Lutke, Keith Bilous, Mark MacLeod, Danny Robinson, as well as the mesh gang – Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram, Michael MacDerment, Rob Hyndman and Stuart MacDonald. More speakers will be announced soon.
meshwest joins our flagship mesh conference, which happens on May 25 and 26, and meshMarketing within the mesh “portfolio”.
You can learn more about meshwest here, and purchase tickets now.
Tags: calgary, conference, mesh, meshwest
Speaker Spotlight: Mark Surman, mesh2011 Business Keynote
“If we take ‘social mission’ as the first element, then a hybrid organization looks a lot like a traditional charity or not-for-profit. Public benefit is the core reason that these organizations exist… On our increasingly digital planet, we clearly need public benefit organizations that care about such things.”
Source: commonspace by Mark Surman
We chose Mark Surman as the keynote for our business stream at mesh2011 for one simple reason: more than just about anyone, he knows what it is like to try and run a distributed organization that not only encourages but is dependent on engagement and participation from its members. The Mozilla Foundation, of which Surman is the executive director, needs this because it is a largely volunteer organization, the community behind the open-source browser Firefox. But the reason we chose Mark to keynote mesh2011 is that there’s a case to be made that all businesses need to adopt more of the organizational structure — and thus also some of the motivational and administrative approaches — of open-source and volunteer agencies like Mozilla.
The reality is that in today’s hyper-connected, real-time and increasingly web-powered world, companies of all kinds are struggling with the same issues: how can a large company manage a distributed workforce, many of whom are freelancers, contractors, part-timers or other non-permanent staff? In a world where younger employees are free to move from job to job — and in many cases will do so dozens of times, drawn by factors other than just monetary compensation — how does a company motivate its employees? How can companies competing in a global environment get the best contributions they can from their staff?
All of these issues are ones that freelance and volunteer organizations like Mozilla deal with directly, and that’s why the lessons that Mark Surman has drawn from his years of work with the foundation — as well as a career of social and community activism and engagement that spans almost 20 years — are worthwhile hearing for almost any company that wants to become more competitive, regardless of what industry it is in.
Before joining Mozilla, Mark was an open philanthropy fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation in South Africa, where he invented new ways of applying open-source thinking to social innovation. Prior to that, he was the founding director of telecentre.org, a $26-million effort to network community technology activists in countries around the world. Mark has also served as president of the Commons Group, Director of Content and Community at Web Networks and senior advisor to the Volunteer @ction Online grants program team. Mark’s first real job was training social activists to make their own documentaries in the early 1990s.
Read more…
“A Digital Age” The European Magazine
Mark’s Blog: commonspace
LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter
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Spotlight: Emily Bell, Mesh 2011 Media Panelist
One of the media panelists we’re excited about having at mesh 2011 is Emily Bell, the director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and former director of digital content for The Guardian in Britain.
Bell was also the editor-in-chief of the Guardian Unlimited web operation from 2001 to 2006, during which time she oversaw such groundbreaking projects as the launch of the “Comment Is Free” open blogging platform — one of the first major efforts at crowdsourcing by a traditional media outlet — as well as the massively successful MP Expenses project, which saw 20,000 people comb through close to 300,000 public expense reports filed by members of parliament.
Now running the Tow Center at Columbia, Bell is a leading media commentator for a number of outlets, as well as writing on her own blog about the future of media and journalism online. During a recent presentation at Massey College in Toronto, sponsored by Samara Canada, Emily talked about her experiences at The Guardian and about how newspapers need to be “of the web, not just on the web” in order to succeed.
Bell has also written about how WikiLeaks represents a fundamental shift in the world of the media and journalism, saying: “If you follow the latest cache of diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks and reported by the Guardian, The New York Times and others it is impossible not to conclude that this is a pivotal moment for journalism, its teaching and its practice.” Bell went on to say that WikiLeaks represents “the first real battleground between the political establishment and the open web,” and that it forces journalists and news organizations to “demonstrate to what extent they are now part of an establishment it is their duty to report on.”
Bell will be taking part in a panel at mesh 2011 — along with media consultant and author Jeff Jarvis and Micah Sifry of TechPresident and the Personal Democracy Forum — about this exact question: how WikiLeaks and others of its ilk are changing the nature of what we call journalism in the 21st century.
Tags: Emily Bell, Mesh11
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Spotlight: Gabe Zichermann, mesh ’11 Keynote
There’s an old adage in the entertainment industry to always leave them wanting more.
This was not Gabe Zichermann’s intention at the meshMarketing conference when he had to cut short his presentation, “The Future of Marketing is Gamification”, to catch a flight back to the U.S. There was so much interest and excitement from people who were in the room and those heard about it afterward, it made total sense to invite Gabe back to Toronto for mesh ’11 as our marketing keynote on May 26.
As one of the world’s experts on gamification, Gabe has established himself as one of the leading voices exploring the connection between the power of games with brand and marketing strategies. As much as people have embraced the Web, there are still major challenges motivating and managing their behaviour and activity. Gamification is one approach addressing the psychology and habits of the online user.
Gabe’s most recent book, “Game-Based Marketing”, received critical and industry acclaim. His next book on game mechanics is a detailed technical look at architecture and implementation.
For a taste of Gabe’s keynote, check out this Google Tech Talk.
Tags: conference, gabe zichermann, keynote, Mesh11
Spotlight: Kyp Canada
My first conversation with Dr John Reeves, Managing Parter at Kyp Canada began with “When can we meet? You need to SEE this to understand it!” He could not have been more correct–and you, too, will understand what we are talking about on November 17th at meshmarketing when you check-in at registration and pick up, what most certainly has to be, the coolest conference badge a mesh conference has ever seen.
Kyp is a “phygital” marketing agency that creates compelling physical solutions that seamlessly bridge customers to profitable digital relationships. By appealing to a combination of senses, their patented designs, formats, and technologies create intrigue – compelling people to interact with physical content and tools prior to launching into personalized online experiences.
Their digital bridging technologies including; iKyp webkeys, ScanLife’s mobile barcodes, and Sony’s eBridge CD / DVDs, allow for 1:1 customer targeting and customization – equating to both enhanced and measurable campaign performance. Their approach is grounded in consumer psychology and has been refined through the creation of phygital solutions for an impressive list of leading global brands including Verizon, P&G, Astra Zeneca, Sony, Audi, Pfizer, Shell, and O2.
Kyp will be giving away some great prizes via the exciting digital connection their badge offers, so make sure you drop by their sponsor display area to “plug in” and see if you could be a winner. Connect with them @KypCanada
Tags: #mm10, iKyp, Kyp Canada, meshmarketing, sponsors
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The Rise of “Gamification” and What It Means
This is an overview of a panel we’re having as part of meshmarketing on November 17th:
Have you ever competed to win a badge in Foursquare, or tried a trivia game online and won prizes? Then you have experienced what many are calling “gamification,” a trend that Gabe Zichermann says is fundamentally rewriting the rules of engagement for consumer marketing. From Foursquare to Farmville and Nike to the Navy, game mechanics like points, badges, levels, challenges, rewards and leaderboards are being used in ever greater numbers to drive engagement with customers.
But what does this mean for “traditional” marketing and how do you leverage this trend in your brand and engagement strategies? Moreover, how do we measure success, and how does the new discipline of “analytical marketing” help you be competitive in this new era? Find out more in this in-depth interview with Gabe Zichermann, author of the book “Game-Based Marketing” and chair of the Gamification Summit.
Tags: gamification, meshmarketing
Spotlight: Rightsleeve
Since mesh conference started and we expanded with meshmarketing, Mark Graham and the gang at RIGHTSLEEVE have been there to bring you and us amazing swag that just makes us smile. And this year is no different. Mark and his team have outdone themselves once again with an offering of goodies that is sure to impress. From the red meshmarketing tees for volunteers to the Page Zero water bottles, it’s all in the details.
RIGHTSLEEVE is a promotional products company focused on merchandise development for technology and marketing companies. We design and manufacture swag for trade shows, conferences, product launches, client gifts and employee recognition. We cater to picky and discerning people who want the best for their brands. Online ideas and inspiration via Web, Twitter, Facebook .
Consider this the official sneak peek of what you can expect at registration while quantities last. And, while you are at it, thank Mark in person or on twitter @Rightsleeve
And remember: friends don’t let friends buy bad promo
Tags: #mm10, meshmarketing, Rightsleeve, sponsors
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Spotlight: Astley Gilbert
As much as meshmarketing is focused on the digital, print still lives on. I was extremely happy with the partnership Astley Gilbert offered us, to work with us, on the print needs for meshmarketing on November 17th.
Lorraine and her team have been invaluable in their patience and coordination as we get the final details together.
Astley Gilbert is your trusted solution for an increasingly digital print-on-demand world. They have been providing their clients with full service, one-stop-shop solutions for over 40 years. Their goal is to make you look good on paper, on vinyl, on any surface. They also offer numerous online services, such as on-demand print procurement and Digital Asset Management. At AG, they’re committed to providing you with the most advanced imaging technologies and global production capabilities because in the world of print, you earn your clients trust, one solution at a time.
Tags: #mm10, Astley Gilbert, meshmarketing, sponsors
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