mesh Keynote Update
We’re disappointed to let you know Jason Calacanis will not be able to do his keynote at mesh ‘09 due to a last-minute business commitment.
We know many people were looking forward to hearing Jason provide his insight about Mahalo, the venture capital landscape, and what’s happening within Silicon Valley. Jason was looking forward to visiting Toronto to speak at mesh, and spending some time when Mahalo developers located here.
The schedule for the morning of April 8 will now start with Mike McDerment having a fireside chat with venture fund advisor and well-known tech blogger Paul Kedrosky and venture capitalist Howard Lindzon about what’s next on the high-tech horizon.
This keynote will be followed by Stuart MacDonald talking with Bonin Bough, the Global Director of Digital and Social Media with PepsiCo, who oversees digital strategy and the implementation of social media tools and techniques across the company.
And the morning will be capped off by a keynote with Toronto Mayor David Miller.
We’re excited about seeing everyone on Tuesday!
Tags: jason calacanis, mesh
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mesh’s Technology Partners
While programming is a huge priority when it comes to putting on mesh and meshU, an important and exciting part of putting on the two conferences is working with a variety of technology partners to enhance the overall experience.
In the past couple of years, we’ve really focused on teaming up with companies looking to showcase their services, and provide mesh attendees with interesting tools they can use during and after mesh.
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes as our partners create customized versions of their products for mesh. So, it’s really exciting to pull the covers off our technology partners for mesh ‘09.
FileMobile: A Toronto-based company, which develops on-demand social media platform, has created a media portal where you can upload and share your photos and videos from mesh and meshU.
To create a profile, go to the mesh site, and click on the “MyMedia” tab at the top of the page. After completing your profile, you can share photos and video by using the “upload” tool or sending them via upload@meshconference.com.
Viigo: For Blackberry users, Viigo offers access to a wide variety of information, ranging from blogs written by mesh speakers, mesh sites, news, weather and information about what’s happening in Toronto.
Sweet Caesar: Just as they did last year, Sweet Caesar has put together a sweet wireless application that offers the schedules for mesh and meshU, the ability to rate the keynotes, panels and workshops, information about MaRS, and details about where the mesh/meshU socials are happening. You can download the Sweet Caesar application for the BlackBerry Bold, Curve, 8800, and Pearl.
mDialog: A cool service that lets you watch mesh videos on an iPhone, via a widget, on mDialog.com and meshTV.
ScribbleLive: A live-blogging tool that lets several writers capture what’s happening at mesh in real time. Use Twitter, Facebook, MSN Live, or OpenID account to login. It’s easy to start your own liveblog of a session or join-in with others. You can try it at mesh.scribblelive.com!
Flip: If you’re into digital cameras, you’ve probably heard about the user-friendly Flip cameras that have been taking the world by storm. We’re arming our volunteers and ace videographer Mark McKay with Flips so they roam meshU and mesh to capture what’s happening.
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Edelman Wrap Party
It’s hard to think about the end of mesh, but at least it will go our with a bang! All mesh participants are welcome to join us for a Wrap Party sponsored by Edelman from 5 to 7pm on Wednesday, April 8th at Proof Lounge (220 Bloor Street West) following the conclusion of mesh09.
See you there?
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Get an early start on meshU09 and mesh09 at Twitterbrunch
Some friends of mesh are having a Twitterbrunch on the Sunday before meshU09 and mesh09. Join in! Details are here. RSVP to join in.
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Make Your Vote Count. 24 Hours Left…
Last year during the mesh ‘08 after-party, we raised funds to benefit Little Geeks. We’d like to continue this effort and spread a little of the mesh love to our larger community — but before we can do that, we need your input. Ultimately, we’d like to make this a community project where we can make a difference in the lives of those who need our help most.
Here is what we’ve come up with:
1. Over the past week, we’ve been asking you what charity you’d like to support. We are asking that you tell us what organization you’d like us to choose. We realize that there are many great causes that need help raising funds and building awareness. However, to best facilitate this voting process, we have narrowed down to a few organizations that you can choose from.
Please vote on your charity of choice from the list below. We’ll name the charity selected by you at the end of this week. Submit your vote by April 1 by sending an e-mail to sheri@meshconference.com or twitter @s_moore
Option A: Daily Bread Food Bank [http://www.dailybread.ca/]
Option B: Habitat for Humanity [http://habitat.ca/index.php]
Option C: Little Geeks [http://www.littlegeeks.org/]
Option D: Love of Reading [http://www.loveofreading.org]
Option E: War Child [http://www.warchild.ca/]
2. This year, we’ll open this event to the larger community in support of the charity that you helped us select. mesh09 participants can use their conference badge as a pass into the event, but if you are not joining us at mesh, please join us at:
The mesh after-party at The Mod Club (thanks to our sponsor, Social Media Group)
Time: 8 PM – close
Place: The Mod Club
722 College St.
College & Crawford
http://www.themodclub.com/
Ticket Price (at door) for non-mesh badge holders: $15 (Net proceeds to benefit a local charity)
Thank you in advance for your support. We appreciate it, but, more important, the good that you are doing will help those who need it most.
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Marketing Keynote: Bonin Bough of Pepsi
It’s all well and good to talk about the potential of social media and the digital realm, but who is actually doing something about it?
Bonin is.
As the Global Director of Digital and Social Media at Pepsi, his job is to figure this stuff out and deliver a return for the many Pepsi brands out there. And he knows his stuff: prior to running this area for Pepsi he was EVP of Interactive for Weber Shandwick and a Professor of Online Media at NYU.
While we are sorry that our previously announced keynote is being called away unavoidably, if taking the digital channel from the world of potential to the world of results matters to you, you won’t to miss my Keynote Conversation with Bonin Bough on Day 2 of mesh09.
Haven’t registered yet? Do so here.
Tags: marketing, mesh news, mesh09
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The meshU/mesh Party Plan
As much as meshU and mesh are about the great speakers, thought-provoking keynotes, panels and workshops, and opportunity to mesh and network, it’s also important to celebrate and socialize.
On that note, here’s the “Party Plan” for meshU and mesh:
April 6
meshUp
The beer o’clock at the Drake Hotel brought to you by meshU and StartupNorth
Time: 6 p.m. to close
Where: The Lounge & Dining Room
Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. West (Click for map)
Everyone is welcome. Space is limited. There is no charge for this event.
Please note: As a participant in meshU, your package includes a complimentary drink ticket that you can redeem at the Drake Hotel.
Thanks to our hospitality sponsor and host: Drake Hotel
April 7, 2009
The Social
Hosted by: Hyndman | Law
Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: The Atrium, MaRS (private function for mesh09 participants)
mesh after-party at The Mod Club
Thank you to our sponsor Social Media Group
Time: 8 PM – close
Where: The Mod Club (Map)
722 College St.
College & Crawford
http://www.themodclub.com/
mesh09 participant: included in registration price (present your name badge at door to access event free of charge)
Transportation to The Mod Club will be provided by Expedia.ca.
Ticket Price (at door): $15 (Net proceeds to benefit a local charity)
We’d like your input. Please vote on your charity of choice from the list below. We’ll name the charity selected by you next week. Submit your vote by April 1 by sending an e-mail to info@meshconference.com
Daily Bread Food Bank http://www.dailybread.ca/
Habitat for Humanity
Little Geeks
Love of Reading
War Child
April 8, 2009
mesh09 wrap party
Sponsored by Edelman Digital
Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: TBA
Transportation will be provided by Expedia.ca.
To purchase tickets for meshU, register here. For mesh, register here.
Posted in mesh news, mesh09, meshU | 17 Comments
Would You Like to be a Friend of mesh?
One of the new things we launched for mesh ‘09 was the Friends of mesh program, a user-friendly way to get involved as a mesh sponsor.
We’re started to see a growing number of inquiries of what’s involved so here are the details:
For $1,500, you get a ticket to mesh, your logo on the mesh Web site and on screen at the conference, as well as an invitation to only VIP social function. You can register here.
Tags: conference, friends of mesh, mesh
An all-star lineup and a special guest
There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the lineup at mesh ‘09 in April, but we are pleased to announce another very special one: a surprise appearance by Toronto mayor David Miller, who will be doing a one-on-one interview on April 8th, the second day of the conference (there’s a full version of the two-day schedule here — and be sure to register soon, because tickets are going quickly).
Mayor Miller will share with mesh attendees some of his thoughts on the idea of an “open city,” with all that that implies about issues such as civic transparency, data sharing and connecting directly with citizens. Toronto has made some major strides in that area recently, including some ongoing steps by the Toronto Transit Commission to open up and share its data, as well as the Mayor’s own use of Twitter to connect directly with residents.
This conversation with Mayor Miller fits right in with one of the themes of mesh ‘09: the rise of what might be called “politics 2.0″ — a move towards more transparency, more direct civic engagement and the use of social-media tools as a way of empowering citizens to speak out about a host of important issues. Much of this wave is due to the success of the Obama campaign in the U.S., and that is a topic one mesh panel will be discussing in detail: how the campaign took shape, what it is like to cover the new politics from a media perspective, and what it suggests about how politics as a whole is changing.
Moderated by former Huffington Post writer Rachel Sklar, the panel includes top political reporter Jonathan Martin from Politico.com — one of North America’s leading new media entities — and Micah Sifry, co-founder of TechPresident.com, which has been tracking and analyzing the changing nature of politics and the Web since Howard Dean first discovered the power of the blogosphere.
We also have a panel that will look at the increasing use of the Web and social media as tools for advocacy and citizen engagement on civic issues. Moderated by Darren Barefoot, the panel includes Duarte Da Silva, one of the co-organizers of the massively successful Hohoto charity event and Sarah Prevette — who ran the Toronto version of the international charitable event known as Twestival.
If community management is your focus, we have a panel that will tackle that issue head-on — a panel including George Tsiolis, founder of the small-cap investing community Agoracom, as well as Howard Forums founder Howard Chui and Keith Bilous, co-founder of ICUC, a Winnipeg-based company that handles community management for the CBC and CTV. There’s also a panel on word-of-mouth as a marketing tool that includes Sean Moffitt and Freshbooks community manager Saul Colt.
In the media stream, meanwhile, we have a panel featuring Gabe Rivera — founder of the popular tech aggregator Techmeme – as well as Rachel Nixon, news director of Vancouver-based NowPublic.com, and David Cohn. David has been involved with several “citizen journalism” ventures such as the OffTheBus project with The Huffington Post, and is the founder of a new “crowd-funded” journalism venture called Spot.us.
And in the business stream at mesh, we will have a powerhouse panel featuring Paul Kedrosky — whose Infectious Greed blog is one of the most popular finance websites, and who advises several venture funds in the U.S. — and Howard Lindzon, a venture capitalist and investor who is also the co-founder of the video blog Wallstrip (which was sold to CBS) and the investment network Stocktwits.com.
There’s more — much more — including a special one-on-one interview with David Usher, one of Canada’s most social-media savvy musicians; a panel on managing your advertising buy online; a panel looking at the risks and benefits of developing for platforms such as Facebook and the iPhone; workshops on dealing with iTunes as a content provider, monetizing your video content and managing your online persona.
And of course we have our four excellent keynotes: Kiva.org co-founder Jessica Jackley, Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis, Ford’s Scott Monty of Ford and Mike Masnick of Floor64 and Techdirt.com.
Please think about getting a ticket soon — they tend to sell out quickly, and we’d love to see you there. Mesh on!
Tags: mesh09
Posted in mesh news, mesh09 | 3 Comments
meshU rock stars and a 4th mesh keynote
Last year, we launched a new mesh event called meshU — a one-day series of speakers and workshops for developers, designers, project managers and anyone who builds online properties (or wants to) — and we got a great response to it from the Web community. We’re doing it again this year, and we think we’ve got a fantastic lineup of speakers, including some real rock stars in the design, development and project management areas. So if that kind of thing is up your alley, you should probably drop what you’re doing and go register now (and while you’re at it, check out the great new website for meshU designed by the amazing and talented Jeff Sarmiento). meshU is April 6th at the MaRS Centre.
Here are some of the highlights:
– Ryan Singer of 37signals on Value Judgments in Interface Design
– Bruce Philp of GWP Brand Engineering on Ten Keys to a Branded User Experience
– Chris Wanstrath of Github on Building a Business With Open Source
– Ilya Grigorik of AideRSS on Event-Driven Architectures
– Pete Forde of Unspace on Is That An iPhone In Your Pocket?
– Ezra Zygmuntowicz of Engine Yard on Building Scalable Web Architecture
and
– Dominic Bortolussi of The Working Group on Experiments in Selling Agile Development
Immediately following meshU, of course, is the main mesh conference. Speaking of which, we are pleased to announce our fourth keynote, who will be kicking off the media stream: Mike Masnick, the founder of floor64 and chief blogger at Techdirt, one of the top sources on the Web for thoughtful commentary and analysis about how media is being disrupted by the Internet.
Mike’s theories about scarcity and abundance in the media industries are changing (or at least should be changing) the way that content-related businesses of all kinds — from movie studios and record labels to newspaper companies and book publishers — think about their future in an online, always-on world. Mike’s presentation last year was a highlight of the conference for many attendees, and we are delighted to have him keynote the media stream this year. If you care about the future of the media, you need to be there. Register now by going here.
