mesh 2007 Meetup, Part Two - This Time, It’s Political
Come out with the mesh guys and get your political blog on, Toronto!
We had a great time at the first mesh meetup, but there are still a few weeks left to mesh ‘07 and we’d like to get together again. And this time, it’s political.
Blogger and National Post columnist Andrew Coyne, blogging M.P. Garth Turner, former Paul Martin speechwriter (and of late writer, humourist and blogger) Scott Feschuk and Phil de Vellis, the creator of the “Vote Different” Hillary ‘08 YouTube sensation, will be doing a panel at mesh ‘07 on what’s happening now with Politics and the Web, but let’s get the conversation started early!
Whether you’re a political blogger, party stalwart, consultant or media observer, or like us just plain fascinated by the impact that the Web is having on the way we discuss, organize and create political change, come on out and join us and folks from the Toronto Web 2.0 community on May 9 for snacks and libations at The Charlotte Room - details and signup at the Upcoming site, and please help to get the word out by forwarding this post to someone you can beat at eight-ball. Worst case, you can settle your political differences the way we were meant to - over libations and pool tables.
Tags: Andrew Coyne, conference, Garth Turner, meetup, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Paul Martin, Phil de Vellis, Scott Feschuk, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Hon. Garth Turner, P.C., M.P.
Garth Turner is known and trusted by millions of Canadians as an MP, author, broadcaster, columnist, speaker, successful entrepreneur and opinion leader. Over the past decade, Turner has authored seven best-selling books on business and finance, hosted the country’s most-watched business television show, and traveled nationally as a much in-demand public speaker.
In addition, six years ago Turner founded Toronto-based Millennium Media Television, which became the country’s largest independent producer of network television programming. In addition, he has owned and operated a string of businesses in the book publishing, commercial real estate, tourism and hospitality sectors.
On January 23, 2006, Garth Turner was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Halton, Ontario. In previous years, Garth served as the Member of Parliament for the former riding of Halton-Peel from 1988 to 1993. During this time, he held more than 70 Town Hall meetings in all corners of the riding - a tradition he continues today - and went on to be a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party, then federal Minister of National Revenue. As Revenue Minister, he was instrumental in promoting a tax amnesty that allowed tens of thousands of taxpayers to pay their outstanding amounts with no penalty.
Garth is a strong believer in environmental protection, and served as a national director of the Vancouver-based Sierra Legal Defence Fund, which fights to uphold environmental legislation. He has served as national spokesperson for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and has spoken across Canada on the need for better policies to deal with our aging population.
Turner is the country’s acknowledged leader in “digital democracy,” providing Canadians with the leading interactive political web site, routinely receiving two million hits a month, and featuring daily webcasting through the innovative MPtv, as well as an extremely popular personal weblog.
In October, 2006, Turner was suspended from the Conservative caucus of Stephen Harper over policy and communication differences. He then sat as an independent MP, and distinguished himself as an effective force in Parliament, largely responsible for the government introducing pension-splitting for retired couples.
In February, 2007, he was welcomed into the federal Liberal caucus by leader Stéphane Dion.
Garth Turner is a member of Canada’s Privy Council; was educated at University of Toronto Schools, University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario; and has held positions with the Globe and Mail, Sun Media, Maclean’s, CTV and other major media corporations.
Tags: conference, Garth Turner, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Workshoppers: Mark Dowds
Mark Dowds is an original thinker, entrepreneur, coach, and leader. He is known for his deep insight into people, relational dynamics, and his systems perspective on organizational development. His ability to explain and process communicational barriers and opportunities has helped many organizations navigate bureaucracy, retain staff, and create a high performing culture.
Mark has held several executive positions throughout his life and chose to move into consultancy and entrepreneurship to fulfill a vision of workplace democracy and engaged contribution. He works toward this vision by consulting with large corporations and funded start-ups while investing the remainder of his time in making young entrepreneurs successful. He has a trail of success and has launched over 50 new businesses in Canada.
Mark’s soft skills and smile often disarm people and make the space for firm and straight communication. His no nonsense style of facilitation helps clients get to their desired outcome while actively engaging in the process. He typically utilizes a dry sense of wit, humor, and creativity that makes for some great motivational and inspiring communication. He loves to see people’s eyes light up as they discover their passion and place at work and is committed to drawing out the best in each person he meets.
Mark has instructionally designed many eLearning and classroom training experiences and has published several books which gives structure to his hobby of writing. Mark is a certified NLP trainer from the NLP University in Santa Cruz, California and is currently completing his masters in Organizational Psychology focusing on systems psychodynamics. He has a certificate in Business Development and Marketing, a diploma in Care and Counseling, and a degree in Divinity. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Ireland Fund of Canada and Give Meaning Foundation.
Some of the clients Mark has worked with include Amex, Royal Bank of Canada, Rogers Communication, Youth Specialties, CIBC, and many funded start-ups. He hails from Ireland and resides in Toronto, Canada.
Tags: conference, Creation Step, Indoor Playground, Mark Dowds, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Leesa Barnes
Working with management teams, entrepreneurs and organizations, Leesa Barnes teaches insider tips on how to open doors, generate leads and make money using a podcast. She is President of Toronto-based Caprica Interactive Marketing and Leesa has helped businesses worldwide generate an income from podcasting.
Leesa’s practical advice is based on 13-years working in the technology field, most recently at Sun Microsystems. She’s a regular contributor to Globe and Mail’s Report on Small Business Magazine and was named by Canada’s Word of Mouth Expert as one of Canada’s Top Bloggers. She is currently writing her first book called Podcasting for Profit: Ways Individuals and Businesses Can Generate Income Through Audio & Video Podcasting (MaxPress, Fall 2007).
Tags: Caprica, conference, Leesa Barnes, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, podcasting, podcasts, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Andrew Coyne
Andrew Coyne is national affairs columnist for The National Post. Raised in Winnipeg, Andrew graduated with a B.A. in Economics and History from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics. He has been an editorial writer and columnist for The Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, and the Southam newspaper chain. His work has also appeared in a number of other publications in Canada and abroad, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The National Review, Time, and Saturday Night. He is the winner of two National Newspaper Awards and the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism.
Andrew blogs at www.andrewcoyne.com.
Tags: Andrew Coyne, Conferences, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto
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mesh Panelists: Amber MacArthur
Amber joined “CityNews” and CP24 as its New Media Specialist in 2006, where she reports on new media and interactive trends for the evening news and hosts a half-hour web news program called Webnation. Before joining CHUM, Amber co-hosted and co-produced various shows for G4TechTV, was the Tech Columnist on CBC Newsworld and served on the judging panel at the 2000 Webby Awards. She also worked as a web strategist for Microsoft Canada and Razorfish San Francisco.
“Amber Mac” is also a popular blogging personality and maintains both her personal site ambermac.com and the Inside Popnology blog at citynews.ca. Originally from Charlottetown, PEI, Amber MacArthur earned her BA in English from Dalhousie University and her Bachelor of Journalism at University of King’s College.
Tags: Amber Macarthur, conference, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto
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mesh Panelists: Kate Trgovac
For the last 19 years, Kate has somehow or another been involved in marketing on the internet. Before the web was graphical, she used mailing lists and FTP sites to market educational software. Over her career she has had the privilege of working with top-notch companies (either agency-side or as part of the company) to develop interactive and creative strategies that engaged audiences. This includes companies such as Nike, Molson, Petro-Canada. Procter & Gamble, Canada Trust and the Royal Canadian Mint.
Kate is a believer in the power of online communities whether the community is as technologically simple as a discussion forum or as advanced as a 3-D virtual world. She is an active participant in a number of online communities, including Second Life as the avatar Katicus Sparrow.
Driven by her passion for social media, Kate recently launched her new firm, reInvent! Communications, to work with marketers who want to develop more authentic relationships with their customers. Her most recent assignment is providing digital marketing direction on a soon-to-be launched social networking product for families.
Kate has been a part-time lecturer in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information Studies. And she has also served on the Advertiser’s Council of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada. Kate writes about the intersection of marketing and technology on her blog.
Tags: conference, Kate Trgovac, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Jian Ghomeshi
Jian Ghomeshi is a broadcaster, writer and musical artist from Toronto. He is currently best known as a national on-air personality on CBC Television and Radio. He has hosted various programs on television and radio including The National Playlist, Sounds Like Canada, Zed and The End. He spent three years as the host of the Gemini-award winning TV program, Play, where he interviewed subjects ranging from Woody Allen to Johnny Rotten to Jane Fonda. He has written for numerous publications including the Sunday Washington Post and The Globe and Mail. He first came to public attention as a singer and songwriter in the multi-platinum selling folk rock group, Moxy Früvous.
Jian will be launching a new live national arts and entertainment magazine show on CBC Radio One on April 16, which will appear daily for 90 minutes in the afternoons and repeated in the evenings. He is also currently a regular contributor on the CBC Television Program, The Hour.
Tags: conference, Jian Ghomeshi, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Mary Hodder
Mary Hodder founded Dabble, a recently launched company aiming to be ‘the most comprehensive search and social search site on the planet’, by helping users organize, search, tag, describe and promote video. She has a Masters from UC Berkeley’s School of Information and a blog on disruptive technologies.
Tags: conference, Dabble, Mary Hodder, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Toronto, Web 2.0
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mesh Panelists: Jen Evans
While we’ve already announced the keynote conversations for mesh ‘07, we’ve yet to announce panelists. So over the next few weeks we’re going to start doing just that in a series of blog posts. The posts will set out panelist bio information - more information about the sessions themselves will follow shortly. Panelist bio information will also available on the main page of the mesh site. We’ll start today with a mesh friend from mesh ‘06 - Jen Evans of Sequentia.
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Jennifer Evans is a Toronto-based entrepreneur, writer, and technophile and the president of Sequentia Communications, recently ranked as Canada’s 24th (2005) and 27th (2004) fastest growing emerging company by the PROFIT Hot 50.
Prior to starting Sequentia, Jen co-founded DigitalEve International, a not for profit association for women and technology, and served as Executive Director its international and national organizations from 2000-2002. She is the co-chair of the White Ribbon Campaign and a board member of both Computer for Schools Ontario and The Beach School, and sits on advisory panels for the Software Human Resources Council (SHRC) and Women in Film and Television (WIFT). Jen was a two-time finalist for the Canadian New Media Awards and continues to function as a judge for the awards. She is a technology columnist for the Globe and Mail’s online edition and appears regularly on Report on Business television’s Tech Tuesday panel.
Jen has taught at the University of Toronto, York University, Humber College, and Ryerson. She is a graduate of Queen’s University and her international work experience includes Bermuda, Tokyo, the US, South America and Korea. She speaks regularly on women, girls and technology.
Jen’s expertise includes communications and marketing strategy development, online community building strategy and execution. Her favourite online community is Ain’t It Cool.
Jen is currently working on a book examining how customer communities develop online called The Momentum Machine, to be published in the fall of 2007.
Tags: conference, Jen Evans, Jennifer Evans, mesh, mesh07, mesh2007, Sequentia, Toronto, Web 2.0
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