What a crazy and hectic week I just had. NXNEi, NXNE & MMVA’s all in one! I just submitted my article to MTV for their next issue of FORA magazine… Yep I get to be a contributor! Pretty exciting and it’s been a long time since I’ve had anything I’ve written published – by someone other than myself. I had a ton of work to catch up on today and gotta write some posts for Underground Republik’s site. I’ve been asked to be a contributor to their site as well!
Love that the sunny weather is here. I don’t care if it’s too hot, it’s better than snow! My favourite boys are all back in town (DWW & HTV) and it’s so nice to see everyone’s smiling faces. Hopefully you all checked out the MMVA’s last night and saw Down With Webster’s performance. They killed it of course!
Hope you guys are enjoying the sun and staying away from the G20. I won’t be going downtown until it’s all over. I’m not a fan of it being here and I don’t want to be near any protesters or downtown at all. I hate the huge fences and the fact that they are digging up trees is awful. I hope they are going to put them back.
That’s it for me today. Happy Summer Solstice! I’m going to celebrate the start of summer and longest daylight hours of the year with dinner on a patio.
This week has been crazy busy with NXNE and NXNEi taking place. I’ve been attending NXNE since I moved to Toronto five years ago and have covered it for a variety of online sites, including my own blogs. I was really excited to hear that they decided to launch an Interactive component to the already successful NXNE Music & Film Festival.
I met up with the lovely Casie for the panels and I was very impressed with the panels and their content. One thing that most people noted was that there was no WiFi access for attendees. For an interactive event this was a pretty big NoNo and really the only negative thing I heard anyone say. There is a promise of free WiFi at next year’s NXNEi so let’s hope it happens.
I sat in on four panels: Amber Mac’s “Architects Of Community”; Jamie Woo’s “Social Media Circle Jerking 101″; Scott Stratten’s “Stop Marketing, Start Engaging. Social Media and Viral Marketing”; and the Women in Social Media panel titled “Thank you for being a friend: Tips, traits and tactics of successful women in tech and social media”.
- I have been to a couple of Scott Stratten‘s presentations and I admire that he has created a strong personal brand with hard work and passion. He covered everything from his past professional experience (both good and bad) that have led him to creating his Unmarketing online personal brand. I recommend going to an event to hear him speak if you haven’t already.
- Social Media Circle Jerk was of course a popular panel, that discussed how people and organizations use social media that annoys their followers instead of engaging them. They also touched on what kind of content users post on Twitter, including being critical of others online, censorship and posting personal tweets on business profiles. Speakers were Kevin Airgid, Mark Evans, Andrew Lane, Michael Dolan and moderated by Jamie Woo.
- Architects of Community featuring Alan Cross, Amber Mac and Erica Ehm was one of the most interesting panels in my opinion. The topic was building communities through social media and learning how they grew them with limited resources. It was interesting to hear that the key point was again being authentic and the level of engagement you have with your community.
- Women in Social Media featured Lucia Mancuso, April Dunford, Guinevere Orvis and Amrita Chandra and it was a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for this panel. Three main topics were discussed – gender and technology, mentors and online identity. Their main points for success were: setting clear goals, seeking out mentors, and asking questions. These women were the highlight panel of my NXNEi experience and it really got me thinking about my business model and plans for the future.
I had a great time at NXNEi and really learned alot. I can’t wait to see what next’s years conference will bring. Thanks to Jason for stopping us to take photos!
NXNE 2010 starts tomorrow and I can’t wait. This year they have added an Interactive conference to the Music & Film component and I am really looking forward to attending tomorrow.
This year, NXNE’s music lineup features 650 bands over five days and 50 venues with an awesome free lineup at Yonge and Dundas Square which includes The Raveonettes (8 pm on Sat. 19th), Iggy and the Stooges (9:30 pm on Sat. 19th), and De La Soul (9 pm on Sun. 20th) but also 21 other great bands over four days (Thurs. 18th – Sun. 20th). There are also free shows all over the city. You can get tickets for single showcases at the door of the venues or you can purchase a 5 day festival ($150) or 1 day festival ($25) wristbands online
