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CaseCampToronto7

I'm excited about attending CaseCampToronto7 tonight. It's been several months since the last CaseCamp and this one has a strong social media theme to it. 

The four cases are The TD Canada Trust Facebook Story, Boxing Day 2007 at RedFlagDeals.com, Evolving TV Storytelling to Social Networks, and Harnessing YouTube for the Hospital for Sick Children.

For those of you who haven't attended a CaseCamp before, it's a marketing "unconference" where presenters share their mini case studies with the goal to spark  discussion and collective learning.

I hope to see you there.

The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX)

It's a pretty busy week on the entrepreneurial/web event calendar with the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX), StartupCampToronto2,  and CaseCampToronto7 all happening over the next two days. 

CIX is a two day event that showcases 20 of Canada's hottest entrepreneurial tech companies that have an opportunity to present to an audience that includes several venture investors. 

I used to be a member of the now defunct Toronto Venture Group and attended last year's Canadian Venture Forum. After perusing the schedule, it seems like the CIX format is similar  and that many of the same investors will be attending. What seems to be an improvement is the addition of practical educational sessions such as "Term Sheets 101" for novice entrepreneurs. 

Tomorrow night, at CIX, StartupCampToronto2 will be held giving an opportunity to a few other early stage Toronto startups to present and get feedback on their businesses.

SEO for Africa

SEO for Africa is an initiative started by my friend Evan Carmichael to help Toronto business owners improve their search engine rankings while supporting African entrepreneurs in need of micro-financing loans. All the proceeds from the workshops will be given to African entrepreneurs who are trying to startup their own businesses.

I’m going to tonight’s event and hope to see this sort of initiative grow within our community.  If you can’t attend, consider giving a donation to such a worthy cause.

The “Crtl-Alt-Deceit!" Web Design Show

Toronto doesn’t have the reputation yet for being a web design hub compared to some other North American cities, but we’re certainly starting to nurture and develop more talent. We have many top tier agencies and creative shops, but there always seemed to be a gap between what the local design schools produce and employers’ needs.

We’re hiring and from what I’ve seen lately, the schools are now doing an excellent job of bridging that gap. Tonight, I’m off to Publicis’ office for "Crtl-Alt-Deceit!" the Sheridan Web Design Year End Show.

Come out and support your local web design community.