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Apr 04

Speaker Profile: Clay Johnson

By mesh conference mesh12

If you’re like me, the Web can become overwhelming from time to time. There is so much content and data coming at you, an inbox that never seems to shrink, and the rat-a-tat-tat of social media banging away day and night.

The question is whether there’s a way to escape all this data and content? Are we consuming too much information and, if so, what are the consequences personally and professionally?

This is one of the reasons we were keen to invite Clay Johnson to speak at mesh this year. His book, The Information Diet, is about how we can develop healthier consumption habits by developing skills and discipline on what to consume and what to avoid.

The Information Diet is a must-read for anyone who consumes a lot of online information or wants to consume information a better and smarter way.

Johnson, the co-founder of Blue State Digital, which built and managed Barack Obama’s online campaign for the presidency in 2008, will be kicking off mesh on the morning of May 23. Early-bird tickets for $589 (a $100 discount) are now on sale.

Apr 03

Love0

It takes a Village

By mesh conference Uncategorized

If you’re going to align your brand with a conference, the content had better be amazing! And mesh certainly fits the bill — the time and effort that all of the mesh founders put into selecting their speakers would blow you away. I’ve sat in on a few of those meetings and witnessed some of the most candid — and raw — conversations and debates you could imagine. The mesh founders aren’t in it to please one another, but to put the best, most thought-provoking people on that stage for the benefit of the attendees. They push, argue and champion their uniquely individual views, and only after that process is exhausted do they finally piece together the unique line up of content that makes mesh what it is.

mesh isn’t a traditional exhibitor or tradeshow-style conference — but that doesn’t mean we won’t work with you as hard as we can to create a unique sponsorship space that offers a whole lot more then simple logo exposure. We will, because we want to ensure you are making real connections with your community — and we have done some pretty unique things. We want your brand to tell its story and to immerse you in the sophisticated audience that is mesh.

With our move last year to the Allstream Centre, we were able to create an even larger and more interactive space for our sponsors to engage with attendees — something we called our “mesh village”. When not in the main hall learning from amazing thought leaders, the attendees were able to lounge, connect with friends, grab a coffee (or even a beer), check out new products, consult with peers, recharge their toys, eat yummy snacks and most importantly mesh with each other and with sponsors!

mesh has a goal to explore how the Web is evolving, to discuss the emergence of new trends and to really talk about what’s happening next in this space. mesh attendees are people who are passionate about how the Web is changing the world around us. Sponsorship at mesh is an opportunity to connect, prospect and network with key decision makers in this space and to place your brand at the leading edge of technology, trends and big ideas!

Oh yes — and mesh is also one heck of a party. It goes for two days and doesn’t stop with the end of the conversation on the main stage. We are pretty sure that you will walk away feeling a bit smarter and with a few new friends to boot. Your support means so much to our conference and we truly see our sponsors as being more like partners, and we want to work with people who are like minded and want to do something big. So email me and I’d be happy to discuss how we can help each other do something amazing for mesh12!

Apr 02

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We’re Stoked About mesh ’12? How About You?

By mesh conference mesh12

In our last post, we talked about how we were taking a new approach to mesh by embracing a new format that puts the spotlight on thought-provocative speakers from a wide variety of sectors.

We’re still covering the media, business, marketing and society sectors but the format is not as structured as in the past. Instead, it’s more free-flowing, offers more variety and lets us program speakers rather than sessions.

In some ways, it has been an interesting experiment after six years of running mesh in a particular way. And there is no doubt it has provided us with a refreshing recalibration.

With the schedule now nearly complete, we’re really excited about the line-up for mesh, which happens May 23 and 24 at the Allstream Centre.

The speakers include Clay Johnson, Rebecca MacKinnon, David, Winer, David Weinberger, Andy Carvin, Alexandra Samuel, Michael Geist, Zane Caplansky, Ivy Knight, Bruno Morency, Brian Halligan, Robin Goldberg and Jon Lax.

The topics we’re covering include food, books, education, email, design, politics, the information overload, health, marketing, big data, content marketing and social media. So, there’s lot of variety and something for everyone. At the same time, we’re hoping people will explore new areas to open their horizons and spark new ideas and thoughts.

You’ll also notice the schedule has a new format. Rather than the traditional keynotes, panels and workshops, we’ve embraced a new format in which we have lots of keynotes – some of them are 50 minutes, some are 30 minutes and some 20 minutes – and most of them are happening during a single track of programming.

Finally, we’ve got back to our roots with a round-table workshop on startups. When we started mesh in 2006, Toronto’s start-up community was just starting to gain momentum, and we were able to put the spotlight on some of the key players and interesting companies. As mesh evolved, we strayed away from start-ups but it has always been a key part of how we work and live so it feels good to get back to supporting the startup world.

We hope you’ll join us at mesh. Early-bird tickets are now on sale for $579, and student tickets can be purchased for $99.