mesh conference, Author at mesh

Oct 20

Here’s Why You Should Attend meshmarketing

By mesh conference meshmarketing

Let’s face it, there are lots of conferences going on so people have plenty of options. So why should you come to meshmarketing on Nov. 15 in Toronto? Here are a few reasons why meshmarketing is worth your time and money.

1. The programming is first-rate and features top-notch speakers: At the core of what we do with meshmarketing (and mesh) is spend lots of time focused on content and speakers. We spend hundreds of hours deciding what topics to cover and who should be invited to do our keynote presentations, panels and workshops.

For us, programming is the foundation of what we do and the value we offer. It’s one of the reasons why we don’t accept speaker submissions. To us, the process of curating and selecting speakers is crucial so we depend on our experience and networks to source speakers who can bring it.

As important about the people who we invite present is they don’t just speak and go. Instead, they stick around, connect, engage and participate in the event. At the last mesh, for example, I had a great lunch-time chat with David Armano.

2. Food for thought and hands-on sessions. meshmarketing kicks off with keynote presentations that provide context, perspective and insight about key industry trends and issues from people in the eye of the hurricane. The afternoon is devoted to panel and workshops that are hands-on, interactive and engaging. As much as they designed to deliver information and insight, the goal is to have attendees do business differently or better when they go back to work. Our panels and workshops are designed to get the “dirt” from people in the trenches in an environment in which questions and discussions are encouraged, and real-world experience is shared.

3. The opportunity to network with people from different sectors: As much as we deliver great content, we also recognize part of why people come to a conference is networking opportunities. It’s the reason we have healthy gaps between each session, why lunch features big round tables that encourage people to engage, and why our post-event socials are so important. Another thing that makes our events different from a networking perspective is attendees come from a wide variety of sectors, which means you’re bound to meet someone new who can offer perspective and thought you may not have heard before.

4. Great value: Whether you work for a large company, a start-up or run your own business, each dollar counts so we price our events so they’re accessible and offer a solid return on investment. And to encourage students to attend, we offer amazingly low ticket prices. The value of meshmarketing and mesh ticket includes a great venue, excellent food, swag and a good group of out-of-town speakers, many of whom have never been to Toronto before. For example, Klout.com’s Joe Fernandez is one of our keynote speakers. For anyone interested in influence and influencers, Joe would be a perfect excuse to come to meshmarketing.

If we have convinced you of the value of meshmarketing, it’s easy to buy a ticket. And if you purchase one by Oct. 21, you’ll get the early-bird ticket price of $489.

Oct 19

Love0

meshwest Vancouver: The Standup Panel

By mesh conference meshwest

For all the talk about startups and how to establish, finance and grow them, what about companies that have moved to the next stage – something we describe as a “standup” because after establishing themselves as businesses, they are ready to go to the next stage.

To dig into the standup and what’s required to take it to the next level, we’ve put together a panel of entrepreneurs how have been there done that, or have been and are doing that.

The panel, moderated by Stuart MacDonald, includes Erik Blachford from Technology Crossover Ventures, who was a key player in the growth of Expedia. Since 1995, Erik has been active within the startup world as an advisor, investor and entrepreneur.

Carl Schmidt from Unbounce will provide key insight into what’s involved in running a fast-growing business. For people not familiar with Vancouver-based Unbounce, it is a self-served hosted product that lets marketers build, publish and test landing pages without IT or software.

Our third speaker is Jason Bailey, who bootstrapped Super Rewards from no revenue to a $100-million run rate before it was acquired by Adknowledge, one of the largest online ad marketplaces. A founder and principal with GrowLab, Jason has invested in and is mentoring many local companies including DES Games, Compass Engine, PayPhone App, CrowdFanatic, and OverInteractive Media.

Early-bird tickets for meshwest can be purchased now for $239, while student tickets are available for $49.

Oct 17

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mesh Vancouver keynote: Stewart Butterfield

By mesh conference meshwest

Has it really been nearly seven years since Flickr was acquired by Yahoo!? At the time, it was one of the largest acquisitions of a Canadian online company, thrusting the spotlight on its co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake

Butterfield, who stayed with Flickr until 2009, has been working on a number of projects, as well as speaking about design and technology. He also co-founded Tiny Speck, a startup that is “building something enormous…that will blow your minds”. Tiny Speck’s first product, a multi-player online game called Glitch, launched last month. (see the video below.)

“”We wanted to make something very specific that hadn’t been made before,” Butterfield told the Guardian after Glitch made its debut. “Because it’s played in the browser, people superficially think of social games and expect a particular dynamic both in terms of how it makes money, and the experience of playing it. But people are playing live and synchronously with each other, and the monetization mechanics aren’t based around speeding up the gameplay in exchange for real-world currency.”

Given Butterfield’s involvement with Flickr, which was based in Vancouver, and how games are becoming increasingly more popular online, having Butterfield as mesh Vancouver’s keynote speaker seemed like a natural choice.

We’ll be interested in getting his view on online games, design, social media and how the world of online photography has changed over the past few years given the rise of new players such as Instagram.

Here’s where you can see the schedule and speakers for mesh Vancouver. Early-bird tickets for the one-day event are $239 until Nov. 4.