High-Tech Communicators' Exchange

Social Media Meets B2B: Stories from the Frontlines

nrahemtulla — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:06:15 +0000

You've heard how the Canadian Cancer Association raised thousands in donations on Facebook and how Zappos revolutionized customer service with Twitter. But can a B2B company really use social media to grow its business and customer base?

Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo of Capulet Communications present real-world examples of how social media can make a difference for B2B businesses. Be inspired by some of the best B2B social media campaigns of the year as we explore the impact of social media marketing for B2B companies.

Event Details
Monday, November 16, 2009
5:30pm - 6:30 pm registration and networking
6:30pm - Presentation
Opus Hotel (Yaletown)
322 Davie Street, Vancouver
To RSVP email: rsvp@htce.org.
Cost is $15.00 if you sign up in advance. $20.00 at door if you don't RSVP.
Cash or cheques only, payable at the door. Snacks will be served.
Cash bar. No shows will be subject to charge.

About our speakers

Darren and Julie are co-founders of Capulet Communications, a marketing agency based in Vancouver, BC. Since 2003, Capulet has been helping companies, from start-ups to national retailers, understand and engage with today's and tomorrow's Web. Co-founders of Northern Voice, Canada's social media conference, they regularly speak around North America on social media, marketing, and emerging technology. They are co-authors of "Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook" published by No Starch Press and due out in November.

Understanding SEO

nrahemtulla — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:00:35 +0000

Web development guru Tim Lloyd and veteran marketer Pam Brain will discuss the relationship between your brand, the language associated with it and leveraging available technology to drive how your clients find you online. Learn how keywords really work on the web so that your site works harder and communicates better.

Event Details
Monday, September 21, 2009
6:00pm - 6:30 pm registration and networking
6:30pm - Presentation
YWCA Hotel
733 Beatty Street, nr BC Place
To RSVP email: rsvp@htce.org.
Cost is $15.00 if you sign up in advance. $20.00 at door if you don’t RSVP.
Cash or cheques only, payable at the door. Refreshments will be served.
No shows will be subject to charge.

About the speakers
Tim Lloyd – Co-founder, Portal 80 Multimedia inc.
Tim has over 20 years experience in the web development and hosting sectors, specifically relating to the challenges facing small- to-medium-sized businesses. Over the past ten years, he has specialized in web-based business intelligence, helping clients realize their online objectives through the use of technology. Portal 80’s client portfolio includes ICBC, OnePercent Realty and Hanson Wirsig Mathoes.

Want to test how the your site ranks? Try Tim’s latest creation, the “Realizr”, a FREE SEO tool at www.socialproof.biz (currently in Beta).

Pam Brain – Principal, Brain Communications
Pam brings more than 20 years advertising and marketing experience to her role as General Manager of Brain Communications. Over her career, she has worked with many regional and national clients including ICBC, General Motors BC Dealers, MacDonald’s Restaurants and IKEA, and many tech clients including Creo Inc. (now Kodak), MDSI, WebTech Wireless and NxtGen Emission Controls to name just a few. Pam works with her clients to develop strategic marketing campaigns, and oversees creative development and execution to ensure successful results. To find out more visit: www.braincomm.ca.

Making the most of your leads using qualification best practices

nrahemtulla — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:07:48 +0000

Sales and marketing veteran Rodan Gopaul-Singh talked about how the relationship between marketing and sales has evolved. He will show us how both departments can succeed by employing best practices in lead qualification. Highlights were:

Working with different lead sources
Compensation, Tracking & Metrics
Lead Gen – Should it sit in Marketing or Sales?
InSource vs. Outsourcing Lead Qualification

About the Speaker
Rodan brings more than 14 years experience as a sales and marketing leader at tech and rapid growth organizations to his role as principal of RWG Consulting. RWG helps companies maximize potential revenue from marketing and business development efforts, build rapid growth, high performance inside sales teams and execute customer retention strategies.

Rodan’s nearly 11 year tenure at SAP/Business Objects saw the company through enormous growth from a small Vancouver software company with $15m in sales to a key division of one of the largest software companies in the world where he lead the North American Telemanagement team. In addition, Rodan was a key executive at one of Vancouver’s leading success stories, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, where he led the Client Services team, a 50-person Sales and Service Call Center.

Lessons in Modern Media for Savvy Communicators

nrahemtulla — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:34:17 +0000

A panel of progressive media professionals discusses ways to get noticed and stay current amidst masses of information. Find out how to harness the new wave of communications methods and gain a foothold in emerging and influential markets. From social media to radio and the printed word, this session will provide insights into the less obvious ways to reach your target audience. Confirmed panelists are:

Gillian Shaw
Gillian Shaw is an award-winning journalist with The Vancouver Sun and Canwest. A former business department editor who gave up editing to go back to her first love, writing, she now writes on Digital Life for the Sun and the CanWest news service. Her specialty is technology — issues and trends online and off — that affect our life, whether at work or play. Even her dog has her own Facebook site. Gillian’s stories and her blog can be found online at www.vancouversun.com/gillianshaw and you can also find some of her social media links listed at krunchd.com/gillianshaw.

Rebecca Bollwitt
Although she coded her first website in 1997, Rebecca Bollwitt has been blogging about Vancouver since 2004 on Miss604.com, and podcasting since 2005. In 2008 she was listed as one of the top "Web influencers in Vancouver" by NowPublic and the Vancouver Sun, within the top ten "Most influential in Canadian social media" by Profectio.com, and has a weekly segment on-air with Talk 1410am discussing the latest in the Vancouver webosphere. She is the co-founder of sixty4media, offering social media consulting services, custom WordPress themes as well as event liveblogging, tutorials, and content creation. In 2008 Rebecca organized Blogathon Vancouver, the Best of 604 awards, WordCamp Whistler, and Twestival Vancouver. She is @miss604 on twitter.

Steve Pratt
Steve Pratt is the Director of CBC Radio 3, the music service that created of one of the world’s first and most popular legal music podcasts, a Sirius radio station described by a U.S. web magazine as "possibly the world’s best station", and a web radio station that’s been nominated two years in a row for a Webby. Since the launch of these services, it has grown into what the National Post calls "a noteworthy ambassador of Canadian culture to the world." Radio 3 has become a leader in multi-platform content distribution and is helping Canada’s public broadcaster attract younger audiences and increase its relevance in a digital age.

Prior to Radio 3, Steve had over 10 years of network television experience, working in everything from news to comedy and from music to children’s programming. He was also oversaw AOL Canada’s entertainment, youth, and gaming channels.

Steve is a regular speaker about social media, the future of the music industry, and the future of the media.

Communicating Tough News in Tough Times

nrahemtulla — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:41:41 +0000

Presenter: Deborah Folka, APR

Click here to view Deborah’s article.

When you have difficult news to communicate, do it like removing a bandage: swiftly and completely.

How you and your business cope in tough times is a reflection of true character. How you communicate during those tough times reflects your values. It may be instinctive to duck and run for cover when things look bad, but just like your mother told you, it’s best to stand up and face the music.

This session will prepare you and your organization with practical information about ‘telling tough news,’ including:

Avoiding staff feeling blind-sided
Planning the distribution of the news
Preparing for the announcement and the potential fall-out
Crafting messages and documents
How to ‘tell it like it is’
Providing follow-up
Planning for the unexpected result
Case studies

Principal of DLF Communications Ltd., Deborah Folka helps organizations in crises or sensitive situations. Contact her at 604/517-1339 or deborah@dlfcommunications.com or see www.dlfcommunications.com.

Twittering for business: goldmine or waste of time?

nrahemtulla — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:48:02 +0000

In the world of social media marketing, Twitter is being touted as the new hot tool to add to your marketing mix. At the next HTCE event Twitter guru Stephen Jagger will educate us on what Twitter is and how you can use it to increase profits. He’ll share examples of how some of his customers are using Twitter and other social media tools to enhance market share and increase traffic to their website. Join us on January 19 to learn about using Twitter to gain exposure and market your business.

Stephen Jagger is an entrepreneur that has been starting businesses since high school. He is currently involved in 2 companies. Combustion Labs Media Inc, which operates as Ubertor.com, is a real estate software company that provides websites and online marketing tools to thousands of real estate agents across North America. His other business, Reachd.com is a training company that focuses on marketing professionals and businesses that are interested in learning more about search engine optimization, blogging, online video, Google Adwords and social media.

Visit StephenJagger.com for more information on our speaker.

Crowd Sourcing: Using Mass Collaboration to Inject Creativity and Innovation into your Workplace

cducharme — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:24:39 +0000

Social media often blurs the lines between consumer and producer; "Crowdsourcing" is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Coined by Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine to describe “the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people”, Crowdsourcing is attracting controversy and kudos from those who have experienced the phenomenon. Join us to hear Monica Hamburg, a Vancouver-based writer and social media consultant/evangelist, deliver a lively presentation with real-life, intriguing examples of Crowdsourcing in action.

According to Monica, no one business can employ staff who, even collectively, possess every possible skill or experience. The public, however, is filled with experts in all fields and disciplines. Businesses who recognize this fact are asking people outside their organization to provide input and work with their company in some fashion. This type of collaboration has produced innovative ideas, inventive solutions, and increased profit for many businesses. Monica will share with us the benefits and concerns about Crowdsourcing. Come prepared for an interactive discussion at the end of the presentation.

About our speaker

Monica Hamburg is a writer and social media consultant/evangelist. She is a researcher, investigator, and observer of imagery in today’s multi-media world, helping clients use online media to communicate their message (and her "Me Like the Interweb" blog serves as a repository for some of her research and observations). She’s also a contributor to the popular digital marketing magazine "One Degree” well as a former actor who uses her dry humor and entertaining skills for speaking engagements and in her humor blog "Your Dose of Lunacy".
Social Media/Marketing: monicahamburg.wordpress.com
Humour: monicahamburg.blogspot.com

How to Bridge the Generational Communication Gap in the Workplace

cducharme — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:11:52 +0000

Engaging the Generations slides:

How to bridge the generational communications gap - taped presentation

On Oct 27, 2008, Kathi Irvine, Principal of KLI Associates shared her research and insights into the generations in the workplace and why we often see clashes of generational differences. An engaging and energetic speaker, Kathi shared how generations (traditionalists, boomers, gen Xers and millienials) are shaped by events and their environment and how that influences how we think, communicate and react. Kathi engaged HTCE attendees in insightful conversations and people left with a deeper understanding of how to communicate with each generation. In addition to Kathi’s slides and resources, the event was also taped by Bruce Sharpe of Singular Software. Definitely worth the watch!

Call for Speakers for 2009 HTCE Season

cducharme — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:04:39 +0000

CALL FOR SPEAKERS/PRESENTATIONS – HTCE 2009 SEASON

The HTCE Executive Committee will meet in the coming weeks to discuss speakers and presentations for next year’s HTCE program. If you have a topic idea, know of a speaker or would like to be a speaker, read and complete the following form and submit to info@htce.org Feel free to pass this email on. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, November 4th.

ABOUT SPEAKING TO THE HIGH TECH COMMUNICATORS EXCHANGE

The High Tech Communicators Exchange (HTCE) is an informal group that comprises primarily marketing, communications and PR professionals working in the high-tech and biotech fields. Experience ranges from junior to senior and everything in between. We have over 500 subscribers.

Our event formats vary and include panels, round table sessions, keynote speakers and case study sessions. We typical get between 40 and 55 people attending our events.

We’re curious. We look for topics that provide both practical and how to information that we can apply to our places of work. Being in the technology area, we also like to know what is on the horizon that is likely to impact the way we market and communicate. For example last year we had a few sessions on how social media plays a role in marketing and communicating. We’re also interested in hearing how communications has played a role in major deals, acquisitions, mergers etc. And we like to learn about new initiatives, programs and strategies that are making organizations successful.

One of our values is life long learning and the free exchange of information. We are a not for profit group, so we do not pay speaker fees. We also do not provide a platform for sales pitches. We do believe talking to our group is good exposure and helps to build your profile. We trust that is a reasonable exchange for your time.

Speaker Name:

Topic:
Summary of proposed presentation (50 – 100 words)

Contact info (email and phone)

How to Bridge the Generational Communication Gap in the Workplace

cducharme — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:31:20 +0000

The Baby Boomers are delaying retirement, Generation X is sandwiched between Baby Boomers and Millennials, waiting their turn at formal leadership and the gale force of the Millennial generation is here to stay. And through the occurring clashes of generational differences the need for effective communication has never been more important. Spend an hour exploring the uniqueness of each of the generations and enhance your capacity to engage all generations in your organization. This session will be facilitied by:Kathi Irvine, BGS, MA, Principal KLI Associates and Core Consultant: Sundance Consulting Inc.

About our Speaker
Kathi Irvine has been helping organizations in the public, private and not for profit sectors since 2003. With over 20 years of previous corporate leadership and training experience she provides extensive knowledge on leadership and management skills, change leadership, and performance management practices. Kathi is involved in three current research projects; the intergenerational workforce, effective knowledge transfer for sustainable business and integration of behavioral competencies into performance management discussions.

Kathi is on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver, volunteers with Volunteer Vancouver consulting on effective Board Governance practices, and is completing a diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation at Simon Fraser University. She is a member of BC HRMA, the International Organizational Development Association, and Women’s Executive Network. She teaches at Langara College and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.
You can find out more information at www.kliassociates.ca or www.sundance.ca