Due to family business this morning (which always comes before the blogging world) I had to miss about 85% of DrupalCamp Vancouver.

The good news is that John was here all day and the first words out of his mouth when he saw me were, “whoa! there’s some really cool theming going on.” This leads me to believe he’ll have much better wrap up posts than I will so I’ll simply syndicate some information and pics.

All photos here are © Roland Tanglao, click on the pics for their links on Flickr.

Information from the sessions can be found on the DrupalCamp Vancouver website and I’ll try to get a couple posts out of John as well.

VIDFEST (Vancouver International Digital Festival) 2008 is fast-approaching and I’m just now beginning to comprehend how many elements, conferences, galas and events all fit under its 4-day festival umbrella.

The Vancouver International Digital Festival is an event for the top creative minds working in digital media. Join visionaries from games and digital entertainment, Web 2.0, interactive design, animation and mobile applications, at this annual ‘must-attend’ in Vancouver, Canada. [VIDFEST]

Here is some more info from their “core facts” sheet:

There are several local webby companies up for PopVox Awards and anyone is encouraged to head to the website and vote for your favourite in categories ranging from Best Digital Animated Short, Best Mobile (Game) to Best Do-Gooder site (Social Change Initiative) or Homegrown Award (Best BC-based Venture).

Some nominees close to my heart include, ChangeEverything, Strutta, MemeLabs, Now Public, and the Knob Hockey folks (just to name a few).

Here’s a quick condensed version of the festival schedule overall:

May 21st - VIDFEST and VIGS Opening Reception at the Vancouver Art Gallery

May 22nd - International Partnering Forum (IPF) and Convergence 2008 (featuring my panel, yay!), then Happy Hour

May 23rd - Creative Exchange Conference (featuring speakers such as Heather “Dooce” Armstrong and Chris Anderson of Wired with the Keynote), Schmooze Lounge and the PopVox Awards

May 24th - Pitch ‘n’ Play and Recruiting Fair

There’s a TON of action going on having to do with all facets of digital media. You can purchase single tickets for Chris Anderson’s keynote, or daily passes for each of the mini festivals within starting at $50 for the PopVox Awards ceremony only, going up to $375 for VIP, and $875 for a joint pass for VIGS and VIDFEST.

Thanks to the effort of many hardworking folks, DrupalCamp Vancouver officially launched this evening at Flux Bistro in Gastown.

Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. [Drupal]

Until Saturday evening the city will be overrun with Drupalists from across this great nation to learn, discuss, code and partake in some of the following:

John and I had a chance to talk to Glenn of Image X Media, chat with a few familiar faces, give DaveO lots of hugs, then send our tired selves home.

If you’re heading to the sold out DrupalCamp make sure to tag any photos on Flickr with “dcv08” and hashtag your updates in Twitter with “#dcv08“.

Just as soon as my social media dance card cleared up, I’ve been busy booking new events, getting involved in more media sponsorships and being sought out for speaking opportunities. My next speaking engagement will be on a panel at the end of the month during the Convergence conference.

Cossette West invites you to attend Convergence 2008, a Digital Marketing and Communications Forum. Join other savvy marketing and communications professionals from across North America to learn how to stay competitive in the ever-shifting digital landscape. [Convergence2008]

I’ve been on a few panels before (and moderated one) and I have to say the talented people I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with just make it that much more exciting, informative, and entertaining.

This time is no different and I’m almost about to go into Wayne and Garth “I’m not worthy” mode seeing as how I’ll have Kate Trgovac on one side of my, and Darren Barefoot on the other.

I haven’t had much time to interact personally with Kate but she was with me on the victorious Team Blogger for CBC’s Test the Nation, she presented at the Northern Voice dinner, and most recently I saw her on a panel at Bridging Media.

Darren on the other hand is half of the world-traveling Capulet Communications marketing power duo who recently hooked John and I up with a Brother Printer and as a result, our faces were printed in the Wall Street Journal. Capulet is also responsible for the super handy “Getting to First Base: Social Media Marketing Playbook”, which is an e-book for purchase at SocialMediaReady.com.

Photo credit: Robert Scales on Flickr

Our panel will be moderated by Darren Roberts of Optimum Public Relations and we’ll be discussing blogger relations:

Influencers have grown beyond just traditional media outlets to include bloggers, who reign in the online space and who can drastically affect perceptions about your brand, your campaigns and/or any other aspect of your company operations. Are you listening? If so, are you talking back? In the very least, you should be working to tell your side of the story; at best, maximizing your message impact among these powerful individuals.

Given my recent tussle with Matchstick and other experiences over the years, I think all of us will be able to bring something from a blogger’s perspective and also from the professional landscape.

Convergence 2008 is taking place on Granville Island at the Arts Club Theatre on May 22nd from 9:30am until 5:00pm. More info is available on the website and you can check out the Techvibes as well for a preview.

Over the last few years John and I have given some tips, pointers, coded pages, created themes and shared our wealth of knowledge about WordPress.

Want to know how to move from Blogger to WordPress? Want to know the difference between WordPress.com and an actual WordPress-powered site? What’s the deal with plugins and which will make my life as easy as pie?

These are just some of the things we’ve encountered and have done our best to educate folks about this PHP-based blogging platform and content management system.

Stickers from WordCamp 2007 courtesy of John Biehler

This year at Northern Voice there was a mini version of a WordCamp, which ended up being a giant scrum of folks asking questions, and those answering them. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that but as was quite evident from the turn out that there are a lot of people out there who are looking for information about WordPress.

On April 30th I’ll be stepping up to the plate as a sponsor and speaker at Vancouver’s first ever WordPress Camp.

On Wed. April the 30th from 5:30 to 8:30pm we are getting together at the Network Hub to share and exchange tips and how-tos on WordPress and blogging in general. We will also learn how to reach a larger audience by using a WordPress blog in conjunction with other web services and Social Networking websites. [Tazzu Blog][Facebook Event]

My session will be about composing blog posts, more specifically adding Flickr photos: From Creative Commons licensing usage to quick tags that help align images on the fly.

Other presenters include:

Bruce Byfield: The Joys of Amateur Blogging.
John Chow: How to make money using a WordPress Blog.
Monica Hamburg: Blogging and Social Media.
Jeff Kee: WordPress for total website development.
Greg Andrews: Good Typography in WordPress.
Kulpreet Singh: Using WordPress to create a custom library, catalog, or other mashup-type site.
Duane Storey: WordPress and mobile blogging - i.e. how to read and write from an iPhone

As a media sponsor I will be providing a live blog along with notes from my session. There is no charge to attend this event thanks to the other sponsors, Culinary Copik Multimedia, BlueFur, RMDStudio, The Network Hub, PeerGlobe, and Tazzu.

**Hat tip to the good folks at Automattic who make WordPress possible (and free) for all of us to love.

Blogging on behalf of my company I’ve blogged my thoughts on today’s Open Web Conference featuring keynotes by Zak Greant and Tim Bray.

Over on Payments on Rails my recaps are rather industry/company specific so as a blogger on Miss604.com I would like to elaborate and touch on a few other points, particularly those presented by Tim Bray.

Many of Tim’s tips include things I already strive to achieve on my blog every day, which includes knowledge I love to pass on to my blogging padawan.

Social media tools like blogs and Twitter are part of the new culture of contribution which is good for business as it encourages the flow of information and communication. Whether you’re a diary blogger, corporate blogger, developer of projects of websites, here are Tim’s words of advice:

1. Listen: Take advantage of community-based sites to know what’s going on, “so you’re not fighting with one hand tied behind your back.” Wouldn’t you feel reluctant to go to a website where it doesn’t seem like anyone’s listening?
2. Don’t Lecture: Give examples, have a conversation, open the conversation.
3. Be intense: There are millions of voices out there on the web, unless you are passionate and care about what you’re writing, posting, photographing - nobody is going to notice.
4. Be human: Don’t have an eleven step editorial process ie. if you’ve ever been in an organization that needs to put out a press release. You may have experienced that it could take 2 weeks for 2 page release and “then you end up with something no human being would have ever written…. or now would want to read.”
5. Correct yourself: It’s okay to admit you’re wrong and fallible, you’ll increase your reach and effectiveness by being intensely human and if you screw up, admit it and correct it.
6. Be brief: “A lot of us, when we write, have a lot of mental static that gets tossed in. Almost all our works can be improved by shortening them.” Noting Flickr’s new video system only allows 90 second clips is brilliant, the same with Twitter’s character limit. Tim also quoted Blaise Pascal: “The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.”
7. Update often: With of all your projects for the “short attention span generation” have something new to bring people back and keep them interested in what you have to say. This applies to content AND software, “release early, release often,” and take an agile approach.
8. LINK: Link from your community, corporate website etc. if you put something on your piece of the web and don’t link anywhere else, “then you’re saying you know everything - and you’re wrong and your audience will know this,” suggests Tim. He says make people happy by sending them away ie. you only spend maybe 3 seconds on the Google home page but it’s the page you may visit most in a day.

   For my own thoughts about linking and community, you can view this interview I did a few months ago with Reachd.

9. Look good : Have a talented designer, ’nuff said.
10. Balance hubris and humanity: “The desire to talk to the world, and the ability to shut up and listen. Write something great today, and do it again tomorrow.” - Tim Bray

I know, that wasn’t brief at all eh? I have to say I couldn’t agree more with the points Tim articulated and as Colleen said this weekend, “join the conversation.” Whether it’s with your website, blog, clients, customers, employees and your team at work.

Speaking of work, one final assertion by Tim was: “Don’t stay in a lousy job.” If you can do great things, in whatever capacity - be a part of something that will enable you to be great. Don’t. Be. Bored.

It’s been a while since we’ve done a regular episode but when I recently got the chance to speak with New Music West’s own Jory Groberman about the upcoming festival, I thought what better way to capture it than on RadioZoom.

New Music West is… “The largest and most influential new music event in Western North America… The only annual public new music showcase in Western Canada… Operating since 1990… Showcases over 200 bands to the public and industry… Takes place in 30 venues across Vancouver… $30 “All You Can Hear” wristbands… Conference, networking events and educational workshops.” [New Music West]

Episode run time is 13:36, listen online, subscribe or grab the audio file.

I decided to attend the panel just ahead of my own in order to get some inspiration, and to get over some nervousness and jitters.

Moderated by Chris Breikss of 6S Marketing (the folks who were playing Guitar Hero on the tradeshow floor) Online Marketing 101 featured David Scott of Entellium, Fred Vallaeys of Google (AdWords), and Joanne Acri of Yahoo! Canada.

Despite it mostly sounding like a commercial for each panelist’s product, I was impressed by the practical knowledge (and geek cred) of Joanne from Yahoo!, “Know your consumer, make the website a tool.” I was distracted however, by the rotating slide show to the right of the presenters that was simply advertisements for the show and displays of the sponsor’s logos. I didn’t really need to see that Michael Tippett was giving a keynote at 9:30am, because no matter how interesting that would have been (and how much I would have liked to attend) it was now 3:00pm and this slide show was diverting my attention from the task at hand.

Thanks to Gus for snapping this during our panel

Now on to our panel, during which I was a crazy hand-talker who had the nervous shakes, I think it went really well. We all took turns saying who we worked for and what we do for that company - we weren’t living breathing commercials but we were all beacons for social media and its uses within business. Linda, Rob and Warren brought up some really great points while Monica was a diligent and entertaining moderator.

Once it was all over I had the pleasure of running into some familiar faces, blog readers, and some entrepreneurs with some great ideas and platforms. I was also handed a Thank You card from the conference, along with a gift. When I got to dinner this evening I opened up the card, which was hand-written (very nice touch) and discovered the lovely gift. It’s a glass computer mouse with the conference logo and my name, but I can’t help but think how strange it is to receive a paper weight from a tech conference. Perhaps it’s just as strange as a tech conference that had no available wifi.

Overall, I think the Massive Tech Show served its purpose for enterprise decision makers - “it is what it is” - and although it’s not any type of event I’m used to attending, it was a pleasure to be included on a panel with such knowledgeable folks. It was also nice to accumulate more to add to my swag pile.