Meta Bits: Speaking and Projects Sidebar

November 16, 2009 By

Just a quickie from me today with two new bits on the site:

1. I am SUPER excited to finally announce that the speaking page is live. I’ve been presenting for audiences large and small for over 2 years now and while I’ve still been doing presenting in the private, corporate world for select clients, I haven’t been advertising these to date. I’ve got two “Keynote” style presentations listed (Living On The Cloud and Making Minutes Count) and am putting some finishing touches on presentation #3 (Broken Fishbowls) right now.

Even MORE exciting on that page, though, is a series of talks I’ve built that I’m calling ‘The Twenty-threes’. These are short (23-minute) presentations that were built to be modular and sectional so that they tie themselves together quite well when presented as a group. There are 35 of these right now, and I’m on track to be adding one each month or so.

2. I’ve also added a sidebar widget (Based, actually, on a few emails I received) that highlights some of the projects I’m involved in. This will, in time, become a page, too, but the widget should suffice for now.

That’s it. Until tomorrow!

Filed Under: Archives, Projects, Site Announcements

The Honour Of Being An Early Adopter

October 6, 2009 By
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Courtesy: @applecrispmusic

Being an early adopter is an exciting game with ups and downs every day. Sometimes, you get yourself into an awesome service before they close the doors and tell you you’re not allowed in. Other times, you end up paying more for a product than you probably should have. And sometimes, you get to see something so early that it you see it start, grow and die before it gets the chance to go mainstream.

As one of people behind the Limestone New Media Group initiative, I’m always keeping Kingston – and Kingston’s businesses – in mind as I browse the web. Fairly early on, I had a feeling that Twitter was going to get pretty big, and I registered a number of account on behalf of local businesses. I did this again earlier this year.

Twitter’s position on these names is pretty clear: Don’t do it. According the the use policy, bulk registrations, impersonating others and trying to sell names back to corporations for profit is a clear no-no and will end in a suspension of the account – as well as potentially other accounts you manage/’own’. I have, twice now, flown straight against this rule and registered a whole bunch (8-10 each wave) of accounts.

I bring this up because I got a wonderful email the other night that allowed me to turn over another account to a local business. I didn’t charge them anything, didn’t have them buy a time share and didn’t even add their email to a mailing list. They wrote to me – and I simply replied with the password.

While it may be that Twitter’s not shutting me down because the haven’t found me, I’ve also been very careful about what I’ve done with the accounts:

  1. I don’t tweet on their behalf. In fact in the second wave, I only post a single tweet that reads “This account has been set up as a placeholder. If you feel you should have it (It’s free!), follow the link in the profile for details.”
  2. The profile links to this page – which is a letter explaining who I am, what the LNMG is, why I’ve ‘stolen’ their account, and what to do to get the password.
  3. I don’t edit defaults: The background, icon and everything else stays to whatever Twitter says it is.
  4. Once I get an email, I check who it’s from. If it’s from the domain I’d expect it to be, I just turn over the account. If not, a few quick Google searches will usually confirm who the person is. In either case, once I can verify the person, I blank out the profile link, delete the tweet and send them the password.
  5. I don’t market them – I don’t want to be seen as ‘that guy’ who’s squatting the names and approaching people with them. Though I’m not asking for money (Or even suggesting they turn to me for a strategy or consulting), I know that “cold-calling” in this way is frowned upon, so I just don’t do it.

My entire first wave of accounts went to their proper owners in just over 6 months. This second wave is taking a little longer to be disbursed - but I crossed the halfway point by turning over @applecrispmusic recently.

It makes me SO excited to see so many Kingston companies beginning to to adopt social media tools – and I’m honoured to be able to play a small role in helping them along.

Filed Under: Archives, Methods, Projects, Twitter

Happy Birthday To… YOU!

August 18, 2009 By

So, if we’re connected on a birthday-enabled social network, you’ve probably already been alerted that my birthday is this week. You’ve likely been told, too, that I’ll be 25.

But just having me receive presents? No, that won’t do.

So I’m offering 25% off everything over at WordPress By The Minute just by entering the word ‘BIRTHDAY’ into the coupon box. Offer valid on all projects I’m brought on board for between now and August 25th (Even if the work doesn’t actually start or end until after that).

So spread it around – presents for everyone!

Filed Under: Archives, WordPress, WPBTM

Crowdsourcing Glasses

August 10, 2009 By

So, it’s been eight years since I’ve owned a new pair of glasses. Eight. Freaking. Years. That is WAY too long. So, while I’m in need of new glasses, I thought I’d try a bit of an experiment.

I recently discovered an online glasses (and contact lens) store that I’m keen on ordering from, but I can’t make up my mind.

A list of all of their men’s frames can be found here and I’m attaching a recent (rather grumpy, apparently) picture to this post.

Your mission is to pick a (few) pair(s) of glasses, then comment on this post to let me know which you like. While I (And, let’s be honest, my wife) retain veto rights, I’m pretty open to anything, so the pair that seems to gather the most attention has a darn good shot of being my new pair. Also, while I’m not going to say ‘money isn’t an object’, I do have benefits that’ll be covering the purchase.

So spread the word and help me go shopping!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Archives, Personal, Projects, Social Media

Resume Redux

July 26, 2009 By

This post is short and an almost direct copy/paste – please forgive me, I’m at the cottage until tomorrow. I’ll have something original then.

I’ve always found the standard, single-page, single-sided resumé to be rather… dull. All you ever get is a single cover letter, and then one page to explain your skills, knowledge, history and… well… everything.

This two-page setup hardly gives an applicant the chance to show the employer anything about them. Because of the lack of space, their personality, their creativity… and even relevant skills end up forgotten. Most people compensate by having several versions of their cover letter and resumé so that they can select the right pair for any given job application. But even in these scenarios things are ignored – it’s just a different set of ignored items depending on which resumé/cover letter pair is used.

When I decided it was time to return to the working world after a year of freelancing, this standard setup just didn’t seem to fit me anymore.

So I decided to look up “resumé” and what it meant. It turns out that the official definition says nothing about length, letters or even medium! All it is, it seems, is a written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experiences. Well – that’s pretty easy.

So I decided to do something a little… different with mine. I launched it with a domain name and a WordPress install. At the time of writing, I’m seeking work in customer service or evangelism marketing. Stop on by You Should Hire Tommy, and take a look at the interactive resumé. I’d love your feedback.

Oh! And spread the word! :)

Filed Under: Archives, Personal, Projects

Local Hashtags: A Twitter Proposal

June 24, 2009 By

[Loooong post alert. Grab a coffee.]

So, the past week has brought a lot of interesting events and happenings in Kingston. From PAB, to Doors Open, from Teddy Bears to Music Festivals and from fires…. to, well, bigger fires. I’ve been watching it all very closely on Twitter and trying to keep up.  It’s been hard, though, because while big events (like PAB) have dedicated hashtags, smaller going-ons never do. We chatted about this a bit at the last meetup, too, and are beginning to think of a solution, but I’ve been doing some more thinking on my own, too.

First, I pondered the idea of a single, generic tag that could cover all local events. Something like #kingstonon, or #kngon (to keep it short – on Twitter, every character counts) or something like our airport code #ygk… But none of that seemed right – a sweepstakes at the mall and a parade downtown then share the same tag… And until local events begin to have their own tags, that’s going to get very confusing, very quickly. So I thought we could break up the city in a way that would make sense… And the more I thought about this, the more I realized it was already done – by Canada Post!

The Down-Low on Postal Codes

Ahh, the postal codes – something I’ve been developing more of a personal interest in. The postal code system in Canada is set up with 6 characters, three letters and three numbers, formatted as D1E 2F3. The first three characters are the FSA (Forward Station Area) which break down a specific area of a province or city and the last three are the LDU (Local Delivery Unit) pinpoint a specific area within the FSA such as a street, block or sometimes a single building. Because of the way the FSAs work in Kingston – I decided that breaking the city up along those lines made the most sense. If you want to learn more about postal codes, check Wikipedia.

The Hashtags

So I’m proposing we begin tagging news, events, important updates and similar using the FSA as a hashtag. I’ve set up a rough map showing the rough areas according to the Canada Post map. I’m also providing a list of major landmarks within each hashtag zone, along with a specified suggested colour. Click on the read more link below to read all about the new tag zones for Kingston. Part of the beauty of this system is that it can be easily adapted for use anywhere across the country.

I’d appreciate feedback on the hashtags – the idea is to help bring the community together on this, so redefining them together is alright by me. Also, if I missed any notable landmarks, I’d appreciate knowing those, too.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Archives, Local, Projects, Twitter
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