It has been a while since I was able to do an update on what’s been happening with #140confMTL and this is because I have been busy engaging with all these wonderful people out there in the world In Real Life (IRL) , people who use Social Media to connect.
@Josepf from Dragon Search Marketing has been helping tirelessly in setting up the @140confMTL account, and creating some wonderful connections with all his Social Media (SoMe) savvy and charm. I owe him a great deal of thanks for throwing the word out there and keeping momentum while I have been working to scout locations and keeping active “offline”.
I was really happy to meet @hommedecire, @rachellehoude, @MTLOysterfest, @Janet__Lane (from @JavaUMTL) and @Josepf for dinner last week at the wonderful @RestoLOrignal in the gorgeous Old Port of Montreal. The atmosphere was warm, classic and trendy all at the same time. Our bartender made the most wonderful drinks, and Dan a.k.a @MTLOysterfest prepared some oysters that seem like they came straight from heaven. The man knows his oysters~ If you haven’t had oysters prepared by Dan, then I think its fair to say, you’ve never really had oysters. A big thank you to @hommedecire, Atie Waxman for introducing us, and to the wonderful hosts of @RestLOrignal ( which means Moose in French) for the beautiful venue. An evening to remember.
Over dinner, we discussed Social Media from many perspectives. Rachelle works for Agence Tuxedo, a firm based here in Montreal. It was really wonderful to have the chance to speak with her and hear her perspective on what those who work in Social Media might find interesting to see at #140ConfMtl. @Josepf, coming from DragonSearch, , had a very client-centric perspective and he wove the importance of new school SEO into almost every thought. As we spoke @hommedecire, was able to address what is important to a business person, when working with a SoMe firm: service, counsel and most importantly the partnership. What I loved about this dialogue was that much like what you experience at any conference, you get a deeper understanding and sense of the differences among us, and how they can meld together to form great synergy. When you are dealing in Social Media, it is so important to understand what you are looking for, and what you need – how you will achieve it. Social Media is about relationships, and it is something that evolves with you, and with the people you surround yourself with. We had a very interesting discussion on service and expectations, and the importance of communication.
We also had a chance to discuss a SoMe project and something I am currently very involved in that I absolutely love: the Aviva Community Fund (@AvivaCF). It seeks to give $1 million dollars away to communities across Canada. I feel it is so important to always give back, to do what you can for your community, so this project is truly amazing to me. People can help decide who the funding is awarded to, simply by clicking on VOTE. Whats really wonderful is that it uses SoMe to identify and award the funds. I will share more with you on this in an upcoming post in @12Most. For now, you can follow a little about what is going on in my recent posts from my professional blog here. In the words of @AnnDouglas from #140confONT:
Ironically, all this IRL (In Real Life) meeting has kept me from engaging online as much as I usually do – but rest assured, simply a temporary absence as I put in the works two great projects: #140confMTL and campaigning for @AvivaCF .
You would be surprised how hard it is to convince people to apply for a piece of this Million Dollars using SoMe! And this in itself is a major reason I feel the #140conf is going to be wonderful. We need to keep spreading the word of what we can do when we work together, when we use Social Media as a tool to communicate, to collaborate and work together to make dreams come true.
Social Media has become so important in this world, it allows so many opportunities for people to connect, and its only natural that we should whenever possible use our connections and our friends to join together and be a part of the change we wish to see in the world. I started drafting this post two days ago. Since then, I recently read @MargieClayman’s post on her own blog, in which she is engaging in focusing her efforts on using Social Media for social good. This is a prime example of how, if we identify causes, and we have the social networks in place, we can accomplish almost anything. (Update Note: I am proud to announce Margie will be speaking at #140confMTL May 15th!!!)
The key is for more people to understand how to use Social Media, so that they have the tools to be the change they want to see in the world, attract more clients, or supporters and generate excitement about companies, products or causes. Another reason I am so excited about bringing 140Conf to Montreal May 15th 2012.
On this note, I would also like to extend a deep thanks to @Josepf who has been helping promote the @AvivaCF in his spare time, he has generously put himself out there to meet with the community groups I ‘ve been working with to help them out on the SoMe side. His expertise has been critical to helping them collect the votes they need to make it to the final round of the competition. Another example of Social Good.
We need to keep spreading this knowledge, and sharing our stories so more people come to understand that Social Media is not about computers, it is about relationships and relationship building.
In his 140ConfONT presentation, @unmarketing stated one of the best things I have heard said about ROI (Return on Investment) of SoMe, I will paraphrase here:
Whats the ROI on Social Media? Well, whats the ROI of talking to your customers?
We accomplish nothing without communication. So, isn’t it a given that if we have an effective and fresh way to communicate with our clients, supporters, fans, etc… Shouldn’t we use this?
Won’t this inevitably help us get closer to accomplishing our goals, develop our products, or generate support for social action? Undoubtedly.
As soon as the announcement came out that I am working on bringing #140conf to Montreal for 2012, I’ve was blessed by so many people reaching out, expressing interest, offering to help, agreeing to speak, and just “connecting”. I would like to extend a big thank you to @_AnnieTran, @BigDaddyKreativ, @jasondyk, @fleurdelotus @benjaminbach for reaching out and jumping in to volunteer and help out for 140ConfMTL – your enthusiasm and spirit just rock, and I am so grateful for you!
I might have to throw in some Moishe’s Latke’s for Annie, but … As she says below, great minds, great energy and its a pleasure to be getting to know you all 🙂
Plans for the #140confMTl are moving forward, in the meantime, you should definitely check out #140conf website and catch up with the #140Conf in Telaviv next week, this will surely be an amazing conference.
Also coming up in New York, on November 9th, another wonderful @JeffPulver production Brandsconf. I will be attending and invite you to check it out too, “Exploring the humanization of Brands” .
For #140confMTL, I have just begun, and I will have another update for you shortly on all the wonderful people I have been meeting, some of our outstanding speakers that have already gotten on board, and hopefully some news on who our sponsors will be and the venue so we can seal a date for May 2012! I am currently reviewing proposals now.
We are also looking at organizing #140ConfMTL tweetups in the coming months, make sure to follow @140ConfMTL for news on these mini events leading up to the conference!
#140ConfMTL will be all about perspectives and sharing how Social Media is impacting the world right now, live communication, results, dreams and relationships.
Related articles
- Spectacular Speaker Line Up for #Montreal’s #140confMTL Part II (milaspage.com)
- Introducing a Spectacular Speaker Line Up #140conf #Montreal – Part I (milaspage.com)
- Social Media is about relationships. We built our business on relationships. (milasblog.com)
- The Evolution of #140conf: Finding Meaning (pulverblog.pulver.com)
