On February 25, 2011, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) will host a unique and important event about the future of the Internet in Canada. The Internet has become an integral part of the economic, political and social lives of Canadians, and the Canadian Internet Forum (CIF) will provide a space for Canadians to discuss its future.

Working with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Media Awareness Network, CIRA has been consulting with Canadians for the past four months on privacy, how social media is driving the future of the Internet, and access to and the cost of broadband in Canada, among others.

At the CIF, attendees will be engaged to provide their feedback and opinions about the results of the consultations. There will be opportunity to ask questions, debate and have their opinion heard about the direction the Internet should take in Canada. A panel of Canadian experts will discuss and debate the future of the Internet, including:

• Jacob Glick, Canada Policy Counsel, Google
• Dr. Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director, Masters of Digital Media Program at Vancouver’s Centre for Digital Media
• Marc Blanchet, Network Engineer, Viagénie
• Jim Roche, President and CEO, CANARIE

Canadian technology visionary Leonard Brody will give the keynote address.

Registration is free, lunch and coffee will be served, and there will be a networking reception at the end of the day.  For those unable to attend in person, the event will be webcast.

Register now…

When I started this blog in 2007–the name was tongue-in-cheek… Web 2.0 wasn’t the over-used buzz word it is today, and while I’ll probably continue to write about interesting new communications tools, I’d like the freedom to broaden my scope a little.

Now-almost four years later, the meaning has changed and my interests have changed too. I’m not sure exactly *what* I want to do with it, but I’m looking for new inspiration so I can write a little more regularly.

Hope to see you in 2011 and hope you’ll continue reading (whatever ends up happening!)

This Thursday (Dec. 2) is my last day at MediaMiser–after a really fantastic year and a half of great experiences, a super fun office and one awesome team. I’m thankful for the opportunity and will fondly remember my time here.

However, I’m also really excited to announce I’ll be joining another great team here in Ottawa (and Toronto): the Thornley Fallis/76design team!

Although I love what I do, one itch I haven’t really been able to scratch lately is my love of working directly with clients. I did at my first job (that I LOVED more than anything) cardcommunications and I’ve missed it, so the opportunity to work with clients at an agency on the bleeding edge of social media and digital PR was an opportunity I simply couldn’t pass up.

As a consultant, I’m looking forward to working with an already impressive client list on social media/digital communications strategies. I also look forward to dipping my toes in business development and hopefully landing equally impressive clients and projects.

I start next Monday, Dec. 6, I’ll still be blogging here and on Twitter. Oh and if you’re looking for an agency for social media, marketing and/or PR, talk to me!

I also love going to the movies, so this one is particularly exciting. The Cineplex Coliseum (Bayshore) is unveiling the latest in big screen tech and awesome effects (paraphrased!) called UltraAVX and I want to make sure you get there! I have 3 sets of tickets to go away. The tickets are good for up to one year, but I strongly urge you to go and be the first to experience what was described to me as:

One of the most immersive entertainment experiences possible. UltraAVX features wall-to-wall screens that are significantly larger on average than traditional screens. A superb digital surround sound system utilizes the latest in Dolby digital sound technology. Special projectors provide stunning, crystal clear images. And to top the experience off, reserved seating options and extra wide high back, luxurious rocker seats.

Yay! Just drop a comment and tell me what movie you’d love to go see (the passes are good for any movie playing on the UltraAVX, I’m just looking for ideas). Tomorrow at noon I will use Random.org to choose 3 winners.

Oh big thanks to, and please consider following @CineplexMovies!

UPDATE: Winners!
By the magic of Random.Org our winners are:
Sarah Houlihan
jaks
Dana Cooper

Can you email me at kellyrusk@gmail.com to claim your prize and we can figure out how to best get them to you..

C.C. also took the time to make a video about what you can expect:

Register now…

Hope to see you there! This is definitely a can’t-miss event!

I have a few tickets to give away courtesy of Mott’s, for both Saturday and Sunday. If you’d like to win a pair, please leave a comment and tell me what your favourite Caesar variation is, or what ingredient you think would make a killer addition (or garnish) to a caesar. Also please specify if you’d like to attend on Saturday or Sunday.

I’ll announce the winners tomorrow at noon.

Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: You guys are awesome! Love the answers! And since I won’t possibly be able to choose winners on my own, what I’m going to do is dump your names into a spreadsheet separated by day and then use the Random Number Generator to pick a winner

WINNERS:
Saturday:
Emma Godmere
PrincessDoubtsorry, didn’t hear from you in time  
Robert McKenney 
jasonashton
Colleen Reynolds

Sunday
AubrieMcG 
Lyara Brine
Randy Little (who graciously donated to Della for her anniversary! awesome!!)

Don (@foodieprints) 
Ashley Andrews re-draw
RE-DRAW WINNERS
Sunday:
Jen Butson
Michaelsdolce

Saturday:
Lindsay Polak

Bold means I’ve heard from you and you’re CONFIRMED!

I will email or Tweet you (if no email was provided) you MUST confirm you can make it within 2 hours or I will re-draw! I want to make sure they are all used!

I wish you all could have won! Originally I didn’t think I’d get more than 10 entries. Obviously I’ve underestimated the caesar lovers in this city.

Also Mott’s will be doing a Caesar school at the event-it’s an extra cost, but I recommend attending! I’ll be there at 3pm on Saturday. Just drop by the Mott’s booth for info!

When I got a copy of Switch a couple weeks ago, I didn’t really think it would apply to me. Change isn’t something I’m afraid of. For starters, I drastically change my hair colour/style at least once a year. I’ve quit three jobs in the last three years, so career change isn’t really difficult for me either. I even quit smoking earlier this year and found it surprisingly easy (it was my *second* time, but still).

Diving into the book made me realize that I definitely avoid some change or sometimes, no matter how well intentioned I am, I just can’t seem to get going on things I’d really like to change (getting my butt to the gym on a regular basis is a perfect example).

So far, I love the book, it provides simple explanation and a three step approach to creating change. It also demonstrates how you can fuel change even when you are not in a position of power or authority. The book is laced with inspirational and motivational messages of how individuals have used the power of both their rational and emotional minds, along with a clear vision, to drive change–from less accidental hospital deaths to solving child starvation in Vietnam… With powerful stories like those, the simple mundane situation you want to change suddenly seems oh-so attainable.

The best part of this however was not the book. It was the opportunity to see co-Author Dan Heath speak live here in Ottawa, thanks to United Way Ottawa. While I found that much of what Heath said was already in the book, his visual support was excellent. Often I read books and forget (most) of them, but the powerful visuals of his talk are pretty ingrained in my head now.

The theory behind Switch is pretty simply behavioural economics: Your brain is driven by two parts: the rational mind (herein referred to as the Rider) and the emotional mind (the Elephant) when you look at the image, it’s pretty clear what goes on: Although the Rider is in charge of course, if the Elephant wants to go somewhere else, he’ll probably win that fight.

Switch gives three easy steps based on this:

1. Direct the Rider – use your rational mind to identify where you want to go and what change you want to happen. He suggests we direct the rider by looking for bright spots–if you want to change something, forget about what is wrong and look for what is going right and figure out how to grow that.
2. Motivate the Elephant. You want the elephant to go where the rider wants to go, because again, if they disagree, the elephant–which represents the dieting you who really wants to eat a piece of chocolate cake, for example–will always win. Dan also made several great points about appealing to emotions to motivate change in others. A hilarious example he used is what happened if men approached marriage proposals like they do work proposals. He showed a bulleted powerpoint listing the rationale for getting married, making it painfully obvious how ridiculous this approact actually is at work.
3. Set the path – “People problems are usually situation problems” was a key quote from this point, which means you have to have the right environment available to steer your change. While you may not be able to control the present environment-you figure out where you need to be and shape the path so both the rider and elephant are headed the same way.

A few pics, courtesy of United Way Ottawa on Flickr:

This visual clearly shows Switch‘s three step approach.

Dan commended Canada for its emotionally driven warnings on cigarette packs.


My personal favourite anecdote from his talk: What if marriage proposals were handled like business proposals?

A big thanks to United Way Ottawa for making this event possible!

First let’s get the bad out of the way: out of six speakers, would it have been so difficult to line up one female speaker? There are plenty of inspiring and insightful women who would have been a wonderful addition to this conference and offset the high ratio of bald white men. My #1 pick would have been Charlene Li as I’m dying to read her new book Open Leadership.

OK back to the good. A very solid line up of speakers, Mitch Joel (from whom I actually won my tickets from) kicked off the day and although I’ve seen him a few times before, he never disappoints. I would have to disagree with his controversial comment about 22 year olds only caring about “drinking and smoking doobs.” I know plenty of smart, ambitious and capable 22 year olds who don’t party hard and are committed to their careers. I used to be one myself a few years ago.

The first of two highlights for me was Seth Godin, having read several of his books and been a dedicated blog reader for years, I fully expected to be blown away… and I was! Seth spoke about the marketing revolution that’s the end of Henry Ford’s “dispensable people to do dispensable jobs” factory-style business model that also sees companies “selling average items to average people” and talked about the need for remarkable products and services and employees to be “linchpins” i.e. indispensable assets to a company. Super inspiring, everyone-even outside of marketing-should follow Seth.

Even after a lunch break, I’m sure most of us in the room thought it was going to be a pretty daunting task to speak after Seth. However, Avinash Kaushik, definitely the speaker I was most excited to see, not only delivered but completely stole the show! If you ever thought web analytics were boring or confusing, you have definitely never seen Avinash present! The audience was in stitches as he explained bits of wisdom, such as bounce rates really mean “I came, I saw, I puked” and that blog visitors are like one-night stands: it feels good at first, but then dirty afterward. What you really want is blog subscribers who represent long-term relationships. If you have never seen Avinash present, than go online and book a ticket to where-ever he is speaking next and go. It’ll be worth it, even if you think you’re not interested in web analytics. Through it all he reinforced the very important point that data is nothing if you don’t know what to do with it, and the key to being an analysis-ninja is to understand and provide outcomes. A good lesson that’s transferable to any type of analysis–not just website analytics.

The last point is although it was a great day of talks, there was definitely not enough time to mingle. I went hoping to meet some long-time Twitter friends (@rommil, @zooini and @TamyEmmaPepin and see others (like @mitchjoel who I never even got to personally thank for the tickets!). I guess that’s a good excuse to get out to Montreal again soon-one of my favourite cities.

There’s so much more I could say, but overall it was a great day and I was happy to be a part of it with my colleague @SophieJodouin. On top of it all I always LOVE any time I get to spend in Montreal, a beautiful city filled with great people.

“It takes three years to become an overnight success”
We look on with envy at celebrities or people who seem to rise to fame quickly. The good ones have years of solid work behind them that we never hear about. Those who truly are overnight successes tend to crash and burn quickly… Be patient.

“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.” Tim Ferris
A good reminder when you want to follow your dreams… Sometimes you can mistake your gut with fear.

“Never mistake activity for achievement.”
I’ve heard this and variants of it a few times attributed to different people. John Wooden is one, though I had heard it was originally someone else…

“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
This not only sounds cute, but is completely true.

“Attitude determines Altitude”
Success is all about attitude and having the right attitude will always get you further in life.

As of the last few months it’s become clear what I’d do with a million dollars.I’d love to say I love my job so much I’d just keep on working! But that’s simply not true-only because there are opportunities out there that I’d love to embrace if only I could support myself in doing it.

As much as I love my chosen field of PR/community management, the first thing I’d do with a cool million is go back to school and major in economics and minor in computer science. Why? Well most importantly I think those skills combined with my successful PR background would be the ultimate trifecta of awesome! (Particularly as an aspiring entrepreneur)

More seriously though I would love the opportunity to pursue something I thought I always thought I was bad at. My parents both studied math, my sister is becoming an accountant and my brother is a developer. It must be in my genes somewhere right? Also when I started college my doc sent me to do a psycho-educational analysis because of problems with concentration and focus. One thing I learned from that was my logic skills were abnormally awesome (top one percent believe it or not!) and that my math skills were not too shabby either. It was actually quite a shock-but I didn’t think much of at the time as I was already choosing a career in communications.

Now seven (gasp!!) years later I wonder if I took the easy route out? Did I always think I hated math because girls hate math and aren’t good at it? One day if a bundle of money falls in my lap maybe I’ll find out…