Get a signed copy of Shel Israel's Twitterville at Third Tuesday

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Third TuesdayRegistration for the Canadian launch of Shel Israel‘s Twitterville at Third Tuesday Ottawa and Third Tuesday Toronto is open.

And here’s a neat extra for people attending the Third Tuesday launch. You can get a copy of Twitterville signed by Shel for only $10 plus your Third Tuesday admission.

So, if you’re interested in joining us for a great evening of networking with others interested in social media plus a chance to meet Shel Israel and get a personally signed copy of his new book, Twitterville, register online to attend Third Tuesday Ottawa or Third Tuesday Toronto.

I hope to see you there.

Participate in #JournchatLIVETO

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#journchat#Journchat is a Twitter discussion held on Monday evenings intended to give PR people, bloggers and journalists a time to discuss issues of common concern.

A few weeks back, Jodi Echakowitz suggested a couple ways that #Journchat could be made better. Sarah Evans, the organizer of #Journchat, has taken up Jodi’s suggestion of live meetups across the U.S. and Canada during next week’s #Journchat discussion to give participants an opportunity to connect in person.

Jodi is organizing the #JournchatLIVETO meetup on the evening of August 17. And I’m happy that Thornley Fallis is able to help out by hosting the live gathering of participants in our Toronto office boardroom.

  • What: JournchatLIVETO
  • When: Monday, August 17, 6:30PM to 10PM
  • Where: Thornley Fallis, 21 St. Clair Ave East, Suite 800, Toronto
  • Organized by: Jodi Echakowitz

If you want to attend in person, you’ll need to register to attend #JournchatLiveTO.

But even if you don’t want to attend in person, you can still participate in the discussion on Twitter between 7:30PM and 10PM Monday. To do so, simply set up a Twitter search for the hashtag #journchat and then include #journchat in your own tweets

I’m looking forward to meeting the other people who choose to participate in person at the #journchatLIVETO event. It should be a good discussion.

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Interested in more info on #Journchat?

Shel Israel to launch Twitterville in cross-Canada tour of Third Tuesdays

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Shel Israel is coming to Canada in September to launch his new book, Twitterville. And he’ll be doing it at Third Tuesday social media meetups in five cities across Canada: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

twittervillecover-090811Three years ago, Shel co-authored Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble. Naked Conversations was a must-read book in 2006. It captured the zeitgeist of the blogosphere.

Now Shel Israel is back with Twitterville, his look at Twitter and how it is being used by people and organizations to connect, play, share, create community, organize…. You name it and we’re finding a way to do it on Twitter.

Shel was the very first speaker at the inaugural Third Tuesday in 2006. So, launching Twitterville at Third Tuesday is like Shel coming home. I’m really excited that we’re able to bring him to Canada to do this.

Hold these dates

We’ll be opening registration for each of the Third Tuesday events with Shel in the next few days. In the meantime, mark the date of the Third Tuesday Twitterville launch in the city nearest you:

  • September 13 Montreal
  • September 14 Ottawa
  • September 15 Toronto
  • September 16 Calgary
  • September 17 Vancouver

What’s it about?

I had a chance to read an early draft of Twitterville. It’s a great read. Packed with interesting stories of real people using Twitter today. It drove home to me that we are still in early days of understanding the implications of social media and applying the new technologies to achieve the things we want to do. And it sparked my imagination, giving me ideas about how I can use Twitter and other social media in my own business and life.

I plan to post more about the content of Twitterville. In the meantime, you too can get a preview of the book. Shel has posted the book’s Introduction on his blog, Global Neighbourhoods.

Thank you to our sponsors

We’re able to bring Shel to cities across Canada thanks to the support of our Third Tuesday sponsors:

CNW Group, our founding sponsor;

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, who are providing accommodation for Shel;

Molson Canada, whose use of social media Shel has profiled in Twitterville;

Rogers Communications, whose network provides us with both landline and mobile Internet access; and

Radian6, who provide us with the tools we need to monitor and measure social media.

Thanks to each of these sponsors, Shel’s Canadian book launch will be just the first of several exciting initiatives we’re planning for the coming year.

Stay tuned

We’ll be opening the actual event registration soon. And we’ll have more news about how you can get a copy of Twitterville signed by Shel Israel. So, subscribe to the ProPR RSS feed or check back here for more information.

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UPDATE: Shel has blogged about his coming visit to Canada and his memories of when he came here in 2006 to launch Third Tuesday.

Social Media for Government Conference in Ottawa

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Here’s a conference that I’m looking forward to: Social Media for Government, September 29 – October 2 in Ottawa.

I’ve participated in the Advanced Learning Institute’s (ALI) social media conferences for the past two years. And I’ve found that each one is better than the previous one.

The conference producer, Kelly Flynn, listens closely to the conference participants – what they want to learn, which sessions they find most useful, which speakers have the most to offer.  And she uses what she gleans to ensure that each conference session reflects the state of the art and the interests of participants.

This autumn, the conference will be packed with expert speakers presenting best practices and experienced managers talking about the social media programs they have implemented and what they have learned from that experience.

Speakers and topics include:

  • Colin McKay from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner speaking about how organizations must tailor their voices and content to different social media;
  • Nicholas Charney from Indian Affairs and Northern Development talking about the importance of introducing employees to social media behind the firewall before setting them loose in the wild;
  • Ralph Mercer of the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre describing the change process a hierarchical organization organization goes through in order to adopt social media to its needs;
  • Jean-Simon Marquis from the Canada School of Public Service on using social media to leverage communities of practice for knowledge sharing inside and organization;
  • Chantal Wolf and Jennifer Savage explain how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is using a Wiki and Lotus Connections to build organizational knowledge and how they are measuring ROI;
  • Adrian Cloete and Tracie Noftle describing how Human Resources and Skills Development Canada developed a “corrective blogging” approach;
  • Theresa Woolridge and Amy Jarrette mapping out the social media planning process used by Public Safety Canada;
  • Mike Spear tells how Genome Alberta has build its social media strategy on Facebook and Twitter;
  • Mark Hudson and Marquis Cote share how the Public Health Agency of Canada  used social media to respond to the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak;
  • Chris Wightman and Mark Faul discuss how they are making a business case for social media in the City of Ottawa and measuring the ROI of their social media activities;
  • Michel Savoie and Tim Yull on how RBC, Canada’s largest financial institution, has used social media for drive information sharing and innovation.

It’s a real pleasure to be chairing this edition of the A.L.I. “Social Media for Government Conference” in Ottawa on September 29 – October 2, 2009. I hope you’ll join me at this outstanding opportunity to meet, mix with and learn from some of the leading practitioners of social media for government.

If you’d like more information, download the conference brochure. Or if you’ve already made up your mind to attend, you can register online. (Register this week to get the Early Bird registration rate, discounted $400 off the regular registration fee.)

UPDATE: GET 50% OFF THE REGISTRATION FEE. @kellyflynn just DMed me to let me know that you can get a 50% discount off the conference registration fee if you mention my name when you register. I guess being the Chair of the conference does have some benefits. 🙂 And no, I don’t get any money from this. Just the pleasure of participating in a successful conference full of passionate people who want to learn about social media.