Mark Blevis previews this year's Podcasters Across Borders

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Podcasters Across BordersThis year’s Podcasters Across Borders conference is just three weeks away.

Terry Fallis attended last year’s conference and returned from it with new energy and a bootful of ideas for the Inside PR podcast. This year’s conference looks like it will be even better.

I had a chance couple weeks ago to sit down with Mark Blevis, the co-founder with Bob Goyetche of PAB and the Canadian Podcast Buffet. Mark talked to me about the hightlights of this year’s program.

Have a listen and then register to attend:

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Mark Blevis talks to Joe Thornley about Podcasters Across Borders 2007 [ 10:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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By the way, we think this is such a great conference that we’ve made made a commitment as a sponsor of this year’s Podcasters Across Borders. And we’ve found that the organizers have really valued our support and the community has been great in recognizing it.

So, if you run a company that is involved in podcasting or social media more generally, I’d encourage you to become a sponsor of this year’s PAB.

Ottawa Senators, 1; Third Monday Social Media Meetup, 0

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Third MondayThe NHL has scheduled the first ever appearance of the Ottawa Senators in a Stanley Cup final playoff game to occur on Monday night. That’s the night we had scheduled for the Third Monday with Lionel Menchaca and Richard Binhammer of Dell.

I say “had” because, after consulting around the Third Monday group, we realized that we can’t compete with hockey fever. Forced to choose between the Senators or Third Monday, our members told us they’d choose the Senators.

So, we’re cancelling Third Monday this month. You can try to fight the tax man, but you sure don’t want to take on the hockey fan. At least not in Ottawa.
But you can still meet Lionel and Richard if you are planning to attend the mesh conference or Third Tuesday in Toronto.

Go Sens, go!

Mark Ragan responds to my questions about Social Media Club on My Ragan

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Mark Ragan has responded to my questions about the removal of the Social Media Club group from My Ragan. Mark writes:

Several days ago, I asked Chris in a letter to reconstitute the group under a noncommercial logo. I explained that others saw his shingle Social Media Club, with its URL and its permanent ad for seminars and workshops, and were thinking I had sold Chris this space.  I urged him in that letter to remain moderator and then said I would wait for his thoughts on the issue. After not hearing back from him, we reformed the group under its current name.  Chris then sent everyone in the group a letter attacking me, never mentioning that I had asked him to stay on as moderator and that I only wanted him to replace the group’s icon. It’s that simple.

Interesting.

I recognize that My Ragan is MARK RAGAN’s space, not MY space or YOUR space. He owns it. He can do what he wants with it.

But there was a different approach that he could have taken. He could simply have posted that he does not sell advertising space. Then no one would think that the use of the Social Media Club logo connoted paid space.

Every other social networking place that I belong to allows participants to post photos and graphics. If I want to replace my picture with the Thornley Fallis graphic on Spacebook I can do that. The same with Twitter. Ning. Jaiku. You get the picture. 😉

Mark early set up a Canada group with the Canadian flag. Do I think that this means that the Government of Canada is buying space from Mark Ragan? Of course not. The image is a way for me to identify with the group. I think the same reasoning applies to a Social Media Club group.

How would Mark Ragan respond if I set up a “Hill and Knowlton Alumnae” group (I’m proud to have learned my craft at H&K) and used the H&K logo? (assume that I would have cleared it with H&K) How would he respond if I set up a Thornley Fallis group and used the Thornley Fallis logo?

If My Ragan really is to be a place where PR pros congregate, the rules need to leave room for people to freely gather around their interests. If no one is interested in Chris Heuer’s Social Media Club project, then no one will join the group. The very fact that so many did join indicates that Chris is on to something. My Ragan is diminished by the removal of the Social Media Club group.

Mark, I think that you have set off on the wrong course. I urge you to reconsider and reinstate the Social Media Club group.

Admission is free to Pre-mesh Third Tuesday

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Third TuesdayI’ve received a few emails in response to my post about the pre-mesh Third Tuesday featuring the founders of mesh – Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram, Mike McDerment, Rob Hyndman, and Stuart MacDonald. These emails have asked whether the registration for Third Tuesday is included in the cost of the mesh conference ticket or if it is extra.

I guess my post wasn’t clear on the cost of attending Third Tuesday.
So, here’s the good news. Admission to Third Tuesday is free. All you have to pay for is what you eat and drink.

MeshCNW Group is sponsoring the cost of renting the room and sound system for this night. Beyond that, everything else is put together by volunteers.

So, come on out and participate in the discussion with the mesh founders. You’ll have a great time. You can register online if you plan to attend. And the price is right!

Meet the founders of mesh at Third Tuesday

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MeshIn the last year, Toronto has emerged as a social media hot spot. Last May, the mesh conference played a significant role in this by bringing the community together in an event that featured A list speakers and participants from across North America.

This year’s mesh conference kicks off on May 30. And we’ll have a special mesh-eve Third Tuesday on May 29 with the founders of mesh – Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram, Mike McDerment, Rob Hyndman, and Stuart MacDonald – as our special guests.

They’ll talk about about the developments they’ve seen in the social media scene since the first mesh conference and then we’ll have a chance to engage in a discussion with them about what the future may bring.

Third TuesdayThanks to CNW, who agreed to sponsor this special Third Tuesday, We were able to book Live@Courthouse for the evening. It’s a much bigger venue than we’ve used before. But we’re expecting that many of the mesh speakers and participants will join us for the evening.

If you’re in Toronto on May 29, come out to what promises to be a great kick off party to the mesh conference. Meet the speakers and mix with the attendees. And let’s celebrate social media in Toronto.

Register at the Third Tuesday meetup site if you plan to attend.

If you are in Toronto today … read this

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Shel HoltzThird Tuesday with Yahoo! Canada’s Hunter Madsen is being held this evening.

And here’s a neat extra treat: blogger and podcaster Shel Holtz is in Toronto today and he will be attending Third Tuesday.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to meet Shel, hop over to the Third Tuesday Social Media Meetup site and register to attend (it’s free.)

Third TuesdayHunter Madsen. Shel Holtz. Meeting with Toronto’s social media community. What better way could there be to spend a Tuesday evening?

WOMBAT 07 – Josh Hallett's got it covered

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WOMBAT07I couldn’t make it to this year’s Word of Mouth Basic Training (WOMBAT) conference in New Orleans. But Josh Hallett did and he’s filed a superb series of posts covering the two day long conference.

I’ve been following along during the conference. But there’s so much there, I plan to go back to Josh Hallettthem this weekend and re-read them all the way through. Taken together, they constitute a great overview of current thinking about Word of Mouth and social media.

If you missed Josh’s posts, you can read the entire series which he’s tagged as WOMBAT 07. It will be time well spent.

Thanks for sharing, Josh.

Stephen Taylor – Political blogging in Canada

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Stephen Taylor the co-founder of Canada’s Blogging Tories, gave the Third Monday group an insider’s perspective on political blogging.

Taylor began blogging in January 2004 when the Conservative leadership contest was just getting underway. “I’ve always had my opinions and I needed a better forum. … I thought that blogging might be a good way for a kid to get his views out there.”

In December 2004, he registered the Blogging Tories domain name. He found a few other like-minded Conservative bloggers and they all agreed to aggregate their feeds on bloggingtories.

The other parties – the Liberals and New Democrats – have followed blogging Tories. But Taylor and his friends try to stay ahead. At this point, Taylor believes that the Blogging Tories have a six month lead on the other parties in the way that they use social media.

Have the blogging Tories had a tangible impact on the debate? Taylor offered that “many people see us as all sharing a small c conservative libertarian point of view.” You can be accused of being in an echo chamber if you fall behind the party line all the time. “However, there is both the development of new ideas and debate.”

What’s next? We’re thinking of starting a policy Wiki. However, it would have to be limited to only approved people. It couldn’t be open to hijacking.

Taylor recently clashed with the Parliamentary Press Gallery about his right to conduct an interview in the Rotunda of Parliament. After this episode, Taylor went to the Parliamentary Press Gallery to obtain an application for Gallery membership. He found that the application requires that a member of the Gallery not have any outside partisan or other interests. He notes that several members of the Gallery have taken contracts with other organizations – including the government they are supposed to be covering. He believes that there is a debate that needs to be had about membership in the Gallery. Taylor added that the Liberal Party had offered him full credentials as a blogger to cover the Liberal Leadership convention last December.

Stephen also spoke of his calling out of the CBC’s Christina Lawand’s coverage of a press conference by the Prime Minister. Taylor pointed out that editing of the CBC’s report was misleading and biased against the Prime Minister. After much heated debate, the CBC was forced to “express regret” for the coverage. He believes that this is a positive example of the power of articulate and clear-minded political bloggers to exercise some oversight over the Mainstream Media.

How about anonymous comments in response to blog posts? “Anonymity plus audience may creat the most horrible coniditions for a discussion.” Some political bloggers have shut down comments. Taylor has turned on moderation on his comments. “How do you regulate free speech? It is private property after all? I’ve turned on moderation and tried to find balance. If I see a comment that you’d be uncomfortable seeing the person about whom a comment has been written, I filter it out.” Taylor estimates that he needs to refuse about one in fifty comments on this grounds.

This was a great session with a very smart and genuinely nice person. If Stephen’s objective in doing this event was to put a more moderate and reasonable face on conservatism … Mission Accomplished.

UPDATE: Stephen Taylor has posted his thoughts on the Third Monday discussion about blogging and journalism.

Yahoo's Hunter Madsen will speak at Third Tuesday

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Hunter MadsenYahoo!‘s services are close to the heart of every blogger. Flickr, del.icio.us, Upcoming. They provide us with means of finding, publishing and sharing information as we connect to and build our online communities.

And we wonder about their future. What plan does Yahoo! have for their social media services? Will they improve and offer new features that we can use to better connect with our communities? And for some of us, how can Yahoo! help us to generate revenue from our blogging efforts?

On April 24th., we’ll have a chance at Third Tuesday to talk about these and other issues with Hunter Madsen, Yahoo! Canada’s Head of Marketing.

Third TuesdayThis promises to be a good event. So, if you want the latest scoop on what’s happening at Yahoo! and their plans for social media, jump over to the Third Tuesday Meetup site and register to attend the event with Hunter Madsen.

Blogging Tory Stephen Taylor is speaking at Third Monday on April 16

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The two StephensWill Prime Minister Stephen Harper call a spring election? Everybody in Ottawa wants the answer to this question. And I’m hoping that the other Stephen – Stephen Taylor – will provide us with the answer when he speaks at Third Monday on April 16.

Stephen is appearing at Third Monday thanks to an invitation from Brendan Hodgson. In his post about this, Brendan said:

through their diligence, dedication, spirited writing, willingness to question, and no-holds-barred discourse, a few bloggers have risen to the fore as powerful players in their own right. In Canada, Stephen Taylor is one of those.

As co-founder of the Blogging Tories, Stephen is arguably one of the more influential voices in Canadian politics, and a welcome guest for our next Third Monday, on April 16, 2007.

Third MondayWe’ve been having great conversations at Third Monday this year. So if you are planning to be in the National Capital Region on Monday, come join us on April 16 to hear from leading political blogger Stephen Taylor and to discuss the impact of social media on politics in Canada.

Get the full details and register to attend at the Third Monday meetup site.