Archive for the ‘Internet Love’ Category

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April 25th, 2013

School for Bloggers: Top 5 WordPress Plugins (#WCOttawa)

WordCamp Ottawa, #wcottawa

This week, my hometown of Ottawa will be hosting its very first WordCamp (#WCOttawa)!

I’ve mentioned in previous “School for Bloggers” posts that these kinds of events are a life bread for bloggers because it’s the best way to learn — from each other. There’s no school for this crazy thing called blogging, so this is what we do instead.

Here’s how WordCamp Central describes these gatherings, which have taken place all over the world:

“WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other.”

WordCamp Ottawa will be kicking off tonight with a “Pre-Camp” that provides an introduction to WordPress. It’s $5 to go. Seriously. $5. Go! You can still register right here.

And then on Saturday, there is an awesome full-day agenda for all attendees to take in. It’s $23. I know, great value, right? There are three tracks developed for the WordCamp Ottawa conference: (1) Content Creators, (2) Site Creators, and (3) Code Creators. And each track has 7 sessions.

It’s going to be hard to choose between sessions, but I plan on splitting my time between the Content Creators and Site Creators sessions. I am really excited about it all — the learning offered at this conference is very unique from other blogging-related conferences I’ve attended. There are already more than 250 registered attendees, but you can still squeak in! The link to the registration page is here.

I’m also an invited speaker at this event. Although I am likely their token non-techie, I am really honoured. The panel I am a part of is called: Building Your Business, Cause, or Brand using WordPress. (If you are attending, please come and say hello!)

As part of the build-up to this event, the organizers have been posting Speaker Profiles on the site. In these profiles, each speaker shares his/her favourite WordPress Plugins. I thought this information was invaluable. So I’ve rounded up all of the plugins mentioned and created a top 5 list.

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January 11th, 2013

Ottawa Staycation: Coffee at the Shopify Offices

Entrance to Shopify Offices

Back in 2010, I received an email that started like this:

My name is Brennan and I am a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa and co-founder of a local start-up called Avitu.  In a nutshell, Avitu is social and community driven online advertising platform and ad management tool. For the past 4 months myself and my two classmates (both software engineering students at UofO) have been incubating out of Shopify in the Byward Market trying to develop the ultimate tool for publishers to easily sell and manage their online ad space.

I responded and did what I could to help out. After all, how could I not admire a group of students so industrious that they are spending their spare time starting up a company? (If you knew me in university, please do not share what I was doing in my spare time as a student! Let’s just say it wasn’t nearly as productive, and may have involved quite a bit of rum and Diet Coke.)

During one of our email conversations, Brennan signed off like this:

Thanks again!  Next time we should meet in person (coffee is on me)!

I never did meet him in person or collect on that free coffee. Now, three years later, Brennan is Head of Business Development at Shopify and his coffee promise was still valid and included a tour of the oh-so-famous Shopify offices, which have been featured in virtually every major piece of business press in Canada. (If you want a quick catch-up on this Ottawa success story, try this article in Profit Guide which pronounces Shopify as “Canada’s Smartest Company.”)

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October 25th, 2012

What Guidance Would You Give to An Algonquin College Student on Online Identity and Career Advancement?

The last time I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at Algonquin College, I asked you what advice you would give to a student soon to be graduating from the Advertising program. I thought that the comments that came in were really valuable, so I’d like to do a repeat performance.

Today, I’ll be speaking to a class that is in a business stream (as opposed to a creative stream) in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program. And the specific class is: Digital Marketing.

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October 22nd, 2012

School for Bloggers: Vlogging (#BlissdomCA)

There’s no formal training to become a blogger. You teach yourself what you can and you learn from other more experienced members of the blogging community. That’s why blogging events are such a big deal in our world — we get to connect with our community in a face-to-face way and we also get to learn more about this crazy craft called blogging.

I just attended one of this “big deal” events — Blissdom Canada — over the past weekend (I attended last year too). Held in Toronto, 500 bloggers flocked in from all provinces to learn, network, and party.

To Vlog or Not to Vlog

I’ll tell you all about the fun and silliness, but for now, I want to ask you about video blogging, or “vlogging.”

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October 18th, 2012

Bullying and Rhetoric

Today, I’m a guest blogger over on Annie Urban’s PhD in Parenting. Annie and I like each a lot despite butting heads on a number of issues. But that’s precisely the point — we both understand (and have a strong respect for) the importance of debate and discussion. Otherwise, we end up in rhetoric territory.

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