Categories: Articles

Geek Dinner Toronto

There was nothing geek-like about Geek Dinner Toronto. The Client Side and Scotiabank, Michael Seaton, and I decided to open up our Tuesday night dinner to the greater marketing and communications community and my, what a night it became.
We were seventeen strong as we descended on a downtown Toronto steakhouse and by 10:30 pm none of us knew where the time had gone.
The only regrets I have is that a) I did not have enough time to talk with everyone and b) that the noise level in the room would have been a little lower, so what I recorded would have turned out clearer (you’ll hear the results on a upcoming episode of Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast).
What blew me away was the camaraderie everyone displayed over where our industry is and where it’s going (nobody holds court like Stuart MacDonald).
It was a huge pleasure to finally meet the non-witty co-host of Inside PR, Terry Fallis (who is quite witty regardless of what David Jones thinks). Terry summed it up best right before he left. After shaking hands, he said to me, “I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but I really feel like we already know each other, so it was great seeing you.”
In the moment, I just laughed. But, when I got back to my hotel, and started writing this Blog posting, I realized how close social media binds us… and the power behind the words “six pixels of separation.”
We also had people from companies like CanWest (Michael), Bell (Parth), Sears Travel (Sulemaan) and The Power Within (Scott and Luca) along with Kathryn Lagden from AIMS – Association of Internet Marketing and Sales, Leesa Barnes from Caprica and The Canadian Podcast Listener Survey, Ed Lee from Fleishman-Hillard and Blogging Me Blogging You (dude, I promise, we’ll try and loose the term “geek”) and Andrew Goodman from Page Zero, Traffick.com and the author of Winning Results With Google AdWords. Also on hand were Jay, Mona, Laurie, Goody and I hope I did not forget anyone else.
Too many smart people in one room, which made me realize that I need to make sure that each and every one of them appears as a guest on Six Pixels Of Separation.
It’s close to tomorrow. I’m still buzzing from the conversation and insights. I can hardly wait for Geek Dinner Toronto II.
BTW, it’s Geek Dinner not Greek Dinner (yes, more than one person made that embarrassing error).

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.