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Geek Dinner Toronto II.1 Becomes Geek Dinner III

A couple of weeks back, when I realized how many of my fellow social media digerati were speaking and attending the New Media For Communications conference, I thought instead of doing a Geek Dinner Toronto, why not just have a nice quiet evening with a handful of us? As is always the case, the guest list kept growing. I then realized that all of the affirmative RSVPs were actually male (can’t have that), so I offered up an invite to some past Geek Dinner Toronto attendees and others who had expressed interest. Next thing you know, we have over twenty people showing up in Toronto for another Geek Dinner.
So let’s do the correct nomenclature up front: Geek Dinner Toronto II.1 is now re-dubbed Geek Dinner Toronto III… it’s only fair (and who doesn’t love a good mash-up?).
A couple of highlights were dining (and spending the better part of the past two days) with Inside PR Podcasts hosts, Terry Fallis and David Jones. The conversation was pushed forward when Mesh dude, Stuart MacDonald, hopped over for some social media chatter. It’s one thing to connect to peers who are like-minded, but this was not your run-of-the-mills mutual admiration society while doing shots from the social media kool-aid cooler. We all got riled up on the “what Bell Canada should do?” conversation. I wish I had the M-Audio MicroTrack running.
It was also great to meet Tony Hung in person, Hung is the author of the Deep Jive Interests Blog and quickly gaining notoriety as one of the fresher faces (and Blog voices) from the Toronto scene. How he manages to post as frequently as he does, while doing his residency (he’s a Doctor) along with being a new-Father is well beyond my feeble fingers.
We scattered out a little past eleven o’clock last night. These past forty-eight hours have been social media heaven. We’re heading into the home stretch. I’m hoping for some audio recording over lunch with Terry Fallis, Michael O’Connor Clarke and Leona Hobbs. If that goes according to plan, look for some audio bytes in the next episode of Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast. After lunch I’ll be a part of the panel for the It’s In Their Hands: The Impact Of Changing Consumer Trends And User Generated Media On The Communicator’s Role session. I’m feeling a little antsy, so expect some sparks and snarky stuff.

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.