First download the google chrome browser here if you don’t have it, and then check out this experimental & interactive video (you can save your version at the end).

The Wilderness Downtown

More on html5 here (a presentation that goes into a lot of detail on html5 inc. a few quickie demos)

What’s it all about?

If you’re trying to figure out how to use 140 character status updates like twitter in your business, or wondering what role social networks like facebook can play in your success, then  get yourself a spot at podcamp Toronto. You won’t regret it… but act fast!

PodCamp Toronto 2010 is a FREE “unconference” bringing together professionals and hobbyists from Toronto and the surrounding area to explore the cutting edge of new and social media. If you are an online content creator – hobbyist and professionals – who are building communities online in a variety of ways, then PodCamp Toronto 2010 is for you. Share ideas, discuss theories and learn lessons from an audience of experts. Network, network, network. All are welcome.

I’ve attended the past few years and this year we  took the step of zenPeak being a podcamp Toronto 2010 sponsor.

How important is this “unconference”? Consider that you will be exposed to many leading edge players doing great things in digital media, marketing etc. and they are ready to share what they know. Unlike many conferences which are venues for a lot of corporate shilling this is truly a learning environment that is laid back, with little time wasted. Sessions are short and the rooms are packed.

You will likely bump into some kids from junior high school doing interesting things, as well as top global leaders in social media.

Its about a lot more than podcasting but given that Youtube is the #2 search channel after google, it wouldn’t hurt to learn ways to use video in growing your business or getting more out of the activities you are passionate about! Sign up here

Thinking about a career in Internet Marketing? Your timing is good!

Wal-Mart beat K-Mart and Sears because they invested in data-rich marketing and merchandising technologies. Companies that think only 10% of marketing budgets should be online are in for a shock to their core! as they play catchup for years to come.

SEM is part of Internet Marketing; a growth industry that is about to explode. This all began with a handful of visionaries like Dr. Ralph Wilson back in the mid-1990s. It has taken 15 years, inc. a few business shakeouts, to bring us to a point of complete transformation.

Social and economic changes usually take at least 10 -15 years, and are often under-estimated in depth of their impact because the growth and retrenchments are only easily recognizable looking back in hindsight, with a “time lapse” perspective. And the future?…

A top “peak performer” career path for the future is VP of Internet Marketing, with the future responsibility of managing 90% of a company’s marketing dollars AND… demand for senior-level marketers will continue to be high. A broad expertise in Internet Marketing web, social networks, and mobile is rare!

If you have been paying attention to the terrible condition of newspapers in North America, you have to ask yourself is this just the economy? and when business picks up, the advertisers and subscribers will return?, or is it a major transformation?

We are inside the transformation, so its hard to see it. Today’s generation has always been plugged in and online. It is no longer cute or charming to be a luddite and announce you don’t use a computer or a mobile device. You will just get shrugs and blank stares.

Digital, interactive, on-demand, high-definition, data-rich media is where its at. Newspapers and newsmagazines are in decline, with just a few destined to survive in some fashion. They are slow, labor-intensive, high-wage, energy gobbling, analog industries with an insatiable desire to cut trees and burn fossil fuels, just to drop printed pages on your doorstep. Much of the information they deliver is stale (sports scores, stock listings) and their strategic knowledge of their readers (preferences and behaviours) is almost nil or dependent on surveys, and is rarely granular, actionable business intelligence.

From an advertiser’s point of view, the content isn’t really important but rather the ROI of Marketing. Can Internet Marketing deliver ROI? Yes, and Search Engine Marketing is a key component.

So now we come full circle back to the prospects for a career in Internet Marketing. Yes, your career prospects and your timing are both excellent!

WordCamp Toronto 2009 convinced me I have a lot to learn about using  WordPress as an authoring platform for a website.

I am committed to being hands-on as much as I can when it comes to technology; although I will admit WordCamp was a sobering event! To begin with, WordPress is complicated. It is not a self-contained program but a platform that absorbs external visual themes, plugins, widgets, and user tweaks. Hopefully what I learned will become apparent when the zenPeak website delivers a better experience to more and more client technology companies, and job candidates in Toronto, Ontario and throughout Canada.

Lorelle VanFossen showcased woopra which is a great real-time analytics tool for WordPress websites. While Lorelle VanFossen set me up with a beta woopra account,  she told me at least 2 dozen things that needed urgent repair on the zenPeak website – ouch! First step was buying her book!

I enjoyed the talk Rob Campbell gave on Internet Marketing from SMOJOE as well as the keynote talk from Nick La on custom fields and conditional tags etc…..  Not that I could absorb it all that fast!

Met some interesting people along the way too. Overall I’d give the WordCamp Toronto 2009 experience a 7.5 with marks off for the temperature = COLD, the chronic late start times, the choppy Wi-Fi connectivity, and the lack of explanation in advance of what each session was about. But its a lot of work to put on an event like this (as volunteers!), and the content was good, so it was a worthwhile weekend and appreciated!