The Toronto Marketing and Technology Blog

Final thoughts on ICE08 | ICE08 in Toronto was a huge success!

The interactive content exchange (ICE 08)(http://www.ice08.com) was a conference from March 26-28 at the Carlu in downtown Toronto. People from all industries congregated into one building to discuss and explore the future of the media, technologies and entrepreneurship within Canada.

I personally met some interesting people including Jayant Aggrawal, one of the founders of Scrabulous, Rannie Turingan (who takes really great photos), and  a couple CEO's that will rename nameless. :)

The sessions were well organized with people coming from all parts of the world. I have to admit that I didn't get some of the discussion that was taking place in some of the sessions. Maybe it was a bit over my head or my interest in them  were not that significant, but for the most part the sessions were great.

I especially liked two presentations:

1) Games - by Austin Hill - http://ice08.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/video-clip-from-fire-ice/
2) Mobile content and advertising - by Sébastien Chorney - http://ice08.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/are-you-being-followed-mobile-content-and-advertising/

I have definitely walked out of the conference with many new understandings of the digital media space and a new outlook on what can lie ahead if key players such as telecoms and government make steps toward a brighter future for Canadians.

To organize and facilitate the event such as this one is a great undertaking and I tip my hat to the organizers for providing everyone with a platform to learn about new strategies and look at new perspectives in the future of digital media and technologies that we use.

If you want to get a better feeling of what was discussed during the ICE08 sessions, please go to http://ice08.wordpress.com where all the live-blogging of sessions took place.

ICE08 Conference | Day 2

Day 2 of the 2008 Interactive Content Exchange conference has come and past. The experience has been great and the people who I have met so far seem to be doing some cool things! One more day left to go.

I am also doing some blogging at the ice08 blog : http://ice08.wordpress.com . Check it out if you have a chance!

ICE08 Speakers

ICE08 is going to be an awesome time!

Here is a list of the many people who will be speaking at ICE08 :

• Susan Abramovitch, Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson
• Jayant Agarwalla, VP, Business Development and Marketing, Scrabulous (INDIA)
• Ajay Agrawal, Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Toronto
• Leigh Alexander, Editor, Worlds in Motion & Staff, Gamasutra
• Ryan Anderson, Director of Communications, Fuel Industries
• Pino Baldassare, CEO, Logica Holdings - Anne's Diary
• John Barrack, Executive Vice President, CFTPA
• Kevin Bartus, Vice President Digital Media, Rogers
• Pary Bell, VP - Content, Canwest Digital Media
• Ian Bogost, Co-Founder, Persuasive Games (USA)
• Scott Bushman, VP, Business Development, Metacafe
• Mitch Borgeson, Director, Business Development, Hands-On Mobile
• Tom Calvert, President & CEO, Credo Interactive Inc. (CAN)
• Sébastien Chorney, Interactive Media Producer and Strategist
• Scott Colbourne, Columnist, The Globe and Mail
• Mike Cowap, Project Manager, Australian Film Commission
• Adrian Crook, Consultant, freetoplay.biz
• David Crow, User Experience Advisor / Evangelist, Microsoft
• Brian Cusack, Regional Sales Manager, YouTube
• Don Daglow, President & CEO, Stormfront Studios (USA)
• Matt Daly Cofounder, CCo, Creative Director, etc. Metaversatility.com (USA)
• Sara Diamond, President, Ontario College of Art & Design
• Steve DiPaola, Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University
• David Dougherty, VP Strategy, Trapeze Media
• Alexander Fernandez, CEO, Streamline Studios (Netherlands)
• Dan Fill, Head of Multiplatfrom Production, ABC Australia (AUS)
• Dominique-Sebastien Forest, GM, Digital Media, Mobility and e-Commerce, Quebecor Media Intéractive – Canoe Network
• Maggie Fox, CEO, Social Media Group
• Tom Frencel, President, Capybara Games
• Brent Friedman, Creator, Afterworld (USA)
• Claude Galipeau, VP Interactive Media, Astral Media
• Alan Gershenfeld, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, E-Line Ventures (USA)
• Matt Gillis, Senior VP - Publishing, Capcom Interactive - (USA)
• Jay Goldman,President and Co-Founder Radiant Core Inc.
• Marc Goodchild, Head of Interactive & On-Demand, BBC Children's (UK)
• Lizbeth Goodman (BA, MA, MLitt, PhD), Director, SMARTlab Digital Media Institute & MAGICGamelab
• Kay Gruenwoldt, Head of Title Marketing, Nokia
• Nathon Gunn, CEO, Bitcasters
• Laura Jo Gunter, Dean, Information Arts & Technology, Seneca College
• Vikas Gupta, CEO & President, TransGaming Technologies
• Todd Henwood, Associate Creative Director, Publicis Modem
• Austin Hill, Co-Founder & CEO, Executive Instigator, Akoha
• Jason Hsiao, Founder, Animoto
• Salim Ismail, (former) Head of Yahoo! Brickhouse
• JJ Johnson, Partner, Sinking Ship Entertainment
• Richard Kanee, Director, Digital Business Development, CTV
• John Kavanagh, President, Kuju America (UK / USA)
• Raja Khanna, Co-CEO of GlassBOX Television Inc.
• Damian Kindler, Creator/Executive  Producer – Sanctuary  / CEO,  Stage 3 Media Inc.
• Sean van Koughnett, Founder & Director, VeloCity
• Kris Krug, President, Rain City Studios
• Lucie Lalumière, VP Interactive, Earth Rangers
• Pierre Le Lann, Co-President, Tribal Nova
• Rob Lane, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Overlay.tv
• Jon Lax, Partner, Teehan & Lax
• Barbara Lippe, Art Director & VP International Relations, Avaloop (AUSTRIA)
• Amber MacArthur, New Media Strategist
• Jen MacLean, VP and GM, Games, Comcast (USA)
• Spence McDonnell, PriceWaterhouse Coopers
• Jeff McDowell, VP Global Alliances, RIM
• Gavin McGarry, Independent Consultant, Joost, MELT, North West Vision and Media (CAN)
• Jim McNiven, CEO, Kerb
• Adam Montandon, Co-Founder & Director, HMC Interactive (UK)
• Mark Montgomery, Product Development Manager, TELUS
• M. Michelle Nadon, President & CEO, Media Intelligence
• Bart Nickerson, Director of Account Management, MyThum Interactive
• Thomas Purves, Entrepreneur & Futurist
• Mark Relph, VP of Development & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft
• Robert Riopelle, Co-Founder & Vice President, Business Development, LiveHive Systems
• Jason Roks, Digital Alchemist
• Chantal Rossi, Account Executive, Google
• Mark Ruddock, President & CEO, Viigo
• Korash Sanjideh, Managing Director & Founder, HMC Interactive (UK)
• Alan Sawyer, Media Strategist, Two Solitudes
• James Schmalz, President & Founder, Digital Extremes
• Eli Singer, Director of Social Media, SEGAL Communications
• Damir Slogar, CEO, Big Blue Bubble
• Scott Smith, Principal, Changeist - (USA)
• Suzanne Stein, Head of the Mobile Platform Games Research Group, SMARTlab Digital Media Institute
• David UK, Managing Director, Heavy.com - Canada
• Vincent John Vincent, President and Co-Founder, GestureTek
• Clyde Wagner, Founding Partner, Sweet Caesar
• Ross Wallace, Director of Strategic Partnerships, MaRS
• Thomas Wallner, Co-President, Xenophile Media
• Catherine Warren, Founder & President, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies
• Geoff Whitock, CEO, Lifecapture Interactive
• Terri Wills, Manager, Nordicity Group
• Jeremy Wright, CEO, b5media, Inc. and author of "Blog Marketing"
• Charles Zamaria, Professor, Ryerson University

This is going to be a great time :)

I actually won something! | Winner of ICE08 Blogging Contest

For those of you who have read my posting on The future is me. | ICE 08 . You will know that I was entering a blogging contest to win a ticket to ICE08. It so happens that I won a ticket!

I am completely surprised for two reasons: (1) I've never really won anything in my life. (2) I wasn't expecting to win, so I just wrote a post and didn't expect anything from it, I actually forgot about the contest for a while until I received an e-mail in my inbox saying I won!

I'm hoping it is a great conference filled with great conversation. The list of participants looks to be quite impressive and the networking/food events looks to be well planned out.

If you're attending ICE08 this year, give me a shout!

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The future is me. | ICE08

We Twitter to people, Facebook with friends, Google for information and Blog about news that becomes old by the time we click Submit.  Yes, we live in a world of constant communication and rapid-fire information exchange.

The future of the tech and media landscape in Canada is what we envision it. It is within all of us to create: the best photographs in the world have yet to be taken, the most influential companies have yet to be started, and the most entertaining media has yet to be appreciated.

I believe that I hold the key to Canada's future in the media and technology world, just as much as you should believe YOU hold the key as well!

Our innovation will come from places of deep thought, great inspiration, and solutions to problems aching among the masses. We won't create hoverboard's like in Back to the Future, or conquer the shyness problem anytime soon.  We will, however, continue to create meaningful things that bring people closer together. Whether it be through discussion, interaction, or flame wars on Google Chat, we will create the media we want to see.

Our creativity will spawn from the necessity of personalization and uniqueness. I may want to be like Mike, but I can't. I can't be like anybody else and my creations will be a result of me being me. People will more and more evolve within themselves.

It will be a difficult enterprise -- one that will be cautioned by critics. But the more difficult the undertaking, the richer the return. We will be challenged by a bar set too high and maybe even  boundaries that were not meant to be broken. I say to hell with it, start creating!

The people who will be leading us forward are the ones who are showing their face. The David Crow's, the Jay Goldman's, the Stuart Macdonald's, the Mathew Ingram's, and of course the me's: the people who participate in the discussion, the people who drive results in the products and services they create, and the people who grow the community around them by getting others involved.

The future is in all of us to create.

The future is ME.

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