Where to visit during Christmas Break: Ontario Science Centre

The Ontario Science Centre continues to be one of the premier tourist destinations in Toronto. And there’s one main reason why: The Centre stimulates the mind and imagination of kids from ages 2-102. My family has gone here for years and we’ve now had a family membership for two years.

We’ve attended the Rock and Roll exhibit during the spring of 2014. And we continue to come on a regular basis. We’ve enjoyed many movies on the huge IMAX screen such as IMAX Hubble, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar, and Great White Shark.

Most recently we’ve enjoyed KidSpark and the Rowland Emett exhibit.

Here are photos from our most recent visit with the link to the photo album on Google Plus.

If you’ve attended the Ontario Science Centre I would love to hear what you’re enjoyed. Leave your comments below.

 

 

How Will Businesses Use Social Media in 2015?

How will business owners and social media strategists refine the way they engage potential customers on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media channels in 2015?

“Overall, we see social media beginning to reach its potential as a marketing tool – businesses are finding they can use social media channels to sell their products or services while maintaining an authentic voice that social media is famous for,” says Bernard Perrine, CEO and co-founder of SocialCentiv, a Twitter marketing tool designed to help businesses find new customers on Twitter.

Perrine predicts businesses will find success with these top trends in 2015:

Targeting audiences. Instead of trying to reach the masses to find a handful of customers, the idea is to specifically target several small, tailored groups of people via the social media channel that you are most likely to reach them on. That way, companies are reaching more people who are relevant to their business and more likely to become customers.

Blending paid and owned content. As marketers have perfected their social media strategies, they have found that blending their paid and owned media together lets them get their content out to more people while keeping costs down and still maintaining an authentic voice. Striving to find the perfect blend of paid and owned media will be the challenge in 2015.

Enlisting employees to help share. When employees are sharing their company’s social media content on their own channels, businesses cash in with a higher organic reach and engaged employees who feel passionately about the company. How should a business organize this effort? Simply ask!

Laughing it up! Social media marketers have found that one of the best ways to resonate with their followers – many of which are Millennials – is to be silly and give them a good laugh. Businesses can achieve this through pictures, videos or even corny jokes. Humor has boundaries – make sure that jokes are within good taste, tied to the business and relevant.

 

Tales From Beyond The Tap by Randy Bachman

Many of you who know me know that I am a huge Neil Young fan. To this day, he is one of Canada’s most successful and well-regarded songwriters and musicians. However, when it comes to Canadian rock royalty there is probably no one else who has penned and produced as many hits than Randy Bachman. He has fronted two of the biggest names is Canadian rock: The Guess Who and BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive).

I have had the opportunity to both hear him play as well as listen to him speak. Both live. And here in Toronto. Along with Canadian indie band, The Sadies, he opened for Neil Young a couple of years ago at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. This past year, he published a book and was part of a speaker series at the Reference Library in Toronto.

#tbt with Randy Bachman. Canadian music icon and amazing storyteller.

A photo posted by @karimkanji on

Tales From Beyond The Tap takes an inside look at Bachman’s life. Everything from his songwriting process, his relationship with Burton Cummings and siblings, his popular CBC show Randy’s Vinyl Tap, and his thoughts on the future of the music business and everything in between are covered in this book.

Randy has penned some of rock’s most beloved anthems. Tales From Beyond The Tap is Bachman at his best. A must read for any rock and roll fan.

Top Articles of 2014

2014 is almost over. And 2015 is just around the corner. In this post we take a look back at some of the more popular articles of 2014.

Coffee Lounges

I attended a few coffee lounges at Willowdale this past year. After attending I posted some thoughts and pictures here. The most popular article that was written in 2014 was the Lounge that featured former Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed. The second most popular article from this past year featured the CEO of Aga Khan Foundation Canada, Khalil Shariff.

Toronto Politics

If you lived in Toronto in 2014 you know that politics took front page on almost a daily basis. And not because of anything good. Mostly. The third and eighth most popular articles from 2014 highlighted two personalities from Toronto politics. Third place (coincidentally) features Olivia Chow. I met Chow over the summer at a friend’s backyard barbeque. I also read Crazy Town by Robyn Doolitle which ended up as the eighth most popular article of karimkanji.com this past year. The book detailed the various shenanigans of Rob Ford and his dysfunctional political family. I also wrote about meeting eventual Mayor of Toronto, John Tory.

Social Media

The following three articles also ended up in the top ten most popular articles of 2014:

The Problem with LinkedIn;

How To Block Promoted Tweets In HootSuite;

I started teaching a couple of social media marketing courses at George Brown College here in Toronto.

Wearables

On itbusiness.ca, I started writing more about wearables in 2014. However, the most popular article I wrote on itbusiness this past year was my digital technology forecast for 2014.

Catalyst Blog

My writing can also be found on the Catalyst blog. The most popular piece from this past year was a look at the future of mobile banking.

YouTube

Did you know I also have a YouTube channel? I do. And you should subscribe! Here was my most watched video from 2014:

 

Lilly Singh, aka Superwoman, is in 2014 YouTube Rewind review

My niece, Iman, turned me on to this Greater Toronto Area YouTuber named Superwoman this past summer. Her videos, filmed in her parent’s home (like a true Indian child), depict a typical immigrant child dealing with her immigrant parents.

I also bumped into Lilly Singh during the opening night of Dr. Cabbie. Well, I didn’t really bump in her. Here. Take a look:

Watched @drcabbie during Opening Weekend last week and enjoyed it. Oh yeah, @iisuperwomanii joined us too. #movies

A photo posted by Karim Kanji (@karimkanji) on

Anyways, @iisuperwomanii is from Scarborough. And so am I. So maybe I’ll be a YouTube star one day. Or star in a big movie production…

Lilly Singh can be seen in this YouTube 2014 Year in Review. Congrats Lilly. All of Scarborough is proud of you. Including me.

My itbusiness.ca articles in 2014

I continued to write for ITBusiness in 2014. My latest article focused on the future of marketing and the wearables industry.

I also wrote in early 2014 about the 9 Canadians in the digital space to watch in 2014. This specific article was rated the 5th most popular article in all of 2014 on ITBUSINESS.

I also wrote a follow-up piece later in the year to see how these 9 people were doing. How do you think they did in2014?

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and also, of course, for reading my submissions on ITBUSINESS in 2014. Here’s to another great year in 2015!

University of Toronto – Scarborough | Highland Creek

The city of Toronto is home to creeks, rivers and parks. I’ve just started exploring the city over the past few months and I’ve been more than amazed. Little did I know that Canada’s largest city could also be home to parks, trails, rivers and creeks. It’s like being a hundred miles away from home right in your own backyard.

Here are some photos I took recently during a walk along Highland Creek. this portion of the Creek runs through the property of the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.

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