Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the ING DIRECT Toronto Cafe. I count myself as one of the few lucky friends/tenants who has been there since the first day.
Over year ago ING DIRECT Canada’s Peter Aceto stood on the Cafe’s makeshift stage welcoming everybody to the Cafe. A year later I witnessed Melissa lead her team in a fun Happy Birthday dance!
In between these two events I have had the privilege of helping to move our thirdocean team to what today we affectionately call home. This downtown space has helped our team grow and mature. We look forward to continuing to grow our business with our friends at @OrangeYYZ and #NetworkOrange.
Earlier today, MaRS Advisory Services and StartupNorth released an infographic mapping out where in Toronto startups are concentrating in. There are a few usual suspects as well as some interesting neighbourhoods on this list.
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Produced by Social Media Club, the world’s leading association of Social Media Professionals and Sensei Marketing, a firm specializing in customer acquisition and social engagement for the enterprise, Social Media Masters is a premium event for leading brands and social media strategists.
Yes, Toronto has finally gotten over this year’s version of the Toronto International Film Festival. Many of us had the opportunity to watch many new and interesting films and maybe mingle with a few Hollywood celebrities.
Next week, my friends and I at XConnectTO and thirdocean are bringing to Toronto, FilmConnect: a panel discussion on technology, new media and the film industry.
I invite all of you, if you’re in and around Toronto on Thursday September 29th at 6pm to join me.
I love Toronto. And not just the Blue Jays baseball team or the CN Tower. I mean what makes Toronto, well, Toronto.
Her people. Especially those people who are making things happen. Whether it be community activists like the folks at the Toronto Green Community or the start-up/tech space that I have been involved in for the past couple of years.
Earlier today, I had the opportunity to chat with Canadian entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalistBoris Wertz. He appeared as my guest on The XConnect Show. It was our 19th episode and the first time we had a live audience.
The reason we invited a select audience was because our team knew that many people in the start-up space would love the opportunity to listen and learn from Boris. So we had about 10 guests sit in on the session.
Before our taping I introduced Boris to every member of the studio audience. And that made me feel happy and proud. Happy that I could do it and proud that I had the chance to do it.
What made me more happier was receiving an email from one friend a few minutes ago who apologized for leaving without talking to me so he could share with Boris a cab ride across the city.
This blog post was supposed to be about the loveliness that is Google Plus. At the same time I’ve been wanting to write about my love affair with my local public library.
So why is this particular blog about the local public library? Because I live in Toronto. And Toronto is under attack from the current Mayor, Rob/Doug Ford.
However, this post won’t be about the politics.
I believe that even in today’s hyper-connected, always on, mobile and social society, that the local public library still provides massive value for all of us.
Books:
Seriously. I still read books. Old ones and new ones. Fiction and business-focused books, too. The great thing about borrowing a book is twofold: If I don’t like it I don’t feel like I wasted $25 on a purchase. I just return the book. Second, the 2-4 week borrowing period allows me to focus on finishing the book before the late fees start accruing. And please don’t tell me that books are dying and that tablets will rule the world. That’s another blog post. By the way, libraries offer more…
Magazines and Newspapers:
Oh yes! I can browse through the latest (or oldest! Really any edition) Men’s Health and figure out what exercises I should do to lose weight in 3 simple steps over 14 days.
Audio:
Being able to borrow CDs from classic artists like Neil Young is priceless. My library also has books on CD. But wait for this one: I can also use my computer to download audio files to listen to. Amazing, I know.
Video:
Videos and DVDs. I can catch up on all the popular TV shows of today as well as movies I’ve yet to watch or haven’t watched.
For The Kids:
Probably most important for me is what the library offers to me as a dad. It’s by far and away one of my son’s favourite places to go and visit. He loves to read and be read to. And the library is FULL of kids books. They also offer toys, a kids area and kids programming during the holidays and vacations.
So I like the library and everything that it has to offer. Even the amazing people who work there. For me, the local public library is part of my neighbourhood and community. No matter how connected, social and mobile I am and become, I’ll still go into the library and hope to find my next good book.
