I decided that Squamish, BC would be the perfect place to test the waters. So I jumped in my car with a few friends and ended up at “The Spit” in Squamish.

It was incredibly windy and cold – perfect conditions for learning how to Kiteboard.

The lesson was 3 hours and half of it was going over sheeting, self-water rescue & setting up the kite. After that I finally hit the water with my instructor.

He launched the kite and I jumped into a small boat with him. We ventured off away from all the other kiteboarders into the middle of the ocean. He then stopped and attached the kite to me. I quickly learned how to control the kite and the importance of sheeting. It was quite funny as at first I didn’t understand and pulled in on the control bar rather quickly. This is called sheeting- in, this powers up the kite and as I flew 15 feet in the air to land in the ocean- my lesson had been learned.

Soon enough he had me in the ocean doing body drags. Body dragging is an essential skill in kiteboarding. If you lose your board, this is the way you get back to it in the ocean. You have a rather large kite attached to you – so swimming is not really an option. Since these kites are well over 1k each – you also don’t want to lose your kite! Soooo.. after swallowing gallons of water trying to body drag, I finally got that down.

Unfortunately after all of that I only had 10 minutes left in the lesson. These last precious moments were spent trying incredibly hard to get up on the board. I got up for a second or two then bailed. The lesson was over and I was beyond drained.

Overall it was a great experience and I am excited to add this sport to my weekend routines!

Here are some highlights of the day:

Above is me and my buddy Alan – I am wearing a rather large dry-suit and life jacket. It was quite uncomfortable – and that’s the last
time I will ever wear a dry-suit

This is the moment right before getting up on my board for a few seconds!

Here I am learning how to body drag in the water. Not the funnest aspect of the sport

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Jon & Kendra, originally uploaded by Nadia.Aly.

This is one of my favorite shots that I took from Jon & Ken’s wedding. This was taken outside the Vancouver Rowing Club in Vancouver, BC.

If I can let you know anything, it’s that these two people mean a heck of a lot to me. I have known them for only seven years. The fun and adventures that we have had together are priceless. It was hard to not cry during the wedding! During the ceremony Jon and I had made eye contact and held it for around 1 minute. He later came up to me and said that he almost lost it when that happened! I of course was balling!

The day was perfect and the days surrounding the event were just as amazing! Holding the wedding in Vancouver, BC was a brilliant idea, and I am
so grateful they did.

It turned out to be a little bit of a University reunion. With many celebrations with new and old friends.

The ceremony took place at Queen Elizabeth Park in the celebration pavilion & the reception was at the Vancouver Rowing Club.

The sun came out this day and was shining for everyone involved! How perfect!

I of course with my nifty new iPhone 4 was trying to film as much as I could.  Sooooo I put together a little video of the event. (above)

Next up for these guys???? THE BABY SHOWER!!  LOL

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For those of you who are transit riders in Vancouver, BC. You may have noticed posters around different Sky Train stations -stating that you can put your face on the train. What am I talking about?

Well they look like this:

InTransit BC has developed this project as part of an innovative fund raising campaign, in support of four charity partner programs. Who exactly? BC Children’s Hospital, YMCA, Arts Umbrella & Hope in Shadows.

So what exactly is The Pixel Train? Well anyone can go to ThePixelTrain.com where you can upload your picture to a Canadaline Train.

You can choose from three different sizes and actually place the photo where you want to on the train. Then after you select the spot where you want your picture to go, upload a picture of your face from your computer OR select a drawing from the gallery created by children from the charity partners.

Once all the pixels on the train have filled up – InTransit will print out and wrap one of their Canada Line Trains with the collage of photos
from donators! How cool is that!!!  This will also be Canada’s largest moving Art Piece… maybe even in the world!

This is a very affordable cause starting at just $10 (see picture below) – and you get to put and place your photo on the train! What are you waiting for?

Remember that these purchases are all tax deductible, as all funds collected go right to the four charities.

PUT YOUR FACE ON THE TRAIN

By purchasing a pixel (pixels) on ITBCs virtual train, you are supporting several worthy charities and positively contributing to improving the future of many children in British Columbia.

PUT YOUR FACE ON THE TRAIN

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The Cheaper Art Show, originally uploaded by Nadia.Aly.

The Cheaper Show was a great hit this year! Located in the heart of Gastown at the new W2 Storyeum. 200 Artisit were chose to display two of their best! Each Art piece is set at $200- no matter who you may or may not be. This is the place to line up in Vancouver, BC to get some great Art for a great price.

The Cheaper Show has never been a profit-based event. Admission is by donation and the artists receive 75% of the sale with the remainder going to offset the production costs. The focus of the show is to create a greater observance of talent with both established and underexposed artists.

See more about the show : http://thecheapershow.com/

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For those of you who missed out at WordCamp Vancouver – here is the recorded video of my talk.

Got questions? Just ask!

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You can browse through their Application Gallery Here.

They have :

• Free & Basic Apps
• Pro Apps
• Premium Apps

You can use TWO applications for free and then you may want to move to a pricing plan!

You can see their pricing plans and options here.

Below is what the Flickr option and branding looks like on a fan page:

Below is screenshot of what Twitter looks like on a Fan Page – Branded Nicely!

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This past weekend I was honored to speak at Wordcamp Vancouver. The conference focuses on many different aspects of Word Press. From the latest version to the most useful plug-ins, this a place for learning and asking questions. There was an amazing presence of different skill levels and of course wonderful people.

I was lucky to start off the event with a talk on how to socialize your blog. Instead of creating a  traditional power point presentation, I decided to make a Word Press website! Just fits the situation too perfectly, also after seeing some great presentations at Social Media 201 , that were shown as websites, I thought this was the wave of the future. I have never been a slide-show kind of person anyway.

SocialUrBlog.com is the domain I decided to start building my showcase of tools for others to conveniently access at anytime.

If you need help or have questions- feel free to ask on Twitter – @DigitalkVan

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Description:

Empire Avenue is a revolutionary online influence stock exchange combined with an advertising platform that allows individuals and organizations to convert their online influence and reach into revenue.

To this end we will be connecting advertisers, consumers and influencers in a manner not as yet undertaken in the online space. Through the Empire Avenue influence stock exchange and its tracking features we will measure the influence value of individuals registered with Empire Avenue.

I personally haven’t seen a game that uses Social Media so well. I was just introduced to Empire Avenue a few days ago. My addiction started right away. This is great for any social person out there who has any type of social network. So what exactly do you do in Empire Avenue?

Well first thing to note is that it’s in beta right now, so you will need an invite. If you would like one, just comment below and I will try my best to get you hooked up.

Once you are logged in, you see that the game is much like a stock market. Instead of investing in companies, you are investing in people. The value of that individual is based on content creation and activity. The more you create the more influential you are – the more your stock price will rise.

You are quickly prompted to a video tutorial, showing you how to get started:

You are given some money to start buying stock in other people. Much like the stock market, you can look at graphs, see their opening and closing trade prices and much more. New users start at $10.00 a share. You can see how many people are invested in them and who they invest in. Shares do run out on people, so you can request to purchase stocks and will be prompted when stocks are available. You obviously want buy low and sell high- just like the real world! Although if you see someone who is very active you may want to jump on their stock right away- as you can assume it will rise.

The more active a person is with their connected Social Networks, the higher that set users shares will rise in the game. Thus persuading users to be active content creators on their connected Social Networks.

Like Foursquare- there are achievement badges that when unlocked rise your influence and gain you more credits. You can see what you need to do in order to unlock these many badges.

There also many communities within the game that you can join. You can join regional communities- allowing you to find people in the region communities you decide to join (usually where you live). There are also communities based on interest- when you first join you are only allowed to join 2 of each. You are allowed to purchase slots to join more:

Shout Outs- are messages you can leave for people- on their profile. You need to be connected to that user in order to do so. Either buy owning shares of their stock or through following.

This is a great game for really social people. I have a feeling that it’s really going to take off, once they are out of beta. I haven’t heard anything negative from current users- they just seem to love it just as much! This is just booming with creativity and I am excited to see how the site does!

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Soooo… Apple decided to leave one of their new iPhone toys at a bar. While others laugh and point at this event, I simply see it as a marketing tactic.
I believe the next day, Apple reached an annual high with their stock. Anyway, I am more than excited to get my hands on one of these devices. I have for the past three phones, stood in line with other Apple fans, waiting hours to get my hands on the newest version of the phone.

Just last week I was on MSN with some of my Grad school friends. We were talking about how we drove over to the States from Vancouver, BC. Ran into the closest AT&T store and dropped $800 dollars on the first iPhone. Of course then we had to drive back to Canada, open a Rogers account and then try and Jail Break the phones.

One by one we slowly jail broke each phone. It was done, we were all in love.

Now with the 4th generation iPhone coming out. It’s overwhelming to see the amazing improvements with this device.

One of the greatest features in my opinion is the new Gyroscope, which was presented at WWDC by Sir Steve Jobs.

He stated that the iPhone 4G will feature a 3-axis (not 2-axis) gyroscope that will boast a pitch/roll/yaw.

Below you can see a sample game that was developed at Apple to showcase this new feature.

Of course there is also the amazing video calling feature. Apple showcased that even though the device needs wi-fi in order to function, that there was still very valuable and exciting use cases. The video below really outlines the potential :

And just incase you haven’t seen the official promo video – here it is:

What are your thoughts on the phone?? Are you going to get one???

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For the past 7 years I have been lucky enough to have Kendra Whynot & Jon Kalkman in my life. I met them in my first year of University. Jon lived in Shirley Baker and I was in Hugh Stevens. Ken and Jon were both in their second year, and had been dating for just under a year. Jon decided to do one more year in residence. Our groups formed and friends were made. We became very close friends and Kendra and I formed an amazing connection. Throughout the next 4 years we would hang out, party and go on awesome adventures together.

The time soon came fro Jon & Ken to leave Victoria, they were a year ahead of me and were off to discover the real world. One day I got a call from Kendra while she and Jon were in Calgary. She was really upset because the only school she had gotten into for her Masters was in Toronto. Jon had been accepted into UBC for education.

The two of them had to split ways for an entire year. The good thing though was that I was off to Vancouver as well.

Jon and I became very close that year while in Vancouver. Spending almost every weekend together and many weekdays. Playing tennis, discovering music and much more. Then once again it was time for Jon to leave. He joined Kendra in Toronto for her final year in her Masters program.

Almost one year later I get a call from a screaming Kendra. Jon had just proposed to her and she was able to reach me in excitement. I was honored to be one of the first people she told. Jon and Kendra go golfing quite a bit, and he had proposed to her by writing on a golf ball the words ‘Marry Me’.

Their wedding is in June and I am honored to be the MC for the wedding. Stay Tuned for some ridiculous photos and memories!

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1- Ning.com

I shared the value of Ning to those who may not have the resources and have larger funds to start their very own online communities. Ning usually cost under $50 US a month. Rather than 10-50k for a website built on Drupal. The function of Ning is so far unmatched by any other company for the price and function. You can allow users to have their own membership profile pages, upload videos, upload photos, create their own blogs and much more. This community building software is really valuable for those who can build there own community around their brand or product.

Some great Ning networks :

1. PeopleVancouver.com (My own Ning)
2. http://community.ellentv.com (Ellen DeGeneres)
3. http://www.thisis50.com/ (50 cent)

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2- Wibiya.com

The second tool I talked about was Wibiya. This product is a social toolbar that anyone can add to any website. This bar connects users to different social networks right on a webpage. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr and there is more functionality such as translation, how many users are on your website at that time.  You can see this fully customizable social bar implemented on one of my sites : www.VancouverAccess2010.com (placed on the bottom)

3- Tweet Adder

The third tool I talked about was Tweet Adder. This is a very useful tool to find people who you want to engage with. You can search recent tweets, location, profile data and more. This comes in really useful when you are looking for people. For instance I can search for users who have the word Microsoft in their profile data, then add in Redmond in the location field. Tweet Adder will then give me a list of all the user that meet that criteria. Now I can follow these people to my Twitter automatically and engage.

Here are some photos of the panel:

The next topic I touched on was Social Media Contest. I stressed that it’s very hard to conduct a successful video campaign.

Why?

1. People are Lazy
2. Not everyone has the skill to edit videos
3. People don’t want to spend time creating videos on something they are not assured

People also think about their ROI on the work they put in. It’s much easier for someone to RT a tweet then spend hours creating a video.
The amount of work is much less for someone to tweet than to create a video – and this is more the evident with current contest you can look at.

This is the case for many many video contest that are put on. You can see yourself on Youtube and other video contest sites that there are very few people who enter these contest. Thus companies are paying way to much money for user-generated content.

This money can be spent elsewhere for many other purposes. Like a Twitter contest.

Making sure that your contest aligns with your goals is very important. You want to align your contest method with you goals.

For instance an RT Twitter contest.

This sort of contest can really help grow your Twitter community. This is a great goal to have – if spreading awareness about your business or product is part of your overall goals. This is a fun and easy way for users to engage with your brand/product. Not only that …it’s easy! All the user has to do is follow you and RT a tweet. Simple… takes a few seconds. Your community can grow quite quickly with this method. On top of that now you have a larger amount of people that hear your voice.

If conducted properly these sorts of contest can be fun and worthwhile.

That was mostly what I covered during the panel.

After we all headed over to Bellevue for the after conference Tweetup:

It was great to meet the keynote speakers and panel members. Along with the very excited and motivated audience. We mingled over some extremely tasty food and drinks.

The hash tag that we used was #sm201 – go ahead and search on Twitter for some great tweets around the event

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