Congratulations to Buzz Bishop (@BuzzBishop), winner of ING’s (@OrangeYYC) #OrangeforYYC donation of $3333. Part of ING’s 3 things for Calgary.
Plus a Facebook Page of some of our photos from tonight’s event.
NewContent
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#smbYYC 29
This is Chris Garrett (@ChrisGarrett). We aren’t buddies, but here’s the funny thing: I’ve known him for about seven years. And here’s the rub, we originally “met” online, on some pro blogging forum or other, and while he was still living in the UK.
He’s since relocated to Calgary, and today, at the 29th installment of the Social Media Breakfast, here in Cowtown, he presented on the topic of authority in the bogging world.
I’ll have a bit more to say about what Chris had to say (real soon now… times, they are a BUSY!), but in the meantime I want to talk about two take-aways arising from today’s event.
The first has to do with relationships. Or, more specifically, how they form, how they are authenticated, and how they are maintained. Because yes, Virginia, online relationships – business professional, personal, friendship, and even romantic – are real, and electronic connections are tangible, useful, and engaging. I learned a lot about blogging from Chris, for example, back in the day I was working on my first commercial blog.
I’ve met Chris twice, but I feel like I’ve known him forever.
The second take-away is larger in scope, and deserves mention in a longer posting, and it has to do with the direction that blogs are taking. particularly business-based blogs. This messages was largely the theme of Chris’ talk this day, an in short, it mimics what I’ve said elsewhere on this site: content is king, tell your story, show your authority, and engage meaningfully with your audience.
For just a hint about how this new paradigm – content-based, crowd-sourced, and immediate – is playing out, consider this view down one of many table rows: six participants of this SMB, all getting the word out.
It’s adapt or die folks.
Not your father’s drum circle
We’ve been burning the oil at midnight for our friends at Rhythm Mastery, and Malcolm Lim (@MalcLim), Maestro and CEO. Rhythm Mastery facilitates leadership and team training workshops, using music, movement, and martial arts. And drumming; lots and lots of drumming.
But let’s let Malcolm describe what they do….
Performing: Joel Pearson
Joel Pearson performing at Gravity Cafe and Wine Bar. Inglewood, Calgary – 02-04-16
52 Cups – Columbian
There can be no denying… Colombian has a reputation of being the “plain Jane, vanilla” flavour of the coffee world.
Now, of course I exaggerate. It (the country, Colombia) isn’t even the largest coffee producing nation. (That honour, such as it is, goes to Brazil, with more than twice the production.) But if it’s hard to get the vision of ”Juan Valdez” out of your head when thinking about Colombian beans, you can thank a good advertising agency.
Today’s 52 Cup selection is a single estate micro lot, the Alvaro Losada Colombian from Fratello Coffee Roasters. The topic for today is, appropriately enough, plain Jane water. Let’s break two stereotypes for the price of one:
- Colombian coffee ain’t plain
- the water you use for any coffee is important
We have something to show you
Original art, spoken word poetry, from the uncomfortable to the sublime, and fresh music. Live from The Area, in my backyard… this is We have something to show you.
On the hustings
It began with a not unfrantic call at 9:15: “Yo, Ted, are you free today?”
Sure, says I, thinking that my friends at Urban Revolver (@UrbanRevolver) were getting back to me about one of my projects. Not yet, no. Instead, would I be available to hang out with Alison Redford (you know, the Premier) to do some run’n'gun style shooting for the day.
Um… sure, says I.
Now, I am a writer, but most definitely not a journalist. On the bus with me were three journos (as we call them in the field) from the Sun, the National Post, and the Globe and mail. Watching these professionals on a hectic day, with a half dozen stops along the way, gave one of those rare insights about how that business works.
In a word, it’s crazy.
Hectic, saddled by the constant pressure of deadlines, dying electronic devices, and flaky internet signal, these guys and gals break a respectable sweat getting the news out to the rest of us.
For me, it was a matter of hopping out and getting in the Premier’s face with the rig. I have no idea if the footage will ever be used, but rumour on the street is that it will be for a “get to know your Premier” kind of short production.
So, while I produced just shy of 40 Gb of film footage, Lisa Mrazuk came up with this, Jen Gerson produced this, and Josh Wingrove of the Globe and Mail threw this together. All in the back of the bus. 1000 monkeys just do not compare.
Nor does it compare with grain elevators in Nanton.
The tour lasted the dat, with 7 or 8 (I honestly cannot remember how many) quick stops at everything from an antique store to a meadery, from Okotoks and Aldersyde, to Nanton and back.
The Misabisou Bourbon Peaberry from the Valle Magnifico combines cryptic acetone midtones with a better-than-slow-death sage flavor.*
Let’s face it, there are few things made more pretentious than coffee. Well, wine comes close, but I happen to be a snob about both, so I am unaffected.
But let’s presume for a moment that there is a difference between your typical Timmies cuppa, Starbucks, and the offerings from a small host of Third Wave Coffee shops springing up in Calgary. Further, let’s presume that you know that different (good) coffees taste differently, but you just can’t put your finger on how to put that into words.
Well, welcome to coffee school, otherwise known as our series, 52 Cups.
Passions and directions
We (myself and my partners in NewContent) have one or two passions in life, one of them being (big surprise, here) coffee.
One of the folks we work with is Fratello Coffee Roasters, here in Calgary. They’re a mid-sized, custom (dare I say, boutique?) sourcer of green coffee beans, and roaster. They are the folks behind the Fratello Analog Cafe at the Calgary Farmer’s Market.
Thanks to Russ (you might have met him here or here) we’ve started up a little project that we’re lovingly (and cleverly, I think) calling 52Cups.
We’ll begin this week with a Tanzanian Nzovu.
NewContent (the blog) is a site that exists for three main purposes. One of those is to highlight our own content about the topics we are passionate about. Simply, we love to write, and we love to take photographs. It’s here we get to show off a bit.
Salud!
New content is rich content
I have a confession to make, and it just might tick off a few of my social media colleagues. Here it is: I do not like blog postings like this:
6 Ways to Create Content Your Readers Will Share
Here’s a partial screen grab:
