Guest Lecture

As an alum from the University of Toronto Scarborough, I stay connected back to their BBA community wherever I can. Half because I really miss the people, and half because I really believe in keeping connections with the institutions that have guided my life.

I had an opportunity to do a guest lecture to the “New Ways of Work” class with Professor Chris Bovaird on October 28. The course is about consulting, freelancing, and entrepreneurship. I spent a couple hours sharing my story, decision process, and life as an entrepreneur. It was a mash between my Refresh Events slide deck (but from the entrepreneurs perspective, versus the employees) and a new set of “10 things I didn’t expect” after this started.

Related post: Entrepreneur versus employee (my presentation at StayFresh08)

Tweeps on Twitter

I also got asked by some students on campus earlier in October to be part of a video describing the value and use of Twitter to my personal and company brand. Thanks to Hilori Kaloti and Carmen Mak for organizing, and the guys at The Biz Media for the snazzy editing.

Featured Angie Lim, Alex Ikonn, Mimi Naghizada, Dan Demsky, and I.

Pay It Backwards Day

After a successful kick-off Pay It Backwards Day in April at a single location, the Daily Challenge team destroyed all expectations with the Ontario-wide event on September 30. It was my pleasure to have had our agency lead the design and development of the site, materials, etc. for the event – as well as supported the actual event on a volunteer level again.

Related post: Stories worth telling

Twestival Local

Following the success of our first Twestival Toronto in February, Twestival hit it again on September 12 with a local focus. We had an amazing community-powered party with a cause in support of Meal Exchange… ON A BOAT! With $6000 raised, the charity will be able to locally enable more than 214 youth leaders to distribute more than 7500 meals.

 
Right set of photos.

 
Raw set of photos.

Related post: Way to disappear (or a TwestivalTO update)

As a tweet nearly 24 hours ago announced, I’m moving on to something very new and awesome. It’s a really exciting time and I want you all to be a part of it. To be honest, I think you saw this one coming.

Confused by the title? See my last blog post for context.

More updates from our office to follow!

The content came inspired by decisions I’ve had to personally consider over the last few years – both when I first became a partner of a small creative agency in 2006 and again when I left that to join the corporate world in 2008.

The presentation was done Ignite style, meaning I had a total of 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide automatically changing. Excuse the fast talking, it was only 6.5 minutes :).

It flows from determining what success means to you, to evaluating the key variables that change, to bringing-method-to-the-madness diagramming, through to why you might not even have to choose.

Here’s the presentation with the full audio track:

 
Here’s some blurry video of it courtesy of @xclarke78x’s phone:

Here’s the collection of my favourite tweets from it:

S

It’s exhilarating and gives you an unshakable feeling of invincibility (as simply put by Verne). All you need is a taste of it to get hooked, and it doesn’t take much more than a willing step forward to participate.

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of sticking it to Seattle with Pay It Backward Day, an event to break the world record for “acts of coffee kindness” and raise funds for SickKids Foundation. Hosted at Second Cup in Downtown Toronto, we took through a record-shattering 602 patrons with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity. (Not to mention the news cameras, entertainment, B-list celebrities, and giant ball of awesomeness.)

This was my second such event, after working on Twestival TO earlier this year. I had the good fortune of joining yet another rockstar team, led this time by D and A at Daily Challenge.

But what stood out this time compared to anything I’ve ever experienced were the amazing things that unfolded right before my eyes during the day. These are the 10 stories from Do Gooders in our community worth telling:

1. As the “ref”, I talked to at least 300 of the 602 people. As I began to greet one gentleman, I stopped abruptly after realizing he was actually on the phone. He smiled, apologized, and explained that he had his 3-year-old on the line.

   He planned it out so his son could see his daddy on the computer. Our Do Gooder jumped up and down waving at the little camera in the corner of the store that was live streaming, until finally a scream of joy came out from the line. (Andrew had this scoop too.)

2. Another young lady I talked to was excited to pass by the event and drop in. After a bit of hesitation, she laughingly identified herself as a Starbucks employee from another Toronto location. This was too good for that to stop her from buying at Second Cup.

   I won’t share any more details so as to prevent our double agent’s Do Gooder’s identity.

3. The street team outside was key to pulling in a constant stream of people. Though cold and tired, they gave it their all to each person that came by. Unfortunately, they got shot down a lot too.
    
   One of their biggest walk-by skeptics ended up becoming their most enthusiastic after taking part. In fact, our Do Gooder even stuck around after to chalk the sidewalk with a SickKids wishing well.
    
4. Truth be told, there were countless others that chose to stick around and see the event through to the end. Our many Do Gooders – tweeps, friends, and walk-bys – filled gaps we didn’t know existed, helped without anyone asking, and asked for nothing in return.
    
   You guys stood on boxes, yelled across the street, begged on your knees, kept me company, tweeted your fingertips out, and so much more.
    
   It was even Cheryl’s birthday and she was there from 10AM to 8PM!
    
5. Continuing the theme of skeptics, a group of skater kids came by that showed zero interest until they were peer pressured by our street team into lining up. Their ring leader ended up being the world record tying participant to buy our SickKids graduate her coffee. How’s that for a memory our Do Gooder will never forget?
    
6. From the consciously unwilling, to the unconsciously participating. Our littlest Do Gooder was actually a toddler that did anything but stick close by his family. He wore the marathon bib proudly, ran around in photos, handed over his dad’s cash, and enjoyed his drink. (See picture at the end of this post.)
    
7. Despite being a not-so-accurate “ref” (I’m not explaining this), I spent a good part of the event firmly seated at the front with my Foot Locker jersey and counter in hand. Though I didn’t get in line until after 500, I can’t even count the number of our Do Gooders that openly offered to buy me a drink too.
    
8. The Second Cup at Queen/John is owned by Benny. Benny was unbelievably helpful along the whole way. On the day of the event itself, he kept so busy helping us setup, getting his staff prepared, and filling 602 orders, that he didn’t eat a bite.
    
   When things were over, despite his wife and anyone’s best attempts, our Do Gooder chose to get us our final numbers and bask in the excitement of it all with us first. The smile on his face was timeless.
    
9. Hungry and tired ourselves, everyone left at the end of the event headed over to Milestones to celebrate and grab some grub. So impressed after learning what had just happened down the street, our Do Gooders at Milestones gave each of us a free appetizer coupon hand marked with the words “Pay It Forward”.
    
10. Not everyone was able to make it out on Saturday due to conflicts, travelling, or actually living outside of Toronto. That didn’t stop them though. There were some in Toronto that opted to do their good at other places. We even saw tweets from our Do Gooders in NYC, Chicago, Oklahoma, etc. that did their good at their local coffee shops!

Do you have any other stories of your own from Pay It Backward Day? Share them in the comments below!

Again… To be involved was nothing short of a geek’s dream come true. Do me a solid: read the concluding note and watch the video below.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the event:

 
 
S

MY ROOTS was created for and by the youth in the Malvern area. Its goal is to inspire, educate, and support young leaders in the community through its quarterly publication and various other activities. I grew up in this area, which has traditionally been characterized by hopelessness and crime.

Fortunately, that’s not all true.

The article is aimed at a beginner’s audience – high school students just starting to define who they are today and what they eventually want to become. You will also notice some continuing themes from previous posts on my blog.

I wanted to share it with you and thank MY ROOTS’ Managing Editor (and my good friend) Hilori Kaloti for the opportunity.

—

It was more than a decade ago when the first article was written on “The Brand Called You” in FastCompany magazine. Tom Peters, a guru on business theory, became responsible for defining the era of personal branding that followed.

But beyond all of the hoopla, most of us today still have little or no idea of what personal branding is and why it should matter to us. If you choose to read this (because today is also all about choices), I’ll share some lessons on creating “brand you” for beginners and why you need to be ready.

Lesson One: If you don’t brand “you”, someone else will.

The Internet is all-knowing. It’s pushed the boundaries of access to information, leaving us all exposed. Because of this, anyone can find out anything about you if it’s been posted on the web.

If you search your full name right now, you’ll see a plethora of information about you. Do you have a Facebook profile? It’s there. Are you on a local sports team? It’s there. Did you interact with someone on a forum? It’s there.

All of this is your personal brand. Everything said about you, whether you said it or someone else did, aggregates into it. If you don’t take control of this conversation, you’ll only be left with how everyone else judges you.

Your personal brand is out there and people will use it in many ways. Employers will use it to get to know you before they even meet you, the same way your next date will.

Lesson 2: You need an objective.

When you start taking control, you need to give yourself a clear focus. Your personal brand should become something unique and valuable to you. It can stand for something that you are really interested in (i.e. a topic, activity, or pastime) or even some characteristics that reflect you (i.e. creative, active, or party-er).

For example, brand “Satish Kanwar” is aimed at being a technology marketer. That translates into characteristics like marketer, geek, go-getter, and evangelist.

Another way to think about it, from marketer Seth Godin, is knowing your superpower. Everyone in the Justice League had their own unique role. It was who they were and how they were valuable to the people around them. So when you have a personal brand and you meet someone (online or off), you’re no longer just another face. Instead of “Hi, I’m Satish, I’m from Toronto”, it’s instead “Hi, I’m Satish, I evangelize new technology”.

Lesson 3: You’ve already got the tools.

There are a lot of ways to do this, but the easiest places to start are actually where you already are.

Facebook is a big opportunity and an even bigger danger. It allows you to form stronger relationships with people you know. These are the people that care the most about your personal brand, so it’s important to make it clear to them and not let them down.

Make sure that you fill out your full profile with interesting and relevant information, not just random facts. Also use the specific privacy settings available to protect your more personal information. Block your public profile and sort all your friends in lists so you can show them different parts of you. Even go as far as removing your public listing if you don’t want this to show around the web.

Then clean up your other social tools. Go across your Google, Windows Live, Yahoo!, and other properties and implement your personal brand, a professional photo, and links back to your other sites.

Explore things like LinkedIn (online resume), Twitter (micro conversations), and especially a blog as next steps. There are tools out there for everything, but you should just choose a few and do them really well.

Things to Remember

While there is no definitive template to follow when it comes to creating “brand you”, there are a few virtues to follow that will help you succeed in the long run.

The first is consistency. If and when you decide to tackle your personal brand, don’t give it a sudden push and then disappear. Always keep your end game in mind and your tools of choice updated.

The second is longevity. Once you’ve decided what your focus is going to be, hold out for the long haul. You won’t see results immediately, but if you give it the right amount of time you’ll come up on top.

The third is simplicity. Don’t overthink it. Focus on impressing yourself with what you do, not on impressing others.

—

S

It’s not because there’s a line-up of people waiting to hire me, because, well, there isn’t. It’s because I’ve been proactive with my personal brand and feel confident leveraging my networks to get back in action.

There are lots of A-list blog posts about this topic, so I don’t want to talk about what you could or should do. Rather, I want to tell you what I would do.

LinkedIn

I keep an active professional profile on LinkedIn (aka my online resume) which today sets me up with a bank of 230+ connections that I actually know and have within reach. I would connect with them first and foremost. Note that I don’t add random people to LinkedIn, which keeps it extremely relevant and useful.

Many things you read will say to search for people that work at companies you want to work for, but this isn’t what I would use LinkedIn for. I would work my direct contacts only and maybe relevant people they happen to know here and there.

I also keep this profile tailored to what my career objectives and interests are (not just what I am doing today), and leave a little to imagination to encourage real contact.

Twitter

I spend more time today on Twitter than on any other social network. Whereas tools like Facebook allow me to amplify (or form) deeper relationships, Twitter has given me the amazing power of weak links.

Having a weak connection with 550+ people is like having 550+ “hey-buddies” at your office. You know who they are at a glance, but may not know anything else about them. It’s more than enough to say “hey” anytime you want, and just enough to someday ask for a stapler if you need one.

I would use Twitter as my primary means to meet people at my targeted employers. Over the years I’ve been able to interact with normally out-of-reach people exclusively through replying (@) or messaging (d) them on Twitter.

If it’s gotten me speakers, sponsors, referrals, and coffees, I think it can get my foot in the door at a company too. Even if that’s just an informational with someone there, it can go a long way.

Blog

By maintaining a personal blog and doing a reasonable job of promoting it, you build out a group of  people that most certainly want to know what you think and what you’re up to (which is why you’re reading this, right?).

For the most part, yes it will be a sub-segment of your LinkedIn and Twitter connections. But it will be the sub-segment of those networks that will really go out of their way to lend a hand, will have a comprehensive understanding of the value you can bring, and will know what things fit you the best.

I would actually start the whole job recovery plan with a blog post to explain the state of affairs and the simple fact that “I’m looking for a new job”. From there, it’s like letting the job come to you.

—

There’s no magic formula in the end and certainly no guarantees. Still, there is something to be said about how much better off someone with a developed personal brand is versus the next guy when a bad situation hits.

The most successful job searchers today will be those that combine the non-traditional and traditional elements. You need to build up strong networks and a kick-ass resume. You need to be addicted to Twitter and to handing out business cards. You need to write on a blog and handwrite letters.

But most important of all, you need to be ready.

S

Each time I was told “nope, sorry, can’t do it”. Can’t do it? No way. I refused to give up my current photos, contacts, and (most importantly) username.  I use ‘skanwar’ everywhere, except on Xbox Live (but that’s a story for another day).

I tried desperately again today because I was at the checkout page for a Flickr pro account. I have 300 photos from Twestival TO that deserve to be uploaded in their full quality. And it’s been way too hard to find a way to batch resize them.

What doesn’t work:

• The ‘link to your existing Flickr account’ option at the bottom of the Rogers login screen
• Adding your Rogers email to your list of addresses in your existing account’s settings
• Calling customer service of either companies to link the 2 accounts

What does work:

• Go to the Flickr account transfer option, which allows you to switch Yahoo! IDs on your existing Flickr username, at http://www.flickr.com/account/transfer/
• Make sure you are signed in with your existing Flickr account, and then click the option to sign-in with the one you want to transfer it to
• Use your @rogers.com credentials here, you don’t need to do anything on this account otherwise

Bingo! You’re pro.

Warning: This is an irreversible process from the looks of it. So if you plan to cancel or hop telcos, then don’t do it. Post in comments if you know a workaround.

Update: If you ever cancel your Rogers Internet services, then you will just be downgraded to a free account. It will be the same impact as if you just stopped paying for pro on a normal account. Not to worry.

S

I was working away with a team of social media rockstars on Twestival Toronto, which took place at CiRCA in Toronto on February 12. I already told you why it was important to me, so I just wanted to share the results with you.

We actually:

1. Brought out more than 450 people
2. Raised over $10,000 for charity: water
3. Were the #2 trending topic on all of Twitter for the night
4. Had free Molson beer and hung out with the Raptors girls, among lots of awesomeness
5. Made it on CBC, City TV, and many other media outlets

All in a matter of weeks. What matters most though? TO just funded 2 new clean water wells in developing nations and will change the lives of just over 600 people.

To be involved was nothing short of a geek’s dream come true. Do me a solid: read the concluding note and watch the video below.

P.S. I’m back.

S

The underlying concept is the most amazing thing I have ever seen happen through social media. Day to day in my life I’ve felt like a sitting duck in a line-up of 6 billion. We have so many deep-rooted global problems and even more ways to connect with one another on an equally epic scale, but we don’t put 2 and 2 together nearly often enough.

With Twestival, there are 175+ local communities mobilizing across the world for a single worthy cause (and fundamental human need). From Bangkok, to Bangalore, to Boston, people are getting engaged, reaching for the milky way, and working hard to make a difference.

Now this isn’t anywhere near the first grassroots event to take place, and not even the first that has a charitable cause at its centre. But it’s the first that has stuck out to me enough to not only want to attend, but to do everything in my ability to make it successful.

Success here means funds raised for charity: water and awareness that something we take for granted all too much is not a common luxury. That is first and foremost. People experiencing a unique glocal event and having an awesome time. That’s a close second.

Think of it as Live Earth concerts meets the Internet.

Every once in a while I am inspired by examples of social media for good. My friend Verne and team at Daily Challenge were the first such example for me. #hohoto followed shortly after that. TwestivalTO put me over the edge.

It’s been a wicked experience working alongside Sarah, Casie, Erin, Rahim, and the entire team. We’re almost there and I hope you’ll be joining me at CiRCA on February 12.

S

Shields are up captain. Nobody can see us now.

They don’t have confidence.

Now before I elaborate, let me clarify. By young marketers, I’m mostly talking about aspiring marketers. By aspiring marketers, I really mean marketing students. And by marketing students, a good portion of those I was with this evening at the University of Toronto’s marketing event.

Don’t get me wrong, the event was absolutely enjoyable. Students heard from Sean Moffitt, who keynoted after one tweet led to another (link has his blog post with similar content – kickass Sean), and also met folks in the industry. I would do it again.

But the audience didn’t all get it.

Back in the day when I was trying to demystify the black hole that is marketing, I fought for any opportunity to engage. That’s why I jumped on board a start-up creative marketing agency and attended local meet-ups with AMA Toronto, CaseCamp, etc. as a student.

When a marketer got in verbal reach of me, I went for it. I threw out my hand, I squeezed into a conversation, and I got in their way enough that they couldn’t ignore me. No hesitation, no second thoughts.

Today, there were only a handful that took that leap of confidence. When given an opportunity to ask an open question, hesitation. When given a choice to network versus listen, second thoughts.

Everyone got something out of the evening, but I commend those that made the most out of being face-to-face. If you didn’t raise your hand, leave with a to-do note, or email someone yet with a follow-up, I challenge you to think again about what you were trying to achieve and how else you’re going to do it.

If you’re reading this, then all’s not lost. It won’t take you long to find any of us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or elsewhere. What’s there to lose?

And that applies to anyone attending anything anywhere.

S