Social Media Camp Victoria is returning this year with a line-up of both local and international speakers who will all discuss facets of one thing: social media. For business or personal use, Pinterest to blogs, tradeshow booths to workshops, join us the weekend of June 8th to 9th, 2012 in our province’s capital.
Speakers
Chris Brogan: New York Times Bestselling author and #1 Social Media Influencer as ranked by Forbes Magazine.
Erica Ehm: You might remember Erica as a MuchMusic VJ but she has also founded the Yummy Mummy Club, a network that joins millions of mothers around the globe through blogs and social media.
Other speakers include Chris Breikss (Owner, 6S Marketing Inc., one of BC’s Top 50 Employers), Tim Ayres (Realtor at Royal LePage, Director of the Victoria Real Estate Board, and real estate blogger), Kris Krug (Photographer, Technologist, Author, and new media pioneer in Vancouver), David Hume (Executive Director, Citizen Engagement, Province of British Columbia), and many more.
I will also be hosting a talk on running contests with bloggers, on blogs, and through social media. I’ve asked local PR superstar Rachel Thexton of DunnPR to join me to give another perspective.
Registration
Register now using any one of these ticket options:
- All Access: $395 value includes: Entry to Social Media Camp, entry to West Coast Social Media Awards dinner, official SMC t-shirt, a copy of “Google+ for Business” by Chris Brogan, entry to After Party @ Cabin12, more exclusive perks TBA…
- Just Social Media Camp: $249: Entry to Social Media Camp (all talks, tradeshow, etc.)
- Just West Coast Social Media Awards $99
- Just an official SMC t-shirt : $20
There is one more all-in-one option for mainlanders. The #60seatlimo Bus Trip is $399 (based on double occupancy) and includes bus from Richmond (River Rock) to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, ferry admission, bus from ferry to Accent Inns Victoria, two nights accommodation, shuttles to Social Media Camp, and return bus and ferry to Richmond. So that’s all transportation, SMC admission, and hotel all covered for one price – and participants will also get a copy of Chris Brogan’s book. I will be hosting the bus trip to make sure everyone gets on board and warms up for Social Media Camp.
Hosted at the Victoria Conference Centre in the heart of downtown Victoria, SMC will have ample networking opportunities and chances to simply meet hundreds of hundreds of attendees from businesses and startups, to hobby bloggers and podcasters.
Follow Social Media Camp on Twitter and Facebook for more information leading up to the event this spring.
The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival has done a fantastic job of celebrating the lovely pink petals that adorn over 40,000 local trees through promoting community events like dances, lunches, painting classes and more.
Cherry Jam Downtown
When: Thursday, April 5, 2012 from 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Where: Burrard SkyTrain station plaza
What: Free lunchtime concert. Pre-order a Sakura Bento Box Lunch created by Master Chef Hidekazu Tojo and other local chefs. Lunches can be picked up from 11:00am to 2:00pm at the station. There will also be culinary demonstrations from 11:00am to 12:00pm.
Sakura Days Japan Fair
When: April 7 and 8, from 10:00am to 5:00pm
Where: VanDusen Botanical Garden
What: Family-friendly Japanese festival at VanDusen Gardens in the Visitor Centre. Enjoy food, traditional tea ceremonies, sake, cultural performances, crafts, and more.
Cherry Blossom Flash Mob
When: Saturday April 14, 2012 from 2:00pm
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery, Georgia side
What: Since you’re not supposed to advertise a flash mob, I won’t give away too many details here. Stop by to check out what will happen.
Plein Air Painting Classes
When: April 7, 14, 21, and 28 from 11:00am to 2:00pm
Where: VanDusen Botanical Garden
What: Painting classes among the blossoms at the gardens taught by Federation of Canadian Artists such as Alfonso Tejada, Bob McMurray, Alan Wylie, Janice Robertson. Suitable for beginners and advanced artists and you can work in water colour, oil, or acrylic.
Bike The Blossoms
When: Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 10:30am
Where: China Creek Park South
What: Join Velopalooza and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival for a fun, free guided bike ride. The ride will tour the blossom cherry trees in Vancouver and include a talk by Parks Board Arborist, Bill Stephen.
Check out the cherry blossom map to find some of best places for taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the trees. You can also submit your cherry blossom haiku until June 4, 2012 and create your own cherry blossom origami.
Canada’s cherry blossom festival the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Society is a non-profit charitable society established in 2005 in the province of British Columbia. The City of Vancouver declared March and April the months to honor the more than 40,000 ornamental cherry trees generously gifted from Japan in the 1930’s.
Metro Vancouver has just launched their weRecycle application for the iPhone. Within just a few seconds you can look up recycling locations within Metro Vancouver for everything from mattresses to car tires.
You can search by material, recycling location, or find out what items are suitable to put in your city’s blue recycling bins. The application is free and will soon be available for other smartphones. If you would like to use a similar service from a desktop computer, you can find information online.
Walking past the box office of the Spanish Revival style building, I opened the doors to the Patricia Theatre and was greeted with the haunting aroma of buttered popcorn. A poster board propped up in the entranceway spelled out the future of the historic Powell River theatre rather bluntly: Digital or Dark?
The Patricia is Canada’s longest standing continuously running movie house as its two able film projectors crank out screenings for local film festivals and new releases. However the looming digital conversion, that was set to happen in 2014, has been bumped up. As of this summer, film prints will no longer we sent out by the studios and to accomodate the digital upgrade the Patricia’s owner, Ann Nelson, needs to come up with $90,000 — and fast.
Ann, who bought the theatre 15 years ago, greeted me near the concession stand and held up a film card in front of me, allowing light from the window to shine through the coaster-sized object. “This is how they used to advertise upcoming pictures in the old days,” she said. On the blue, pink, and yellow tinted slide were Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. It was essentially the trailer for Casablanca.
We sat in the sunshine that beamed through the windows and lit up boxes of Hot Tamales, Nerds, and Reese’s Pieces. Ann told me all about the history of Powell River and how the Patricia came to be.
Patricia’s Past
Ann began my history lesson with the first movie theatre in 1913. “It was a tent down by the mill gates and it used to blow down in every storm. Then, They built a building shaped like a shoebox on end down near the cenotaph.” Through a naming contest “Patricia” was selected given the popularity of Princess Patricia who had just visited Canada with her father, the Duke of Connaught. The theatre hosted everything from traveling trunk shows fresh off the steamships, to boxing matches and the latest Charlie Chaplin films – it was the social hub of town.
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Book Warehouse, one of Vancouver’s most beloved local book stores, will be closing its remaining locations after a final sale blowout that began today.
“Who knows what we’ll be doing as the weeks go on? We sort of forgot to stop ordering books, so our warehouse is jammed with thousands more books. We’ll keep putting them into the stores, which should give many opportunities for our customers to say their goodbyes to their favorite booksellers, and walk away with even more incredible bargains.” Founder Sharman King (via Press Release)
Photo credit:
Roland on Flickr
Book Warehouse started out in 1980 and you may remember their old commercials if you grew up around Vancouver that featured King playing a tuba or trombone.
Within a week of the Vancouver Playhouse closing down its operations, and the announcement that the Ridge Theatre will be demolished, this is salt in the wound of Vancouver’s creative communities. A theatre company, a movie house, and a book store chain, gone.
Let’s support the Book Warehouse during its final days. Go online, visit their locations in person, and scoop up some books that are going for bargain basement prices. As a writer, published author, book reader, and Vancouverite, I encourage everyone to take a few minutes, put down the smartphone, close the laptop, and open up a book. On your lunch break, with your children, at the beach, or curled up on the couch.
Visit the Book Warehouse on Broadway, West 10th, Lonsdale, or Davie until the shelves are empty. Follow the Book Warehouse on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
