It was two years ago that I came across the Social Media Press Release and Newsroom template. At the time it was innovative and truly the standard that businesses and news organization have should strived to achieve at the time. Making your news searchable and even news-worthy is key, it’s also crucial to engage your audience and allow them to share and become a part of what they’re reading.

The NakedPR posts I linked to back then still hold water today. One of my faves is, “Your Target Audience Hates You, Here’s Why“:

Are you a fun, hip, and trendy online business? Then why does your site look like something that predates my grandmother? Again, it’s all about image. Forget about marketing for a minute, and worry about how you look in the eyes of others, especially in regards to the target audience’s expectations going in. You’d better meet… no, exceed, those expectations if you want your target market to love you, keep coming back, spending money, giving you traffic, clicking your ads, etc.[NakedPR]

I admit, that’s mostly about content and image but it works in many other ways that news delivery services should attempt to follow. I wrote a post a year ago about how PR professionals and newswires just didn’t seem to “get it”.

By “it” I mean using social media tools to help engage your audience, distribute your news and get the most exposure. I once worked with a group of PR professionals and was rather willing to share all of my knowledge on the topic, but it fell on deaf ears. Now years later, newswires are realizing how valuable these practices are, however instead of embracing the technology and admitting they’re jumping on the bandwagon, suddenly they’re the innovators. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

When I was little I thought there was a mermaid perched on a rock almost 100 feet from the Sea Wall in Stanley Park. As it turns out one of the most recognizable marine landmarks in this city, the statue Girl in Wetsuit, actually does have a mermaid involved in her history.

Photo credit: Pat Z on Flickr from the Miss604 Group Flickr Pool

A life size bronze statue of a woman in a wetsuit, with flippers on her feet and her mask pushed up on her forehead, sits on a large intertidal boulder just offshore of Stanley Park. In September of 1968, Douglas Brown, a Vancouver lawyer, talked to sculptor Elek Imredy about his desire to commission a sculpture inspired by the famous Copenhagen mermaid, which could be sited on the great granite boulder just off the northern shore of Stanley Park. [City of Vancouver]

The “Little Mermaid” in Copenhagen is in fact fashioned after the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. We may know her better as Ariel with an endearing yet annoying guppy friend Flounder. It’s hard to imagine that in a roundabout way our Girl in Wetsuit has that Disney connection.

To top it off, the original “Little Mermaid” statue in Denmark was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg Lager.

If you put all the pieces together, our little seagull-stained Girl in Wetsuit sits perched on her rock on the north shore of Stanley Park, near the bridge erected by Guinness and resembling a statue for Carlsberg.

Although I may get Under the Sea stuck in my head the next time I walk by, at least I’ll be inspired to go drink some beer.

One of the highlights of my year in 2007 was meeting some members of the Canucks Alumni hockey team in North Vancouver. Dave Babych, Cliff Ronning and of course, GINO! It’s always fun to watch the stars you’ve admired over the years, those you grew up watching, and the local guys that made the Canucks organization what they are today (with 201 consecutive sellouts).

This spring the Canucks Alumni will take on a team for a fundraising event – a team and league I had not previously known about until I was contacted by Shawn, a member of the BC Rockies Deaf Hockey Club.

BC Deaf Hockey is something that intrigues me, but it isn’t really surprising that these folks would want to play hockey, afterall it crosses all boundaries and I think it would be amazing to see these guys in action.

Come out to Queens Park Arena in New Westminster on March 22nd 2008 and watch the BC Rockies take on the Vancouver Canucks Alumni.

Support our local deaf hockey players in their quest to raise money for their upcoming trip to the 7th Canadian Deaf Ice Hockey Championships in Whitby, Ontario… …Come early and have a BBQ with the BC Rockies players and the Canucks Alumni, get some autographs and enter to win prizes like an Autographed Brendan Morrison jersey! [BC Deaf Hockey] and [Canucks.com]

“Ever wonder how a deaf person plays hockey? How they hear the referees whistle? How they call for the puck? How they adapt to a game that was intended for hearing folk?” There’s a video on the Rockies’ website about what it’s like to play without sound.

Tickets are available by calling (604)-263-0027, emailing Shawn, and you can also check out the Facebook Event for more information.

To say our Saturday was Surrey-licious would be an understatement. John and I took the train out to Central City in the early afternoon to meet up with our good friend (and honorary sister) and my niece for Winterfest. We got some thundersticks, ice skated on plastic, were hassled by mascots and listened to some really loud music on a big live stage. Children were running amok everywhere, it was slightly soggy out but all in all, it was a pretty great day even if my niece didn’t want to make a “magic wand” or get her face painted (in all honesty, neither did I, so it was cool).

John was able to take some good shots despite the grey weather and low-light, the following are from his Flickr set.

The Rec Centre parking lot, 102nd Ave, and the Central City Plaza were all reserved for Winterfest.

Olympic mascot “Quatchi” with Surrey mayor, Diane Watts.

Shane Philip with the didjeridu on stage.

Kids craft fair and story-telling inside the mall. Smell the commerce – mixed with Elmer’s glue.

More activities for kids. This tent was giving away saplings. My niece had no use for such a thing although she did enjoy this animal tracks quiz.

We skated on a synthetic polymer “ice rink”. It was… interesting.

He is the “Ice Prince”. He wanted to tell you that a lot, which my niece did not appreciate.

View the rest of the photos from Winterfest in John’s Flickr set.

I’ve almost completely left the Chinese New Year celebrations slip by me this year. Today at 12:00pm (about 20 mins ago) the parade kicked of in Chinatown, starting at Pender and Carrall, “it travels northbound on Pender, east on Gore, south on Keefer and ends at Carall.” [News1130]

Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr

Vancouver has a huge Chinese population, filled with tradition, and pride that helped build up this entire region. When walking around my side of town I hardly notice anything that would hint that the new year was here. The only shop window displaying something festive is Le Chateau on Burrard and Robson. It’s storefont is filled with bright red lanterns trimmed with gold, strewn about the entire window display. It’s actually quite nice. The rest of the shops are focusing on what’s happening February 14th. Something with less tradition but I suppose more buying power.

The entire moth of February is about a heart-shaped box (which are themselves being made into chocolate this year). Commercials on the radio are suggesting that a mobile phone is “the perfect gift” or maybe that mp3 player or TV. I’ve already touched on the fact that we don’t need much for Valentine’s Day so I’m going to highlight other things happening in this city this month – even though we’re almost halfway through.

Also next weekend Mount Washington is hosting the Ski for MS. The Thelma to my Louise, Keira-Anne will be boarding to raise funds for a great cause. Read more about it on her post.