Last night John and I headed to the Soho Billiard Cafe in Yaletown to meetup with some folks as a part of Vancouver’s new Third Tuesday group.
THIRD TUESDAY is a monthly meetup for communications and marketing folks interested in learning/sharing more about the practical applications of social media in business. Third Tuesday has real world chapters and meetups in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.
Third Tuesday meetups typically include a guest speaker who talks with the group about different social media technologies and trends ranging from blogging, podcasting, social networks to influencer marketing and online WOM techniques — and how these things apply to communication, marketing, community building and society…
…Third Tuesday is also an opportunity to simply network with industry peers, to share knowledge, experiences and perhaps a few laughs and drinks too. So, if you’re interested in some thought provoking discussion about new media marketing and communications, please join us for Third Tuesday. [From the Facebook group via John’s post]
Yesterday was simply a meet n’ great to get a feeling of the crowd that would be coming out to such events. What do we want to see more of, who would make a great guest speaker etc.
I’m not scared to attend a social media, bloggy, podcasty type event in Vancouver although I don’t do enough of it “professionally” e.g. for my career and not Miss604.com. Truth be told, I’ve been in the online media industry for 7 years, worked at a newswire for 3, and am the Media Specialist for my current job. So even if there was no blog talk at all (although highly unlikely) I’d still be getting a lot of out these events.
It was also really nice to see some familiar faces (from Barcamp, Northern Voice, the podcast meetup etc.) and new ones from around the marketing, PR, writing and tech community in this city.
All in all it was a good evening and I’m interested to see how these events will unfold going forward. Here’s a couple things I actually learned last night.
Kerry Anne told me at Barcamp that they got their business cards for the podcast for free. The only catch is that the company, Vista Print, gives you template backgrounds and they print their company name on the back, which isn’t a bad exchange. After having no cards at all to give anyone last night (I’m outta moo cards), I think it’s time I perused VP’s website… or just get more moo printed.
Travis Smith brought up an interesting little tidbit about the English language. Did you know it’s the only language in which you can place a noun after itself to actually describe it further? Yep, he’s tried it in French and apparently you just can’t do it with Russian either. Example: Shortly after this conversation I looked over at John and said, “Did you bring the camera camera?” meaning, did you bring our digital camera and not just your phone to take pictures with. It was all rather funny. But like, funny funny.
Lastly, the ‘man cycle’. Tod Maffin has a fantastic electric scooter that I was lucky enough to ride around the patio last night. The battery lasts for 50km, it goes 42km/h, it looks pretty sweet and I really want one now, please. You can view video which he filmed from the Mancycle, on his way to Third Tuesday last night.
Breakfast, it’s the most important meal of the day, so I’m told. Around Vancouver there are a few gems, you know those places that aren’t pretentious ($8 for a slice of cantaloupe and a grape) and that have a unique, individual charm. I like establishments that serve up good food, a lot of it, for cheap, and that give me a comfortable experience. We used to head over to Hamburger Mary’s, I hear the Elbow Room is a must-visit, and John has a thing for the protein breakfast at White Spot, but by far we’ve come to love Roscoe’s the most.
When you first walk in, you’d think you were at your grandma’s house, specifically my grandma’s house. There’s an easy chair, doilies, collector plates on the walls and cuckoo clocks. Lamps, table clothes and hutches filled with books just round out the decor. It’s not your average brunch spot in the city.
Their daily special includes your choice of bacon or sausage with 2 eggs any style, and hashbrowns and toast. If John and I both order this and have a coffee each, our bill comes to $11. That’s right, $11 and we don’t walk away hungry. We’ve never been there for dinner, although it’s pretty ‘meat and potatoes’ and they serve up anything from cabbage rolls to schnitzel.
We walked over to Roscoe’s recently to grab a bite but their infamous green awning was knocked down and there were work crews milling about the outside. The sign on the door said ‘closed’ and our hearts sank to our feet. We’re looking for answers now… is Roscoe’s just closed for renovations or do they suffer a more drastic fate? We’re also very open to more suggestions for a great spot to grab a greasy, hearty, filling, cheap, wholesome breakfast in town.
Of the dozen construction sites I pass by on my walk to work, only one isn’t for a residential tower and that’s the new convention centre in Coal Harbour. It seems like everywhere you turn, there’s a new condo development popping up.
They tore down that old store around the corner, what’s going in there now? Condos. They finally decided to do something with that old grassed-over lot? Yeah it’s gonna be condos now. They demolished those houses? Yep, to make room for more condos.
Downtown Vancouver has had years of dwindling office space due to condo conversions, the departure of head offices and a drought of new office-building construction. Vacancies are low and rents are high. [News1130]
Sure there are small victories that pop into the news now and then, but I really don’t see much for an expansion in office space especially considering Vancouver is heavily responsible for the current ‘reverse brain-drain‘ [MontrealTechWatch]. Warehouses in Gastown that were once turning into start-up hipster offices are now being transformed into open-concept lofts for living.
Where is everyone going to work? Industrial parks in the burbs spring to mind.
If you’ve driven on Marine lately you’ll see a huge difference [Riverfront][BurnabyBusinessPark][GlenlyonParkway]. Along with the giant boxed stores come marketable subdivisions for anyone from water to tech companies. But does expanding out East and South from our downtown core help or hinder growing business in Vancouver itself?
This could very well be great news for Surrey who used to have Canada’s largest vacant office space, Central City. It currently has an empty building containing 90% of the city’s office space, which is completely empty and has been for almost a decade. There’s so much space out there in fact, that they’re dancing around the vacant rooms (literally) until business moves in.
…a decade after the project was announced, the 275,000-square-foot structure remains vacant. Meanwhile, the city continues to celebrate the building, now known as the 104 Avenue Centre, as a testament to Surrey’s commercial promise… Next month, the mayor will hold her charity ball in the building for the second year in a row. [SurreyLeader]
Even the once-vacant Central City is hot stuff.
…sold for $245.75 million in what is believed to be British Columbia’s biggest real estate deal in history for a single property. [Canada.com]
I think the message from the suburbs is, ‘we’re open for business’.
If you look at other major cities sometimes the big hubs of business activity take place outside of downtown. When I lived in Boston I never once actually lived or worked in Boston proper. I was living in Cambridge and working in Watertown at the Arsenal on the Charles.
Should ‘downtown’ then just be reserved for big banks, hotels and condos? For those who live and work in Yaletown, Davie Village, Coal Harbour, Gastown, the West End etc., should we be worried that reverse-commute will soon be in order? Would that be a horrible thing?
I’m worried enough that my office will soon be moving from Gastown to Yaletown. Sure it’s 19 blocks from home compared to the 18 blocks distance I currently walk but we’ll be distancing ourselves from other like-minded businesses… and this is just a 2km relocation. I used to commute from Surrey via walking, bus and train, so I think I’ve just become a little too soft but it does help to be surrounded by peers and the buzz of the network.
The expansion of business is Vancouver is definitely a plus, we just need (more) affordable places to put it all.
I enjoy living downtown, and I enjoy not having a car and walking to work. I also like being able to stop off at London Drugs on my way home or hopping out to grab a steamed bun from Chinatown at lunch. I have nothing against the growing economy of the suburbs, I would just like to see more growth for business in the downtown core. But if I am going to start in on a wish list for downtown, I should really start with more affordable places to live, for everyone.
But just what is bacn aside from sounding like a delicious meat from a magical animal?
It started at the registration desk at Podcamp Pittsburgh 2 on Saturday afternoon. We (Andy Quayle, Jesse Hambley, Tommy Vallier, Jason Head, Val Head and Ann Turiano) were having an amusing discussion about back bacon (aka Canadian bacon) and how some people we know twitter so much we have to turn off notifications for them.
Tommy Vallier mentioned that back bacon is also called peameal bacon. You’ll notice that sounds likeâ€email baconâ€. Suddenly, we had both a concept and a name for it. Email bacn – notifications you want, just not right now. It’s not spam – you signed up for it and you actually DO want that information – but yet it still feels like it’s wasting your time. [ThisisPortable]
The group registered a domain on the spot, bacn2.com, and posted the following video.
Will it catch on? More than likely. There was a need for those emails to be named, and that name is now… bacn.
I have an ongoing post about the new Canucks uniforms (as previously mentioned… a lot) but I’m also hoping to cover the unveiling of the official new logo and jersey next Wednesday, August 29nd. Rumours and speculation aside, this will be it folks. Here’s the list of events surrounding the reveal:
11:30 am – Tailgate party on the South Plaza at GM Place
12:00 pm – Doors open, enter through Gate 7
12:30 pm – Unveiling of the Canucks sweater
13:00 – Canucks team store opens. Photos with FIN on the South Plaza
The day will be hosted by John Shorthouse, Chris Zimmerman, Dave Nonis and select players.
The tickets are FREE and are available online through Ticketmaster. More details at Canucks.com.
Update: Tickets are now sold out – thanks Bucky!
Also, check out John’s post about the whole ordeal.
Third Tuesday meetups typically include a guest speaker who talks with the group about different social media technologies and trends ranging from blogging, podcasting, social networks to influencer marketing and online WOM techniques — and how these things apply to communication, marketing, community building and society…
