Estimated Time To Read This: 1 – 2 minutes       Criticism. We’ve all faced it in one way or another. But what happens when social media is involved? With the recent logos unveiled by Gap (and we saw how well that went) and Starbucks, it’s been interesting to see how companies are managing the firestorms brought on by Twitter, Facebook, blogs and more. While fake Twitter accounts have popped up to add some levity to the discourse, it seems companies are starting to understand that communication is a ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 minutes       I’ve had a Twitter account (@barney_lawn) for some time now but in all honestly I’ve hardly used it. I guess I’ve been one of those people sitting on the fence wondering what I’m going to say, why would people want to listen to me, and more importantly, what the value is in participating in this form of social media. It wasn’t until I attended a couple of conferences recently that the answers became very clear and I finally realized how valuable a tool ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 minutes       What if I told you there’s a way for you to get advice from mentors (or at least from those you people look up to), learn from their hard lessons, and take away new ideas that might help improve your business or career? What if I told you, on top of all that, it wouldn’t be time consuming or cost you much. Cheap professional development — it is possible. This kind of professional development doesn’t come from seminars or conferences (though those ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       This week, Scott Stratten (Twitter alias @unmarketing) made a stop in London, Ontario as part of his UnBook tour. I’ve blogged about Scott before, which was mostly on my excitement about his then upcoming appearance in the forest city. So what did I learn from Scott — aside from the fact that he’s quite funny, self-effacing and downright honest? (Proof: watch his TEDxOakville video or one of his many UnMarketing presentations) Here’s just ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       Some of you may have heard of Scott Stratten before – he’s well-known in the marketing and social media world. If not, you can find his bio here. I promise, he’s worth getting to know. As one of today’s most influential social marketers, with more than 60,000 followers on Twitter and over 60 million views of his clients’ viral videos, Scott has a lot to say, and I for one am happy to listen. In fact, I had the chance to when I ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       My typical morning routine: Alarm goes off — the alarm function on my BlackBerry that is Brush teeth, with BlackBerry in other hand; check emails, Twitter, Facebook and BBC’s mobile site Get coffee and breakfast going, and turn on my laptop to read over local news, blogs, et al. and respond to emails Does this sound like you? If so, you’re obviously not alone. (I also forgot to mention that while my BlackBerry is the first thing in my hand ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 minutes       Welcome to the first of many entries on ContinuED®. The newly released version of ContinuED® 2.2.1 contains many goodies and requested enhancements that many of you will find quite useful in setting up classes for the upcoming ConEd terms. Some of these goodies include: - New student fields for Driver’s License Number and Citizenship/Immigration Number - Registers now support 45 sessions instead of the original 32. - Visual improvements to the attendance entry ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 3 – 4 minutes       For someone who has yet to master the remote control, understanding the ins and outs of social media is, to say the very least, a daunting task. Flickr, Twitter, Blogging, Facebook and LinkedIn; well, it’s like learning a new language; so you can quite understand it when I say it’s ‘all Greek to me’. And the terminology! Don’t get me started. I’ve no choice but to change my way of thinking – to realize that hash tags (#) are more than meaningless ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes       Welcome to my first blog and our new and much improved web site. I have to admit this is new ground for me and you need to know right now that writing is not a skill that comes naturally to me. Not everyone is a natural born writer and for me, I have to work hard at it, the words don’t always come easily. Having said that I do enjoy writing and the best part is when I’m finished and reviewing the final piece. Now that I’ve been brutally honest let’s get ... Read More