A Peak Experience at Jay Peak

Jay Peak is one of those places that anyone who has ever skied on the East Coast knows about.  Its legend is made up of deep snow (a rarity in the East) and top quality glades skiing.

I have been lucky enough to ski lots of great mountains over the years and I was surprised that I had never made the trek to Jay.  Afterall, it is only about 4.5 hours from Ottawa.  Needless to say, I was overjoyed when my girlfriend booked a long weekend there for us as a Christmas present.

If you asked me to describe Jay Peak to somebody who had never skied there, I would say that Jay Peak is a place with one foot in the past and the other in the future.  This is a good thing.  The skiing is challenging, the lift lines aren't too long and the crowds on the hills are minimal.  There isn't much by way of swanky lodges but I don't think you go to Jay to have a fancy lunch.  You go there to ski the deep snow and we certainly weren't disappointed.

There isn't much by way of a village at the base of the mountain.  It could be hard for somebody who is used to the McVillages of Intrawest to imagine but it gives the place a unique character.  There is the newly opened Tram Haus Lodge, where we were staying, some condos at little farther up the mountain and a construction site that will be home to the new conference centre and water park (set to open in 2012).  The town of Jay is about 10 or 15 minutes away and there isn't much there but a place for some gas and some groceries.

Let me summarize my trip by talking about a few of the amazing experiences I had there:


Amazing Staff
Every single member of the Jay Peak staff we interacted with was amazing.  Everyone was super friendly and helpful.  It was pretty easy to tell right away that everyone was there to make sure we had a great time.  One of the coolest experiences was taking the tram up one day with Bill Stenger, who led a group of investors to buy the resort in 2008.  Bill was super-friendly and took some time to share some tips on finding great snow with me.

Great Snow
If I am going to travel for skiing, I like travel for deep snow.  My reasoning is simple: if I wanted to ski groomed runs,I could do that at Camp Fortune, which is 15 minutes from Ottawa.  We were lucky to get about 6 inches of snow or more each day so there was plenty of fresh snow to go around.  This picture proves that.

Technology
Sounds weird but I appreciated the fact that the Tram Haus had free wifi everywhere.  I hate that hotels try and charge up to $15 for access when it should be complimentary.  I also loved the new RFID system that makes your room key the same as you ski pass. You can use it to get into your locker to get your skis so you never even have to take it out of your pocket.  I should also mention that Jay has a great website but they tend to underestimate the amount of show they get (which is good) and overestimate how warm it is going to be.

If you like to ski, you need to go to Jay Peak
It is obvious that Jay Peak is in the middle of a massive upgrade.  The new conference centre and water park will certainly help the mountain attract the corporate and family business that it needs to push forward.  But don't let this fool you.  Jay Peak is a skiers mountain and the locals are passionate.  That's why their tagline is "Raised Jay".  For people who like to ski, Jay Peak is a must-visit because when it comes to the skiing, it delivers.

iPhone to Android: What I learned

Image via Wikipedia

Last week I made a big switch from an iPhone 3GS to an HTC Desire HD that runs on Android 2.2.

The decision to switch was brought on by the fact that I needed to replace my iPhone.  I need a device that can function as my primary content creation device in terms of camera and video, manage my podcast subscriptions, hold and play lots of music and handle lots of social networking applications like Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook.

A few years ago, I had an HTC Touch Diamond that was running the horror that was Microsoft Mobile Windows 6.5, or whatever it was called.  At the time, the phone was somewhat marketed as an iPhone competitor but I have to say that it was terrible.  I barely ever used Windows Mobile Office and it was confusing as to what was MSFT or HTC and what was Windows and what was the phone.  Essentially the integration with HTC's Sense UI and Windows Mobile was terrible. Then Telus had a navigation application that didn't even work.

I eventually upgraded to my iPhone 3GS and was instantly in love.  Everything worked and the mobile browsing experience was amazing.  My fat fingers could type and select content through the browser and although I am not a fan of the "closed" Apple experience, I appreciated that apps and podcasts were easy to find and sync.

The experience of deciding between iPhone and Android was a tough one and I learned three important things:

1) Bad first experience are hard to overcome: sounds obvious but my previous experience which I have since learned were largely due to Windows Mobile 6.5 being a joke, really soured me on HTC.  I know that they have started building great phones but I was really hesitant to go back down the HTC road.

2) Apple is winning the "ease of app" war: I like to keep my eyes and ears open to what is happening in mobile and I still found that my impressions of Android were tainted by the perception that whole application ecosystem was divided and not as convenient as iPhone.  The reality is that there is an easy to use app "Market" and even better, people can email me apps and they are added to my phone in a matter of minutes. The Android app experience isn't much worse in reality but the perception is that it is.

Anyways, I'm loving my phone so far and will keep you updated on how things progress.

Related articles

• Review: HTC Desire HD / AT&T Inspire 4G (geardiary.com)
• The HTC Desire HD arrives in Canada (thenextweb.com)
• HTC Desire S hands-on [Video] (slashgear.com)
• HTC Sense for Android Quick Tip: Customize Sliders (Video) (pocketnow.com)

How to Design a Kick @ss SmarComm Event

For the past few years, I've been going professional development/networking to the tune of at least 5 a month.  And that's a conservative estimate.  I am able to do this largely because I am not, married and don't have kids (yet) but also because Ottawa has offered me so many great opportunities to learn and meet new people.  I do my best to maintain a list of events I go to here.

During this time, I have attended large events and small ones.  I have attended loosely organized events and events that were clearly pimpfests for somebody selling a product or service.  Based on my experiences, I have learned a few things that I believe are key in designing a kick ass Smarcomm event.  ("smarcomm" represents the convergence of social media, marketing and commincations).

1) Think outside the box: try and figure out a way that you can go outside the traditional presentation and questions format with the speaker giving their 15 minutes and the audience asking questions.  There are so many different twists like having a presentation of different case studies, panel discussions and "speed dating"type formats that can be used.

2) Keep it small: Lately, I have found myself preferring smaller events to larger ones.  A recent Community Managers Meetup here in Ottawa only had 5 of us show up and it was great to sit around and chat freely about what we're up to and where things are going.  I have come to realized that events are often about the number of butts you put in seats but for the reasons I outline in #3, I am finding smaller events are helping me push my knowledge boundaries much more than large ones.

3) Go past Smarcomm 101: By now, we've all read "Trust Agents" (if you haven't, go get it right now) and we understand the reasons why we need to thinking about the "new reality".  Some may not agree but frankly, if you're still not getting in early 2011, you probably never while I'd have to wonder where you've been for the  past 5 to 10 years.  Personally, I think the big events tend to stick to the 101 stuff and the smaller events give me the opportunity to push into specifics and get guidance on "what now?".

4) Keep it informal: You can be professional and be informal at the same time.  I think an event where there is an eye kept on the time and the flow of the event is a must but that doesn't mean that you have to be a robot.  Hold your event in a cool restaurant or a neat bar that encourages people to relax while learning. I usually go to events at night and after hammering it out at the office all day, it's nice to combine an after work beer with the opportunity to meet new people and learn new things.

5) Twitter: Frankly, this is Smarcomm 101 itself but if you're doing anything local in this space, you gotta beat it up on Twitter.  Get the hashtag going, build awareness and encourage people to connect on Twitter before, after and during the event.  I don't see enough people trying to get feedback on their events so they can make them better... why not use Twitter for this?  I can't tell you how often I find out from people that they didn't find out about something until the last minute because they saw it on Twitter... which tells me that is how people find out about events in this space so don't wait until the last minute to get it going.

I'm sure some people might see things differently and that's fine.  I still go to all kinds of events but I am finding more and more that that I am enjoying the events that really do the above 5 things.

Video: What I'm Into These Days

Figured it was time I got back into putting up some video.  Here it goes:



Items discussed in this post:

McCann's Irish Oatmeal.  Facebook page
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps.  Website.
Lizano Salsa.  Website
.

My New Workspace

I finally got my workstation set up at work.  What I love about this setup is that it allows me to monitor a few things at the same time, while providing me with multiple options for the display of information.  I have always found switching between screens and applications to be an annoying thing to do and this kinds of setup allows me to keep focused on a specific task while having the ability to quickly check on other things.

If you are really interested in how other people setup their workspaces and personal productivity, then I suggest this great post by Christoper S. Penn on how he does it.  

From left to right in the picture, here is what I have going on:

Social Media Monitoring:  On the far left is a nice widescreen monitor connected to an older IBM desktop that I use almost exclusively for keeping an eye on my corporate Twitter feeds.  Perhaps I will do a separate post on how I use Hootsuite to do this.  Having a dedicated computer is great for me because I can take my laptop with me and just leave this separate machine running. 

Email: In middle I have another widescreen monitor that is dedicated almost exclusively to email.  It's so great having a screen exclusively for email because it helps you keep an eye on any important emails that might need attention.  I also use this screen for the occasional web task like looking at analytics but I don't do too much "testing" on this screen because I like to make sure I'm seeing my company's website like most users do - on small screens.  The screen isn't hooked up to the old Dell desktop that it is sitting on, that's just to keep it up and off the table.  

Laptop:  On the far right is a new Dell Vostro -which I am enjoying so far except for that I think it might be a little heavy -that use for any word processing or spreadsheet work.  Like I say above, I also test web content on the laptop screen and find it great for any other tasks that require my undivided attention.  I am able to concentrate better on the laptop because it's on the far right so I have to turn myself away from the other screens to use it and I find this helps me focus a bit better.

Anyways, that's what I have going on... how do you set up your workspace for productivity?

I Hate Social Media

I hate social media.

I hate the words themselves, I hate the platforms, I hate social media marketers, I hate social media consultants and I hate the whole concept of "social media".

I am finding it really boring.  It's the same lame stuff day in and day out:

• Brands that have zero @replies in their twitter feed - thanks for talking to the air, must be fun.
• People who live-tweet everything around them - thanks, but I'm sitting next to you (virtually or really sitting beside you).  
• The thousands of "will it succeed?" blog posts that the release of a new platforms seem to spawn like Gizmo after a bath.
• Content that masquerades as "help" when it really: states the obvious, is link bait or says nothing you couldn't learn in 5 minutes.  

What I love is people.  

Real people that say "thank you" and mean it.  Companies that offer a genuine helping hand "even though we don't sell food, here's where you can get great sushi".  Brands that put their employees ahead of their products.  

I don't really see how anyone could love social media.  Or why you'd want to work in social media.  

I specialize in people.  Meeting people, talking to people, interacting with people and, when called for, marketing to people.  

How about you?

Episode 4: A New Hope

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, that title is a tip of the hat to Star Wars.  In the series, the first movie released was actually the fourth "episode" in the series and I couldn't help but feel that is applies to myself right now.

I recently accepted a full-time position at iWatchLife.  The company is just about to re-launch it's internet-based video monitoring solution in a few weeks.  A new site is being built behind the scenes as I type but I haven't really had much, if any, involvement because I've been working on getting up to speed and frankly, we're on a deadline and I don't want to interfere.

If you know me, you'll probably remember that I completed by MBA in June 2009 and have been doing various things since then but it's been a long, hard road getting to where I am right now.  Looking for work and networking can be a long, hard road that seems to never end.  I was averaging at least 5 events at month, and that's a pretty low estimate.  I wish I kept a journal but I guess the PILE of business cards that I have at home serve the same of purpose.  

I learned a tonne of things along the way and I'm going to posting them soon.  Stay tuned!.

Stuff I'm Into: Early 2011 Version

Every once and a while, I like to take a few minutes and share things I'm into these days... books, movies, music,  whatever...

Here's a roundup of things that I have been into lately.

The Black Swan:  This is a Darren Aronofsky (he did The Wrestler) film starring Natalie Portman.  It's pretty intense psychological mindf*ck of a movie about a ballerina.  I don't want to give too much else about the plot but this movie has it all from great costumes, amazing music and insane performances.  I love movies like this that are hitting it on all cylinders.  Go see it, it will be big at the Oscars....



Clever: Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People:  This is a book by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones about leading "clevers".  The adjective "clever" often has a negative connotation in the sense that people often associate it with people who might think they are better than everyone else.  In reality it simply means "to have a skill".  By extension, "clevers" are the people in any organization that create a disproportionate amount of value and leading them requires a unique set of skills and understanding.  The book is a result of hours and hours of interviews with clever people and the people who lead them.

Prince Edward County:  Spent three awesome days over New Year's in Prince Edward County, which is only about 3.5 hours West of Ottawa.  Locals tell me Ottawa people seem to visiting more and more and with the history of the region, great places to stay (at off-seasons prices even better), awesome restos and amazing wines - it's easy to see why.  Stayed at Huff Estates Winery the first night, then The Devonshire Inn for the following two.  Visits to a bunch of wineries but my best experience was at Rosehall Run Winery where winemaker Dan Sullivan treated my girlfriend and I to a private tasting and chat.  Picked up some 08 Pinot and some Chardonnay.

Here are a few pictures:

My Take on Twitter Followers and Conversation

Image via Wikipedia

The topic of Twitter followers has been a pretty hot one recently.  Not only have I spent lots of time talking about it with people at events but  some awesome posts have been written on the subject.  My buddy Jackson Wightman wrote a post recently on the topic which you can read on his blog.  Joe Thornley also wrote a great post on the subject as well, and the post and comments are worth a read.

As such, I figured it was about time that I put my hat into the ring and let my definitive thoughts be published on the matter.

I don't care about number of followers and I don't care if somebody follows me back or not.


I have heard about and seen a few dramatic flare-ups over people not following people recently and it makes me laugh because somebody doesn't need to follow you in order to see your activity.  Why?

1) You can be on somebody's list even if they don't follow you
I found this out when I tried to unfollow (and therefore not see anymore tweets) somebody I didn't want to see anymore.  You can get visibility by being on a list, and I would almost say that being on a list is more important than following because I don't see many people that use their home feed.

2) More and more, I hear more people using searches and following hashtags
Seems that Twitter2.0 is all about listening.  Power users are listening for topics and following conversations in the form of hastags more than watching home feeds or even lists at times so it comes back to the idea of participating in conversations and sharing information about topics.

Now do you agree that following isn't all that important?  It all comes back to the same thing: conversation and relevancy.   Broadcasting messages with crap that nobody cares about (meaning they don't have a search running for that topic) and you're not going to get seen.  Use hashtags and @replies and you'll also get seen.  Elementary my dear Watson.  But can you measure this?

I run some pretty quick stats and I have to tip my hat to Scott Stratten of "Unmarketing" fame for turning me onto this idea.  You see, I saw a video of Scott doing a keynote and he mentioned that when he starting using Twitter, he sat down and took about three months to interact with people on the platform.  In doing so, somewhere over 75% of what he did was talk to other people and share content.

I then went over TweetStats and TweetReach and ran some numbers.  Unfortunately, I don't have my own personal "before" numbers but here is a quick analysis and comparison.

My numbers: You can see that 35% of my tweets are @replies and about 19% are retweets.  That means I am talking directly to or sharing tweets/information 54% of the time.  So, over half of my activity is conversing with or engaging people.  Personally, I think this isn't that bad but I know I can do better and I am always trying.

Scotts's numbers:  I ran the same analysis on Scott's @unmarketing account and was blown away.  Amazingly, 76.35% of his activity is @replies and 4.81% is retweets.  Rounding it out, a full 81% of his Twitter activity is conversational.  Unbelievable!  Here's the proof, showing only that 76% monster number of @replies.  When people talk about managing social media using metrics, I'd say that metric is pretty darn important.  Wouldn't you?

Related articles

• UnMarketing by Scott Stratten (tjantunen.com)
• People Spread Awesome - Scott Stratten at #SMCV10 (techvibes.com)
• Ten Simple Ways to Get Your Tweets Retweeted (fathomseo.com)
• Transparency, Klout and Scott Stratten (marketingtechblog.com)
• 12 Reasons Why People Unfollow You on Twitter - Coz You're Sick ? (madrasgeek.com)
• The Rise of #Hashtags (nten.org)

Do Work

I like to think that we are heading into a Work2.0 era where simply showing up isn't good enough.  I'm not actually sure if it's Work2.0 or Work 3.0 yet but I'm sure that it is NOT Work1.0.

It used to be that having a job was good enough.  It used to be that doing something was good enough but I think that we are now in an era where people will differentiate themselves largely on their ability to do the right things at the right time with the right amount of effort.

This concept really hit home for me in 2010.  Largely because I started to see a shift from thinking about strategy to thinking about doing or to be more specific, a focus on doing.

Julien Smith recently launched a that urges you to get to work.

Seth Godin talks less about marketing these days and more about overcoming dips and being indispensable.  Heck, Godin even starting selling a journal that makes it easier to "ship".

In the past year, bloggers across the world have started blogging continuously in the form of lists posts.

In predicting a big 2011 for the concept of gettin' er done.  I'm sure David Allen would be pleased.