February 5th, 2008, 3 Comments »
Just a quick note to say that we’re down to about 45 spots left for Northern Voice, and they’re going fast. The event will definitely sell out. So if you haven’t registered yet, you should go ahead and do so.
January 25th, 2008, 1 Comment »
As we’re in Morocco, Julie and I are taking a back seat on organization for Northern Voice this year. I’m helping out where I can remotely, and one of the things I’m doing is organizing a new feature of the conference for 2008. This time around we’re adding a little tech non-profits expo
The plan is to provide about a half-dozen tables on the Saturday where tech-oriented organizations can set up a booth and talk to attendees. We’d ask organizations to agree to run their booths from 9:30am to 1:30pm, though they’re welcome to stay longer.
We’re specifically looking for technology-oriented non-profits. Good examples would be NetSquared, FreeTheNet.ca, Free Geek Vancouver and Web of Change.
It will be free for the organizations, and they’ll get a chance to engage with 300-350 social media and blogging types.
I’ve sent out some invitations, and we’ve already got a couple of organizations signed up, but I wanted to put the call out for other suggestions. Do you know an organization that fits the bill?
December 19th, 2007, No Comments »
Registration for the fourth annual Loose Moose festival of social media fun is now open. Travis provides some pricing details:
You can attend one day for $40, or come to both days for only $60. That’s an amazing deal: it’s just the price of a single cup of coffee that also costs $60!
I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to keep the conference ridiculously cheap. Four years ago, the one-day conference cost $20 in advance or $30 at the door.
There’s some exciting new stuff planned for this year. I’ll let the other–far more active–organizers announce all of that, and then I’ll post about it here.
I’m also pleased not to be the guy wrangling the registration process this year. Three years of that was enough.
November 11th, 2007, 5 Comments »
I’m pleased to join in on the usual round of announcing Northern Voice 2008 (see also the event in Facebook). Huzzah! The format–Friday for Moose Camp, Saturday for more formal conference–and location–UBC Forestry Building–will be the same as last year, more or less. Here are the important dates:
Registration isn’t open yet, but it will be soon. I’ll post a note when you can officially register. We’re also seeking sponsors as per previous years–contact the organizing committee if you’re interested.
Seeing as I’m on the wrong continent, I’m just participating in an advisory capacity, and virtually helping out where I can.
June 26th, 2007, 1 Comment »
I forget where I first read about it, but Stanford recently hosted the first Virtual Good Summit. My initial reaction to this news went something like “How farcical yet fascinating!”
The Virtual Goods Summit is a one day conference focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets.
Why not? I haven’t actually bought stuff in Facebook or World of Warcraft but it’s probably only a matter of time. After all, Capulet regularly buys bits from services like Blinksale, Campaign Monitor and Harvest. The Facebook gift flower or ninja is as much a service as online time tracking, isn’t it?
Conference co-producer Susan Wu wrote a very readable introduction to the space on Tech Crunch:
The Chinese farmers value their time much less than American players. This isn’t a moral statement, it’s just one of economic fact. While it might take both players 60 hours to progress a character up to level 40, the opportunity cost for the American player could be $900 (60 hours * $15/hr,) whereas the opportunity cost for the Chinese player could be $30 (60 hours * $.50/hr). The American player is willing to pay up to $900 for a level 40 character, creating profit opportunities for the Chinese player.
Joey Seiler took remarkably legible notes from a bunch of the sessions, which I’ve enjoyed reading. The best way to find them all is probably via this Google search.