Tag Archives: azaroff

Four down, one to go.

William at BarCampBankBCI honestly have no idea what I was thinking a few months back when I agreed to speak at five conferences in two months. Today I finished my penultimate engagement, and I’m starting to feel relieved.

It was been an extraordinary honour to be able to address such a diverse set of audiences.

  • From the Internet Marketing Conference here in Vancouver focusing on general online marketing techniques and tactics
  • Organizing and promoting BarCampBankBC, which was a truly amazing, inspiring and rewarding experience
  • Traveling to Indiana for the 2008 Partnership Symposium which was an event I had been looking forward to for almost a year and was a fantastic chance to see many of my favourite CU people from across North America
  • And today I spoke here in Vancouver at the IABC Communicating Social Responsibility Conference where I got to address a room full of people dedicated to bringing integrity and values to their business models.

I have one last one to get to. Net.Finance East will take place October 28-29th in New York and will be focusing on banking innovations. I always enjoy Net.Finance conferences, as I learn so much and get to meet some amazing peers.

After Net.Finance East, I have nothing until January when I go back to New York for The Finance 2.0 Summit.

Next year, I need to be a whole lot more selective, I just can’t afford to be away from the office and my family this much.

It feels a little like the end of an era for me. I have learned a ton, met some amazing people, sparked some incredible dialogue and really found my place in the industry. If you’re reading this, it may well be because we met at one of these events. If so, shoot me a comment and say hello.

(photo credit by Brent Dixon)

It’s all about me…

In front of the Mendenhall GlacierTwo cool things happened to me today that I want to tell you about.

The first thing is that I gave my presentation to the Internet Marketing Conference, which is happening today and tomorrow in Vancouver. It was only a 25 minute slot, which is short, but I delivered it in about 15 minutes, so we had time for some good questions. I usually like longer slots to get into more details, but it was fun to give a short, tight presentation instead.

A couple of people blogged it, which is a first for me, I think.

Miss 604 live blogged it, which I appreciate. And one of the sponsors, Techvibes summed it up nicely.

The second thing is that my friend TJ McCue published an interview he did with me. I’ve known TJ for about a year, and we met… um… hey TJ, how did we first meet? Anyway, I admire TJ for his smarts and entrepreneurial spirit. He’s always got something cooking, and it’s usually pretty interesting. He blogs on the Dun & Bradstreet content portal called AllBusiness.com. He ran an article called Why Bother with Blogging or Social Media. It’s a good piece, and may be part one of two.

Enjoy, and thanks for this indulgence…

NOTE: Here’s part two, it’s called Why Bother with Blogging or Social Media, part two

My new guitar.

my new Seagull Guitar S6 OriginalI’ve been wanting to treat myself to something nice for a little while now, but couldn’t think of exactly what. I knew it had to be something special and lasting, not a piece of electronics or a little Apple gizmo, as much as I love them.

Recently, because of my 3 year son Ivan’s keen interest in music, I’ve been playing a lot more guitar. I’ve always said that I don’t really play the guitar, I play with a guitar. But it’s become clear that I’ve simply outgrown my nine year cheap cheap cheap Hohner.

So I started looking around for a suitable, and not terribly expensive upgrade.

I consulted my good friend Bil Repenning, who knows more about guitars than anyone else I know. He also knows what a terrible guitar player I am. His expert advice was invaluable.

So I looked at a few places down in Seattle when we were there on vacation last week, and at a few places back here in Vancouver. And then yesterday I went into my little local music shop, Bone Rattle. I felt so comfortable in there trying out guitars, asking dumb questions, getting advice. They just want to help people find the right guitar.

And that’s where I fell in love with Seagull Guitars. In addition to being a Canadian company that makes all its guitars by hand, they have some incredible reviews out there of their work.

So, I bought the Seagull Guitar S6 Original today. I am very excited. So nice to have a real guitar I can grow with, and the process of buying it – a Canadian product from a local music store a block and a half away from my house – simply added to the excitement and meaning.

And now I’m blogging about it instead of playing it so I won’t wake Ivan from his nap, but we’ll play it together as soon as he wakes up.

PS: Thanks Bil!