Why Conference?

It seems at one point in the next ten years the conference industry as we know it will no longer exist. New digital developments are hoping to disrupt the conference format but it seems conferences in the live format continue to prosper.

Why?

Conference attendees like to meet real people in real time with common interests

Conference attendees like to engage with their fellow tribe members

Conference attendees are thirsty to learn and uncover new ideas and methodologies from experts

Conference attendees enjoy the social interaction

Conference attendees are present and engaged in the moment at the venue

Conference attendees enjoy the "bumped in the corridor" meet ups

All these things are hard to replicate when a conference is attended over the internet

Canadian Small Business must embrace the Cloud in order to Survive

Canadian Small Business must embrace the Cloud in order to Survive

Recent research continues to demonstrate that canadian small business (and mid market) continue to lag behind their peers in innovation and technology.

• About half of canadian businesses have a website
• Less than 25% use a form of cloud services

This prevents canadian small business to grow and prosper while lowering their costs because they are not embracing the new technologies.

Lack of growth in the small business sector means lack of growth in jobs for Canada. lack of growth in jobs means our youth continue to suffer high unemployment rates which is as high as 15%. Compare that to the national overall unemployment rate of 6.8%.

Small business that has become a digital or technology leader will continue to outperform their analog peers and competitors year over year. For many businesses its allowed them to survive the disruptive ways of the internet.

There are 3 simple things any small business can do

1. Add or improve your web presence with a website or better content
2. Improve or add social media elements to your marketing strategy
3. Adopt the use of cloud services and mobile devices

Its not difficult and its not expensive to transform your analog business to a digital one

John\GaleForce7

Canadians’ digital behaviours - Microsoft Study

According to a new report from Microsoft Canada, which included an online survey of more than 2,000 Canadians, as well as an observation of more than 100 study participants doing tasks while their brainwaves were measured using electroencephalography (EEG) our digital behaviours is changing rapidly.

Canadians’ digital behaviours

When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone

65+: 10% agree

18 to 24 y.o.: 77% agree

I check my phone at least every 30 minutes

65+: 6%

18-24: 52%

The last thing I do before I go to bed is check my phone

65+: 18%

18-24: 73%

I often use other devices while watching TV

65+: 42%

18-24: 79%

I watch more TV programs through catch-up/streamed TV than live

65+: 13%

18-24: 74%

I often watch a number of episodes of a show back-to-back

65+: 43%

18-24: 87%

How changing attention spans affect people at work/school

Really have to concentrate hard to stay focused on tasks at work/school

All: 44%

Highest among:

Early tech adopters: 68%

Heavy social-media users: 67%

18- to 24-year-olds: 67%

Heavy multiscreeners: 57%

High-volume media consumers: 55%

Get sidetracked from what they’re doing at work/school by unrelated thoughts or daydreams

All: 45%

Highest among:

Early tech adopters: 66%

Heavy social-media users: 65%

18- to 24-year-olds: 61%

Heavy multiscreeners: 60%

High-volume media consumers: 55%

Don’t make the best use of their time so sometimes they have to work late/weekends

All: 37%

Highest among:

18- to 24-year-olds: 71%

Early tech adopters: 62%

Heavy social-media users: 62%

Heavy multiscreeners: 51%

High-volume media consumers: 48%

Source: Microsoft attention spans online survey, Spring 2015, 2,000 Canadian respondents

CES 2015 - Internet of Things, M2M, Internet of Wearables and stuff

This year the IofT, IofW and m2m has taken off for personal and business use. Look at Nest with their smoke alarm, camera and the thermostat and others with light controls. Also how many fitness trackers are now being sold and business is embracing the new M2M technologies to improve services.

A lot of new stuff for sure but where are the standards? It will be the VHS vs Beta battle all over again.

IofT Standards

The Allseen Alliance is backed by Microsoft and LG as the heavy players.

The Open Internet Consortium is really Samsung and Intel.

Interesting how two potential appliance makers have differing and competing views. My LG coffee maker will not tell my Samsung Dishwasher that the coffee is ready and to expect a coffee cup soon.

CLASSIC PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

CLASSIC PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

Making pizza dough is very easy, it just takes some time and a little bit of effort.

500 g Caputo Type ’00’ flour

320 ml warm water

 10 g sea salt

   6 g of dry yeast (use 5 g if cold proofing)

   2 tbsp of olive oil

This recipe will make enough dough for 5 pizzas

      1.    Mix water, yeast and oil. I use warm water at 35-36°C. Any hotter and it will kill the yeast

2.    Sift the flour with salt into the mixer bowl

3.    I knead the dough using a Cuisinart Mixer with a Dough Hook. Start at low speed and slowly add water. Mix for 4 minutes. If you are going to do this by hand then figure on 10 minutes. You want the dough to be stretchy.

4.    Once they’re mixed, I’ll time 4 minutes on the same setting. If you’re hand kneading, knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is stretchy and velvety.

5.    Cover the dough and let sit for 20 minutes and then knead again

6.    Now you can cut the dough into 5 balls, cover them with cling wrap and a kitchen towel. Let them proof for 2 hours in a warm place. A better proofing method is to let them sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 – 48 hours. This proofing method provides a better flavour as there is more time for the sugars and yeast to do their thing.

7.    Once the dough has proofed you can stretch it out to the desired thickness and shape you want. Top and bake and Enjoy!

Help! I've got an RFP

Help! I've got an RFP

Step 1: Read the RFP

Read the RFP and understand what is required, if you have a solution and if you can win it.

Step 2: Engage The Technical Resources

Engage your Systems Engineer , Design Engineering resources and product specialists. Provide them with a brief overview and your thoughts on the bid response.

Step 3: Complete the Mandatory Bid Review Form

If your bid response requires to go through a formal process then start right now and schedule a conversation with the bid review team. Ensure you complete the document fully and provide a better response than “we need to win this and must win this”. If that is the actual case then provide facts to back up your requests.

Step 4: Request Additional Support if Needed

 

If you have access to a bid response team then engage them right now. It is easier to cancel their need after the bid review decision than ask them to help later based on scheduling.

 
Step 5: Engage Your Support Organizations For...

Determine what additional resources are required to complete your response, such as:

• References
• Professional Services
• Special Bids
• Maintenance / Services
• Account Manager
• Contracts
• Unique deliverables

Step 6: Proposal Manager

If a Proposal Manager is assigned, that person will read through the RFP but is concerned about deliverables and time frames as they will not be providing content or pricing. Their task is to ensure the different participants are delivering their inputs on time.

You should be prepared to help the Proposal Manager complete the Bid Assessment by analyzing factors such as:

 
• the bid timeframe
• the scope of the proposed solution
• the potential revenue
• the positioning and probability of win
• your strategy for winning strategic
• our value of the customer
• our competition
• the incumbent vendor

Step 7: Kickoff Call and Task Assignment

If the decision is to proceed with Bid response, then a Kickoff Call will be arranged. The resources that you have engaged to support the opportunity should be present or represented on the kickoff call if possible. You should be prepared to discuss the customer opportunity, the strategy for winning, and your proposed design. The project timeline will be established and agreed upon and the Proposal Manager will analyze the bid and make task assignments during this call.

Step 8: Answer the Bid

The Proposal Team typically does not provide responses to all of the questions. It is the Sales Team's responsibility to secure the resources to answer the RFP. This is not where a sales executive tosses the RFP off to a team of people and walks away. Sales owns the response.

 

Step 9: Final Production and Delivery

 

The Sales Account Team  will be responsible for delivery of the final hard copy (and/or electronic if requested) document to the customer including printing, assembly and binding of the required number of copies, burning CDs, emailing, hand delivering, and/or final shipping.

You must allow time for the production process, which can be extensive depending upon the size and complexity of the RFP response, number of copies, etc.

Good Luck and Good Selling!

Toronto TTC Apps to make the Commute Easier

While in San Francisco and Tokyo, I found some transit apps to be highly useful as a tourist in navigating the city. Back home, I am not a daily user of TTC as I live in the suburbs but I having been enjoying discovering Toronto via walkable and transitable options but waiting and waiting for a streetcar to show up had me wondering that there must be apps for this...no?  Well Yeah there is Red Rocketeers and Blue Busers out there.

Transit App

Its endorsed by the TTC and works on my iPhone and on my Note 3 (sorry no Playbook edition). There are a lot of features on this app with the easy one showing the closest routes available. You can save your favourites, scroll around the map and it also shows all the transit types available including Uber.

Rocketman

This one has been out for a while and I love the Near Me feature which shows the arrival time of the next buses at my transit stop. This is a clumsier app and refreshes seems to be slow and more cluttered to use and does have ads at the bottom of the screen. Upgrade and they will be removed.

Moovit

This is a great app for the GTA commuter because it includes maps and info on the other transit systems out there. I found the trip planner to be very easy to use. I think this app handles service alerts a lot better.

What could be interesting is how location based adverts can be useful to the commuter. While waiting 15 minutes at a stop could mean that a local small business may want to push out a coupon to you to entice you to discover or shop their store. If someone wants to give me a half price espresso while waiting for the 504 streetcar then why not save a buck or two?