Shanta R. Nathwani, B.Com., MCP

Blog

  • #FF James Burchill

    James Burchill's Twitter Photo
    James Burchill’s Twitter Photo

    James Burchill is a great source of knowledge. The other night at Social Fusion Networking Oakville (#sfnOAKV), we had a great discussion about email marketing and some of the new rules around your email marketing lists. He has built an amazing community around free networking; great venue, great incentives, great networking and great people.

    I attended James’s first “Business in Burlington” in January, 2012 on the suggestion of David Hills. I had just moved to Hamilton and was still finding my way around. At this first meetup, he had close to 100 people, and it didn’t stop there. A short time later, he launched the Oakville branch and then the Niagara one, all of which are extremely successful, pulling in over 100 people at each meeting. These latter two chapters have had some challenges with venues, but that hasn’t stopped them. James keeps everyone informed and asks for assistance through numerous channels including Twitter, LinkedIn and Meetup, which he uses for getting discussions going and informing people of the events.

    Since attending the first one, I’ve tried to make every Social Fusion event (the new branding name from Business in…) that I can get my hands on. I always meet great people and make great connections. In January, one of the members, Mason, knowing I enjoy doing Origami gave me some wonderful washi paper and never asked for anything in return. I made him a crane in appreciation that he carefully put in his car after I gave it to him in Oakville this week. Just good atmosphere and great friendships.

    Follow James Burchill on Twitter and join us at one of the Social Fusion events!

  • #TEDTuesday Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

    For those that don’t know, I’m taking a few courses at Athabasca University to bump my GPA for admission to my Master’s Degree in Educational Technologies. I have figured out in recent years that this is a passion of mine and so many of my posts will be centred around educational technologies with a little assistive technology thrown in for good measure. I’m also a teacher, so I’m constantly looking for things that will get my students blood pumping and get their drive up. I think this is a good candidate.

    In my previous posts, I presented talks by Sugata Mitra. He has curated his Top 5 TED Talks on Education is there a generic cialis. Though not all of them struck me, this one by Sir Ken Robinson did. It is one of the first talks recorded and is still relevant today. I’m going to be adding this to my course for sure.

    https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

  • #FF ProductCamp Toronto

    I’m sure that you’ve all heard me talk about my friend Alex Blom. He and I met at Product Camp a few years ago. I attended my first one shortly after I graduated Ryerson University.

    I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and I’d done Project Management before, so I figured: “What’s the difference?” Boy was I wrong. One thing I figured out is that there is no real clear definition. I’m probably not the best to explain it.

    So what to do? Attend ProductCamp like I did. Last year, I even got a chance to present! Here’s the deck I prepared on the fly:

    [slideshare id=13790033&doc=socialmediachannelsproductcamp-toronto-2012-120728212608-phpapp02]

    When you arrive in the morning, register and grab a free coffee and snack (did I mention the whole day is free???). In true un-conference style, some of the topics are suggested ahead of time, and some can be suggested on the morning of the event. They are then voted on and presented as the day goes on. My suggestion to revive my earlier talk can be voted on HERE.

    I highly recommend this un-conference to anyone for great networking and knowledge. You can follow them on Twitter at @PCToronto and register for Product Camp on July 20th HERE. Hope to see you all there!

  • #TED Tuesday Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

    This is a video I found while studying for my course at Athabasca University in Computer Based Learning (EDPY 479). I posted one from him just last week and I don’t think there is anything Sugata Mitra can’t accomplish. When I’ve written the full assignment, I’ll probably post that too.

    [ted id=1678]

  • A Little Experiment

    I have a hard time making up my mind when it comes to my own self. I can suggest three things to a client that they should do or recommend that they go a particular course. I’ve never been one for logos or tying myself to any one particular image. There are many facets to what I do, so why not have a few? And why not let the community help me decide?

    I’ve needed business cards for sometime now, but don’t consider myself a designer. I love photography, so I’m using four images on the backs of my business cards:

    HK Signs
    HK Signs
    HK Buddha
    HK Buddha
    Tiny Sun
    Tiny Sun
    Tiny Feet
    Tiny Feet

    I’m basing this experiment after seeing Alex Blom with his three different colours of cards when I first met him a few years ago. Why not try this with my own photos?

    There are a few things that I hope to find out from this little experiment:

    1. Which card appeals to everyone? The one that I run out of first, is the most popular.
    2. Which card gets the most click-throughs? Each card is coded with a different QR code that links to their respective campaign in Google Analytics. The one that gets the most click-throughs, might be my second option.
    3. I’m also curious to see which people pick which photos. I have a small theory about which ones women will pick over the men, but I’ll share that once I know the results to see if I’m right. Don’t want to skew the results.

    Anything else I should be finding out? What do you expect to see?