Toronto Uncovered

Archive for the ‘Toronto Networking’ Category

Yahoo Canada (a client of ours at Sequentia) unveiled a new social program this week called You In! I don’t usually cover clients on this blog, however, I do feel like this particular cause is well worth talking about.

The program is simple – Yahoo is looking for Canadians step forward and get involved in a new movement dedicated to kindness in Canada. Your participation and planning over the next few weeks will then roll into a larger national program in October. The goal is to inspire at least 80,000 individual acts of kindness in one week.

If you’re looking for a way to get involved in community, promote social acts of kindness, brainstorm and share ideas with others about a national kindness campaign, and most of all feel like you’ve made a difference this may be perfect for you. Yahoo has set up a sign up on their Facebook page.

Good luck!

It was always my intention to eventually open up Toronto Uncovered to Torontonians.  One of my first forays into the world of social media and online publications was about four years ago, when a good friend and I started a journalistic community site called MyCitySpace.ca.  The idea of this site was to eventually have predominantly user-submitted, content featured alongside content of our core writers. Although we were successful in getting the site off the ground and running, we ultimately became too busy to keep it going – I also didn’t know half of what I do now (this was a time when Facebook was still largely unknown to most people).  I am really excited to be opening up Toronto Uncovered to you and your thoughts. If you have any feedback or ideas, I am always happy to discuss those as well.

To submit an article go to the “Submissions” tab at the top of this site, input as much info about yourself as wanted. Write your article, attaching any relevant content. Press submit and away we go. I will be moderating and posting.

Some guidelines to keep in mind when submitting:

First, have fun with it. This is definitely the most important piece of advice I can share with you. If you’re having fun, the readers probably will too.

Second, don’t concern yourself too much with stuffy language and grammar (but I beg of you, as the moderator, please use some grammar). If you’re feeling a good rant, and the f-bomb seems appropriate, throw it the fuck in there.

Third, make sure you’re not submitting a repeat post. You can double check this by using the “Uncover It” search option.

Fourth, add multimedia content. I’ve allowed for file uploads for multimedia – you can also include links to video to embed within the post.

Fifth, include links. This is the best way to prove a point,  give readers further info, and add depth and credibility to your post.

Last, distribute it through your channels. If you want your content to be read and have a good number of comments, post your published article on your Twitter or Facebook page, or send it to your friends.

Lately I have been attending more women-focused networking events in Toronto. There are a few that really stand out to me, and that I make a point of attending on a regular basis.

Michal Berman and Nathalie Crosby (Photo by Heather Leson)

Toronto Girl Geek Dinners was the  first one I started to attend  back in October. These dinners bring together women pursuing careers in technology, online start ups, communications, social media, and the World Wide Web.  They are hosted at local downtown restaurants and have featured inspiring and informative speakers such as Candice Faktor from TorStar Digital and Michal Berman from Embarkonit.com.  The presentations are often interactive, encouraging discussion and debate. I always come away from these events with some interesting new ideas and perspectives. Aside from the cost of dinner (which is never more than 20-30 dollars), this is a free event.

A new event series that has just popped up is Under 40ish. This series is hosted, in part, by a downtown women’s networking club called Verity. Its goal is to bring together professional women under the age of 40 (ish) from different industries and positions. The first event was held last Wednesday at Cava Restaurant. About 35 women came out from all walks of life: jewelers, financial advisers, lawyers, fashion reps, designers, personal trainers, recruiters, and so on and so forth. Going forward, events will be held at different venues and price points to attract as many different Toronto women as possible. Under 40ish is purely focused on networking and learning from one another. I found the diversity of women to be the main attraction and am already looking forward to the next event. I am lucky enough to sit on the organizing committee for this particular group – any questions or suggestions for future events are welcomed. Meet-up group coming soon.

At the Under 40ish dinner I met two women who organize a separate  event company called Women of Influence. They spoke so enthusiastically about their events that I decided to check one out the following night. There are two tracks of these events: Women of Influence, typically held over lunch, and Young Women of Influence (which I attended), for the younger, post-work group.  This is the largest womens event I have attended in both size and overall organization. There were approx. two hundred women at the evening event, while some of the luncheons attract over a thousand.  There were also a significant number of sponsors and exhibitors such as Scotiabank, Rogers, Glow, and the National Post.  Both tracks feature themes such as leadership, success, personal triumph,  and innovation, and include presentations from prominent women in business.  In order to ensure networking value at the events, the organizers incorporate contests and games for attendees . I enjoyed this part of the evening because it encouraged everyone to mingle outside of their comfort level. I ended up meeting a ton of great women and making lots of new connections.  It also made me eligible to win prizes at the end – which is always a strong selling point!

The more of these events that I attend, the more I realize how much Toronto has to offer for women in business. While I have nothing against the opposite sex (most of the time), sometimes it’s nice to shed the XY and concentrate on the XX.

What other events are out there? Any great ones you attend regularly?