It's going great. Lots of posts on the mesh blog http://www.meshconference.com/blog

(Via berry)

Congrats to the following who have been selected as the mesh 15 minutes of fame, class of 2007. Great stuff:

    -  Conceptshare: a Web-based, real-time collaboration tool for designers

    -  FiveLimes: a community for those concerned about the environment

    -  Sneakerplay: a social network for fans of sneakers and street culture

    -  Octopz: a service that powers document collaboration

    -  Demofuse: a tool for websites to automate guided tours of their
       services

    -  WildApricot: a hosted website solution designed for non-profit
       agencies

Each of these folks will get 5 minutes in the main room at mesh. I can't wait to hear from each of them.

Also, mesh is sold-out and we have cleared the waitlist as best we can, so if you had asked to be on the waitlist and have not heard from us, unfortunately we weren't able to accomodate you.

 

Looking forward to seeing you all next week.

(Via 'berry)

We are down to the wire with mesh tickets, so if you have put off getting yours I would suggest you not do so much longer.

We will keep working on floorplans to ensure that we can fit in as many people as possible, and will keep tickets on sale for as long as we can, but the fire limit is the fire limit so we can only do so much.

As they say, book early to avoid disappointment (except, um, really in this case).

http://www.meshconference.com

(Posted via 'berry)

I'm once again Chair of the CIRA Nominating Committee, and again am looking for a few good people to put themselves forward as possible Board Members. CIRA is the body responsible for running the .ca domain, on behalf of the People of Canada.

Would you be interested? Check out http://www.cira.ca or ping me at stuart at stuartmacdonald dot ca.

In case it wasn't already obvious, I've decided to reduce my blogging for a while.

I've been travelling, have had little time in front of a computer screen (I'm posting this via blackberry from a playground with my daughter) and have a lot on my plate currently. So that, together with a bit of a lack of passion for a specific topic, frankly, has led me here.

To me, a blog is much more than just writing rambling somethings to no one. It is participating in a discussion which the technology enables -- and the truth is I just really can't get to that conversation right now.

My one-time alma-mater, First Choice Holidays PLC - the parent of Signature Vacations - is merging with the massive German based TUI to form an even more massive travel cencern. This seems like a win for all. First Choice needed a tie up, their management team is solid, and consolidation in the leisure travel world isn't likely to slow down anytime soon.

Now, if they can only get that internet thing to go away, everybody can be happy :)

 

This could be huge, in terms of service and pricing.

 

I'm hanging at the ICE new media conference through Thursday. I'm on a panel about the future of the 'net and moderating one on monetizing social media.

If you are here, say hi.

http://www.ice07.com

The event is kicking off with a Gala this evening. Maybe 200 people here - feels lightly attended, to me.

Back by popular demand, we are hosting another mesh mixer. After the last, heaps-o-fun event in the Fall, we thought it high time to do it again.

Super casual, no big agenda, just a chance to connect as we roll towards this year's mesh in May. We buy the munchies, you buy the drinks and everybody's happy ;)

It's at the Charlotte Room (http://www.charlotteroom.com) is at 19 Charlotte Street, near Spadina and King in Toronto.

Hope to see you there.

Last week, my friends at eBay once again brought Jeff Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC (http://www.digitalcenter.org) to Toronto, to present the latest in their continuing study of our online habits and their impact. The stuff is fascinating - especially to a data junkie like me - so I would encouage you to read the highlights at the link above if you are interested in where it is all headed. His findings around young people and community are truly intriguing.

Also, Edelman presented the latest in their annual Trust Barometer survey results. NGOs score highest as organizations, but "people like me" are still King. Is it any wonder that Social Media is all the rage? Thanks to the 'net, it has never been easier to find those "people like me" and see what they're thinking. Marketers: ignore this at your peril.

Finally, I was one on a panel for the Canadian Public Relations Society, discussing Social Media - and blogging, specifically. A podcast of the whole thing is up on the InsidePr site (http://www.insidepr.ca) so you can catch it there. It was pretty fun to do - with 2 of my mesh Partners also on the panel, together with a lovely food blogger named Jasmine.

My key message: don't forget to put the "public" in these relations, you PR types. Blogs are written by passionate folks who are doing it for free. Don't expect that your standard media pitch will be necessarily well received.

Thanks to David "Blog Boy" Jones of Fleishman-Hillard for moderating.

That's it for now. I am trying to post more frequently - sorry for the lack of links and any typos - I'm doing this on my 'berry while on the go, after I lost the better version of this post a little while ago. And yes - I did type this with my thumbs, on the subway :)

So, I finally took an hour to write and link to a bunch of neat stuff that's going on - and then when I went to save it, the system cacked and I lost it. Like a 1985 computer glitch thing. Blue Screen of Death. I couldn't believe it.

Well, suffice to say that there is a lot going on. I will get to it later, I guess.

Grrr...

 

Fabulous - and very on-the-nose - post about DaimlerChrysler's slippery slide into brand oblivion.

 

Like last year, thanks to our Sponsors, we are offering a limited number of post-secondary Student mesh tickets at the uber-low price of $25 plus GST.

And like last year, they are going *fast* so heads up that if you want in, be prepared to show a Student I.D. at the event and buy yours soon.

Click "Register" at http://www.meshconference.com.

And don't say I didn't warn you.

(posted from chilly a power-free house via BlackBerry)

At long last, mesh 07 is Go for take-off. And what an event it is looking to be. When Mike, Mathew, Rob, Mark and I decided to do this for the first time last year, our sincerest wish was to create a venue that would cast some light on "What's next online?" Well, It looks like we are getting that done.

Our keynotes are stellar: Richard Edelman, Jim Buckmaster, Michael Arrington, Tom Williams and Austin Hill each bring their own viewpoints and experience to "What's next online."

Our Presenting Sponsors are stellar: Windows Live, Edelman, Yahoo! and JLA Venture Partners have humbled us with their support, and we are very thankful.

Our Supporting Sponsors are also an illustrious group: eBay, ITAC, Expedia.ca, Canada News Wire, gwp brandengineering, Cisco, Chapters-Indigo.ca, MaRS and MCC Planners have all said that this is an event that matters. Thank you.

We are still working on the rest of our content and schedule, but we are really excited about how it's shaping up. Mark, Mathew, Rob and Mike have more, as does Mathew on the mesh blog.

All that's missing is you.

Register now.

After a break (there's a pun there for those "in the know") I am back online. I will be posting more regularly again, I promise.

Just after the Holidays I heard from Mel Crothers, the so-called whistleblower on the WestJet spying scandal. You may recall that Mel told Globe and Mail reporters Brent Jang and Patrick Brethour that he "didn't expect a thank you from Robert Milton." Well, Mel tells me that a nice, personal Thank You note is exactly what he got not too long ago.

Nicely done, Robert.

 

Standing with fellow revellers and my significant other ("Suprise! We're going to New York! Pack a bag, the kids are with Gram"), Anna awaiting the arrival of 2007 in New York City.

Hope you and yours have a wonderful 2007.

My friend Austin Hill has set out to do a neat thing for the holidays. In the tradition of the Million Dollar Homepage, Austin has put up a blog post and will pay $1 to charity for every comment made on it. As of 4:54pm Eastern on December 19th, he had 71 comments. Pretty neat, eh?

Also, if you are in the holiday giving spirit, be sure to check out GiveMeaning.com, the Vancouver-based giving site for the $5 philanthropist run by my friend Tom "Still The Kid" Williams. Support a cause that matters to you, and invite your friends to help, too.

And happy holidays to all.

 

Need a little pre-Christmas break? Check this out.

Via my former Seattle neighbour Mark Taylor (the former "markta" to you blue badgers out there).

 

When I fired off the previous post last night, I was essentially unimpressed with the launch of the new paid search (e.g. where advertisers pay for placement in the search returns). I mean Yahoo! bought Overture some time ago, and they were the very first paid search player of any magnitude. Basically, Y! has offered paid search in the US for a very long time (and in French in Canada) so while this new platform (codename: Panama) offers a much more Googly targeting and analytics platform, for the most part I was sorta "ho-hum, it's about bloody time."

But then, I started thinking more about what this means for search marketing in Canada, as a category. And in that context, this move, and the arrival of msn AdCenter, are tremendously significant.

When Orbitz launched in the US, we at Expedia were really nervous about it, as you can imagine. But what actually happened was that their arrival and subsequent spend in advertising and product development actually grew the category in total - so, a bigger pie, growing faster, and more customers for all.

I think that's what will happen here in search as well. To date, the only game in town, really, was Google. So that means that the entire category was being pushed by what that one player was doing to promote it. Now, we will have x-times more salespeople, attention and effort being put against it which should mean more money will move to this channel *in total* and that this may start to become a more core part of an overall media plan.

Now, the fact that Google still represents something north of 80% of Canadian search volume certainly gives Y! and msn a challenge. But their entry should be good overall.

Congrats to Y! on this launch and a great event.

(Posted by blackberry)

Yahoo! is going to start to offer paid search in English Canada.

It's 2006.

So there's your newsflash.

In the past two weeks (or so) I've done interviews with PROFIT Magazine, Canadian Business and VISA's Small Business Resource website. Topic? Broadly speaking, Web 2.0 or elements of it and what the heck it's all about. That's right. It's November 2006, and leading Canadian publications (or more specifically, their Editors) are just now starting to ask "Soooo, what's this Web 2.0 thing?" To which some might say "Where've you been the past 4 years?" But, if you believe this stat from Zoomerang reported by BusinessWeek that 79% of marketers have never even heard the term Web 2.0, you'd be getting closer to the truth.

All of the "is Web 2.0 over and done with?" chattering is simply completely right. If the Regular Folk are now tweaking to it, Web 2.0 as The Next Big Thing simply has to be close to having run it's course, and the bleeding edgers had better get on with figuring out the NEXT Next Big Thing. For the rest of us? Well, let's get ready for the party to...start.

What, you say? But Stuie, you just said it's over. Yup. As New Shiny Orb, it is close to done. But, as Real Thing it might be just starting. And zowie that could be big.

I mean, c'mon, remember when people used to talk about "e-commerce" as a special thing? I used to chuckle then - it's not like people ever called having a call centre "phone commerce" or a store "brick commerce" - it was just new and the leading edgers got there first. Eventually, most people understood that these were all just part of "commerce" and got over it. Bank machines, DVD players, mobile phones, digital cameras. Categories mature and eventually go mass. And maybe we are seeing the start of that happening here, too. If so, that means that the real innovation (and at scale, maybe, too) and real money are still ahead of us.

Web 2.0 won't be a New Shiny Orb indefinitely, just like nothing ever is. Elements of it will just become part of how stuff is done. Big companies and governments will start to use parts of it (like mashups, web services, blogs and wikis), folks who never joined the computer club will find themselves using elements of it without realizing (like adding a comment, reading a user generated review or sharing a photo), and yet another wave of technological change will have washed over us.

Future users will likely never know that there ever was something called Web 2.0, but their lives will be better for it anyway. And that's just fine, I think. It's not like it's anything new.

 

For any of you who may have been keeping track, it took us about 6 months to get our communal acts together and get the keynote podcasts from mesh06 up for public consumption (despite enormous effort by Rob, Mathew and Mike). So this time, just as bad? Not a chance, because we called in a hired gun by the name of Leesa Barnes, the podcasting Queen from Caprica Interactive Marketing who not only did a great job interviewing people at the event, but managed to get them to us barely a few days later. And now, you can listen to what some of the people at the Irish Embassy had to say over on the mesh blog.

Thanks to Mathew for actually doing the post.

 

Without them, we wouldn't have keen insights, deep understanding and clear-eyed, thoughtful commentary.

Oh, and hilarious quotes like this one in today's Globe and Mail story on Air Canada's whimpering IPO:

"Scotia Capital Inc. analyst James David added that the airline industry is known for being a risky investment."

Well. There's your value add right there.

Thanks for comin' out, Jimmy.

(Posted via blackberry)

The Economist has a quick, solid piece covering the increasing fortunes of the old-school US commercial airline business. In short, the US$35 *billion* they have lost over the past five years (yes, you read that right) seems to have finally, possibly, just maybe, driven them to gain a closer to competitive and cost-based footing with the upstart and low-cost carriers.It also mentions JetBlue's recent challenges, including a loss making Q3 and resulting equipment sales, which I had not been aware of.

Always fun in the airline business, isn't it? I can only imagine how challenging it must be for third-party guys like ExpediOrbiLocity and others to be earning any appreciable compensation from those carriers these days, given the carriers' improving fortunes, search and metasearch (more on that in a future post - lots of action in that world), fenced inventory and CRS changes moving more power and money into their camp.

It might still be the milk at the back of the store and responsible for driving a lot of cross-sellable traffic, but increasingly the third party guys have to be looking at the air category itself in terms of revenue from booking fees and very little else. Everybody knew it was coming - it now must be close to here.

 

Awesome night. The Embassy says there were more than 90 here and I'd believe it, easy.

A real pleasure. Thanks to all who came.

(Posted via blackberry)

In stark contrast to last week's IAB broadcast panel, I was at a session about online video put on by Akamai this morning, where the panel was super.

There were three people, one from CanWest, one from CHUM and one from the Sympatico side of the Sympatico-msn tie up (I will add their names when I'm online next) and they actually seemed to understand this stuff. Thoughtful, smart commentary, with real live experiences and a pretty dialled-in view on the subject matter.

Maybe this is the difference between having the people actually *doing* the stuff talking vs. their leadership? Hard to say, and it is hard for senior business leaders to go as deep on a specific topic as these people did.

But, it bodes well for future innovation and development once these types of people get more of a say.

The rest of the morning was good, too, with a Forrester guy sharing video numbers and trends. It would have been nice to have some (any) Canadian stats, but in any event the direction is clear.

Nice work and thanks Akamai for the invite.

PS: mesh meetup tonight at the Irish Embassy, 6pm. Hope to see you there.

(Posted via blackberry)

Oh my sweet goodness, this is the funniest - because it is so true - thing I have read about business in a long, long while.

Thank you Joel!

 

As Rob Hyndman and Austin Hill mentioned yesterday, they, together with David Crow and myself are spinning up StartUp Camp here in Toronto. The concept is to apply the unconference concept to the business side of the startup world, as the StartUp Camp folks in the US have done so successfully.

It's all TBD at this point, but the place to keep tabs on developments is the wiki. If you have startup aspirations, plan to be a part of it.

Also, a reminder that the mesh meetup goes off next Wednesday, November 15th, at the Irish Embassy pub in Toronto. Let's us know you are coming via the event page on Upcoming and plan to be there for a general mix and mingle starting at around 6pm.

The Embassy is located at the northeast corner of Yonge and Wellington, in downtown Toronto. Google map here.

Hope to see you there next week.

Tags: mesh07, startup camp

For the first time that I've noticed it anyway, I've had a video ad for Dove show up on my blog today. Depending on where you are, you may or may not see it (it's showing up in that AdSense box below the mesh ad, over in the C column on the right). Fascinating to see the growth of Google's move into display and video ads really start to ramp. A taste of things to come, I'd say.

(posted by blackberry)

 

I spoke last week at the IAB Conference, together with Steve Rubel on the topic of Web 2.0, Social Media etc. That was fun, and I was happy to help Jordan and the IAB out of a bind when Jordan had to pull out last minute.

But *man* was being there a blast back to 2002.

Our slot was immediately following a panel of broadcasters, who were represented at this event for the first time ever. Usual suspects, head Senior Execs of this and that network, da da da. Holy snappin' are those kids out of touch.

Listening to them sit there and say that nothing seemed likely to change etc. reminded me of being at travel industry conferences around 2000 when the great leaders of that world would sit there and tell each other pretty much the same thing, while I stared at my hands. You know, the whole "nothing is happening online" chestnut. In fact, I often think of the vice-chairman of a large travel industry supplier who all but laughed at me when I suggested that they might want to think about doing something serious online. He was happy with his offline channel partners, thank you very much.

I bet you can imagine how that turned out. Not exceptionally well. And he's not there anymore.

Go figure.

The fact is that in very short order the world of video is going to be turned upside down, the surrounding economic conventional wisdom is going to be seriously challenged and the "shotgun" ad model is going to be under enormous pressure.

Those broadcast kids seem violently ill prepared.

(Posted via blackberry)

I got a last-minute call last night to sub for my friend Jordan Banks who runs eBay Canada in the Web 2.0 slot at today's IAB Conference in Toronto. This is the Internet Advertising Bureau's big annual event, and I will be on stage with Steve Rubel, talking about social media and it's impact on Canadian business.

If you are at the event, please be sure to say hello.

 

It's not often that you can say "back by popular demand" and mean it, but in this case that's absolutely true. Your feedback (and our enjoyment, frankly) was so all positive that we are doing it again. mesh is coming back, next Spring, here in Toronto.

More details are to come, but in the meantime please save the dates and plan to join us. Registration (which we are working hard at keeping affordable) and keynotes will be announced soon.

In the mesh spirit, we are also hosting a meet-up after 6pm on November 15th at the Irish Embassy Pub in Toronto, for anyone involved in the online technology, media, financing or any other vaguely connected web-type. Or if you like Guinness :) It's just a chance to get together and share some web-by conversation.

Check out the mesh blog for more, including links to the podcasts of last year's keynotes (finally...I know, I know) and more from Rob, Mike, Mark and Mathew.

And see you at mesh07.

Tags: mesh, mesh07

Before I started Expedia.ca, I was with Signature Vacations which was Canada's largest packaged vacation company. Our Vancouver office was run by a long-time airline guy, one of these buttoned-down, big-talking, operations-focused veterans who, like many in the Canadian aviation landscape, had begun at Pacific Western, then moved on to what became Canadian Airlines, and with its passing found other things to do.

His name was Mel Crothers, and that same Mel Crothers today finds himself on the cover of the Globe and Mail in a quarter-page, above-the-fold, full colour picture and huge story under the heading "This WestJet staffer blew the whistle on his employer's corporate spying. He's still waiting for someone to say thanks."

Wow.

In reading the piece, I have to say that I am not at all surprised to learn of Mel's reaction. He always struck me as a very principled man, and I can only imagine how difficult it has been for him to walk away from the industry he loved. I was surprised to read the in the account that he called Steve Smith at Air Canada's Zip, rather than taking it up the food chain within WestJet. Sure, Clive was on holiday - but what about Don Bell or somebody else? In any event, I don't doubt that Mel was doing what he thought was right.

I was startled to see the name of Duncan Bureau in the piece, identified as the guy who showed Mel the Air Canada internal website his computer screen with Air Canada's logo and load factors between Calgary and Vancouver. When we were firing up Expedia in Canada, Duncan was our go-to sales guy at WestJet, who we saw as an aggressive, upcoming and sharp mover-and-shaker. From the piece:

"It all came down to four hours on the Friday afternoon of Dec. 19, 2003. At 1:30 p.m., Mr. Crothers was having a “casual conversation” at the desk of Duncan Bureau, WestJet director of sales, according to the informant's sworn affidavit.

Mr. Bureau couldn't be reached Tuesday for comment.

Mr. Bureau displayed his computer screen bearing Air Canada's logo, said the affidavit, and the screen also showed Air Canada's load factors, or the proportion of available seats filled, between Calgary and Vancouver."

I have no idea where Duncan fits into this picture - I don't even know if he is still at WestJet. And he certainly was a friend to Expedia.ca. But, I for one cannot help but get an awful niggle about the oh-too-often link between "agressive mover-and-shaker" and "pushing it too far". I mean, we have all seen that movie too many times.

UPDATE: Duncan called me this afternoon, and told me that he is now VP Sales for WestJet. This was the first time I had ever spoken with him, as in the past this relationship was held by other people who worked for me when I was running Expedia Canada. After speaking with him, I also made the change to the paragraph above, reflecting more accurately what was said in the Globe and Mail article. To be clear, the article does not state that it was Duncan who showed Mel the AC site on his computer, but refers to an affadvit which makes the claim quoted above.

In the story, Mel wonders if he will ever get a Thank You card from Uncle Miltie over at Air Canada. He clearly isn't expecting one from Clive.Well, given that I have my doubts over whether Miltie would even know what a Thank You card is, I'd say don't hold your breath.

But Mel, regardless, you did the right thing.

UPDATE: I have received a lot of email traffic on this post today, which is oddly not reflected in the comments. The biggest question most people are asking is why Mel went to Steve at Zip rather than taking it up the chain internally. Fair question, and as I said in my post, I continue to imagine that Mel must have had what he thought were good reasons and it is still best that this came out.

Tags: air canada, westjet, mel crothers, duncan bureau, expedia, signature vacations