a peek inside the fishbowl

So. I am part of a small committee who’s organizing a one-day social media-related conference to take place here in Ottawa on Saturday July 23 called Social Capital.

I’m really excited about it, and it’s not just because I love connecting with people and talking and learning about this stuff.

In my mind, the Social Capital Conference is a “learnathon” – that is – it is a conference that isn’t really a conference in the traditional sense. There will be more jeans than suits. I predict more note taking and tweeting. I predict there will be a lot of learning, networking, and opportunities of all kinds. I predict a small degree of tomfoolery and iPhone photos (or maybe that’s just me) amid lots of information sharing and connecting. It will be fun.It will be smart.

Also, it will be a relatively intimate event. We decided to sell a small number of tickets because there’s value in small, especially in a learning environment such as this one. I will say this, my fellow organizers and the speakers we have lined up so far live and breathe this stuff, they know about social media and are keen to learn, talk, and share their knowledge with others. And I think this is pretty darn cool.

Tickets went on sale yesterday, and even though we’re still finalizing the details of the schedule we’ve already sold a bunch, which is, frankly, amazing. We’re still looking for sponsors to help us cover the cost of room and equipment rental. Tickets are only $75, and clearly, no one is getting rich here. We’re doing this because we love this community and want to see it grow and thrive. Woot!

I will be speaking on a panel about blog monetization … so if you’ve missed the talks I’ve given in the past now is the time to catch it!

Interested? You can read more about the conference on the Social Capital website, or you can skip all that and just buy your ticket here. :)

Thank you!

The girls and I went on an outing down to Britannia Beach. We did this mostly because it was sunny, and partly because we had energy to burn and I like exploring places in the off-season.

Once upon a time this place was considered to be really out in the sticks, but it’s only about a 15-minute drive from Parliament Hill. Did you know that the village of Britannia became popular at the turn of the century because the Ottawa Gas and Electric company extended the trolley line and created an amusement park there? It was a popular daytrip from downtown Ottawa, and a thriving cottage and beach community grew up there as a result. (via Wikipedia)

You can still see remnants the cottage industry there today, in a rather eclectic mix of housing. But hey, if you ask me, that only adds to the charm.

Britannia Beach is one of our favourite destinations in the summer. The parking is free, there are washrooms and change rooms, a canteen, and plenty of picnic tables and barbecue grills (which we have yet to make use of, but we will!).

I’m pasting in a custom Google map in here, because for some reason it’s rather hard to find this information online with a simple search. View it here. Park at the letter “E” on the map, near the Rob Kolbus Centre.

There are a lot of things to see and do at Britannia Beach – no matter the weather.

There are plenty of wide spaces to run, and things to climb, balance, and swing upon too:

We walked out on the spit (or is it a breaker? what is this thing?) and were nearly blown over by the wind. Note to self, it’s usually 10 degrees cooler by the water:

We watched the boats and the kite-surfers for awhile, and we remembered that sometimes cool things can be seen underfoot too:

It’s important to note that this place is just as good for relaxing as it is exploring:

Next time we go we are going to make a bigger deal out of it… maybe buy a bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid (oh, I love that smell) and snag one of those outdoor grills and cook up a storm. It’s worth a longer visit for sure.

Testing FB video embedding.