http://www.odeo.com/channels/2911-Tod-Maffin-com TodMaffin no CBC broadcaster and social media strategist Tod Maffin discusses technology, media, consumerism, and more. Visit http://todmaffin.com for more information. CBC broadcaster and social media strategist Tod Maffin discusses technology, media, consumerism, and more. Visit http://todmaffin.com for more information. Technology futurist and CBC broadcaster Tod Maffin rants about technology, radio, podcasting, and other stuff he wants to get off his chest. en 40 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:09:53 -0700 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:09:53 -0700 Technology http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25206644-Friend-Splitting-Doing-Personal-AND-Business-on-Facebook So you’ve got a Facebook account and added a couple of dozen friends. In time, you begin to add some business contacts as well. Since your business contacts can now see your profile, you’re faced with a dilemma. Do you stop posting any personal comments like jokes, updates about your family, etc.? Or do you post only business information from now on, irritating your friends and family? There’s a better solution, and it’s called Friend Splitting. In these five short videos, I’ll show you how to split your friends into different groups (”lists”), send different status messages to different lists, prevent certain lists from seeing updates (e.g., prevent your business colleagues from seeing information about your personal life), and more. This is a small portion of what I present during my popular “The Eight Keys to Marketing Online: Get More Leads and Close More Sales” seminar. I hope you find these useful! If you found these videos... So you’ve got a Facebook account and added a couple of dozen friends. In time, you begin to add some business contacts as well. Since your business contacts can now see your profile, you’re faced with a dilemma. Do you stop posting any personal comments like jokes, updates about your family, etc.? Or do you post only business information from now on, irritating your friends and family? There’s a better solution, and it’s called Friend Splitting. In these five short videos, I’ll show you how to split your friends into different groups (”lists”), send different status messages to different lists, prevent certain lists from seeing updates (e.g., prevent your business colleagues from seeing information about your personal life), and more. This is a small portion of what I present during my popular “The Eight Keys to Marketing Online: Get More Leads and Close More Sales” seminar. I hope you find these useful! If you found these videos helpful, you may want to consider signing up for my free low-volume newsletter. Or better yet, I’d be pleased to come to your association or company and present “The Eight Keys to Marketing Online: Get More Leads and Close More Sales.” About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Friend Splitting: Doing Personal AND Business on Facebook). So you’ve got a Facebook account and added a couple of dozen friends. In time, you begin to add some business contacts as well. Since your business contacts can now see your profile, you’re faced with a dilemma. Do you stop posting any personal comments like jokes, updates about your family, etc.? Or do you post only business information from now on, irritating your friends and family? There’s a better solution, and it’s called Friend Splitting. In these five short videos, I’ll show you how to split your friends into different groups (”lists”), send different status messages to different lists, prevent certain lists from seeing updates (e.g., prevent your business colleagues from seeing information about your personal life), and more. This is a small portion of what I present during my popular “The Eight Keys to Marketing Online: Get More Leads and Close More Sales” seminar. I hope you find these useful! If you found these videos helpful, you may want to consider signing up for my free low-volume newsletter. Or better yet, I’d be pleased to come to your association or company and present “The Eight Keys to Marketing Online: Get More Leads and Close More Sales.” About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Friend Splitting: Doing Personal AND Business on Facebook). tag:odeo.com,2009-09-29,25206644 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:09:53 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com social media and business http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25063671-Watch-Tod%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98SWARM-Communications%E2%80%99-webinar For more information about the full presentation, check out Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand When It’s Attacked Online. About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Watch Tod’s ‘SWARM Communications’ webinar). For more information about the full presentation, check out Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand When It’s Attacked Online. About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Watch Tod’s ‘SWARM Communications’ webinar). For more information about the full presentation, check out Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand When It’s Attacked Online. About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Watch Tod’s ‘SWARM Communications’ webinar). tag:odeo.com,2009-09-02,25063671 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:32:10 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Vox-Tod http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25006667-Now-watch-online-%E2%80%9CSwarm-Communications-Protecting-Your-Brand-When-Good-Buzz-Goes-Bad%E2%80%9D Want to see the whole 90-minute keynote presentation? You are view­ing a selected por­tion of a longer keynote pre­sen­ta­tion I give called “Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand from Online Attacks.” (Clicking won’t stop the video; it will open a new page up.) This keynote is for any pub­lic rela­tions or com­mu­ni­ca­tions per­son in an orga­ni­za­tion or asso­ci­a­tion, or really any­one who val­ues their brand on the Internet. How do you see the whole thing? If you have an event where you’d like me to present the full 90-minute keynote pre­sen­ta­tion, please check my avail­abil­ity and/or con­tact me. Embed this on your blog! Share this free webinar with your blog readers too! Just hover your mouse over the video and click Embed. Other links you might be inter­ested in: (Links open in a new win­dow. They do not stop the video.) About me My keynote presentations Join my monthly newsletter About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas... Want to see the whole 90-minute keynote presentation? You are view­ing a selected por­tion of a longer keynote pre­sen­ta­tion I give called “Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand from Online Attacks.” (Clicking won’t stop the video; it will open a new page up.) This keynote is for any pub­lic rela­tions or com­mu­ni­ca­tions per­son in an orga­ni­za­tion or asso­ci­a­tion, or really any­one who val­ues their brand on the Internet. How do you see the whole thing? If you have an event where you’d like me to present the full 90-minute keynote pre­sen­ta­tion, please check my avail­abil­ity and/or con­tact me. Embed this on your blog! Share this free webinar with your blog readers too! Just hover your mouse over the video and click Embed. Other links you might be inter­ested in: (Links open in a new win­dow. They do not stop the video.) About me My keynote presentations Join my monthly newsletter About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Now watch online! “Swarm Communications: Protecting Your Brand When Good Buzz Goes Bad”). Want to see the whole 90-minute keynote presentation? You are view­ing a selected por­tion of a longer keynote pre­sen­ta­tion I give called “Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand from Online Attacks.” (Clicking won’t stop the video; it will open a new page up.) This keynote is for any pub­lic rela­tions or com­mu­ni­ca­tions per­son in an orga­ni­za­tion or asso­ci­a­tion, or really any­one who val­ues their brand on the Internet. How do you see the whole thing? If you have an event where you’d like me to present the full 90-minute keynote pre­sen­ta­tion, please check my avail­abil­ity and/or con­tact me. Embed this on your blog! Share this free webinar with your blog readers too! Just hover your mouse over the video and click Embed. Other links you might be inter­ested in: (Links open in a new win­dow. They do not stop the video.) About me My keynote presentations Join my monthly newsletter About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Now watch online! “Swarm Communications: Protecting Your Brand When Good Buzz Goes Bad”). tag:odeo.com,2009-08-22,25006667 Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:09:01 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, social media and business http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24938365-New-%E2%80%9CManaging-the-Facebook-Generation-How-to-Lead-Inspire-and-Retain-the-Generation-Y-Millenials%E2%80%9D I’ve been working all summer on my new H.R. presentation. Here it is! Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millenials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Whe... I’ve been working all summer on my new H.R. presentation. Here it is! Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millenials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Where Innovation ‘Just Happens’ Structuring a Team by Removing Its Structure Fostering Loyalty by Training Them to Leave The Six Reasons Millennials/Generation Y Leave Their Employer Click to Download a Printable Brochure Now It’s a 60- to 90-minute keynote presentation (flexible, depending on conference agenda) aimed at human resources professionals, small-business managers, and anyone else who works with people aged 20-35. What you learn may prevent a workforce exodus. “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” — TGIM Work Life Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. New: “Managing the Facebook Generation: How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millenials” I’ve been working all summer on my new H.R. presentation. Here it is! Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millenials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Where Innovation ‘Just Happens’ Structuring a Team by Removing Its Structure Fostering Loyalty by Training Them to Leave The Six Reasons Millennials/Generation Y Leave Their Employer Click to Download a Printable Brochure Now It’s a 60- to 90-minute keynote presentation (flexible, depending on conference agenda) aimed at human resources professionals, small-business managers, and anyone else who works with people aged 20-35. What you learn may prevent a workforce exodus. “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” — TGIM Work Life Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. New: “Managing the Facebook Generation: How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millenials” tag:odeo.com,2009-08-10,24938365 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:43:25 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, human resources http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24979169-Leading-Managing-the-Facebook-Generation-How-to-Lead-Inspire-and-Retain-the-Generation-Y-Millennials Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Where Innovation ‘Just Happens’ Structuring a Team by Removing Its Structure Fostering Loy... Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Where Innovation ‘Just Happens’ Structuring a Team by Removing Its Structure Fostering Loyalty by Training Them to Leave The Six Reasons Millennials/Generation Y Leave Their Employer Click to Download a Printable Brochure Now It’s a 60– to 90-minute keynote presentation (flexible, depending on conference agenda) aimed at human resources professionals, small-business managers, and anyone else who works with people aged 20–35. What you learn may prevent a workforce exodus. “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” — TGIM Work Life Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Leading/Managing the Facebook Generation: How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials). Managing the Facebook Generation How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce. From developing creative benefits packages to learning an entirely new leadership model, the presentation walks you through, in plain language, the specific areas you need to focus on. You’ll see real-world case studies of what works (and examples where attempts to manage this generation went spectacularly wrong) and will walk away with an online kit of resources and notes of the presentation. Integrating the Generations Living a New Leadership and Management Style Rethinking Benefits and Evaluations Developing On-Demand Workplace Education Creating a Safe Space Where Innovation ‘Just Happens’ Structuring a Team by Removing Its Structure Fostering Loyalty by Training Them to Leave The Six Reasons Millennials/Generation Y Leave Their Employer Click to Download a Printable Brochure Now It’s a 60– to 90-minute keynote presentation (flexible, depending on conference agenda) aimed at human resources professionals, small-business managers, and anyone else who works with people aged 20–35. What you learn may prevent a workforce exodus. “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” — TGIM Work Life Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life About the author: Tod Maffin [contact] is a keynote speaker and thought-leader in the areas of Recruiting, Leading, Teaching, and Marketing to Generation Y/Millennials. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney, Berlin to Florida, and across North America. Each year, he speaks to more than 40 groups around the world and has appeared in/on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, CBC, BBC, ABC, and many more. Read the full text of this article (Leading/Managing the Facebook Generation: How to Lead, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials). tag:odeo.com,2009-08-10,24979169 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:43:25 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, Leading/Managing Gen Y http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24865451-Blogathon-Vancouver-at-Workspace-at-2-30-a-m Here are the troopers who were doing their Blogathon things in the wee hours, at Workspace. Everyone’s very, very tired. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Blogathon Vancouver (at Workspace) at 2:30 a.m. Here are the troopers who were doing their Blogathon things in the wee hours, at Workspace. Everyone’s very, very tired. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Blogathon Vancouver (at Workspace) at 2:30 a.m. Here are the troopers who were doing their Blogathon things in the wee hours, at Workspace. Everyone’s very, very tired. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Blogathon Vancouver (at Workspace) at 2:30 a.m. tag:odeo.com,2009-07-26,24865451 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:35:23 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, social media http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24862795-Behind-the-Scenes-at-CBC-Vancouver%E2%80%99s-new-%E2%80%9Cintegrated-newsroom%E2%80%9D One of the projects CBC is undertaking across the country is a sweeping “integration” of its news-gathering resources. Rather than having separate newsrooms, assignment desks, and reporters for TV, radio, and web, CBC will now have a single source for its operations. CBC Vancouver just opened its integrated newsroom. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” from Tod Maffin on Vimeo. Tod Maffin tours CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom.” This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” One of the projects CBC is undertaking across the country is a sweeping “integration” of its news-gathering resources. Rather than having separate newsrooms, assignment desks, and reporters for TV, radio, and web, CBC will now have a single source for its operations. CBC Vancouver just opened its integrated newsroom. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” from Tod Maffin on Vimeo. Tod Maffin tours CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom.” This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” One of the projects CBC is undertaking across the country is a sweeping “integration” of its news-gathering resources. Rather than having separate newsrooms, assignment desks, and reporters for TV, radio, and web, CBC will now have a single source for its operations. CBC Vancouver just opened its integrated newsroom. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” from Tod Maffin on Vimeo. Tod Maffin tours CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom.” This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Behind the Scenes at CBC Vancouver’s new “integrated newsroom” tag:odeo.com,2009-07-25,24862795 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:26:59 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, the media http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24751852-What-iPhone-3%E2%80%99s-Voice-Memos-actually-sound-like-not-bad Sean Carruthers did a great review of the iPhone’s new Voice Memos application (comes with the iPhone 3.0 software update) the other day. iPhone 3's Voice Memo app One thing I haven’t been able to find any reviews of the actual audio quality, so I did my own test and I have to say… the quality is really much better than you’d expect. It can easily be used in broadcast production on CBC Radio One (which has stronger compression/limiting at the transmitter end), AM stations, and podcasts. When you look at the file in iTunes (it creates a playlist called “Voice Memos”), it will claim a ridiculously high bit rate (around 350kbps) which may trick you into thinking it would sound, well, like 350kbps. Don’t let the numbers fool you. My tests sounded closer to around 128k, maybe a little higher. Also, pay no attention to the (beautifully retro) VU meter. It really won’t help you. It has a clip light, but you’ll overmodulate around -3... Sean Carruthers did a great review of the iPhone’s new Voice Memos application (comes with the iPhone 3.0 software update) the other day. iPhone 3's Voice Memo app One thing I haven’t been able to find any reviews of the actual audio quality, so I did my own test and I have to say… the quality is really much better than you’d expect. It can easily be used in broadcast production on CBC Radio One (which has stronger compression/limiting at the transmitter end), AM stations, and podcasts. When you look at the file in iTunes (it creates a playlist called “Voice Memos”), it will claim a ridiculously high bit rate (around 350kbps) which may trick you into thinking it would sound, well, like 350kbps. Don’t let the numbers fool you. My tests sounded closer to around 128k, maybe a little higher. Also, pay no attention to the (beautifully retro) VU meter. It really won’t help you. It has a clip light, but you’ll overmodulate around -3dB or -4dB, not 0dB like you should. Just keep an eye on it when you’re recording and when you hit -4dB, back the mic off a little. Attached is the audio of a field test I did — a conversation between podcasters Mark Blevis and Paul Lyzun (videostudentguy.libsyn.com). [audio www.todmaffin.com/uploads/voicememotest.mp3] Have you tried the Voice Memo app? Have you used it in your productions? What has your experience been? This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. What iPhone 3’s Voice Memos actually sound like (not bad!) Sean Carruthers did a great review of the iPhone’s new Voice Memos application (comes with the iPhone 3.0 software update) the other day. iPhone 3's Voice Memo app One thing I haven’t been able to find any reviews of the actual audio quality, so I did my own test and I have to say… the quality is really much better than you’d expect. It can easily be used in broadcast production on CBC Radio One (which has stronger compression/limiting at the transmitter end), AM stations, and podcasts. When you look at the file in iTunes (it creates a playlist called “Voice Memos”), it will claim a ridiculously high bit rate (around 350kbps) which may trick you into thinking it would sound, well, like 350kbps. Don’t let the numbers fool you. My tests sounded closer to around 128k, maybe a little higher. Also, pay no attention to the (beautifully retro) VU meter. It really won’t help you. It has a clip light, but you’ll overmodulate around -3dB or -4dB, not 0dB like you should. Just keep an eye on it when you’re recording and when you hit -4dB, back the mic off a little. Attached is the audio of a field test I did — a conversation between podcasters Mark Blevis and Paul Lyzun (videostudentguy.libsyn.com). [audio www.todmaffin.com/uploads/voicememotest.mp3] Have you tried the Voice Memo app? Have you used it in your productions? What has your experience been? This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. What iPhone 3’s Voice Memos actually sound like (not bad!) tag:odeo.com,2009-06-26,24751852 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:23:41 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com All Posts, Tech Reviews, Radio Production http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24661981-Mental-health-advocacy Audio of an interview I did on CBC Winnipeg’s Information Morning radio show about my own journey through depression and addiction. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Mental health advocacy Audio of an interview I did on CBC Winnipeg’s Information Morning radio show about my own journey through depression and addiction. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Mental health advocacy Audio of an interview I did on CBC Winnipeg’s Information Morning radio show about my own journey through depression and addiction. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Mental health advocacy tag:odeo.com,2009-06-06,24661981 Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:42:38 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Personal http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24618214-Flip-Mino-HD-and-Flip-HD-Review Click to Play Tech journalist Tod Maffin talks to a Flip Video rep about their new products. (This was NOT a paid promotion.) This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Flip Mino HD and Flip HD: Review Click to Play Tech journalist Tod Maffin talks to a Flip Video rep about their new products. (This was NOT a paid promotion.) This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Flip Mino HD and Flip HD: Review Click to Play Tech journalist Tod Maffin talks to a Flip Video rep about their new products. (This was NOT a paid promotion.) This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Flip Mino HD and Flip HD: Review tag:odeo.com,2009-05-27,24618214 Wed, 27 May 2009 18:26:09 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24433695-Toshiba-Portege-R600-Review This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Toshiba Portege R600 Review This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Toshiba Portege R600 Review This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Toshiba Portege R600 Review tag:odeo.com,2009-04-09,24433695 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:31:00 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Reviews, Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24224933-Whodunit-%E2%80%94-This-is-VERY-cool You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! tag:odeo.com,2009-02-27,24224933 Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:51:34 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, memes http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24592417-Whodunit-%E2%80%94-This-is-VERY-cool This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. Whodunit — This is VERY cool! You owe it to yourself to stop whatever you’re doing and press the Play button on the video below. It’s only two minutes long, but it’s most excellent. tag:odeo.com,2009-02-27,24592417 Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:51:00 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Fun and Memes http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24064257-The-TRUTH-EXPOSED-behind-those-misleading-VoteSmart-B-C-TV-ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads tag:odeo.com,2009-02-07,24064257 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:50:52 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, Personal, the media http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24592418-The-TRUTH-EXPOSED-behind-those-misleading-VoteSmart-B-C-TV-ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads This is a copyrighted article from TodMaffin.com. If you are reading this on any web site that has advertising, or has this in its entirety without attribution and a link back to TodMaffin.com, please contact Tod. The TRUTH EXPOSED behind those misleading VoteSmart B.C. TV ads tag:odeo.com,2009-02-07,24592418 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:50:00 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Personal, the media http://www.odeo.com/episodes/23718847-Credit-Union-presentations Tod Maffin has spoken to these and more credit unions and related organizations: IBM Credit Union, U.S. Capital One Credit Union Connect CU Association Capital One Credit Union Young Presidents’ Association Envision Financial Credit Union HSBC Credit Union Managers’ Association Credit Union Central of British Columbia B.C. Public Sector Bargaining Worklife B.C. Canadian Society of Association Executives Vancouver Board of Trade International Association of Business Communicators Credit Union Managers — Toronto ON Regal Capital Business Valuators Assn. of Canada City of London Credit Union of B.C. Saskatchewan Insurance Corp. Alberta Credit Union Government Finance Officers of Alberta Canadian Finance and Leasing Association Recruiting the Facebook Generation They’re fickle, media-savvy, highly-connected and living on the cutting-edge of technology. Download Brochure The Facebook generation knows it is in the driver’s seat in the workforce these days. Employers worl... Tod Maffin has spoken to these and more credit unions and related organizations: IBM Credit Union, U.S. Capital One Credit Union Connect CU Association Capital One Credit Union Young Presidents’ Association Envision Financial Credit Union HSBC Credit Union Managers’ Association Credit Union Central of British Columbia B.C. Public Sector Bargaining Worklife B.C. Canadian Society of Association Executives Vancouver Board of Trade International Association of Business Communicators Credit Union Managers — Toronto ON Regal Capital Business Valuators Assn. of Canada City of London Credit Union of B.C. Saskatchewan Insurance Corp. Alberta Credit Union Government Finance Officers of Alberta Canadian Finance and Leasing Association Recruiting the Facebook Generation They’re fickle, media-savvy, highly-connected and living on the cutting-edge of technology. Download Brochure The Facebook generation knows it is in the driver’s seat in the workforce these days. Employers worldwide are scrambling to understand what makes this unique generation tick. If your credit union thinks grooming your future leadership and recruiting new staff is about placing stale ads in papers and using old-school recruiting techniques, there’s a nasty shock in store. Leading-edge companies are harnessing and exploiting the powerful networking forces in social media Web sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to find and recruit the future workforce. In this presentation, Tod Maffin walks audiences through the minefield of challenges involved in this new world of talent management and delivers invaluable insights into the future generation of workers: where to find them, how to attract them, and, perhaps most importantly, how to keep them engaged, motivated and fully productive. Sample Slides Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life Taking Crazy Back: A New Roadmap for Mental Health in the Workplace With depression rates soaring in the workplace, do we need a radical new way of providing mental health services to our employees? Tod Maffin [bio] thinks so. Once the founder and CEO of a multi-million dollar technology firm, Tod’s workload and always-on personality finally caught up with him and over the following years, he was crippled by a devastating depression and addiction — all the while struggling to appear to be productive to employers and colleagues, and happy and healthy to his friends and family. In this provocative keynote speech, Tod will reveal to your delegates how this always-connected landscape has seduced all of us into endless multitasking and infinite email — all the while pretending that this increasing workload is the best thing for “productivity.” In fact, this hyper-connected economy may be both destroying the productivity of workplaces and eroding the mental health of companies’ most valuable asset — their people. Tod will outline his own bold strategy for bringing mental health discussion out of the shadows in a way that will challenge your attendees for years to come. You do not want to miss this challenging and emotional presentation. What They Say “Thank you so much for your presentation in Calgary at The Conference Board of Canada’s Workplace Health Conference. Your presentation was really excellent! Your professional and personal messages are powerful, engaging and moving. You truly are a very gifted speaker and a resilient individual! It is a great pleasure to work with you.” – Beth Evans, M.Sc., Director, Mental Health Promotion, Alberta Mental Health Board “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Not only was he an outstanding presenter, but his personal story had a very strong impact.” — Beth Evans, Minding the Workplace conference “Your keynote presentation ratings reflected excellence with an overall evaluation of 5+ out of 5 and a standing ovation (which is in itself a rarity and speaks volumes).  Consistent feedback from delegates included, “Great information, giving us lots to think about”; “Awesome speaker, simply outstanding”; “Very impactful presentation”; “High impact, he’s incredible”; “Absolutely amazing speaker!”; “Excellent, thank you Tod for sharing so much value”; “Best speaker ever +”; “Excellent, motivational and excellent choice for this conference”; “Very much appreciated his presentation, courage, honesty”; “Awesome program with this amazing presentation”; and “Refreshing and thought provoking” — Elizabeth Lengyel, Program Director, Conference Board of Canada Idea Day A dynamic full-day (recommended) or half-day where your staff set the agenda, initiate breakout groups, and you end up with a binder of priorized recommendations from your staff in all areas: Human Resources, Hiring Practices, Benefits, Marketing, Member Service, and so much more. You’ll wonder how you ever launched your Credit Union without this! Based on Open Space Technology, your staff will walk away feeling energized, excited about the future, and — most importantly — listened to. Member Appreciation Night Why not reward your most important members with an evening of an entertaining but informative presentation. Light-hearted, but full of useful information, Tod’s presentations are always a hit. Select from any of these or Tod can prepare a presentation customized to the needs of your Credit Union. Recruiting the Facebook Generation: Winning The New War for Talent Taking Crazy Back: A Roadmap for Mental Health in the Workplace Contact and Booking Information To reach Tod Maffin or to inquire about available dates, please send a quick message. Tod Maffin is exclusively represented by The Lavin Agency, with offices in the United States and Canada. a Credit Union presentations Tod Maffin has spoken to these and more credit unions and related organizations: IBM Credit Union, U.S. Capital One Credit Union Connect CU Association Capital One Credit Union Young Presidents’ Association Envision Financial Credit Union HSBC Credit Union Managers’ Association Credit Union Central of British Columbia B.C. Public Sector Bargaining Worklife B.C. Canadian Society of Association Executives Vancouver Board of Trade International Association of Business Communicators Credit Union Managers — Toronto ON Regal Capital Business Valuators Assn. of Canada City of London Credit Union of B.C. Saskatchewan Insurance Corp. Alberta Credit Union Government Finance Officers of Alberta Canadian Finance and Leasing Association Recruiting the Facebook Generation They’re fickle, media-savvy, highly-connected and living on the cutting-edge of technology. Download Brochure The Facebook generation knows it is in the driver’s seat in the workforce these days. Employers worldwide are scrambling to understand what makes this unique generation tick. If your credit union thinks grooming your future leadership and recruiting new staff is about placing stale ads in papers and using old-school recruiting techniques, there’s a nasty shock in store. Leading-edge companies are harnessing and exploiting the powerful networking forces in social media Web sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to find and recruit the future workforce. In this presentation, Tod Maffin walks audiences through the minefield of challenges involved in this new world of talent management and delivers invaluable insights into the future generation of workers: where to find them, how to attract them, and, perhaps most importantly, how to keep them engaged, motivated and fully productive. Sample Slides Media and Reviews “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All [survey] respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Following are verbatim comments from our comment cards: Excellent – the best speaker I have ever heard! Great speaker for after lunch! Woke me up, made me laugh, and made me think! Tod alone was worth the price of the conference! Great message. Enjoyed the balance of humour in the context of some very serious messages. Terrific! Tod was enlightening & genuine. He would have been an even better opening speaker to this conference. Absolutely excellent! Excellent speaker, PowerPoint presentation, etc. Tod is a fantastic passionate speaker! An unexpected highlight! Excellent well-paced speech. “Hi Tod, Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the presentations I attended yesterday and today. Fabulous ideas/info/life story/videos/delivery!!! After I got back to Brandon, MB (where I’m from) I immediately showed my son the Gmail video! Will you be coming to Manitoba again any time soon?” – Erin Brown, Brandon First “Tod’s refreshing presentation on Recruiting the Facebook Generation was relevant, timely, and witty — a rare combination. A remarkable presenter, he had the audience engaged and chuckling first thing in the morning! The feedback received from our attendees was very positive; many agreed that Tod was the highlight of the day — a 9.5 out of 10!” – Darcy Rezac, Vancouver Board of Trade “The path to recruiting and retaining the so-called Facebook Generation is not through fancy gimmicks and traditional advertising –- it’s through meaning, spirit and tech-savvy company promotion, says Tod Maffin. The broadcaster, blogger and social media strategist was the keynote speaker at EBNC and IFEBP’s recent sold-out Canadian Benefits Conference.” – Employee Benefit News “Maffin’s address was liberally spotted with light-hearted stories, but it was also thought-provoking. More than a few of the association’s membership were making notes for future reference.” – Calgary Herald “Tod packed the house in both sessions and he delivered! He has an enormous wealth of expertise on the whole gamut related to social media and the Web 2.0. But content aside, he was also so incredibly engaging and inspiring as a presenter that you couldn’t help but have a fabulous time along the way. What was clear to me was that this guy is authentic. He’s passionate about what he does….and does a terrific job in engaging his audiences.” – TGIM Work Life Taking Crazy Back: A New Roadmap for Mental Health in the Workplace With depression rates soaring in the workplace, do we need a radical new way of providing mental health services to our employees? Tod Maffin [bio] thinks so. Once the founder and CEO of a multi-million dollar technology firm, Tod’s workload and always-on personality finally caught up with him and over the following years, he was crippled by a devastating depression and addiction — all the while struggling to appear to be productive to employers and colleagues, and happy and healthy to his friends and family. In this provocative keynote speech, Tod will reveal to your delegates how this always-connected landscape has seduced all of us into endless multitasking and infinite email — all the while pretending that this increasing workload is the best thing for “productivity.” In fact, this hyper-connected economy may be both destroying the productivity of workplaces and eroding the mental health of companies’ most valuable asset — their people. Tod will outline his own bold strategy for bringing mental health discussion out of the shadows in a way that will challenge your attendees for years to come. You do not want to miss this challenging and emotional presentation. What They Say “Thank you so much for your presentation in Calgary at The Conference Board of Canada’s Workplace Health Conference. Your presentation was really excellent! Your professional and personal messages are powerful, engaging and moving. You truly are a very gifted speaker and a resilient individual! It is a great pleasure to work with you.” – Beth Evans, M.Sc., Director, Mental Health Promotion, Alberta Mental Health Board “Tod Maffin was a runaway successful speaker. All respondents rated him a 3 out of 3 and comments were extraordinarily positive. Not only was he an outstanding presenter, but his personal story had a very strong impact.” — Beth Evans, Minding the Workplace conference “Your keynote presentation ratings reflected excellence with an overall evaluation of 5+ out of 5 and a standing ovation (which is in itself a rarity and speaks volumes).  Consistent feedback from delegates included, “Great information, giving us lots to think about”; “Awesome speaker, simply outstanding”; “Very impactful presentation”; “High impact, he’s incredible”; “Absolutely amazing speaker!”; “Excellent, thank you Tod for sharing so much value”; “Best speaker ever +”; “Excellent, motivational and excellent choice for this conference”; “Very much appreciated his presentation, courage, honesty”; “Awesome program with this amazing presentation”; and “Refreshing and thought provoking” — Elizabeth Lengyel, Program Director, Conference Board of Canada Idea Day A dynamic full-day (recommended) or half-day where your staff set the agenda, initiate breakout groups, and you end up with a binder of priorized recommendations from your staff in all areas: Human Resources, Hiring Practices, Benefits, Marketing, Member Service, and so much more. You’ll wonder how you ever launched your Credit Union without this! Based on Open Space Technology, your staff will walk away feeling energized, excited about the future, and — most importantly — listened to. Member Appreciation Night Why not reward your most important members with an evening of an entertaining but informative presentation. Light-hearted, but full of useful information, Tod’s presentations are always a hit. Select from any of these or Tod can prepare a presentation customized to the needs of your Credit Union. Recruiting the Facebook Generation: Winning The New War for Talent Taking Crazy Back: A Roadmap for Mental Health in the Workplace Contact and Booking Information To reach Tod Maffin or to inquire about available dates, please send a quick message. Tod Maffin is exclusively represented by The Lavin Agency, with offices in the United States and Canada. a Credit Union presentations tag:odeo.com,2008-12-07,23718847 Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:34:39 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/23686441-Please-critique-my-video-podcast-opener What do you think? a Please critique my video podcast opener What do you think? a Please critique my video podcast opener What do you think? a Please critique my video podcast opener tag:odeo.com,2008-11-30,23686441 Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:51:45 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Technology http://www.odeo.com/episodes/23650417-Tod-Maffin-Recruiting-the-Facebook-Generation-preview-HRPO Click to Play a Tod Maffin: Recruiting the Facebook Generation preview HRPO Click to Play a Tod Maffin: Recruiting the Facebook Generation preview HRPO Click to Play a Tod Maffin: Recruiting the Facebook Generation preview HRPO tag:odeo.com,2008-11-20,23650417 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:46:49 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/23206199-Gnomedex-Live A lot of my nerd friends are down in Seattle for Gnomedex, the annual geek conference hosted by the one-man-industry Chris Pirillo. I’m not really well enough yet to go down there (2009 here I come!), but here’s a live feed of the event: a Gnomedex Live A lot of my nerd friends are down in Seattle for Gnomedex, the annual geek conference hosted by the one-man-industry Chris Pirillo. I’m not really well enough yet to go down there (2009 here I come!), but here’s a live feed of the event: a Gnomedex Live A lot of my nerd friends are down in Seattle for Gnomedex, the annual geek conference hosted by the one-man-industry Chris Pirillo. I’m not really well enough yet to go down there (2009 here I come!), but here’s a live feed of the event: a Gnomedex Live tag:odeo.com,2008-08-22,23206199 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:08:18 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Technology, Blog, gnomedex, gnomedex08 http://www.odeo.com/episodes/23169258-Videoblog-Visual-Voicemail-is-not-all-it%E2%80%99s-cut-out-to-be a Videoblog: Visual Voicemail is not all it’s cut out to be. a Videoblog: Visual Voicemail is not all it’s cut out to be. a Videoblog: Visual Voicemail is not all it’s cut out to be. tag:odeo.com,2008-08-11,23169258 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:59:08 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22201661-Your-Cell-Phone-Is-Tracking-You Satellite tracking isn’t new… we’ve had G-P-S around for years. But you may be surprised at what they’re starting to do with the technology now. For one, you may be being tracked without your knowledge…. and no satellites are involved at all! Cell Phones: The New GPS Satellite tracking isn’t new… we’ve had G-P-S around for years. But you may be surprised at what they’re starting to do with the technology now. For one, you may be being tracked without your knowledge…. and no satellites are involved at all! Cell Phones: The New GPS Satellite tracking isn’t new… we’ve had G-P-S around for years. But you may be surprised at what they’re starting to do with the technology now. For one, you may be being tracked without your knowledge…. and no satellites are involved at all! Cell Phones: The New GPS tag:odeo.com,2008-03-29,22201661 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:33:36 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, CBC Tech Column, cellphones, gps http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22143776-Blu-Ray-Wins-But-Is-It-Good-For-Consumers-Hint-No It’s over. The battle is won. There will be one format for high-definiton DVDs and it will be… Blu-Ray. But, is good news for the industry good news for consumers? The CBC’s national technology correspondent Tod Maffin thinks not. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis It’s over. The battle is won. There will be one format for high-definiton DVDs and it will be… Blu-Ray. But, is good news for the industry good news for consumers? The CBC’s national technology correspondent Tod Maffin thinks not. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis It’s over. The battle is won. There will be one format for high-definiton DVDs and it will be… Blu-Ray. But, is good news for the industry good news for consumers? The CBC’s national technology correspondent Tod Maffin thinks not. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2008-02-21,22143776 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:56:57 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, Vancouver Tech Scene http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22132364-How-to-Delete-Your-Facebook-Profile You know it’s serious when Microsoft founder Bill Gates gives up on it. After investing nearly a quarter of a Billion dollars into Facebook, the popular social networking site, Gates has stopped using it entirely. But when he went to delete his profile, he discovered a catch in Facebook’s fine print — one that affects you too. And you’re not going to like it. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin helps us unshackle those silicon handcuffs. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis You know it’s serious when Microsoft founder Bill Gates gives up on it. After investing nearly a quarter of a Billion dollars into Facebook, the popular social networking site, Gates has stopped using it entirely. But when he went to delete his profile, he discovered a catch in Facebook’s fine print — one that affects you too. And you’re not going to like it. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin helps us unshackle those silicon handcuffs. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis You know it’s serious when Microsoft founder Bill Gates gives up on it. After investing nearly a quarter of a Billion dollars into Facebook, the popular social networking site, Gates has stopped using it entirely. But when he went to delete his profile, he discovered a catch in Facebook’s fine print — one that affects you too. And you’re not going to like it. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin helps us unshackle those silicon handcuffs. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2008-02-12,22132364 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:54:35 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com social media, Blog http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22127601-Giving-Your-Computer-a-Second-Life Eventually, it’ll happen. Your computer will finally breathe its last byte and you’re now stuck with an expensive paperweight. But what to do with it now? It might be harder to get rid of than you think. Landfills won’t take them — even schools don’t want your old equipment! The CBC’s computer guru Tod Maffin has with some less well-known ways to give your computer a second life. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis Eventually, it’ll happen. Your computer will finally breathe its last byte and you’re now stuck with an expensive paperweight. But what to do with it now? It might be harder to get rid of than you think. Landfills won’t take them — even schools don’t want your old equipment! The CBC’s computer guru Tod Maffin has with some less well-known ways to give your computer a second life. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis Eventually, it’ll happen. Your computer will finally breathe its last byte and you’re now stuck with an expensive paperweight. But what to do with it now? It might be harder to get rid of than you think. Landfills won’t take them — even schools don’t want your old equipment! The CBC’s computer guru Tod Maffin has with some less well-known ways to give your computer a second life. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2008-02-07,22127601 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:13:54 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22119040-Are-you-addicted-to-the-computer If you find yourself unable to pull yourself away from the email, even at home in the evening… or you can’t NOT check your email when you hear the little “New Mail” chime, you’re not alone. You’re one of a growing number of people who have become psychologically addicted to the very devices meant to UNchain us from the office. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis If you find yourself unable to pull yourself away from the email, even at home in the evening… or you can’t NOT check your email when you hear the little “New Mail” chime, you’re not alone. You’re one of a growing number of people who have become psychologically addicted to the very devices meant to UNchain us from the office. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis If you find yourself unable to pull yourself away from the email, even at home in the evening… or you can’t NOT check your email when you hear the little “New Mail” chime, you’re not alone. You’re one of a growing number of people who have become psychologically addicted to the very devices meant to UNchain us from the office. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2008-01-29,22119040 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:27:30 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22118773-Radio-freelancer-sells-documentary-thanks-to-Idea-to-Air It’s always a great feeling to get an email from someone who bought my book Idea to Air: A Freelancer’s Field Guide to Selling to Public Radio. Just yesterday, I got this email from Lisa Hale: Hi Tod, I wrote you in December that I had gotten a pitch accepted by Dispatches.  After two months of hard work (and many, many re-readings of Idea to Air ), my first ever radio piece is airing on the show tonight!  It’s about Slovenia.   [MP3 here] I just wanted to say thank you again for putting that e-book out. I would never have been able to do the work without it, and I even got complimented on the professionalism of the script I submitted for vetting. I had no idea how to format and write a script, so it’s all thanks to your wonderful book! My book is available for immediate download at IdeaToAir.com . I’ve dropped the price from $30 to $15. It’ll go back up to $30 this weekend, so grab it while you can! This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social m... It’s always a great feeling to get an email from someone who bought my book Idea to Air: A Freelancer’s Field Guide to Selling to Public Radio. Just yesterday, I got this email from Lisa Hale: Hi Tod, I wrote you in December that I had gotten a pitch accepted by Dispatches.  After two months of hard work (and many, many re-readings of Idea to Air ), my first ever radio piece is airing on the show tonight!  It’s about Slovenia.   [MP3 here] I just wanted to say thank you again for putting that e-book out. I would never have been able to do the work without it, and I even got complimented on the professionalism of the script I submitted for vetting. I had no idea how to format and write a script, so it’s all thanks to your wonderful book! My book is available for immediate download at IdeaToAir.com . I’ve dropped the price from $30 to $15. It’ll go back up to $30 this weekend, so grab it while you can! This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. It’s always a great feeling to get an email from someone who bought my book Idea to Air: A Freelancer’s Field Guide to Selling to Public Radio. Just yesterday, I got this email from Lisa Hale: Hi Tod, I wrote you in December that I had gotten a pitch accepted by Dispatches.  After two months of hard work (and many, many re-readings of Idea to Air ), my first ever radio piece is airing on the show tonight!  It’s about Slovenia.   [MP3 here] I just wanted to say thank you again for putting that e-book out. I would never have been able to do the work without it, and I even got complimented on the professionalism of the script I submitted for vetting. I had no idea how to format and write a script, so it’s all thanks to your wonderful book! My book is available for immediate download at IdeaToAir.com . I’ve dropped the price from $30 to $15. It’ll go back up to $30 this weekend, so grab it while you can! This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2008-01-29,22118773 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:59:40 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, Radio/Writing http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22106754-Biometrics-Measuring-Your-Ass-Temperature-radio You may be used to seeing biometrics in use at the airport — those retina-scanners help the U.S. government expedite frequent travelers. But other than that, and occasional fingerprint scanners on computers, we really haven’t seen the technology in day-to-day use. Now, a patent by Microsoft is pointing the way to putting sensors where you least want them. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. You may be used to seeing biometrics in use at the airport — those retina-scanners help the U.S. government expedite frequent travelers. But other than that, and occasional fingerprint scanners on computers, we really haven’t seen the technology in day-to-day use. Now, a patent by Microsoft is pointing the way to putting sensors where you least want them. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. You may be used to seeing biometrics in use at the airport — those retina-scanners help the U.S. government expedite frequent travelers. But other than that, and occasional fingerprint scanners on computers, we really haven’t seen the technology in day-to-day use. Now, a patent by Microsoft is pointing the way to putting sensors where you least want them. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2008-01-25,22106754 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:29:02 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com microsoft, Blog, CBC Tech Column, biometrics http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22079295-Tech-Investing-2-0-DemoCamps-Incubators-and-Launch-Parties If you were invested in technology stocks back around 1999… well, it’s probably a year you want to forget. The tech bubble burst, sending hundreds of Internet companies into the digital wastebasket. But now, there’s a renewed interest in the sector and, in particular, Canadian startups. But will history repeat itself? The CBC’s technology guru Tod Maffin digs out some answers. Links: LaunchParty Vancouver DemoCamps This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. If you were invested in technology stocks back around 1999… well, it’s probably a year you want to forget. The tech bubble burst, sending hundreds of Internet companies into the digital wastebasket. But now, there’s a renewed interest in the sector and, in particular, Canadian startups. But will history repeat itself? The CBC’s technology guru Tod Maffin digs out some answers. Links: LaunchParty Vancouver DemoCamps This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. If you were invested in technology stocks back around 1999… well, it’s probably a year you want to forget. The tech bubble burst, sending hundreds of Internet companies into the digital wastebasket. But now, there’s a renewed interest in the sector and, in particular, Canadian startups. But will history repeat itself? The CBC’s technology guru Tod Maffin digs out some answers. Links: LaunchParty Vancouver DemoCamps This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2008-01-16,22079295 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:55:23 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22042278-AUDIO-Is-HD-DVD-down-for-the-count Here’s the audio of the piece that will air on CBC Radio morning shows tomorrow. Why the 70s porno music? ‘Cause I was having a bad day and thought it would cheer me up. There. Now you know all of radio’s secrets. Here’s the audio of the piece that will air on CBC Radio morning shows tomorrow. Why the 70s porno music? ‘Cause I was having a bad day and thought it would cheer me up. There. Now you know all of radio’s secrets. Here’s the audio of the piece that will air on CBC Radio morning shows tomorrow. Why the 70s porno music? ‘Cause I was having a bad day and thought it would cheer me up. There. Now you know all of radio’s secrets. tag:odeo.com,2008-01-09,22042278 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:53:36 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Blog, hddvd, CBC Tech Column, bluray http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22042293-Is-HD-DVD-Dead-Script-of-my-CBC-Radio-interviews One of radio’s dirty little secrets is it’s not always as “live” as it may seem. You might hear me on your regional CBC Radio One morning show as the show’s own technology columnist. Truth is, I’m also the tech columnist for about 23 other regional shows. Early every Wednesday morning, I sit in a small booth in the basement of CBC Vancouver, doing one show after another in 15-minute intervals. And even though it sounds like the host and I are just bantering, truth is the whole dialogue is scripted. I write the hosts’ questions and tell them what my answer will be. (Although truth be said, I love hosts like Terry MacLeod, Brent Bambury and Peter Brown who follow their own curiosity and don’t stick to the “q-line.”) The art of this is in the performance of it — making it sound as if I’m hearing the question for the first time, even though I scripted it the day before and have answered it ten times in the last two ... One of radio’s dirty little secrets is it’s not always as “live” as it may seem. You might hear me on your regional CBC Radio One morning show as the show’s own technology columnist. Truth is, I’m also the tech columnist for about 23 other regional shows. Early every Wednesday morning, I sit in a small booth in the basement of CBC Vancouver, doing one show after another in 15-minute intervals. And even though it sounds like the host and I are just bantering, truth is the whole dialogue is scripted. I write the hosts’ questions and tell them what my answer will be. (Although truth be said, I love hosts like Terry MacLeod, Brent Bambury and Peter Brown who follow their own curiosity and don’t stick to the “q-line.”) The art of this is in the performance of it — making it sound as if I’m hearing the question for the first time, even though I scripted it the day before and have answered it ten times in the last two hours. Actually, it’s fun. We tape Wednesday mornings and most shows air it Thursday mornings. This week’s draft script is after the jump. I’d love to know what you think about the topic. (more…) One of radio’s dirty little secrets is it’s not always as “live” as it may seem. You might hear me on your regional CBC Radio One morning show as the show’s own technology columnist. Truth is, I’m also the tech columnist for about 23 other regional shows. Early every Wednesday morning, I sit in a small booth in the basement of CBC Vancouver, doing one show after another in 15-minute intervals. And even though it sounds like the host and I are just bantering, truth is the whole dialogue is scripted. I write the hosts’ questions and tell them what my answer will be. (Although truth be said, I love hosts like Terry MacLeod, Brent Bambury and Peter Brown who follow their own curiosity and don’t stick to the “q-line.”) The art of this is in the performance of it — making it sound as if I’m hearing the question for the first time, even though I scripted it the day before and have answered it ten times in the last two hours. Actually, it’s fun. We tape Wednesday mornings and most shows air it Thursday mornings. This week’s draft script is after the jump. I’d love to know what you think about the topic. (more…) tag:odeo.com,2008-01-08,22042293 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:41:32 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com radio, Blog, hddvd, CBC Tech Column, Radio/Writing, cbc http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056096-A-Look-Ahead-at-Tech-in-2008 UPDATE: AUDIO SHOULD PLAY NOW. 2007 was, of course, the year of technology — where Facebook became the most important meeting place, and where more than nine million people around the world tuned into YouTube to watch two sea otters from the Vancouver Aquarium hold hands. But if you think the world changed last year, just wait until this year when advances from social networks to turning you invisible are expected. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin, now, with what we can expect in 2008. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. UPDATE: AUDIO SHOULD PLAY NOW. 2007 was, of course, the year of technology — where Facebook became the most important meeting place, and where more than nine million people around the world tuned into YouTube to watch two sea otters from the Vancouver Aquarium hold hands. But if you think the world changed last year, just wait until this year when advances from social networks to turning you invisible are expected. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin, now, with what we can expect in 2008. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. UPDATE: AUDIO SHOULD PLAY NOW. 2007 was, of course, the year of technology — where Facebook became the most important meeting place, and where more than nine million people around the world tuned into YouTube to watch two sea otters from the Vancouver Aquarium hold hands. But if you think the world changed last year, just wait until this year when advances from social networks to turning you invisible are expected. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin, now, with what we can expect in 2008. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2008-01-04,22056096 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:49:17 -0800 no Tod Maffin .com Misc. http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22147409-Why-Is-YouTube%E2%80%99s-Front-Page-So-Pointless I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos t... I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos to feature. Anyone know why the front page blows so badly? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos to feature. Anyone know why the front page blows so badly? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2007-10-23,22147409 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:25:16 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com product reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056097-Why-Is-YouTube%E2%80%99s-Front-Page-So-Pointless I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos t... I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos to feature. Anyone know why the front page blows so badly? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I like YouTube a lot. I’ve been to parties where the main attraction is people showing others their Favourites from YouTube. (I tend to go to geeky events.) By far, the most talked-about video in the last few days has been Marie Osmond fainting on live television, after her performance on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s the video, in case you want to watch. And yet, the front page of YouTube is featuring videos that nobody’s really ever heard of, and certainly barely anyone’s talking about. I don’t get it. I figure either one of three things is happening here: The “Featured” section on YouTube is fully automated, much like how its parent company, Google, has its Google News lineup selected by a computer. If so, the computer is doing a lousy job. Or maybe the people behind the featured videos have paid to be on the front page? If so, it’s certainly not disclosed that this is pay-for-placement. A drunk chimpanzee is selecting the videos to feature. Anyone know why the front page blows so badly? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-23,22056097 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:25:16 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056098-Got-a-sec-Vote-in-this-free-SMS-poll I’m testing out a new SMS/text polling system created by LiveVote.ca here in Vancouver (video to come later) but I need your help with it. I need you to take just a second and answer the question below via SMS. There is no extra cost to you for this text message (free if you have a texting package, or whatever 25 cents or so your provider charges you if you don’t have a package.) If the iPhone launched tomorrow in Canada, would you buy one? If your answer is… Hell Yeah!, text TOD1 I’ll wait for a few months then buy it, text TOD2 Whatever, I don’t care: text TOD3 Never. I’ll never buy an iPhone: text TOD4 …to VOTING (868464) There’s no cost to vote other than your usual SMS fees with your provider, if you don’t have a plan. www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” height=”150″ width=”500″ This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I’m testing out a new SMS/text polling system created by LiveVote.ca here in Vancouver (video to come later) but I need your help with it. I need you to take just a second and answer the question below via SMS. There is no extra cost to you for this text message (free if you have a texting package, or whatever 25 cents or so your provider charges you if you don’t have a package.) If the iPhone launched tomorrow in Canada, would you buy one? If your answer is… Hell Yeah!, text TOD1 I’ll wait for a few months then buy it, text TOD2 Whatever, I don’t care: text TOD3 Never. I’ll never buy an iPhone: text TOD4 …to VOTING (868464) There’s no cost to vote other than your usual SMS fees with your provider, if you don’t have a plan. www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” height=”150″ width=”500″ This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I’m testing out a new SMS/text polling system created by LiveVote.ca here in Vancouver (video to come later) but I need your help with it. I need you to take just a second and answer the question below via SMS. There is no extra cost to you for this text message (free if you have a texting package, or whatever 25 cents or so your provider charges you if you don’t have a package.) If the iPhone launched tomorrow in Canada, would you buy one? If your answer is… Hell Yeah!, text TOD1 I’ll wait for a few months then buy it, text TOD2 Whatever, I don’t care: text TOD3 Never. I’ll never buy an iPhone: text TOD4 …to VOTING (868464) There’s no cost to vote other than your usual SMS fees with your provider, if you don’t have a plan. www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” height=”150″ width=”500″ This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-18,22056098 Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:09:58 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Vancouver Tech Scene http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22147412-Podcast-%E2%80%9CNerd-Bling%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%94-The-New-Generation-of-Facebook-Apps Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2007-10-17,22147412 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:29:13 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056100-Podcast-%E2%80%9CNerd-Bling%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%94-The-New-Generation-of-Facebook-Apps Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. Here’s my CBC tech column this week about Facebook apps being developed by Canadians (above). You can listen by pressing the Play button on the audio player above. The script is after the jump. Links:(you need a free Facebook account to get to this app pages) R U Normal from kinzin.com MyBus from handimobility.ca Up4 (more…) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-17,22056100 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:29:13 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22147414-Rogers%E2%80%99-new-high-speed-network-I%E2%80%99m-impressed I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2007-10-16,22147414 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:03:25 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com product reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056101-Rogers%E2%80%99-new-high-speed-network-I%E2%80%99m-impressed I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I spent an hour or so with the folks from Rogers this morning to find out about their new 3G network. I have to say, it’s pretty damned amazing. The live full-motion video calling looks like something out of the future. Here’s a detailed video that explains it, pricing, phones, and a demo of the service. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-16,22056101 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:03:25 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056102-The-Free-the-Net-Movement-Working-Toward-Free-WiFi There’s a quiet grassroots movement growing in, where else, Vancouver. But this movement isn’t trying to stop clearcuts or educate people on climate change. No, these people are Internet philanthropists. They want to set the wireless Internet signal they pay for — free! So that anyone can use it. It’s a growing movement called Free The Net. And they plan to take it Canada-wide. But not everybody’s happy about the idea. Here’s a podcast of my technology column (which airs across Canada tomorrow) on the topic. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. There’s a quiet grassroots movement growing in, where else, Vancouver. But this movement isn’t trying to stop clearcuts or educate people on climate change. No, these people are Internet philanthropists. They want to set the wireless Internet signal they pay for — free! So that anyone can use it. It’s a growing movement called Free The Net. And they plan to take it Canada-wide. But not everybody’s happy about the idea. Here’s a podcast of my technology column (which airs across Canada tomorrow) on the topic. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. There’s a quiet grassroots movement growing in, where else, Vancouver. But this movement isn’t trying to stop clearcuts or educate people on climate change. No, these people are Internet philanthropists. They want to set the wireless Internet signal they pay for — free! So that anyone can use it. It’s a growing movement called Free The Net. And they plan to take it Canada-wide. But not everybody’s happy about the idea. Here’s a podcast of my technology column (which airs across Canada tomorrow) on the topic. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-10,22056102 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:12:51 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/16985303-Finally-I%E2%80%99m-exposed-I-think-I-made-the-right-decision tag:odeo.com,2007-10-04,16985303 Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:38:32 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com http://www.odeo.com/episodes/16985273-Putting-SaskTel%E2%80%99s-voicemail-transcription-to-the-test tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,16985273 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:27:21 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22147416-Finally-I%E2%80%99m-exposed-I-think-I-made-the-right-decision So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone... So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone who heard my interview on the Calgary noon show today, where I basically told my whole story. Hi Tod, I listened to your interview today on CBC Radio Calgary. You did an excellent job of describing your experience with depression. I too went thru a similiar experience in 1994 (depression and alcoholism) and since then have been very aware of the issue and particularly how males deal with it or unfortunately most often don’t deal with the issue. I have over the past number of years spoke to other men about my experience through the Men At Risk project which was also part of the AMHB event that you spoke at in Edmonton. I now have the opportunity to work on the issue every day as I am now employed by AMHB as a suicide prevention coordinator. So thanks again for sharing your experience, strength and hope ( a phrase I have got to really appreciate thru the fellowship of AA) as it is really helpful to other men in the workforce who know deep down that they are not healthy but don’t know what to do and where to go. You delivered a very important message today by stating that there are good people out there that can help us. You can listen the interview via RealPlayer (sorry) here or you can click the player above to listen to it. Honestly. This was a big day for me. I have agonized about whether I would tell this story or not. But in the long-run, I think people in “the public eye” have a responsibility to share their stories. Hopefully, I can help chip away at the stigma and stereotypes that exist in mental illness and addiction. Big day. Good day. Time for sleep. Love you all, t =-) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone who heard my interview on the Calgary noon show today, where I basically told my whole story. Hi Tod, I listened to your interview today on CBC Radio Calgary. You did an excellent job of describing your experience with depression. I too went thru a similiar experience in 1994 (depression and alcoholism) and since then have been very aware of the issue and particularly how males deal with it or unfortunately most often don’t deal with the issue. I have over the past number of years spoke to other men about my experience through the Men At Risk project which was also part of the AMHB event that you spoke at in Edmonton. I now have the opportunity to work on the issue every day as I am now employed by AMHB as a suicide prevention coordinator. So thanks again for sharing your experience, strength and hope ( a phrase I have got to really appreciate thru the fellowship of AA) as it is really helpful to other men in the workforce who know deep down that they are not healthy but don’t know what to do and where to go. You delivered a very important message today by stating that there are good people out there that can help us. You can listen the interview via RealPlayer (sorry) here or you can click the player above to listen to it. Honestly. This was a big day for me. I have agonized about whether I would tell this story or not. But in the long-run, I think people in “the public eye” have a responsibility to share their stories. Hopefully, I can help chip away at the stigma and stereotypes that exist in mental illness and addiction. Big day. Good day. Time for sleep. Love you all, t =-) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,22147416 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:38:32 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Personal http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056103-Finally-I%E2%80%99m-exposed-I-think-I-made-the-right-decision So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone... So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone who heard my interview on the Calgary noon show today, where I basically told my whole story. Hi Tod, I listened to your interview today on CBC Radio Calgary. You did an excellent job of describing your experience with depression. I too went thru a similiar experience in 1994 (depression and alcoholism) and since then have been very aware of the issue and particularly how males deal with it or unfortunately most often don’t deal with the issue. I have over the past number of years spoke to other men about my experience through the Men At Risk project which was also part of the AMHB event that you spoke at in Edmonton. I now have the opportunity to work on the issue every day as I am now employed by AMHB as a suicide prevention coordinator. So thanks again for sharing your experience, strength and hope ( a phrase I have got to really appreciate thru the fellowship of AA) as it is really helpful to other men in the workforce who know deep down that they are not healthy but don’t know what to do and where to go. You delivered a very important message today by stating that there are good people out there that can help us. You can listen the interview via RealPlayer (sorry) here or you can click the player above to listen to it. Honestly. This was a big day for me. I have agonized about whether I would tell this story or not. But in the long-run, I think people in “the public eye” have a responsibility to share their stories. Hopefully, I can help chip away at the stigma and stereotypes that exist in mental illness and addiction. Big day. Good day. Time for sleep. Love you all, t =-) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. So. (Breathe, Tod.) I’ve been speaking professionally for more than a decade. I’ve spoken in Romania, Australia, London, Berlin, and throughout North America. But today’s presentation was the most important to me. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my battles with depression and addiction. My client was the Alberta Mental Health Board, so if there was ever an audience to hear what little I can provide, it was them. No sooner did I get off the plane that I started receiving emails from people in my audience this morning. Here’s just one sample: Hi Tod, I just wanted to mention that I was blown away by your speech today. While the entire day was interesting, informative, and to a large degree fun — your speech made the day 100%. It was clever, informative, definitely entertaining, relevant, open and personal, visually captivating (ie the powerpoint)… Anyway - thank you very much - Bravo Richard Wow. So cool. And this from someone who heard my interview on the Calgary noon show today, where I basically told my whole story. Hi Tod, I listened to your interview today on CBC Radio Calgary. You did an excellent job of describing your experience with depression. I too went thru a similiar experience in 1994 (depression and alcoholism) and since then have been very aware of the issue and particularly how males deal with it or unfortunately most often don’t deal with the issue. I have over the past number of years spoke to other men about my experience through the Men At Risk project which was also part of the AMHB event that you spoke at in Edmonton. I now have the opportunity to work on the issue every day as I am now employed by AMHB as a suicide prevention coordinator. So thanks again for sharing your experience, strength and hope ( a phrase I have got to really appreciate thru the fellowship of AA) as it is really helpful to other men in the workforce who know deep down that they are not healthy but don’t know what to do and where to go. You delivered a very important message today by stating that there are good people out there that can help us. You can listen the interview via RealPlayer (sorry) here or you can click the player above to listen to it. Honestly. This was a big day for me. I have agonized about whether I would tell this story or not. But in the long-run, I think people in “the public eye” have a responsibility to share their stories. Hopefully, I can help chip away at the stigma and stereotypes that exist in mental illness and addiction. Big day. Good day. Time for sleep. Love you all, t =-) This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,22056103 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:38:32 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Personal http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056104-Introducing-Media-Release-2-0-a-proposal After a brief stint in private radio, I began my career in public relations. I worked for a great little company called The Haibeck Group as director of new media. Back then, Netscape had JUST gotten background colours. People still used gopher. (<sigh> I miss gopher.) Anyway. One of the jobs I had to do was to write news releases and send them out to the media. Then, I had to make the dreaded follow-up calls. Follow-up calls are the worst. Frankly, most journalists who answer these calls are abrupt and even kind of condescending. (It’s why I always take a moment to listen to a pitch and, if it’s not right for me, explain why so they can get some value out of the conversation.) Today, as the National Technology Columnist for the CBC, I get a lot of news releases, nearly all by email. And it has interested me that, despite all the progress we’ve made in digital media and newsgathering, that the venerable old news release hasn’t changed its form. There&... After a brief stint in private radio, I began my career in public relations. I worked for a great little company called The Haibeck Group as director of new media. Back then, Netscape had JUST gotten background colours. People still used gopher. (<sigh> I miss gopher.) Anyway. One of the jobs I had to do was to write news releases and send them out to the media. Then, I had to make the dreaded follow-up calls. Follow-up calls are the worst. Frankly, most journalists who answer these calls are abrupt and even kind of condescending. (It’s why I always take a moment to listen to a pitch and, if it’s not right for me, explain why so they can get some value out of the conversation.) Today, as the National Technology Columnist for the CBC, I get a lot of news releases, nearly all by email. And it has interested me that, despite all the progress we’ve made in digital media and newsgathering, that the venerable old news release hasn’t changed its form. There’s the lead paragraph, followed by some bullshit quote from a senior executive (”I’m pleased to announce the blah blah blah…”) and then usually a string of meaningless brand names… er BRAND NAMES… and no real sense of the news value or the real story. And so, I would like to propose a new format for media releases. With the kind permission of the p.r. person behind Bell Canada, I have done a revision of their news release issued yesterday. Here’s the news release, as sent to me: Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store   DRM-free music catalogue playable on a wide range of music devices     TORONTO, October 2, 2007 – Bell Canada today announced the availability of unrestricted MP3 music files on Sympatico/MSN Music Store musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca. Canadian consumers can purchase downloadable tracks playable on a wide range of compatible music and mobile devices, including iPod™ and MP3-enabled mobile phones.   “As Canada’s leading internet service provider and online portal, Bell continues to build and offer the most robust online entertainment portfolio, including music, video and gaming,” said Kevin Crull, President, Bell Residential Services. “The addition of MP3 tracks to Sympatico/MSN Music Store furthers our commitment to offering Canadians the very best entertainment experience.”   Because these downloadable MP3 tracks are Digital Rights Management (DRM) free, there are no limits on the types of music devices or number of computers on which purchased songs can be played. With more than a half million MP3 tracks currently available and more being added every week, Bell offers tracks some of the world’s best selling artists, including The Beatles, Coldplay, Norah Jones, Keith Urban, Gorillaz and The Rolling Stones as well as best selling Canadian acts Nickelback, k-os and Stompin’ Tom Connors. Sympatico/MSN also offers one of Canada’s largest selections of French artists, including Claude Dubois, Marie-Mai, Ima and many more.   In addition to being compatible with a variety of portable music devices, Bell’s DRM-free MP3 downloads can also be enjoyed on a wide range of MP3-compatible Bell Mobility phones.   Bell is offering MP3s from several independent labels as well as EMI artists, which can play on any portable media player or computer and can be burned on to CD, all without fear of viruses, corrupt files, spyware and pop-ups that are often associated with music download sites.   Consumers continue to have the choice of purchasing DRM-enabled Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. Albums in MP3 format will retail for the same price as DRM-enabled albums, while single tracks cost as little as 99 cents.   For a full listing of today’s’ hottest MP3 titles, please visit musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca   * iPod is a trademark of Apple® About Bell Bell is Canada’s largest communications company, providing consumers with solutions to all their communications needs, including telephone services, wireless communications, high-speed Internet, digital television and voice over IP. Bell also offers integrated information and communications technology (ICT) services to businesses and governments, and is the Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive Communications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For information on Bell’s products and services, please visit www.bell.ca. For corporate information on BCE, please visit www.bce.ca. - 30 - For media inquiries, please contact: Okay. Let’s look at this release. First, it reads like an ad. It’s promotional in nature and it seems to be really concerned that Bell’s division president gets his meaningless (sorry, Bell, but it’s true) quote in there. Here’s the thing: No reputable journalistic outlet would print or broadcast that quote. It’s pointless. It says nothing. The problem, I think, is with the form of the release itself. Today’s journalists and bloggers (they’re part of the media too, after all) are bombarded by more and more releases. Many of them don’t read past the headline. That’s why this release’s headline:   Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store is flawed. Almost half of the headline is taken up with brand names. And, frankly, this headline doesn’t say what the real story here is: That Bell is now offering unrestricted MP3 files to Canadians cheaper than anyone else. That is the story here. And so, here is what I would propose as a new news release format. It contains the bare essentials, in bullet-point form, to catch the eye of journalists. It still includes the obligatory crappyquote from the executive, but it’s written in a simple, non-hyped style. You can download my proposal for the Media Release 2.o [PDF]. (P.S. It’s a News Release or a Media Release. Don’t call it a Press Release. Presses refer to printing presses, and thus exclude electronic media like radio, television, and the Internet. Have a look at my proposal for Media Release 2.0 and I’d love to hear your comments. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. After a brief stint in private radio, I began my career in public relations. I worked for a great little company called The Haibeck Group as director of new media. Back then, Netscape had JUST gotten background colours. People still used gopher. (<sigh> I miss gopher.) Anyway. One of the jobs I had to do was to write news releases and send them out to the media. Then, I had to make the dreaded follow-up calls. Follow-up calls are the worst. Frankly, most journalists who answer these calls are abrupt and even kind of condescending. (It’s why I always take a moment to listen to a pitch and, if it’s not right for me, explain why so they can get some value out of the conversation.) Today, as the National Technology Columnist for the CBC, I get a lot of news releases, nearly all by email. And it has interested me that, despite all the progress we’ve made in digital media and newsgathering, that the venerable old news release hasn’t changed its form. There’s the lead paragraph, followed by some bullshit quote from a senior executive (”I’m pleased to announce the blah blah blah…”) and then usually a string of meaningless brand names… er BRAND NAMES… and no real sense of the news value or the real story. And so, I would like to propose a new format for media releases. With the kind permission of the p.r. person behind Bell Canada, I have done a revision of their news release issued yesterday. Here’s the news release, as sent to me: Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store   DRM-free music catalogue playable on a wide range of music devices     TORONTO, October 2, 2007 – Bell Canada today announced the availability of unrestricted MP3 music files on Sympatico/MSN Music Store musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca. Canadian consumers can purchase downloadable tracks playable on a wide range of compatible music and mobile devices, including iPod™ and MP3-enabled mobile phones.   “As Canada’s leading internet service provider and online portal, Bell continues to build and offer the most robust online entertainment portfolio, including music, video and gaming,” said Kevin Crull, President, Bell Residential Services. “The addition of MP3 tracks to Sympatico/MSN Music Store furthers our commitment to offering Canadians the very best entertainment experience.”   Because these downloadable MP3 tracks are Digital Rights Management (DRM) free, there are no limits on the types of music devices or number of computers on which purchased songs can be played. With more than a half million MP3 tracks currently available and more being added every week, Bell offers tracks some of the world’s best selling artists, including The Beatles, Coldplay, Norah Jones, Keith Urban, Gorillaz and The Rolling Stones as well as best selling Canadian acts Nickelback, k-os and Stompin’ Tom Connors. Sympatico/MSN also offers one of Canada’s largest selections of French artists, including Claude Dubois, Marie-Mai, Ima and many more.   In addition to being compatible with a variety of portable music devices, Bell’s DRM-free MP3 downloads can also be enjoyed on a wide range of MP3-compatible Bell Mobility phones.   Bell is offering MP3s from several independent labels as well as EMI artists, which can play on any portable media player or computer and can be burned on to CD, all without fear of viruses, corrupt files, spyware and pop-ups that are often associated with music download sites.   Consumers continue to have the choice of purchasing DRM-enabled Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. Albums in MP3 format will retail for the same price as DRM-enabled albums, while single tracks cost as little as 99 cents.   For a full listing of today’s’ hottest MP3 titles, please visit musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca   * iPod is a trademark of Apple® About Bell Bell is Canada’s largest communications company, providing consumers with solutions to all their communications needs, including telephone services, wireless communications, high-speed Internet, digital television and voice over IP. Bell also offers integrated information and communications technology (ICT) services to businesses and governments, and is the Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive Communications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For information on Bell’s products and services, please visit www.bell.ca. For corporate information on BCE, please visit www.bce.ca. - 30 - For media inquiries, please contact: Okay. Let’s look at this release. First, it reads like an ad. It’s promotional in nature and it seems to be really concerned that Bell’s division president gets his meaningless (sorry, Bell, but it’s true) quote in there. Here’s the thing: No reputable journalistic outlet would print or broadcast that quote. It’s pointless. It says nothing. The problem, I think, is with the form of the release itself. Today’s journalists and bloggers (they’re part of the media too, after all) are bombarded by more and more releases. Many of them don’t read past the headline. That’s why this release’s headline:   Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store is flawed. Almost half of the headline is taken up with brand names. And, frankly, this headline doesn’t say what the real story here is: That Bell is now offering unrestricted MP3 files to Canadians cheaper than anyone else. That is the story here. And so, here is what I would propose as a new news release format. It contains the bare essentials, in bullet-point form, to catch the eye of journalists. It still includes the obligatory crappyquote from the executive, but it’s written in a simple, non-hyped style. You can download my proposal for the Media Release 2.o [PDF]. (P.S. It’s a News Release or a Media Release. Don’t call it a Press Release. Presses refer to printing presses, and thus exclude electronic media like radio, television, and the Internet. Have a look at my proposal for Media Release 2.0 and I’d love to hear your comments. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,22056104 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:31:09 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com DRM, Misc., WMA, VCIO, ICT http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22147420-Putting-SaskTel%E2%80%99s-voicemail-transcription-to-the-test I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing tes... I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing testing testing, I like to talk about myself. I am James Woodincamp(?), ha, like to see you Woodincamp(?). But that’s not bad. Anyway bye for now. - spoken through SpinVox. James swears he didn’t add the slashes. Apparently it took about 12 minutes to get back to him. Turns out — yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out. James found a news story in which the service’s (SpinVox) co-founder Daniel Doulton said “If you say something new that the system has never seen… it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” Creepy. And cool. Rogers will begin offering the service later this fall. ——————- Update — Daniel Doulton from SpinVox replies: I’m co-founder of SpinVox, and I read with interest your recent posting on our voicemail-to-text conversion service recently launched with SaskTel. I wanted to clarify a few things about the way messages are converted. In your post, you wrote “yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out” – this is not accurate. SpinVox has developed a sophisticated learning system called the Voice Message Conversion System to carry out automatically the majority of conversions. When the system encounters a word or phrase its does not know or understand, it is able to refer to a human for assistance. The human then trains the system so that word or phrase becomes known to the VMCS for future use. In that way, the VMCS is constantly evolving and learning, increasing in accuracy and speed with each conversion. But the main point is that while humans do help train the system, messages are converted by machines. Tod replies: Hmmm…. I think the confusion arose because of the quote you gave to a newspaper, specifically: “If you say something new that the system has never seen … it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” It would seem that says a human agent does indeed listen to voicemails when the system can’t make out what’s being said. Case in point, James Whittingham’s “slash test” — see below — which would certainly seem to imply human interaction. A second point with regards to the added slashes to James’ converted message. The system will insert special characters that the speaker actually says. In this case, slashes are formal parts of web addresses or passwords, so VMCS will convert them if they look in sequence. Tod replies: But that’s not what he did. He didn’t simply say ’slash slash slash’ — he said “If it is put 3 slashes now” and the system/operator typed “///(?)” afterward. Unless your engine is smart enough to understand the context and syntax of that sentence (I co-founded an AI company that did this very syntactical analysis and it wasn’t easy!), it seems like you’ve got humans listening, at least to the questionable messages. Am I missing something? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing testing testing, I like to talk about myself. I am James Woodincamp(?), ha, like to see you Woodincamp(?). But that’s not bad. Anyway bye for now. - spoken through SpinVox. James swears he didn’t add the slashes. Apparently it took about 12 minutes to get back to him. Turns out — yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out. James found a news story in which the service’s (SpinVox) co-founder Daniel Doulton said “If you say something new that the system has never seen… it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” Creepy. And cool. Rogers will begin offering the service later this fall. ——————- Update — Daniel Doulton from SpinVox replies: I’m co-founder of SpinVox, and I read with interest your recent posting on our voicemail-to-text conversion service recently launched with SaskTel. I wanted to clarify a few things about the way messages are converted. In your post, you wrote “yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out” – this is not accurate. SpinVox has developed a sophisticated learning system called the Voice Message Conversion System to carry out automatically the majority of conversions. When the system encounters a word or phrase its does not know or understand, it is able to refer to a human for assistance. The human then trains the system so that word or phrase becomes known to the VMCS for future use. In that way, the VMCS is constantly evolving and learning, increasing in accuracy and speed with each conversion. But the main point is that while humans do help train the system, messages are converted by machines. Tod replies: Hmmm…. I think the confusion arose because of the quote you gave to a newspaper, specifically: “If you say something new that the system has never seen … it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” It would seem that says a human agent does indeed listen to voicemails when the system can’t make out what’s being said. Case in point, James Whittingham’s “slash test” — see below — which would certainly seem to imply human interaction. A second point with regards to the added slashes to James’ converted message. The system will insert special characters that the speaker actually says. In this case, slashes are formal parts of web addresses or passwords, so VMCS will convert them if they look in sequence. Tod replies: But that’s not what he did. He didn’t simply say ’slash slash slash’ — he said “If it is put 3 slashes now” and the system/operator typed “///(?)” afterward. Unless your engine is smart enough to understand the context and syntax of that sentence (I co-founded an AI company that did this very syntactical analysis and it wasn’t easy!), it seems like you’ve got humans listening, at least to the questionable messages. Am I missing something? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. ShareThis tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,22147420 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:27:21 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com product reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056105-Putting-SaskTel%E2%80%99s-voicemail-transcription-to-the-test I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing tes... I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing testing testing, I like to talk about myself. I am James Woodincamp(?), ha, like to see you Woodincamp(?). But that’s not bad. Anyway bye for now. - spoken through SpinVox. James swears he didn’t add the slashes. Apparently it took about 12 minutes to get back to him. Turns out — yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out. James found a news story in which the service’s (SpinVox) co-founder Daniel Doulton said “If you say something new that the system has never seen… it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” Creepy. And cool. Rogers will begin offering the service later this fall. ——————- Update — Daniel Doulton from SpinVox replies: I’m co-founder of SpinVox, and I read with interest your recent posting on our voicemail-to-text conversion service recently launched with SaskTel. I wanted to clarify a few things about the way messages are converted. In your post, you wrote “yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out” – this is not accurate. SpinVox has developed a sophisticated learning system called the Voice Message Conversion System to carry out automatically the majority of conversions. When the system encounters a word or phrase its does not know or understand, it is able to refer to a human for assistance. The human then trains the system so that word or phrase becomes known to the VMCS for future use. In that way, the VMCS is constantly evolving and learning, increasing in accuracy and speed with each conversion. But the main point is that while humans do help train the system, messages are converted by machines. Tod replies: Hmmm…. I think the confusion arose because of the quote you gave to a newspaper, specifically: “If you say something new that the system has never seen … it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” It would seem that says a human agent does indeed listen to voicemails when the system can’t make out what’s being said. Case in point, James Whittingham’s “slash test” — see below — which would certainly seem to imply human interaction. A second point with regards to the added slashes to James’ converted message. The system will insert special characters that the speaker actually says. In this case, slashes are formal parts of web addresses or passwords, so VMCS will convert them if they look in sequence. Tod replies: But that’s not what he did. He didn’t simply say ’slash slash slash’ — he said “If it is put 3 slashes now” and the system/operator typed “///(?)” afterward. Unless your engine is smart enough to understand the context and syntax of that sentence (I co-founded an AI company that did this very syntactical analysis and it wasn’t easy!), it seems like you’ve got humans listening, at least to the questionable messages. Am I missing something? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. I’ve been pretty fascinated by SaskTel’s voicemail transcription service. In short, you can pay an additional fee to have your voicemails transcribed into text and sent to your phone via SMS. Awesome idea. Regina podcaster and comedian James Whittingham tried it out. First, have a listen to his recording of his voicemail (attached to this post). Then read along with how the transcription came back: Hon it’s James calling. This is a message for Tod Mason, Tod Mason. That’s Tod with one D. If you are transcribing. Is this a real transcribing? If it is put 3 slashes now, ///(?). Forward slashes. I don’t care, back slash. Surprisely(?) 3 forward slashes indicates this is a real person transcribing this and if how much do they get paid for this. You got a percentage of that 40 cents of message? Put 2 slashes now, //(?). You get paid ___///(?). If you are happy with what you are doing, you didn’t fail cooking school, put ////(?) slashes now. Testing testing testing, I like to talk about myself. I am James Woodincamp(?), ha, like to see you Woodincamp(?). But that’s not bad. Anyway bye for now. - spoken through SpinVox. James swears he didn’t add the slashes. Apparently it took about 12 minutes to get back to him. Turns out — yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out. James found a news story in which the service’s (SpinVox) co-founder Daniel Doulton said “If you say something new that the system has never seen… it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” Creepy. And cool. Rogers will begin offering the service later this fall. ——————- Update — Daniel Doulton from SpinVox replies: I’m co-founder of SpinVox, and I read with interest your recent posting on our voicemail-to-text conversion service recently launched with SaskTel. I wanted to clarify a few things about the way messages are converted. In your post, you wrote “yes, it’s humans listening to your voicemails and typing the text out” – this is not accurate. SpinVox has developed a sophisticated learning system called the Voice Message Conversion System to carry out automatically the majority of conversions. When the system encounters a word or phrase its does not know or understand, it is able to refer to a human for assistance. The human then trains the system so that word or phrase becomes known to the VMCS for future use. In that way, the VMCS is constantly evolving and learning, increasing in accuracy and speed with each conversion. But the main point is that while humans do help train the system, messages are converted by machines. Tod replies: Hmmm…. I think the confusion arose because of the quote you gave to a newspaper, specifically: “If you say something new that the system has never seen … it’s able to push that bit up and ask an agent for help. That’s how we train the system live.” It would seem that says a human agent does indeed listen to voicemails when the system can’t make out what’s being said. Case in point, James Whittingham’s “slash test” — see below — which would certainly seem to imply human interaction. A second point with regards to the added slashes to James’ converted message. The system will insert special characters that the speaker actually says. In this case, slashes are formal parts of web addresses or passwords, so VMCS will convert them if they look in sequence. Tod replies: But that’s not what he did. He didn’t simply say ’slash slash slash’ — he said “If it is put 3 slashes now” and the system/operator typed “///(?)” afterward. Unless your engine is smart enough to understand the context and syntax of that sentence (I co-founded an AI company that did this very syntactical analysis and it wasn’t easy!), it seems like you’ve got humans listening, at least to the questionable messages. Am I missing something? This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-10-03,22056105 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:27:21 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Reviews http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056107-Third-Tuesday-events-kick-off-across-Canada Click here to check outThe Third Tuesday Vancouver! I’m really glad to have found the Third Tuesday groups in Toronto and Ottawa — Third Tuesday is quickly becoming Canada’s official monthly Social-Media Meetup. I’ve been working with Tanya Davis and Joe Thornley to set up a Third Tuesday branch here in Vancouver. Third Tuesday events are informal, fun events. Each guest speaker simply chats casually about their topic for about 15 minutes — no PowerPoints allowed! Here are links to the season kick-off events: OTTAWA: Mitch Joel: “Social Media, Marketing, and Web 2.0″ Tuesday, September 25 Mitch is President of Twist Image- an award-winning Digital Marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, community leader, Blogger, and Podcaster. Mitch will share with us his latest thoughts on the marketing, social media and web 2.0. [more info and RSVP] VANCOUVER: Tod Maffin: “SWARM... Click here to check outThe Third Tuesday Vancouver! I’m really glad to have found the Third Tuesday groups in Toronto and Ottawa — Third Tuesday is quickly becoming Canada’s official monthly Social-Media Meetup. I’ve been working with Tanya Davis and Joe Thornley to set up a Third Tuesday branch here in Vancouver. Third Tuesday events are informal, fun events. Each guest speaker simply chats casually about their topic for about 15 minutes — no PowerPoints allowed! Here are links to the season kick-off events: OTTAWA: Mitch Joel: “Social Media, Marketing, and Web 2.0″ Tuesday, September 25 Mitch is President of Twist Image- an award-winning Digital Marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, community leader, Blogger, and Podcaster. Mitch will share with us his latest thoughts on the marketing, social media and web 2.0. [more info and RSVP] VANCOUVER: Tod Maffin: “SWARM Communications: When Good Buzz Goes Bad” Tuesday, September 25 I’ll be discussing my model of crisis communications on the Internet — something I call SWARM Communications. Yes, SWARM is an acronym. Want to know what the letters stand for? You’ll have to show up to find out! My bio claims that I am a national broadcaster, an influential blogger, popular keynote speaker, and president of Foursevens. [more info and RSVP] TORONTO: Darren Barefoot: “1100 Stacies — Building Pyramids of Good” Monday, October 15 Darren’s “1100 Stacies” presentation was one of the highlights of this year’s Gnomedex conference. His message about building pyramids for good is a call to action that should be heard and heeded by technology folk everywhere. Darren is a principal in tech marketing firm Capulet Communications. He’s also a driving force behind the Northern Voice conference. [more info and RSVP] Feel free to copy this info and just paste it directly into your blog or Facebook profile. The whole Third Tuesday movement has a Facebook group too. Hope to see you all there! This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. Click here to check outThe Third Tuesday Vancouver! I’m really glad to have found the Third Tuesday groups in Toronto and Ottawa — Third Tuesday is quickly becoming Canada’s official monthly Social-Media Meetup. I’ve been working with Tanya Davis and Joe Thornley to set up a Third Tuesday branch here in Vancouver. Third Tuesday events are informal, fun events. Each guest speaker simply chats casually about their topic for about 15 minutes — no PowerPoints allowed! Here are links to the season kick-off events: OTTAWA: Mitch Joel: “Social Media, Marketing, and Web 2.0″ Tuesday, September 25 Mitch is President of Twist Image- an award-winning Digital Marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, community leader, Blogger, and Podcaster. Mitch will share with us his latest thoughts on the marketing, social media and web 2.0. [more info and RSVP] VANCOUVER: Tod Maffin: “SWARM Communications: When Good Buzz Goes Bad” Tuesday, September 25 I’ll be discussing my model of crisis communications on the Internet — something I call SWARM Communications. Yes, SWARM is an acronym. Want to know what the letters stand for? You’ll have to show up to find out! My bio claims that I am a national broadcaster, an influential blogger, popular keynote speaker, and president of Foursevens. [more info and RSVP] TORONTO: Darren Barefoot: “1100 Stacies — Building Pyramids of Good” Monday, October 15 Darren’s “1100 Stacies” presentation was one of the highlights of this year’s Gnomedex conference. His message about building pyramids for good is a call to action that should be heard and heeded by technology folk everywhere. Darren is a principal in tech marketing firm Capulet Communications. He’s also a driving force behind the Northern Voice conference. [more info and RSVP] Feel free to copy this info and just paste it directly into your blog or Facebook profile. The whole Third Tuesday movement has a Facebook group too. Hope to see you all there! This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-09-22,22056107 Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:06:00 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Meetups http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056108-The-Secret-of-Tech-Coverage-Revealed As some of you know, I’m CBC Radio’s national technology columnist. I do a lot of research in consumer electronics and technology trends. And every so often, people ask me how their product or company can appear in my column. At least from my point of view, here are the primary considerations: I’m not a business reporter, so “financials” and other statements get ignored. I’m very open to direct, PERSONAL pitches. My direct cell number is +1.604.618.2861 and my email is tod@todmaffin.com. Really, I’m happy to field calls. I’ll be honest and direct with them if it doesn’t fit my coverage area, but I’ve often gotten good leads from P.R. people who call me. I am looking for technology stories which are REVolutionaly in nature, and not EVolutionary. In other words, if you’re a camera manufacturer and you go from 6.8 megapixels to 7.5 megapixels, my audience couldn’t care less. But if your camera does something that n... As some of you know, I’m CBC Radio’s national technology columnist. I do a lot of research in consumer electronics and technology trends. And every so often, people ask me how their product or company can appear in my column. At least from my point of view, here are the primary considerations: I’m not a business reporter, so “financials” and other statements get ignored. I’m very open to direct, PERSONAL pitches. My direct cell number is +1.604.618.2861 and my email is tod@todmaffin.com. Really, I’m happy to field calls. I’ll be honest and direct with them if it doesn’t fit my coverage area, but I’ve often gotten good leads from P.R. people who call me. I am looking for technology stories which are REVolutionaly in nature, and not EVolutionary. In other words, if you’re a camera manufacturer and you go from 6.8 megapixels to 7.5 megapixels, my audience couldn’t care less. But if your camera does something that no other camera does (i.e. uploads directly to Flickr.com when the shutter is pressed) then that’s REVoluionary and I’m interested. I have written a short free document about pitching. You can download it at http://www.insidethecbc.com/uploads/pitchtips.pdf This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. As some of you know, I’m CBC Radio’s national technology columnist. I do a lot of research in consumer electronics and technology trends. And every so often, people ask me how their product or company can appear in my column. At least from my point of view, here are the primary considerations: I’m not a business reporter, so “financials” and other statements get ignored. I’m very open to direct, PERSONAL pitches. My direct cell number is +1.604.618.2861 and my email is tod@todmaffin.com. Really, I’m happy to field calls. I’ll be honest and direct with them if it doesn’t fit my coverage area, but I’ve often gotten good leads from P.R. people who call me. I am looking for technology stories which are REVolutionaly in nature, and not EVolutionary. In other words, if you’re a camera manufacturer and you go from 6.8 megapixels to 7.5 megapixels, my audience couldn’t care less. But if your camera does something that no other camera does (i.e. uploads directly to Flickr.com when the shutter is pressed) then that’s REVoluionary and I’m interested. I have written a short free document about pitching. You can download it at http://www.insidethecbc.com/uploads/pitchtips.pdf This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-09-17,22056108 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:01:12 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com CBC Tech Column http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056109-An-IED-attack-from-the-tank This is incredible video from the Middle East. Nobody gets hurt, but it’s amazing to see what happens to pavement when an IED explodes. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. This is incredible video from the Middle East. Nobody gets hurt, but it’s amazing to see what happens to pavement when an IED explodes. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. This is incredible video from the Middle East. Nobody gets hurt, but it’s amazing to see what happens to pavement when an IED explodes. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-09-17,22056109 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:05:08 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Misc. http://www.odeo.com/episodes/22056110-Shameless-Promotion This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. This is an article from Tod Maffin , a social media strategist, national broadcaster, and leading keynote speaker. tag:odeo.com,2007-08-22,22056110 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:33:20 -0700 no Tod Maffin .com Misc.