Seen and Heard in Edmonton

I know I already talked about Pecha Kucha Night 11, but preparing for that night took up so much space in my brain that I scarcely had room for anything else, and there’s still more worth rounding up.
 
For an excellent recap of the evening, see Mack Male’s post. The Edmonton Journal, which livestreamed the event, has some of the speeches up on its video page, including mine. And there are tons more pictures like the one above on the Edmonton’s Next Gen Flickr channel.

(Addendum: Brittney Le Blanc has some PKN11 pix on Flickr, too, including the unicorn slide she made for me, which got much attention, all deserved.)

Another big event in new media circles this week was What the Truck?!, the second incarnation of a food-truck festival organized by Mack and Sharon Yeo. Twitter was alive with food chatter on Friday. To me, the event is a great example of a couple of things: First, social media can lead to meaningful, engaging events in real life, and second, actions speak louder than words. This is just the kind of action that gets beyond the talk about revitalizing downtown and all that.

There are many useful and interesting events coming up in the next little while:

• StartUp Edmonton’s next DemoCamp takes place on Sept. 29. I know of at least one extremely cool thing that will be demonstrated at this one (sorry, lips sealed), and I’m sure there will be many wow moments and networking opportunities.
• The speakers coming to Meshwest Edmonton on Oct. 4 are now posted. As was the case with Meshwest Calgary in the spring, it offers a mix of locals and come-from-aways to introduce new ideas to media, marketers, entrepreneurs and citizens. Among the locals are the City of Edmonton’s Ashley Casovan and Empire Avenue’s Duleepa Wijayawardhana. I don’t know many of the other speakers, but if the Calgary event is any indication, it’s kind of like the FolkFest – you’re going to see people you didn’t even know you wanted to see who turn out to be awesome. Early-bird ticket sales end Sept. 30.
• The “social media for business” workshop by Dana DiTomaso that I blogged about last week has been postponed to Oct. 26. Dana is on a panel with The Journal’s Barb Wilkinson on “The Rise of the Mobile World” on Sept. 22, put on by the Women’s Executive Network. She and Brittney Le Blanc also put on a Girl Geek Dinner on Sept. 15; the next one is Oct. 13, and I am definitely going.
• The next organizational meeting for MediaCamp Edmonton is on Monday, Sept. 19, at Guru Digital Arts College. If you’re interested in helping out and you’re not on the mailing list, email me at karen(at)unlandmedia.com. We’re aiming to hold MediaCamp on Jan. 28, so mark your calendars and stay tuned for details.
• Digital Alberta is having a launch party for its new website and 2011-12 program on Sept. 27 at D’Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar.

– Jeff Samsonow of the late, lamented the edmontonian is now blogging on his own site, and is already making a splash.

– The Charrette is back after a little break with a couple of excellent posts on the city’s new bike lanes and a whack of downtown development news.

– The latest Unknown Studio podcast features a truly delightful conversation with Journal columnist Paula Simons. If you love Edmonton, politics and/or Star Trek, you’ll find something to love in this one.

– Felicia Dewar is looking for your votes for her video to help Brintnell Park get a playground.

– Speaking of video, I watched some Jo Thrillz for the first time yesterday. It is… an experience. He recently consolidated his Twitter presence, so follow him here.

– And finally, here’s a gallant post by Rene Mayer about a hardworking woman who made him think about his life differently.

Let me know what I’m missing. Comment, tweet or Google+ at me.

(The picture of me with a slide of Clay Shirky in the background was taken by Dave DeGagné for Edmonton’s Next Gen. The Shirky image comes from Kris Krug via Flickr.)