I never had aspirations to actually BE a teacher. I wasn’t a great student, after all. Sure, I didn’t skip classes, mostly got my homework done on time, but my grades were a mess – partly from being a military brat (Canada’s education system is not really set up for transients), and partly because I simply didn’t have an aptitude for things like math and grammar (though my Art, Music and Drama marks were always stellar).

When I graduated from high school I wanted to get as far away from it as possible. I couldn’t wait to get into college – where I knew I’d be much more successful in a less book-learnin’, more hands-on environment. I was right about that.

After college I fully expected to get a J-O-B, maybe as a junior editor in a newsroom or a production assistant for a local show. I certainly didn’t expect my first job to be as a producer.

I’ve said before, that a producer at a community television station (public access TV for you all down south) is something quite different than a producer for a regular TV network. I was a camera operator, writer, director, editor, sound person, and much more. I had 7 shows to produce, not just one. Like other TV producers, I worked 80+ hours a week. But unlike them, a HUGE part of my job was teaching.

You see, about 90% of the people that worked at the station were volunteers. People from all walks of life who shared a common interest in producing TV shows. They helped out in all areas – camera, audio, lighting, editing, writing, producing, directing – you name it. But most of the time they came in green – having little or no video experience. It was part of my job to ensure that they knew the proper techniques. This happened through formal workshops (I was required to teach one per week in various disciplines) or on the job training (like, during a live TV show).

Having just come from being a student myself, I wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to be successful at this whole teaching thing. But, it was my job, and I’d best be getting the hang of it. My friend, mentor and boss at the time, Andre, gave me some good advice. “Just tell them what you know. Don’t overthink it.”

So really, my only job was to figure out what I already knew.

Seven years and hundreds of workshops later, I landed in college again. Back to being a student. Back to filling my brain with new ideas – I traded in my video camera for a computer and was off to the races.

Upon graduation from College 2.0, I was fortunate to be hired by one of my instructors. She owned a technology training company. She had some web projects and video projects to start me off, which was great. But one day, she came to me and said she needed someone to teach this new software called Dreamweaver (this was 1997). She handed me a book called “Learn Dreamweaver in 21 Days” and told me in 4 weeks I’d be in front of 40 students eager to learn this cutting edge technology. Gulp.

The teaching gig (ironically in the same classroom where I’d just spent the previous 7 months) went pretty well, and boy did I learn a lot. I learned pacing and timing. I learned how to read the class and gauge by number of blank faces how well they were following along. And most importantly, I learned that it’s okay to not always know the answers, as long as you are willing to find them out.

So really, my only job was to figure out what I didn’t already know, and then get to know it really well.

Flash forward to 2008. I’d spent a good deal of time in the previous 10 years doing corporate training and software training, writing training documentation, designing curricula, and coordinating programs for adult learning. I felt as if I was catching on to this whole teaching thing.

I decided to connect with my old classmate who was now running the same program I’d taken at the college in ‘97. I expressed an interest in teaching and provided some suggestions on the kind of courses I’d like to teach. I was accepted to the part time faculty and again, I was off to the races, teaching video and web/social media. I was given pretty free reign to design the courses how I wanted them, and more importantly, given a really talented bunch of people to teach. What I love about teaching at the college level is learning about the people in my class – who they are, where they come from and most importantly, what drives them. Their passion for video and multimedia is what drives me to be a better teacher.

So really, my only job is to help others understand what they already know and equip them with some tools so they can be successful.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. It’s the thing I look forward to, and I miss it when its not there. I love it when my students get as fired up about this stuff as I am. I love seeing the results of their hard work and mostly, I love it when I see that lightbulb go off over their head – the one that shows me that they don’t just know it…they understand it.

I learn more from being a teacher than I ever learn from being a student. You can too. You just need to focus on three things in order to become a better learner, and a better teacher:

1. Figure out what you already know
2. Figure out what you don’t know, then get to know it really well
3. Help others to understand, and equip them with tools to aid their success

——–

My Algonquin College Web Media class this year is doing some amazing work. I wanted to take this opportunity to showcase, with their permission, a few of the blogs and web site projects they have been working on. Please take a moment to click on the links and if you like what you see, get to know them. These people are the future of our industry. What they are doing and what they have to say is very important. Listen to them.

Interactive Multimedia Class of 2010 Blogs:

Noriko Natsume
http://www.eyestir.com/nnproject

Jason Derouchie
www.handtobrain.com

Alexi Dumochel
Tokyo on the Brain
http://aricoukaze.wordpress.com

Al Morrison
http://corloveaduck.wordpress.com

Jacqueline Brinsmead
http://randomthoughts63.wordpress.com

Brandon Brule
www.brandonbrule.com/blog

Sheila Sugavanam
http://sugabam.wordpress.com

Calgar-C
http://calgarc.com

Brendan Shaughnessy
http://welljackson.wordpress.com

Servillano Poserio
http://www.mindhackers.net

I didn’t qualify it, I didn’t say what specifically I liked about it, but I got some comments questioning my decision, wondering why I’d want such a silly thing, what possible use it could have, and why I’d just lemming along with whatever Apple is pimping without actually looking into it first. Defensive? I don’t know. But for all those who are questioning my sanity, let me explain now.

I’m not planning to run out and buy one as soon as they hit the shelves (though I’d like to try one out, just for fun). I didn’t rush out and get the iPhone either (in fact I waited a whole YEAR!). But the story of the iPad is far more important than the gadget that is going to be in people’s hands come April.

It’s not about the tool. It’s about what it represents. Oh, wait, Suze, are you saying AGAIN that it’s not about the tools? (Snore).

But Suze, the iPad is a TOOL!

Yep, yer darn tootin’ it is. But the iPad is not so much about what it is and what it does (because there are going to be lots of copycats now). It’s about mixing it up a bit – trying out new ways of human/computer interaction. We’ve been strapped to our keyboards and mouses (mice?) for a long time. The iPad gives us something new to think about and experiment with.

But wait, Suze – tablet computers are nothing new. They’ve been around for years! Apple’s not exactly innovating here.

That is true! But 1) there are no original ideas and 2) the iPad is a first iteration of a new kind of concept for a tool. It behaves somewhat differently than tablet PCs. It is a mobile device, not a laptop computer. It’s like the iPhone was to smart phones – it shakes things up a bit. The funny thing is, when a company tries a different spin on a concept, it’s often people who turn around and innovate with it. Twitter is a good example of this – the @ reply feature was originally a syntax that the users came up with, not @ev and his team. The Twitter developers just made it into a feature because it was so darned popular and useful. And ultimately, it made Twitter what it is today (a many to many conversation).

You see, the way it works is, companies like Apple create the new technology, and people decide how to make it useful. It’s a tool, yes. But mostly it’s a behaviour changer.

But Suze, change is scary!

Ugh. Tell me about it. Why would I want to change the way I’m doing things now? I’m quite content with the status quo. The way I use computers hasn’t changed much in the past 10-15 years. Keyboard, mouse, point and click, maximize, minimize, CTRL-ALT-DELETE (when I’m on my PC ). It’s been pretty productive, in spite of my repetitive stress shoulder injury and early-stage carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s been great to have to clunk out my big ol’ laptop at client meetings, wait for it to wake up from endless sleep, plug it in after the battery dies in 20 minutes, and try to noodle around on the touch pad fast enough that I don’t bore people to death (because my wireless mouse died).

The point is, why wouldn’t we want to see if there’s a better way? Seth Godin said that “If you’re not upsetting people, you’re not changing things.” New stuff is scary to most people. They don’t want to try because they are afraid it won’t work. But not trying at all means you’ll never know if there’s a better way.

I say it’s time we had something out there to mix it up a bit. Let’s give it a fair shake. See if it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll see how Apple works to improve it (or how someone else makes a better one).

Ok, but Apple is still the Evil Empire. I’d never buy anything of theirs.

So don’t! Lots of other people still will. And eventually, someone else will come along with a new thing that you do like. As for Apple’s proprietary nature, I think it’s not so bad. I’ve been an iPhone user for a little over a year, and have had an iMac for 3 years. We also are the ones who have the Apple TV (in case you were looking for it). I buy music and movies from iTunes, I download apps from the App Store, I use Final Cut and iPhoto. The truth is, I’m already invested in Apple. My stuff resides there anyhow. So a tool like the iPad isn’t a far stretch for me. I can load it up with all the same stuff I’m used to having (with the exception of Final Cut, but that’s not what the device is designed for). So for folks like me, something like the iPad might be instantly useful. For others, it might be a way for them to get in to the scene.

Ultimately, you have the right to buy or not to buy. To use the technology or toss it aside. But what I’m asking is, give it a chance to see if and how it’s going to change things before discounting it as more shill from the Evil Corporation.

Mark my words (or I’ll be eating my words)…I think there’s a lot to pay attention to with the iPad. Don’t think about the tool itself. Think about what it means to innovation, moving forward, and how we’re going to interact with machines in the future.

The thing about trailblazers is, there’s nobody ahead of them to fight the tigers.

We set such high expectations of ourselves, don’t we? We want to do more, see more, experience more, save more, and yet…3 weeks into it we’re already feeling the pressure creeping back in. We just don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to meet all of those goals we set last month.

I’ve been thinking a lot about time the last few weeks. Perhaps it’s a side effect of watching too many back-to-back episodes of Doctor Who over the holidays, but at any rate, time is one of those elusive beasts that none of us ever seems to have a handle on. The title of this post, “How to Control Time” is probably somewhat of a misnomer. None of us really has control over time itself, after all. We’ve all got 24 hours in a day. What we do have control over, is how we use those 24 hours.

In the past few days, a couple of people close to me have asked if I’m “spreading myself too thin”. I’ve got a lot going on, it’s true. A few years ago, I don’t think I’d have been able to handle this much stuff at one time. But I’m learning what it takes to make the most of every 24 hour period that I’m given. I am hoping it might be useful to you if I share some of what what I’m learning.

Stop separating. I used to think that in order to achieve the perfect work/life balance, I had to have a distinct line drawn between what was “work” and what was “life”. Since I’ve been self employed, that line has blurred significantly…and I’ve realized that’s not such a bad thing.

I’m not talking about being a workaholic (though I’m often accused of being that). Certainly we all need to have down time (more on that in a minute). I’ve got a lot going on, as do you…if I add it all up, between my company, teaching, freelance work, blogging, community projects, musical endeavours, and networking/socializing with friends and colleagues, my “work” week probably totals somewhere around 80-90 hours. But see what I did there? I lumped in things like “blogging”, “community projects”, “music” and “networking” to that mix. Why? Because all of that stuff, even the stuff I don’t get paid for, the stuff many people consider “life”, is all part of my “work”. But, it’s also all part of my “life”. That’s how the line gets fuzzy.

Once I stopped defining my activities as either “work” or “life”, and started to mesh them all together, a really strange thing happened. Suddenly I had more hours in the day. I wasn’t waiting till my “work” day was done to think about community projects or networking activities or music. I was incorporating them into my day, and as a result, accomplishing more.

I realize this is not always as feasible depending on the type of job you have (i.e. you can’t spend time when you’re supposed to be working doing personal emails and calls and networking or practicing your guitar). But..there’s no rule against thinking about stuff while you work, right? AND, you are allowed to take breaks? Maybe, instead of spending your lunch breaks or coffee breaks hanging out at the water cooler, try planning that web project you’ve been meaning to get to, writing a new blog post or connecting with your network.

Listen to your body and mind. The only downside of this new way of looking at “life” and “work” is that it’s easy to get caught up in it, and spend all those 24 hours thinking, planning, networking, and doing. It happens to me all the time – I get so excited about everything that I can’t stop thinking about it. I become enamoured with possibilities. It becomes difficult to shut down.

As much as getting control of how you use your time is beneficial, sometimes it can be difficult to slow down. The most important thing you can do in this case is force the issue. Make sure you plan your down time just as much as you plan your other time. If you have a day off coming up on the weekend, do everything you can to protect that. You almost ALWAYS have a choice. Even if you have kids, remember that down time with family is still down time! I often look at my week in advance and keep one day open for doing things I want to do. Sometimes that’s sleeping. Sometimes it’s hanging out with my family. Sometimes it’s Doctor Who marathons. Sometimes it’s even working at things I enjoy. But nothing gets in the way of that day. It’s sacred space.

I’ve burnt out more times than I can count, so I’m well aware of the limitations of my mind and my body. I was a bit sick this weekend. Not a full-fledged illness, but I was pretty tired and achy and stuffy. I knew it was my body trying to tell me to cool my jets for a bit. It was saying, “Sit down, take a breather. Rest.” I listened. Didn’t go out much. Stayed in, drank tea. Ate well. Spent time with my husband. If I’d pushed it, I’d probably still be a bit sick (or a lot sicker). But I’m not.

It’s okay to be busy, on the go, doing lots of different things. That’s the point of this life, to DO things. But balance that with the limits of your body and your mind. We all have a different limit. Find your balance. Listen to it. The result? Your productive time will be more productive. Your rest time will be more restful.

You know…we might not be able to control time (yet). That’s probably a good thing. But we can ultimately control our use of time. Use every minute of every day as well as you can (even if you’re doing something that sucks). And before you know it…good things will start to happen. That’s just the way time works.

No time like the present to get started, eh?

I have spent the majority of my career in male-dominated professions. I’ve been the only female camera operator in media scrums (elbows up!), the only woman on the web development team, and the only woman in the boardroom more times than I can count. I’ve been mocked, teased, and patronized for being the “girl”, “young lady”, and “sweetheart” in all-guy situations. It’s given me a thick skin and some great lessons about how to earn and keep the respect of my peers.

Which is all the more reason why the recent uprising against the Vanity Fair Article “America’s Tweethearts” gets way, way under my skin.

Here’s a brief synopsis, in case you had something better to do. Vanity Fair published an article featuring “The Women of Twitter”, starring Internet celebrities Julia Roy , Sarah Evans, Stefanie Michaels, Felicia Day, Sarah Austin, and Amy Jo Martin. All of these women are successful entrepreneurs, actresses and marketing professionals in their own right. The article was definitely not spun to be an in-depth look at this group of savvy, professional, up and coming young women. It read more like a high school gossip column with a few dippy head bobs thrown in for good measure (like, ok, ok?).

Flash forward to actress Felicia Day (she’s featured front and centre in the sexy photograph heading up the article) posting on her blog entitled “Disappointment”, her utter shock and dismay at what a lousy and unfair portrayal this article was of these six high profile and successful women. “But what really ENRAGED me what [sic] the general tone, which artfully made intelligent, articulate women sound vapid and superficial.”, said she.

Day is in utter disbelief that Vanity Fair writer Vanessa Grigoriadis “…obviously wasn’t well-researched about the service, or the internet in general, really.” She’s in shock that this writer chose to paint her and her friends in a less-than respectable light, making them out to be bimbos getting by on looks alone and not for their actual smarts in the ways of the Interwebz.

And herein lies the problem.

First, Ms. Day is expecting that Vanity Fair is going to do a smart, insightful, in-depth article on the intelligent, savvy women that are “leading the charge” in the online world. Ahem. It’s Vanity Fair. Not sure if you’re read it recently, but “in-depth” and “insightful” are not the first things that come to mind. Vanity Fair is in the business of selling magazines, and to do that they put shirtless Tiger Woods on the cover and photos of trenchcoat-only wearing Web Grrlz on the inside. Sex sells. If these women wanted to have a serious and insightful look into what it takes to be a young, up and coming female entrepreneur in the Internet Age, then getting a spread in Vanity Fair was probably not the way to go.

Second, they should have been tipped off during the “dream come true” photo shoot that something was up. Especially when they had to put on trench coats and nothing else. I don’t know about you, but the last time I was taken seriously in a board room I was clothed on the lower half of my body. Oh, I can hear it now. “Prude!!!”. Nope. I’m not a prude. I’m all for being well turned out. I like to look nice. That’s why I get my hair done and wear eyeliner and buy nice clothes. But if you want to truly be taken seriously as a “businesswoman”, then being naked under a trenchcoat for a magazine article is sending mixed signals, and that’s that.

Finally, being popular in social media is not automatically a sign that you are a successful, career-oriented woman. The one thing I vehemently disagree with in the article is their portrayal of success being directly linked to the number of followers one has. The reporter seems really hung up on the numbers thing, and makes it seem like the only reason these women are successful is because they have lots of people hanging on their every word. Well that may be partially true, but I appreciate that these women probably work very hard and would likely be having success even if it wasn’t for their self described “Twitter addictions”.

In the end, it’s really about self respect. If, as a woman, you want to be successful in business, then do good work, and earn the respect and trust of others. It’s okay to be attractive. It’s totally fine to be feminine. In fact, those are endearing qualities. But don’t put yourself in situations where people will be enticed to look at you as a sex object if you don’t want to be perceived that way. And don’t be disappointed if a magazine famous for doing fluff pieces doesn’t take you seriously.

Your turn. Have at it in the comments. I’m ducking!

Back in 2008 he wrote a post on his blog that in my opinion, discounted some fundamental truths about social media as I knew it at the time, and both myself and Danny Brown posted comments that expressed our side of the debate.

I confess having been a bit nervous about posting my comment. David’s an Emmy Award winning former CBS news correspondent. He’s appeared on nearly every major news outlet in the world. He’s also one of the top strategic communications consultants around – his client list is extensive and high profile. This guy knows a thing or two about media and strategic communications. Perhaps he was right in his 2008 estimation about social media having “…yet to make a meaningful connection with the real world of business or organizations.” Perhaps I was barking up the wrong tree on this. But I sucked it up and wrote my comment anyway.

David was kind enough to respond right away to our comments, and a lively discussion ensued between the three of us. David even asked myself and Danny to write follow-up post that highlighted some of the ways we had seen that businesses and organizations were using social media effectively. From that point forward, I’ve considered David not only to be someone who I have a great deal of respect and admiration for, but someone I consider a friend.

So, with that said, I’m not making any apologies for giving a glowing review of his new book, “Making News in the Digital Era”. Am I biased? You’re darn right I am. But regardless…this is a great book, and if you are communicating online, it’s a must-read.

Put simply, this is, in my opinion, the definitive book on how to be a more effective communicator in this age of convergence of traditional and new media.

There are many people out here who are quick to discount people coming out of traditional, “old” media as being out of touch, utilizing old fashioned, ineffective methods, and that this behaviour is directly contributing to the demise of traditional media as we know it. For that reason, people may consider glossing over a book written by someone with such a long history in traditional media.

Well, I can assure you, David Henderson is not your typical “old” media guy. He is firmly planted at the intersection between old and new media and has a level of understanding of traditional and modern approaches to communicating that I’ve not seen elsewhere.

In this book he not only describes the important role that traditional media is still playing for communicators and CEOs, but how success in the digital era requires understanding what’s worked in the past, what’s still working, what to throw away and what we still need to learn.

“Making News in the Digital Era” doesn’t muse about old and new media approaches – it provides real, concrete, strategic and tactical methods that you can actually use. David is handing out strategic communications advice here that is absolutely invaluable, whether you’re a PR pro, a CEO or anyone looking to tell better stories and attract the media’s attention. He has a wealth of experience and has generously embedded it in the pages of this book for us to take away and apply to our own projects. He makes it simple and clear.

As mass media and new media come ever closer together, it’s critical for anyone who makes media, online or off, understand how to be heard above the noise. Pick up a copy of this book, and you’ll be well on your way to better understanding not only how, but WHY you need to be a more effective communicator.

And as a result, my left hand is killing me.

I’ve never really had much of a relationship with my left hand. I’m very right handed. But now, I have to stretch my left hand beyond the 10 or so chords I’ve known since the 6th grade. I’m learning finger picking, scales, riffs, and all sorts of nifty tricks.

I’m realizing very quickly that in order to have the agility to do these things well, my left hand, which typically doesn’t really listen so well, has to be forced into submission. I have to make it do things that it doesn’t want to do. And I have to make it do them over and over and over again until it starts to behave. I had no idea how many muscles there are in one’s hand. There are muscles in there I didn’t even know I had. I can feel every single one.

And because I can really feel my left hand learning and stretching and growing into its new role, I am now more aware of it than ever. I’m stretching it beyond what I thought it was capable of. And I’m celebrating small successes (3 minor pentatonic scales in a row without a string buzz or screw up!)

I’m also realizing the relationship between my left and right hands now. It’s not just about getting my left pinky to stretch across the frets and land in the right spot. It’s about doing that while my right hand is plucking the correct string. If my hands aren’t willing to collaborate, the whole thing’s a bust.

Finally, I’m also very aware of my time limit with practicing. I did 2 hours the other day without a break. At the end of it, my hands were numb, and my brain wasn’t processing the new things so well. I knew that I’d overdone it. I don’t yet have the stamina built up to play at length, and I need to accept that until my strength is built up, I will have to get by on less.

So there you have it – my 3 guiding words for 2010. Stretch. Collaborate. Less. These three realizations might just be my secret to finally being a better guitar player, but they are in fact, much more.

Stretch. My left hand hurts because I am stretching it beyond what it’s been used to. Stretching means changing the shape and size of what I’m doing so I can do new things. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But it’s also going to get way easier the more I do it. The pain will subside, and then after a while, I’ll be able to see that my hard work has paid off.

Collaborate. The only way to make beautiful music is to get both hands working together. Otherwise, it’s pretty boring. The same can be said for people. Sure, there are a lot of things I want to and can do on my own. Writing this blog, for instance. It’s all mine. But as I review the many goals I’ve set for myself this year, I see that there isn’t much I’m going to want to do without other people in the mix. True collaboration is about bringing smart brains together, and creating things that are remarkable. Whether it’s music, video projects, or other creative endeavours, I have no intention of flying solo this year. It’s going to be all about creating amazing things with other people.

Less. I’ve set an ambitious goal as I fly firmly into my fortieth year. I’m going to work on less, in many aspects of my life. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up all my worldly possessions or anything…but I am going to think about how I can streamline what I do have and simplify things. I’m going to worry less. I’m going to spend less time focused on what has been or what’s coming and focus on now. I’m going to weigh less by eating less and doing more physical activity. I’m going to pay less attention to the negative people and situations that come into my life and more attention to the people and things that are important. I’m going to work with less, so I can have more. Make sense?

Three words. I’ve got them written on my board, just like last year (Connect. Difference. Positive). I’m ready to take on 2010 boldly and without looking back.

How about you?

Instead, I had a nap, played Rockband, practiced my guitar for 2 hours, and watched some stupid shows on TV. I felt terrible about it, but I simply couldn’t move my brain or my body in any other direction today.

I was riddled with guilty feelings over the lack of achievement. I usually feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment at the end of every day, as I check things off my list and feel the satisfaction of forward movement. I am extremely uncomfortable when I’m unproductive.

Then I stopped and thought – what if this day was meant to be exactly as it was? What if for once, I wasn’t forcing myself to be doing, doing, and doing some more? What if this was really just my body and mind’s way of telling me to slow down for a few hours? What if I told myself it’s ok to do this? Then I stopped worrying about what I wasn’t doing.

It’s funny – just because I decided to do what I did today (stop doing), the world did not end. People did not give up on me. I didn’t fail. I didn’t miss the boat.

It dawned on me that this time of doing “nothing” had not really been unproductive. In fact, it’s possible that I’ve been very productive. I rested (the nap), I did mindless things (video games and dumb TV), and I challenged myself creatively and technically (as evidenced by my extremely sore left hand due to learning some new guitar techniques).

My perceived lack of “doing” today actually did a lot. It forced me to use my mind in a different way. It forced me to unwind these thoughts that have been swirling around the past several days and figure out how they really fit. And now on the other end of it, I’m feeling really, really clear.

It’s the end of the year. Things are moving pretty slowly right now, and perhaps we should look at the pace of the next few days as an opportunity to truly reflect, refresh and recharge.

We are all moving so fast towards a finish line we can’t see yet. It’s all fine and well to plan and prepare and set goals and come up with words and define things for 2010. But we don’t have to always be moving. We’re allowed to stop once in a while. We’re allowed to slack off a bit. In fact, we should probably all do it a bit more often.

So, as you close out another year, maybe try to find some time (a few hours, or a few days) to just do nothing. You’ll probably find that it will do whole lot. It did for me.

In 2007, I was introduced to social media at Podcamp Toronto. I happened upon a group of amazing people, many of whom I’m happy to call good friends today. What they were doing that weekend was remarkable. They were figuring out new ways to communicate, collaborate, do business, and build communities. They were exploring and creating and sharing in ways that 90% of the rest of the world didn’t even have an inkling of yet. But above all, they were there with open arms, willing to welcome media oldtimers like myself into the community without judgement. (Literally with open arms – I don’t think I’ve ever been hugged so much in my life as I was that weekend!). They let me ask silly questions. They didn’t laugh at my first blog post. They didn’t mock me when I asked what a DM was on Twitter. They led me through uncharted territory, and changed the way I do business and connect. To those people (they know who they are), I am forever grateful.

But I think my love affair with social media is over.

It was passionate, steamy, obsessive, blissful, and heart wrenching. There were the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and everywhere in between. I’ve been moved to tears, laughed my butt off, and had thoughts provoked in ways I never imagined possible. But the time has come. I’ve got to end it.

Now before you go getting all in a tizzy…I’m not going anywhere. We can still be friends. The best of friends, in fact.

But here’s the reason I can’t be with social media anymore in the same way. Frankly, I’m ready to move on. I’m not saying I know everything – quite the contrary – there’s still so much more to learn!  The problem is, we are stuck. We, the ground-breaking, cutting edge super early adopters, the ones who were part of the first 1000 people on Twitter, are still having the same conversations.We’re still talking about how to use Twitter more effectively, how to get more readers on our blogs, how to maximize ROI from social media. We’re still talking about how to convince our boss to use social media. I’ve read and written more on those topics in the past 3 years…I could fill an encyclopedia.

Do we still need to be educating people, helping businesses, and figuring out ways to use new media? Of course we do. It’s here. It’s happening now. We need to keep doing it because that’s what we know. We’re good at it. But we also need to be looking ahead. We need to stop twittering about Twitter, and look down the pipe at what things like Semantic technology and linked data are going to mean to us and our clients in 2 years. We need to look at what video is going to be doing in a few years and how the way we consume mass media and new media are going to merge and change. We need to look at the new technology that companies are developing and really understand how that’s going to impact us. And above all, we need to know where the opportunities will be.

We don’t need to be looking at the “big thing” that is social media anymore. We get it. We have our arsenal, we know how to build effective strategies, and mould them and shape them into successful, measurable action plans for our clients. We’re out there, we’re doing it, and we’re making it work.

But the real danger is, if we don’t start to look beyond the current state of social media, then in a couple of years when it all changes, we’re going to be right in the same place we were in 2008 – trying to navigate new terrain without really knowing what direction to go.

So, social media…it’s been fun. I’m taking away from this passionate affair a new way of communicating, building relationships and doing business. I’m also taking away some really awesome new friends (yes, social media, I get to keep the friends in this break up).  I’m passing what I’ve learned from you on to my clients, and helping them to be more successful. But I need to be somewhere else now. I need to be out there…understanding what’s coming next so that I can be ready when it gets here. It’s been fun. I’ll always love you. xoxo

Every single person who attends takes away something different. And the format is not for everyone. Some people will come away changed. Some will come away with new things to think about. Some may not. And that’s okay. But I think if we don’t share what we’ve learned, then we’re not doing the event justice.

My goal here is not to centre out any one person. Again, what I took away from the conference may be entirely different than what someone else gained. I look forward to hearing other perspectives in the comments.

Lesson #1: You are not defined by what happens to you. Bob LeDrew and I have been friends for a couple of years. We met on Twitter. In fact, I don’t even think we met in person until about 6 months after we had become friends. (The Internet is funny that way.) Bob got up on Saturday to do a talk about music, something he is tremendously passionate about. I knew that it was going to be moving. And it was. But what came as a surprise to me was not his passion for music – I already knew about that. Bob, a man I’ve known for 2 years, told us two things in his talk that I didn’t know about him. Two very personal and tragic things. It came as a complete surprise to me. The thing is, the fact that he’d never mentioned these aspects of his life to me before actually wasn’t that surprising to me. Why?

Bob does not define himself by what has happened to him. Yes, it’s part of his story. But Bob is defined by his passion for music, and the way he cares about his community. This is a man who, 2 weeks ago when two local women’s shelters were tragically burned down and destroyed everything the residents had, ran around town collecting donations from anyone he could, so those women could rebuild their lives again. This is a man who opens his home to strangers once a month so he can share his passion for music. He’s got some pretty damn good reasons he could feel sorry for himself. But self pity is not in Bob’s vocabulary, and we can all learn something from this. Bad things happen to good people all the time. We question it. But instead of being defined by the tragedies in our lives, we need to accept, move forward, and replace our sadness with triumph and positivity. Only then, are we truly alive.

Lesson #2: It’s not about things. It’s about people. I had the immense pleasure of spending time this weekend with Jowi Taylor. For those who may not know, Jowi is the creator of the Voyageur guitar, a one-of-a-kind instrument custom built from 64 pieces of Canadian history. You can read the whole story on his web site at www.sixstringnation.com.

The story has a personal side for me, in that the entire front of the guitar is made from wood taken from the Golden Spruce, a sacred tree that existed on Haida Gwaii, a small island on the west coast of Canada, where I spent much of my childhood. The tree is thought to be unique in that it contained no chlorophyll, and yet managed to survive for 300 years. Tragically, the Golden Spruce was cut down by a madman in 1997. The Haida Peoples of the island equated this event to a drive by shooting. I remember my heart being shattered when I learned what this person had done.

But this story is about more than a sacred tree, or any of the other 63 elements that make up this amazing instrument. Voyageur is a symbol of a country. It tells the story of our nation through objects. But what I learned from Jowi this weekend is that it’s not about the things. Yes, they are special. But they represent stories, and stories are made up of people. Each item in Voyageur tells a story of people. Go to the web site, read them. Voyageur is a cultural icon. But it’s not intended to be stowed away in some museum somewhere. It’s meant to be shared. It belongs to us. Thousands of people have held and played that instrument. When I picked up that guitar to play it on Saturday night, I not only felt a connection to all those Canadians whose history lives inside it, but to all those Canadians who have held it and played it before me.

Jowi is a remarkable person, not because he created this thing, but because he so selflessly shares it with us. He taught me that countries are not made of things. They are made of people. Jowi Taylor makes me want to be a better Canadian.

Lesson #3: Limitations are perceptions only. I’m not an athlete/musician/dancer/math whiz, so there’s no way I could ever do that. I tell myself things like that all the time..we all do. All of us except maybe Ray Zahab. This beer swilling, junk food eating, pack a day smoking couch potato got up one morning and decided to change his life. He didn’t just resolve to eat healthier, quit smoking, and exercise. Nope. Ray decided to run. Across the Sahara Desert.

Ray told the story of how he and two friends ran across the Sahara in 111 days. He told us what he learned about the water crisis in the Sahara. He told us also how he and the same two friends trekked to the South Pole, and how youth from around the world encouraged them via the Internet all the way.

But what I learned from Ray was much more than just his remarkable story. His energy is absolutely infectious. This is a man who has NO limitations. Not one. If he sets his mind to it, he does it. Case closed. There’s no room for self doubt, anxiety or fear. He made a decision to eliminate those things from his life. Was it hard to run across the desert? You’re damn right it was. Was it hard to trek to the South Pole? Umm…yah. But just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

People set limitations for themselves continuously. But if you listen to Ray, you’ll soon find out that limitations are only perceptions. They aren’t real. Sure, there are circumstances that may cause you to think you have a limitation. But circumstances are malleable. Everything can and will change, if you only spend some time figuring out how you’re going to change it. It goes back to Lesson #1 – you aren’t defined by what happens to you. Everyone has the power to change their lives, to do something that stretches beyond what they perceive their limits to be. Choose to have no limits, and anything is possible.

In addition, we also announced a bit of a new element for Aronado’s show, StartupLucky. I’m going to be coming on board as the “Canadian Connection” of the show, bringing viewers the low down on the startup scene in Canada and interviewing amazing folks from coast to coast to coast!

Check out the show here….