We did a fun interview with Nicole Tomlinson for a story about Dancing Matt‘s internet video phenomena for the Vancouver Sun. Nicole did a really nice job of summarizing our chats and emails and the Dancing Matt phenomena.
And just in case you’re not one of the 15-million+ people who’ve watched one of Matt’s dancing videos, please let the one below load and enjoy 4 minutes of delight.
Spring is traditionally associated with change and renewal. A time to clean things up. A time for new seeds to be planted. Spring also happens to be an excellent time to announce the evolution in our business.
Same great service, strategy and team you expect, with a new name. It’s still Monique Trottier and James Sherrett and a merry band of partners working hard behind the scenes. Except now the scenery has changed.
Why the name change?
We wanted to better describe the type of “Work” we do: “Marketing.” At the same time, we wanted to keep the feel of a hard-working, industrious shop, which led us to “Boxcar.” Last, we wanted to do away with inconsistency over our name (Work Industries) and domain name (www.iworkindustries.com).
So after a few sessions at the white board and too many domain name searches, Boxcar Marketing was born.
We’ve let some friends and colleagues know about the name change, so it’s percolated out there into the great Google. Now this announcement makes it official.
What does the name change to Boxcar Marketing mean to you?
Where you saw Work Industries, now you’ll see Boxcar Marketing. On invoices, cheques, business cards, contracts and in email addresses, we’ll be Boxcar Marketing. We’ll do our best to redirect all the Work Industries points of reference to Boxcar Marketing. But if you spot an old reference to Work Industries, please let us know.
As is the nature of our business and our philosophy, we expect and want your feedback. We practice and preach conversational, 2-way communications.
So let us know what you think. If you have questions or concerns or just want a little more information on the name change, please contact us. We’re still at the same phone numbers and office address. But now we’re Boxcar Marketing. Please update your email address book:
As a Flickr Pro user (Here I am!) I can now get access to more advanced stats — search engines users finding my photos, websites using my photos, links pointing at my photos. All kinds of good, useful information. Almost like running my own little photo website.
To get the Flickr stats activated for your account, you have to be a Pro account and logged in. Then if you click Your Stats under the You menu, you’ll get instructions on activiting the stats. If you’ve already activated the stats, you’ll get the stats.
Just a little tip to get a little more out of a great service!
Barcamp Vancouver 2007 is set to kick off tomorrow night, August 17, at 6 pm. The monster that is Barcamp Vancouver 2007 then runs for 24 geek-packed hours, wrapping up Saturday, August 18 at 5:30.
If you registered many weeks ago, all the details for the good, good fun are below. If you missed out on registering, I’m pretty sure we’ll be running again next year. So stay tuned in July for an announcement.
But before we get to the details of the event, I’d like to pimp the session I’m pitching for Saturday. Here’s the pitch:
Zero to 30 Seconds in Less than 1 Hour or So You Think You Can Make an Ad?
In one session we’ll go from concept to finished product on one or more advertisements (depending on number of participants) for anything we want. Email me if you’d like to get started on a few briefs before the session. — James Sherrett, ad hacker
I expect things may be a little wooly at first. It’s a pretty ambitious goal to bang out a few ads in less than an hour. But I think it’ll be one grand experiment! I’m interested to see how it shakes out.
Anyone interested in going a little pre-session preparation? Contact me and I’ll pass along the briefs I’m working up to get us rolling.
We’re oversubscribed (yay!), which means that some people who want
to come won’t be able to come (boo!).
So please, if you’re in the first 120, check your dates and availability.
Are you sure you’re coming? We want to minimize the wiki squatting.
If you’re not sure you’re coming, please strike out your name and post
the name of the top person left on the waiting list in your former place.
If you’re on the waiting list, are you sure you’re available to come?
If not, please cross out your name. If you’re still keen on coming,
check back on the list to see if you’ve been added to the first 120.
We don’t mean to be too anal about this. We just want to make sure
that all the people that want to be there and can be there do get
to be there.
And to do that, please help us get the word out to all Barcampers.
Blog this message if you can. Forward it on to friends who are
interested so people are in the know.
We’ve gone through the list of signed-up attendees. Everyone who
left an email address has been sent this message. But that’s only
53 of about 160 people and email is a fickle mistress.
We’re missing out on getting in touch with some folks and we need
your help to get the word out. So blog the hell out of this and
we’ll (hopefully) reach everyone.
T-Shirts
We have printed 120 Barcamp Vancouver 2007 t-shirts to cover our
collective nekkidness.
They’re fuschia (!) and they’ll be available at the door on a first-
come, first-served basis.
We’re taking a suggested donation of $20 for each t-shirt, to
finance our lavish unconference lifestyle. Any monies left over will
be rolled into financing next year’s proceedings.
One of the suggestions from past Barcamps has been to post a list
of potential topics for sessions before the unconference. That way,
people can do their homework and get a hint of the sessions
available.
So that’s a great idea. Now let’s put it into action.
On the Barcamp Vancouver 2007 main page we have a heading called
Topics. So far, we have 2 sessions listed. The page is a wiki.
Anyone who wants to add a session, please go to it.
From past unconferences, we’ve seen that topics for sessions that
get listed beforehand have a much higher chance of getting selected
and getting great participation, which is, after all, the point.
So if you want to lead a session, or even just see a session on a
particular topic, please post the topic.
We’ll do some active wiki gardening to lend some order to the list
of topics, but anything is fair game. Go. To. It.
Schedule of Barcamp Events
Friday, August 17: food and drink at the Alibi Room
appetizers all evening
open bar starting at 6:30 pm (until our credit runs out!)
Lots of folks have worked hard to make Barcamp Vancouver 2007
happen. Sponsors have ponied up cash. Busy people have volunteered.
People with work to do have reinvested their attention to see
things get done.
So if you have a chance, thank a volunteer or a sponsor or one
of the folks at Workspace (our venue!) for making the event happen.
Last of all, thanks to all of your for all the enthusiasm, energy
and passion. And for reading this far.
Barcamp lives in the relationships between all of us. All of us
make it happen. So come to the unconference ready to rock and
help us all kick some ass.
We’re taking some vacation time next week and heading to our family camp at Lake of the Woods, in northern Ontario, for a week.
From July 28 to August 6 we’ll be pretty out of touch with any means of communication. In an emergency, the usual means of contact will work, but we can’t promise they’ll be swift.
We’ll be back in the office on August 7, ready and raring to go. Until then, we encourage you to unplug as we will. Distance, after all, make the heart grow fonder.
We leave this morning (Jun. 7) for a week in eastern Canada.
Our first stop will be in Ottawa for the wedding of two good friends. Then, on Sunday (Jun. 10), we be joining some friends returning to Toronto from the wedding, and we’ll be in Toronto until Wednesday (Jun. 13) evening.
Since we’ll be travelling, our ability to be in contact over the course of the next week may be intermittent. Give us a try at the usual coordinates and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can, between soothing the hurt of Senators fans and negotiating the hot, hazy and humid conditions of Toronto.
Underwire Monthly Newsletter
QuickLearn Training Series
What we’re talking about 
Project Highlights
Did you know?
Looking for the bee? 
Subscribe to our blog.