By Chad Smith
Innovation comes in many forms, sometimes useful, like electric cars, and sometimes novel, like the promisingly practical, Roomba robotic vacuum. Often innovation starts as a dare or in jest when lamenting the shortcomings of the boring, same-old mousetrap or dreaming of the missed opportunity surely no one has thought of. At its most organic, fostering an innovative idea beyond concept takes some market testing in the form of attempting to explain to trusted advisors, a.k.a. friends, how truly awesome the world could be if the idea became reality. If the idea takes root and it sprouts, many iterations and refinements later, those who conceived, contributed and benefited wonder how we possibly managed without robotic vacuums cleaners.
Two weeks ago while planning the upcoming Digital Alberta Awards event with my colleagues, the notion of a digital award suddenly turned from concept into tangible. In the past a timeless plaque was the award presented to the winner in each of the 16 categories but what if we could do it better. What if the award was an awesome high definition digital skeuomorphism of the plaque? Even better, what if the high definition plaque was completely replaced by a mind-blowing animation sequence? It could be the perfect confluence of digital media creativity and innovation to celebrate leading Albertans and their
companies doing just that!
Imagine an Android tablet in portrait view, standing on a base, proudly displaying to the winner the details of their victory and our recognition for superlative work in their field. The best part is the glowing LCD offers a unique rich media experience tailored for the Digital Alberta Awards. They could even be connected together to display content coordinated with the event itself! Those colleagues were genuinely intrigued and they instantly wanted to know more and contribute to the idea.
The team at Digital Alberta has a vision for an innovative award for outstanding work in digital media and we’re asking our industry and community to help us make this digital award happen. Sponsor or contribute in-kind to these key ingredients for achieving our goal of creating a truly digital award:
Graphic artistry talent
Digital media design talent
Android development talent
Android tablets - We’ve sourced some Android tablets
Tablet pedestals - Machined or 3D printed
We’ve all experienced what directed bursts of highly concentrated developer and designer teams are capable of in brief periods of time. The Charity App Challenge held in Calgary earlier this year clearly demonstrates the kind of ingenuity and insanely creative solutions that materialize when local talent concentrates together. Let’s build on the momentum of these fantastic public expressions of our thriving digital media industry! We look forward to seeing you at the Digital Alberta Awards on June 2, 2013 at the Royal Alberta Museum Theatre!
The 2013 Digital Alberta Annual General Meeting will be held on May 29 2013 in both Calgary and Edmonton.
The 2013 Digital Alberta Nominating Committee has been selected! Say congratulations to Chelsea Klukas, Chad Smith and Mike Simoens. The Nominating Committee will oversee the 2013 Digital Alberta Board nominations process. The Committee will ensure submissions are completed properly and will put together the slate for membership vote at the AGM, which will take place on Wednesday, May 29th, 2013.
If you are interested in running for a board position please submit an online application before Tuesday May 21 at 5pm. If you have any questions, please contact the Nominating Committee at nominations@digitalalberta.com.
Digital Alberta is pleased to announce its new membership structure with new benefits and exclusive offers only available to members. As well, additional and targeted benefits are the focus of our new Corporate and Friends of Digital Alberta member offerings to further support Alberta's thriving Digital Media industry. Digital Alberta reaches thousands of people through our newsletter and hundred's of thousands through our editorial content.
Corporate Members and Friends of Digital Alberta will now be receiving exclusive opportunities through Digital Alberta including, premium job posting and advertising placements, sponsored content in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal, and enrollment in our soon to be launched Membership Directory.
Digital Alberta is working with health and wellness benefits partner BenefitDeck to provide programs to all members and is continuing to seek additional partner offerings to add to enhance our member services. If you are looking to bring in new customers and have a discounted service or special offer to share with members, we would love to hear from you!
To learn more about our new membership tiers visit http://www.digitalalberta.com/join
Already a corporate member? Contact us today to find out how to kick your membership into high gear! Email info@digitalalberta.com
Multiple benefits of a great brand
A brand is not a logo, jingle, pantone colors, font type or tagline. A brand is the gut feeling a customer has about your company. Full stop. The visual and audio symbols used to represent your company will evoke some reminder of the experience you create for a customer. These gut feelings can have a big impact on your business and are worth paying attention to.
A brand can influence, good or bad, the price customers are willing to pay for your products and services. A strong brand can help your company weather a downturn in the economy. A mission lead brand outperforms its competition nine to one. Highly branded companies deliver more shareholder value. Last but not least, a brand can help you align employee behaviour to consistently delight your customers.
The benefits of building a great brand are clear. How might we go about creating one for you?
The 3 steps to build your brand reputation
A great brand is built on three synchronized gears: a promise, an experience and customer feedback.
The first gear is your promise. This is expressed through your value proposition, tagline and all advertising material. Your promise sets the customer’s expectation for how they should be treated.
The second gear is the experience that your company creates when it delivers the promise. Traditionally, this experience was delivered in-person by your staff. However today’s consumers regularly evaluate a company through an online digital experience before they make a larger, in-person, commitment. (Please read Zero Moment Of Truth or the Consumer Decision Journey) The more consistently delightful this experience is for customers, the more positively they’ll respond towards your brand.
The last gear is listening for customer perceptions about your company. Your customer’s perception of your company is made when they compare their expectations with your promised experience. In all likelihood there is a gap between your perception of your brand and your customers perception of your brand. To narrow the gap between perception and reality, you’ll have to actively listen to your customer’s feelings towards your brand. Listening is critical gear to creating a learning loop for continuous improvement and is the cornerstone of innovation.
Author: Marc Binkley
Digital Alberta is pleased to announce that we have partnered with BenefitDeck Consulting Ltd. to establish a benefit program for our members. After months of due diligence, the board has decided that it would be a major value add for our members to have access to a benefit plan catered to the digital media industry.
Advantage of Digital Alberta’s Benefit program:
About BenefitDeck:
BenefitDeck is a benefits consulting company with the goal to help clients with their benefits plan decision through open communication and advise in their best interest. Our commitment is to help clients create a winning benefit package that helps them attract and retain talent.
What we do well:
Check out BenefitDeck's website.
Calgary, Canada – The Charity App Challenge, a joint initiative with the Calgary Herald, Digital Alberta and Place2Give.com, is bringing Calgary’s technology and non‐profit sectors together for a raucous hack-a-thon challenge. Competing for the chance to win a $30,000 contract, local developers will work in teams over 48 hours from Feb 1‐3 building a mobile solution for this year’s Calgary Herald Christmas Fund Charities.
“The Calgary Herald is thrilled that the development community in Calgary has agreed to provide their valuable time and expertise for the first Charity App Challenge (CAC). The CAC will provide a weekend of fun and (we hope!) amazing work that will ultimately produce a mobile App that our Herald Christmas fund charities can use to make even more of a difference for their clients and partners. The Herald, the fund raising community and all the partners involved in the CAC wish to sincerely thank the Calgary development community for their support and we wish them a great weekend of productive coding!” Commented Guy Huntingford, Calgary Herald Publisher.
Danielle Aubry Executive Director of CCASA said, “We are very excited to be participating. We know that children and youth are huge users of technology including mobile apps. We also know that this group is the most vulnerable to sexual abuse and sexual assault. It is therefore critical that as the primary sexual violence service provider in Calgary we keep pace with the growth of technology. The challenge allows us to be part of a dynamic project that will further let us reach out to our clients and communities.” “The Kerby Centre is looking forward to receiving and implementing the mobile solution that comes out of the Charity App Challenge as both our donors, stakeholders and especially our boomer clients are increasingly mobile and technologically savvy. Having this solution will give us another way to engage with our audiences,” said Kerby CEO Luanne Whitmarsh.
“We are really excited about the opportunity this initiative is providing to the 2012 recipients of the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund,” commented Place2Give CEO Gena Rotstein. “And the potential for the program to expand year‐on‐year will be hugely beneficial to Calgary’s philanthropy community.” Speaking further about the prize Digital Alberta President Michelle Sklar said, “We understand that 48 hours is not a long time, but that’s part of the hack‐a‐thon challenge and fun. Furthermore, it is understood that the app created at the Challenge will need refining before being released. Part of the contract conditions for the winning team will be details that outline their completion and support obligations.”
The Charity App Challenge is still looking for developers, volunteers and sponsors. Additionally, don’t forget to click here and vote for your favourite your favourite app idea. For more information on the Charity App Challenge, please visit the website here.
What a year! We have seen incredible growth and engagement with exciting programs in digital publishing, mobile, design, funding, Iegal, entrepreneurship, communications, human resources in the digital space and of course the Digital Alberta Awards! We have spoken at leading events in digital media, film and marketing. We have great new partners such as AcceleratorYYC, Startup Calgary and Startup Edmonton, Innovate Calgary, A100, Alberta Enterprise Corp, Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education, Wavefront and Mobile Monday Edmonton. We have expanded our newsletter communications to twice weekly covering all tech events province-wide and industry news and trends. We have launched new membership services such as our Mentorship Program. We even have a Digital Alberta column in the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal! Our membership has grown by 35%! We welcomed aboard a new Project Manager, Stacey Perlin who has been hard at work making so much of the incredible things we have been able to accomplish this year even possible!
It has been an incredible year! All thanks to you and of course the amazing team that makes up the board of Digital Alberta!
Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season!
Looking forward to an awesome 2013!
This is a strategic partnership to bring the Alberta tech and digital community together. We’re hoping to answer the questions many entrepreneurs and digital players still have around who is driving the community, what they are doing, and where they are.
Pieter Boekhoff, Co-founder of AcceleratorYYC explains, “I am extremely pleased to partner with someone as driven as Michelle and the Digital Alberta team. They are truly adding value and opportunity for their members. I am very pleased by their ability to see that the best way to serve the community that we are a part of is by all working together and collaborating to make something extremely impactful and special in Alberta.”
President of Digital Alberta, Michelle Sklar writes, “AcceleratorYYC is a great concept and Pieter and his team are driven with a vision for the entrepreneurial and tech community that is collaborative, innovative and above all welcoming! For Digital Alberta it’s not only important to connect and support other organizations in Alberta’s thriving tech community, but also to set down roots to help our community grow organically. Digital Alberta is excited to work with AcceleratorYYC members to help them achieve their business goals!”
Digital Alberta (in collaboration with Startup Calgary) effectively worked with AcceleratorYYC to host Mobile Monday Calgary (MoMoYYC) on October 1, 2012. Panelists from Wavefront, Expedia, Mob4Hire and Mobovivo discussed their insight in regards to native app development vs the mobile web to an engaged audience. AcceleratorYYC hosted over 65 guests for the event -- from mobile developers, entrepreneurs, and business professionals to general tech enthusiasts.
In the upcoming year, Digital Alberta and AcceleratorYYC will be co-hosting more events for the tech community in Calgary. Both organizations will be promoting events/workshops/programs and will work together to provide the best resources for tech startups in the city. (If you haven’t already signed up for the weekly Digital Alberta newsletter, you can do so here)
Digital Alberta will have its Calgary office location at AcceleratorYYC. Digital Alberta members and interested guests will be able to meet with Stacey Perlin, Project Manager, on a regular basis at AcceleratorYYC when she is not working in Edmonton.
Stop by AcceleratorYYC at #200, 1212 9th Ave SE in Inglewood to say hello to Stacey Perlin or Jenn Egroff, AcceleratorYYC’s new Community Liaison.
Join Digital Alberta for Funding 101 taking place on Wednesday, October 17 at Belgo in Calgary. Our panelists include Christine Gilles, from Mitacs, Raed Kadri from Connect Canada and Gena Rotstein, from Dexterity. To register: http://funding101yyc.eventbrite.ca/
One-to-one meetings will be held in Edmonton with Raed Khadri from Connect Canada October 15-16. Email stacey@digitalalberta.com for more information or to book an appointment.
A little bit about Mitacs...
Looking for funding to support your research and development projects? Are you a start-up or established company looking for talented people and resources to support the growth of your business? Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that funds research and development collaborations between companies and universities. Projects range across computer science, business, engineering and communications—any discipline qualifies. The Mitacs Accelerate program places graduate-level interns with companies for 4 to 24 months to work on a research and development project. Learn more about our research and training programs or contact Christine Gillies in Alberta cgillies@mitacs.ca
What to know about Connect Canada
Connect Canada links graduate students and Canadian companies for research internship placements. Regardless of the issue, the sector or the location, Connect Canada internships can help companies find a cost-effective solution developed by highly skilled graduate students under the supervision of an academic supervisor. For graduate students, Connect Canada provides a pathway to further develop research skills, while gaining valuable industry experience and contacts. Internships range from four to six months, with the intern spending at least 50 per cent of their time at the company’s facilities.
Funded by the Government of Canada through the Industrial Research and Development Internship (IRDI) program, Connect Canada is building lasting connections between the research and private sectors that will enhance Canada’s ability to engage in advanced R&D for years to come.
Connect Canada is managed by AUTO21 Inc., with support from University of Windsor’s Centre for Career Education.
Here are "8 Ways" of how to get the most from your membership in Digital Alberta:
