Heart & Stroke Foundation Ontario: Heart and Soul Award Reception. Hooray @Shananigans5!

Tonight, I am attending “The Heart and Soul Award” which is an award for people and groups who have ‘put their heart and soul’ into volunteering and/or supporting Heart and Stroke Ontario, and have ‘gone that extra mile’. They are specifically celebrating the contributions of their Toronto area event organizers and fund raisers who ‘bring heart to the health of Canadians.’

Before you ask, no I am not the one being honored, I am merely a +1, aka arm candy, of one of the recipients of this award – my friend, Shannon “@Shananigans5” Hunter.

Why is she getting this award? Well, you may recall back in February when I was auctioned off for charity by Shannon, as part of Social Media Week Toronto 2011 (a time when I was so busy with all the awesome I almost didn’t have time to blog).

Shannon "@Shananigans5

Well, it turned out that Shannon and her co-organizer for the #LoveAHeart event raised over $9,000! It also was the largest total amount raised by any Heart & Stroke Foundation event across the Greater Toronto Area!

I am very happy for Shannon so am glad to be joining her tonight and we all should be proud of her and all the work she’s been doing for charity. I already mentioned in my previous post about the auction (linked above) why this cause is so near and dear to my heart in particular and with people like Shannon leading the way (as well as “beefcakes” like me and beauties like the ladies at the event, willing to be auctioned off for charity) we will find ways to beat all these terrible maladies that afflict us as a race.

This, of course, goes to all the award recipients tonight, in years past, and in the future.

Projection Screens & Cell Phones At #SMWTO

I am not a professional photographer, I am not an amateur photographer, or a photography hobbyist. I know how to use my cell phone to take pictures and I know hot to use your average digital camera (and older, analogue cameras) to take a picture. Honestly I don’t even really know what an SLR is and why its better than any other digital camera.

The above being said I have to wonder if there’s technology out there which allows for cameras – specifically cell phone cameras (like on my BlackBerry Torch) to take pictures of what they’re displaying without it ending up being just a white screen.

This was especially true for me during Social Media Week in Toronto (#SMWTO) during which the above picture was taken. The reason it became so relevant to me during #SMWTO was because so many people at the events were live tweeting what was going on at the talks. However, when we wanted to tweet pictures of the screens that were displaying valuable info relevant to the topic being discussed they simply didn’t come out. You would think events connected to “Social Media Week” would plan better for this. Then again, maybe the technology doesn’t exist yet (except for using huge HD screens which would be massively expensive). If it doesn’t someone should invent one soon.

UPDATE With New Info – “Changes Facebook MUST MAKE To Photo Tag Options & Privacy Settings”

In my Post-A-Day Challenge post for January 18, 2011 – “Changes Facebook MUST MAKE To Photo Tag Options & Privacy Settings” I gave my opinion about wanting Facebook to give us more control over our photo/video tags. I’ve pasted an image of that post’s thoughts below to refresh your memories.

Clicking this image above will take you to the older post from January 18, 2011. But this is the specific aspect of that post I will be discussing in this post.

A bunch of people between Twitter and in the Comments of the original post agreed with me on the issue and my solutions. However, I personally had no way of trying to get this implemented or even making Facebook aware of our feelings on the issue until this week. This week in Toronto, and around the world is Social Media Week and all week in multiple cities there have been talks and panels and workshops about social media and the use of it from all different aspects – there’s also been a bunch of parties one of which organized by the group #GenYTO I will be heading to shortly after finishing this post.

At an event Wednesday morning called “How to be “LIKEABLE”” on Facebook” which I was hosted by Matchstick Inc. as part of their Forum Series and who generously invited me and a friend. The event was described as a couple of presentations which “explore the topics of how to garner a brand following and generate meaningful content for your online community” on Facebook and social media in general included a talk from Alfredo Tan of Facebook Canada. The whole thing was extremely interesting and I learned a lot from it but at the end I got to have a little face to face with a Facebook Canada employee. This was my chance to mention my concerns as laid out in the January 18 post directly ‘to Facebook’ and I did.

The answer I received was honestly somewhat disappointing. I don’t blame Alfredo for the answer he gave me, he is a very nice and personable guy and he was probably just quoting Facebook’s stance on the issue (I guess they have already given this thought). Basically he said it is very low on their list of things to do for a number of reasons:

• Allowing this would ruin the ‘real time’ aspect of Facebook photo tagging and that goes against what Facebook – and social media in general – is aspiring to do. They want to give users a real time experience as well as they can.
• If you are so worried about the wrong people seeing the wrong pictures of you, you can set it so no one can see photos you are tagged in.
• You can set up a list of people who can see photos of you and people who cannot.

While I understand Facebook’s position on the matter from a business perspective – especially the desire to give users a real time experience. I completely agree that I do also want a ‘real time experience’ as well. However, I don’t personally care if it is real time when I am not around to be a custodian of my online identity because I am asleep but, hey, nothing is perfect. Nevertheless, it is what it is and I thought people would be interested to hear the follow up.

I think the only way to achieve the stopgap without Facebook giving us the option – and this sounds ridiculously insane, I know – would be to “Deactivate” your Facebook account when you aren’t around to watch over it. The reason why it would work is that even when you “Deactivate” your Facebook account it doesn’t actually get deleted it just sits there until you “reactivate” it. Your whole profile including pictures and friends and posts and messages is still saved in Facebook’s servers waiting for you to come back and reactivate (although it supposedly will not be able to bring everything back immediately). The reason this is completely an insane solution is because it also means that people will not be able to send you Facebook Messages (and I know A LOT of people who don’t email their friends and prefer to communicate with them solely through Facebook Messages), look at your photos, comment on your photos, tag you in posts, invite you to events, make you a Facebook Friend (if it is someone you just recently met or just joined Facebook), or do any of the other interactive things Facebook allows you to do with your friends.

The above ‘solution’ is obviously a terrible one and that’s why I put the word solution in quotes. The only reason I’m just proposing it is if you REALLY don’t want to make huge lists of people who can & can’t see your tagged photos or turn off the ability of being able to be tagged in photos entirely while still maintaining a Facebook presence that seems to be the only one right now.

I’m Going On The Auction Block For Charity! Tonight @ #LoveAHeart For The Heart & Stroke Foundation

That’s right, you read the title correctly. I am putting myself up for auction tonight in a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction for Charity as part of Social Media Week Toronto (#SMWTO). The event itself was organized by @Shananigans5 and @AllyLesniak. Ally founded, writes for, and is editor of the popular Toronto blog GirlsOfTO and you can check out GirlsOfTO’s “official” post about the charity auction here.

There is a $5 cover charge for the event all of which goes directly to the Heart & Stroke Foundation – The Hideout is donating the space as well as some live music for the evening. Doors open at 8pm and the first round of bidding begins at 9:30pm (I am the second up on the auction block).

If you would like to follow the hashtag online leading up to, during, and after the event it is #LoveAHeart

As well, most of the event details are up at the Facebook Event Page here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184432254921826

The event will be at The Hideout which is at 484 Queen Street West (Toronto) here’s the GoogleMaps place page for it or you can just check out the map and street view below(click to enlarge) for the location as well.

GoogleMaps Map

Google StreetView

Some people have asked me why the heck I am doing this?

• Because it sounds like fun.
• Because it is for a good cause (The Heart & Stroke Foundation).
• Because I’m keeping to my ‘Yes Man’ ideals and it was put forward to me to put myself on auction.
• Because I’m single so I have no girlfriend, wife, or fiancée who may get mildly perturbed by me putting myself up for auction.
• Because you only live once.
• It’ll probably be very amusing (for me and everyone else but probably for different reasons).

For all the ladies who would like to bid on me tonight and need to know more details here they are:

• All bidding starts at $25.
• Cash only & in person only for bidding
• I will be in the 1st round of Bachelors & Bachelorettes beginning at 9:30pm. I am the second person up for auction after the lovely @gujessie (Jessie Gu).
• Highest male & female bidders will each receive a Nella Bella bag (handbag for the ladies and a duffle bag for the gents) as well as a $100 each from Sleeman to spend at The Hideout.
• Highest bid of the night wins a pair of Leafs Tickets.

In the GirlsOfTO Official #LoveAHeart post mentioned above here’s my bio:

Not to be confused with the sexually ambivalent son of Eugene Levy, Dan is a twitter rockstar, a friend to everyone and one of the cutest boys on our list. Bid high and fast.

In his “Love A Heart Auction: Bachelor Buyers Guide“ one of the other bachelors, @ZachBussey, wrote this about me:

“Dan’s a well known guy in Toronto’s Social Media scene. Probably one of the friendliest guys you’ll meet. You’ll catch him at basically every tweetup ever. Sells for $85″

Actually, Zach wrote a couple blog posts about the upcoming auction. One of them was “Love A Heart Auction: Speaketh the Auctionees” posted yesterday and found here. He asked us to answer some questions…I sort of didn’t so I’ll answer them here and I posted them in the comments on Zach’s blog post.

1. How much do you think you’ll go for? I honestly have no idea. In a ‘Buyer’s Guide’ post that Zach Bussey wrote earlier (linked below) he said he thought I’d go for $85 so I will stick with that. It seems like a decent amount and I hope I can live up to that hype.
2. Your best physical quality? My orthodontist will be proud to hear me say, my smile (I used to have a small overbite).
3. Your best skill? Being social: Getting along with people, finding the good in everyone and liking them for it, and maintaining connections with people.
4. Out of the 9 others, who do you deem your biggest competition? I haven’t given it any thought. I don’t think any of us really compete with anyone else because we are all very different people with different styles and personalities.
5. Succinctly, make your pitch for the event why people should bid on you? Because I’m a nice guy; I like to enjoy life; my mom always tells me I’m a great person and her favorite 3rd son; and I love a good, witty conversation.
6. And in one word, describe me (Zach Bussey): Sens-fan (Zach is from Ottawa)

Zach’s two other blog posts were:

• “Love A Heart Auction: Bachelorette Buyers Guide” which you can find here.
• “Love A Heart Auction: Bachelor Buyers Guide” which you can find here (I posted his description of me above and linked to the post there too).

I guess we will see if I live up to the hype.

Wish me luck!!!

Social Media Week (#SMWTO) = Busy Dan

As I stand here with @JoelReilly, @amirad, and @abbylai at #SMWNKPR the Social Media Week at NPRK and I realized between the 3 Social Media Week Toronto (#SMWTO) events I have been to today I have had barely any time to write any good content for y’all to read.

This Post-A-Day challenge is HARD!
Today I went to the amazing event Social Media For Mayor (#SM4Mayor) moderated by my friend @MichaelNus talking about the municipal elections in 2010 and election campaigns in general and how Social Media affected – or didn’t affect – the outcome of the race.
I then went to the Smartphones & Cocktails put on by Nokia with the rest of the Toronto based TheCellularGuru.com team, GuruDaniel and CellGuru. It was a very interesting event but I missed the majority of the speech (that made me a #SadPanda). Now I am at NPRK for an event where I wasn’t on the registered list but they let me in because I asked nicely. I missed the speech beforehand but the networking here is amazing!!!

OH @JoelReilly: “The most important thing for anyone to know is that we closed out the bar.”
OH addition to @JoelReilly’s comment by @amirad: “…with vodka in our hands.”

I can’t wait for tomorrow!!!
Thanks for reading!