High Road Communications

High Road co-founder and president Mia Wedgbury will be talking about new ways to market the Toronto technology sector during the opening session of Toronto Technology Week (TTW) on May 28th. More information about the “State of the Nation” event can be found here.

There are many events every day during TTW, including mesh, the Canadian New Media Awards, the first Annual Municipal Wireless Applications Conference, and EnterpriseCamp. The events calendar on the TTW website provides an overview and more information about all events.

As part of a Globe and Mail special about “Technology in the GTA”, Mia spoke with Paul Lima about “some of the PR challenges and opportunities facing tech companies in the Greater Toronto Area” and “how this metropolis should position itself as a global high-tech hub.”

How should Toronto tech companies market themselves to the world?
First, they should stop being afraid of mentioning that they are Canadian and located in Toronto. They think being in Toronto, as opposed to Silicon Valley, isn’t good. But look at Waterloo and Ottawa - the tech companies in those cities have a much greater sense of pride. Why do Waterloo entrepreneurs talk about innovation and their city with great pride?
We have to be prouder about Toronto and talk it up more. But in some ways, this reluctance reflects Toronto’s image of itself. The Toronto Technology Week [May 28-June 1] is a great opportunity to talk about Toronto.

The full interview is available online here.

High Road Vancouver’s Jo-Anne Stayner will discuss public relations strategy for product launches in the upcoming Go2Market roundtable by the British Columbia Technology Industry Association. The event is held on March 22 at 7:30 PM in the BCTIA boardroom (1188 W. Georgia, Suite 900). More information and registration on the BCTIA website.

Thousands of game developers have invaded San Francisco this week for the annual Game Developers Conference, the biggest industry event of its kind.  (Let’s say there are worse assignments than to leave Montreal in a chilly -35?C to head to sunny California…) This year, the event has attracted over 12,000 attendees – a sharp increase from previous years. This can in part be explained by the cancellation of E3 as we knew it, many wanting to take this opportunity to network and conduct business. Interestingly, media attendance also seems to have increased for the same reason.

Gaming has really entered the mainstream world (one only has to look at the ever rising popularity of the Nintendi Wii – attracting gamers as much as people who have never picked up a controller before in their lives) and is now very much part of our entertainment environment, it’s fascinating to get to see the underside of this industry. E3 was very product-centric, (where everything was oversized) but this show is about the people, the technology and the skills.

Go check http://www.gamasutra.com, they are covering the show live with a great overview of what is happening. Jill Duffy reported on the conference given by Warren Spector (of Deus Ex’s fame) on storytelling. As always, this great visionary has given food for thought to his peers. Last time I had the pleasure to hear him speak was at the Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS) in 2005, where he gave a much publicized keynote discussing violence in games. It created waves for weeks!

Big surprise factor for me was the Quebec presence. While Montreal is now known worldwide as a major development hub, it was still quite a shock to realize how strong the Quebec presence is at GDC: everywhere I walk, I pick up the easily identifiable Quebecois accent from groups of people I walk past. That’s not to mention the acquaintances I’ve been running into since the show started! From the MIGS team to Ubisoft Montreal employees, to High Road’s very own clients, the Quebec representation is quite remarkable. I had the pleasure of walking around the show with Electric Playground’s host Victor Lucas, showing him some of Montreal’s greatest technologies.

Of course, a tradeshow isn’t complete without an array of parties and events. Last night was the show’s Awards ceremony, where Xbox 360’s big hit Gears of War won the top honors. I selected to celebrate the evening with Montreal’s A.I. Implant who was throwing a little cocktail party and celebrating their latest customer adoption (a “small” studio called Bioware!).

Now back to the show for Day 2 – and hoping to enjoy some nice warm weather before heading back tomorrow to chilly Montreal…

Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion and, until a couple of hours ago, its Chair, is speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday as the keynote for the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation’s (OCRI) Tech Showcase. The Waterloo-based BlackBerry maker has said it expects to restate earnings by about $250-million (U.S.) going back to 2004.

The Tech Showcase is an annual event that always does a good job of attracting local interest and media to Scotiabank Place. I don’t know what the exact media turnout expected for the Tech Showcase was before today, but I’m sure the number has shot up. And in one way that’s really too bad for OCRI. Until today there may have been fewer media attending, but at least they were looking for emerging success stories. Now the circus is coming to town and everyone will be focusing on the elephant in the room.

I’ll be at the event on Wednesday and am interested to gauge journalists’ attitude toward Balsillie. The overall media response to RIM’s announcement today has been milder than I first expected, but it appears RIM has gone to great lengths to maintain its integrity and get its message out to the analysts and media. It’s really too bad RIM will be the dominant story on Wednesday. I’m sure they would be happy to have the spotlight shine elsewhere.

Apart from being a prolific blogger, Dave Forde is also the chair of Toronto Technology Week (TTW), a new initiative and event series that’s being held in Toronto from May 28 to June 1, 2007. Dave stopped by at High Road yesterday to give us an overview of the events and activities that will be part of TTW.

TTW is an umbrella initiative that brings together a series of Toronto-based technology events that include the mesh conference and the Canadian New Media Awards. IT associations like ITAC and other organizations with an interest in the technology sector are also looking to plan activities during TTW.  Behind this initiative are The Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), the City of Toronto and a number of people active in Toronto’s technology community.

“The purpose at a high level is to have one week dedicated to celebrating success within the sector, create a platform for Toronto based companies to share their story with Toronto and the world at large. To give you a very simple explanation, think of what Toronto Fashion Week or the International Film Festival do by bringing those industries together for one week for networking, celebration and education, that is similar to what we are looking for TTW to do for the tech sector.”

More information can be found on Dave’s blog and on an upcoming website for TTW that will include an events calendar and information on sponsorship opportunities and other ways to get involved.