A Path to Success

Our Summer 2007 social

The NewPath Summer Social for 2007 went off nicely on the patio at the Fox & Fiddle. The weather was perfect and it was a good opportunity for existing and new members to meet each other over food and drink. Thank you all for coming out -- it was great to see you.

Here are some pictures for your memories:

Jeff Chow and Alex Sirota

Arni Mickelsons and Richard Rogers

 

Klara Tsinman and Misha Rybalov

Tania Samsonova and Richard Underwood

Michael Psylakis and Ushnish Sengupta

Rick Niesiobedzki and Kevin McIntosh

Alla and Suzy Dickstein

Thoughts from the April meeting on Blogging for Fun and Profit

Thank you to Leesa Barnes of Caprica , Mark Evans of B5Media , Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk.com and Ed Lee for joining the NewPath Network on a discussion of Blogging for Fun and Profit.

We had a wonderful turn out of over 25 people at the event and to my surprise there were many bloggers already in the audience.

The highlights of the discussion for me were the insights on how blogs have evolved over time to challenge traditional media, the motivation for blogging and why blogs make sense for a small business.

It was also interesting to hear that  blogging is not for everyone. It takes

- commitment to blog (text,video or pod) on a regular basis (some blog at 6am before most of the eastern timezones rise, being a journalist doesn't hurt at all)

- decent writing skills

- a passion to blog about something important to you

I think what is most interesting about blogging is that the person behind the business can shine through. Some of us thought that if you had a splashy web page for your business, then your business would appear larger than it really is, but that is a misleading isn't it? What is more important is content rather than flash -- and blogs seem to be a perfect representation of that -- blogs rarely have pictures other than IN content and they rarely have much decoration. They are about your stories and why we should read you and buy from you rather than someone else.

Here's an innovative example of what I mean.

Oh yes there are pictures from the event:

Here is Alex, Kelly and Ed after the meeting...

And here is Mark, Stephen and Misha enjoying the networking...

 

A timely meeting -- Blog for Fun & Profit

Hello friends,

Our next meeting on April 25 is now taking registrations. We will have a panel of known bloggers in Toronto talking about why they blog and why you could start a blog for your business or help a non profit start a conversation online.

Notice I said 'could' rather then should. There are very many perspectives on blogging -- blogging has a different purpose for everyone. And it gives each person a voice -- it appears that blogging is humanizing the Internet, which I think is great.

We'll see what our bloggers think. Please come out on April 25 and tell your colleagues who have been thinking about blogging to come out. It should be a good time.

Both Sides of the RFP/RFI Process

It looks like the TPMA (Toronto Product Management Association) has picked up on our topic from last month.  They will also be talking about RFP's and Proposal writing.  If you are interested in the subject you may want to get their perspective.  The details are at Both Sides of the RFP/RFI Process

The Way We Were

For those who remember the 'old days' or those who are just curious, take a look back to the way we were.  Ask Alex for the details.  The group met once a month at a coffee shop.   Sometimes the other coffee drinkers would join in our meetings.

December 2006 Winter Social - Mission Accomplished!

The December 2006 winter volunteer event went smashingly well. This year NewPath was able to coordinate the volunteer event with Nexus and Social Tech Brewing to get the word out to more people. We had twice as many people register to come out. 14 people signed up and just about all of them came out.

We selected the Yonge Street Mission's Christmas Market this year as our volunteer event. The market is an event that allows families, single mothers and other less privileged to get toys, food and other neecesseties for the holiday season. I think it is great that YSM calls this a "market" -- each person gets to select what they want with the help of volunteers.

Our group helped on the morning of Dec 21 from 9:30am to 12:30pm and enjoyed a nice lunch prepared by the volunteers as well in the kitchens of YSM. Thank you for coming out -- we hope you had a good time.

I know I did -- helping a family from Afghanistan helping pick out toys and clothes for their 6 months old girl, 8 year old daughter and 10 year old son. They were just 2 years out of Afghanistan -- the mom noticed an automobile windshield sun visor with a Canadian flag on it. She thought it was a Canadian flag and was excited to have one -- I told her it was not but she could get one for free I am sure. Can someone help with a link to free Canadian flags?

Here are some pictures from the event... The signs to the event were clearly labeled throughout the building.

I didn't take pictures inside the actual area -- wasn't sure I could, but here are some after event pictures to enjoy...

Here's Alex, Kevin and Richard at the entrance..

Here's Kevin and Misha enjoying lunch...

And here's (most) of the group that could stay till after lunch... Thanks folks for a great turnout... YSM very much appreciated it.