Village Gamer

Professional communicators across Canada are congregating in scenic Whistler this November 6th through- 8th for the 2011 International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Canada Western Region conference. Themed the Best of the Best, this year’s conference showcases expert sessions in three key areas: Personal Best, Best Practices and Best are Back – Conference All Stars. Read the rest of this entry »

via CanWIT BC Chapter: One out of five women in BC work in technology and this number has nearly doubled in the last decade. With more and more women choosing a career in technology, understanding what it takes to grow a technology-based business becomes increasingly important for those looking to advance into leadership roles. No matter what phase a company is in—from bootstrapping start-up to one that has established a foundation and is looking to move to the next level—growth is a critical success factor and important part of the discussion—whether it is achieving it, managing the impact of it or understanding the strategies that drive it. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto’s TransGaming Studios, the makers of Kula Blox and Garage, Inc., is looking for an experienced Game Designer.

You must have a proven track record of designing casual games demonstrated by having multiple titles shipped under your design leadership. You are ambitious and have a lot of initiative and enthusiasm. You have a passion for the game industry as a whole and deep knowledge of the casual space in particular. Read the rest of this entry »

TECHNOCompétences, in partnership with the Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow’s ICT Skills (CCICT) has unveiled its program for the Quebec component of National ICT Careers Week. The program runs throughout the month of October and will take two forms: classroom sessions and an interactive career show. Many dignitaries attended the launch, including the Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, Line Beauchamp. Read the rest of this entry »

UBC Robson Square has spaces available in the following two Continuing Studies courses:

Mobile Content Design and Development Course

Mobile devices are changing the way we interact with information, news and entertainment. From downloading an events page to trading stock to ordering pizza, people are doing more on their mobiles than ever before. This course introduces you to the mobile user’s frame of mind, needs and limitations, and provides best practices in content publishing for mobile. Topics include basic concepts in usability for mobile smart phone and tablet websites, how to prioritize relevant content, and measure your success in meeting the needs and expectations of your users. Through an exploration of case studies, you learn how to make better content decisions to ensure that your website is truly “mobile-friendly”.

Course runs 4 Mondays, October 24-November 14th, 6:30-9:30pm, at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver

UBC Continuing Studies – Social Media Metrics Course

Measuring ROI is a critical skill for any marketing professional, yet the social media space provides new measurement challenges and questions. Knowing how to evaluate your social media efforts involves understanding social metrics and how to measure and evaluate your audience’s behaviour. In this course, you learn to define what a social media metric is, whether to assess qualitatively or quantitatively, and how to determine the best metrics for your business objectives. Understand your online demographics and audience profile, and find out how to measure efforts beyond publishing, through a lens of engagement, influence and market activation. Finally, learn to gather actionable insights from your results.

This course runs 4 Tuesdays, October 18-November 15, 2011 at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.

The International Association of Business Communicators Canada (IABC Canada) has announced the 2011 recipient of its prestigious Master Communicator designation. Anna Marie Willey, ABC, Director of Communications and Marketing at University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan is Canada’s newest Master Communicator (MC).

The IABC Master Communicator designation is the association’s highest honour in Canada and recognizes outstanding career achievements; contributions to the communications profession; thought leadership, teaching and writing in communications; service and leadership in IABC; and, overall contributions to the broader community. Read the rest of this entry »

Merging Media 2011 has announced that Jennifer Newman Rutsky and Sean Elbe have each won a full pass to the October 27th & 28th conference after participating in a Twitter and Facebook promotion. Tickets for the conference, which will be taking place at The Woodwards Heritage Complex, are still available for purchase.

In other event news, the deadline for Pitch 360 and a chance to win this year’s $10,000 BC Film Development Award has been extended to October 5th in order to encourage more up and coming media producers and developers with innovative projects to participate.

Eight participants with innovative cross-media projects will be selected to battle it out a la ‘Dragon’s Den’ style for the grand prize at the Pitch 360 sessions on October 28th, hosted by new-dad-to-be Victor Lucas. The organizers are accepting early to late stage development projects for consideration, so get your submissions in today. If I had more confidence, a lot more knowledge about production, a team and a fully fleshed out plan, I’d enter the Pitch 360 program in a heartbeat. The BC Film Development Award would at least get the cross-media project idea I’ve been sitting on for a year off the ground.

Provider of information technology and business process services CGI Group Inc. has announced its plans to develop an SAP Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Regina, creating at least 70 highly skilled IT jobs and building on CGI’s commitment to growth in Western Canada.

In partnership with SaskTel, Saskatchewan’s leading telecom provider, and through the CoE, CGI will provide IT services, including application management, project consulting and delivery and infrastructure management to clients in Saskatchewan and Western Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

Lionsgate, Google, YouTube, Al Jazeera and Amazon will be among hundreds of conventional and digital media organizations from across North America that will come together at Merging Media 2011 in Vancouver, Canada in October 27 and 28, to discuss and explore the future of cross-media entertainment.

Hosted by Merging Media Productions Inc. and the Canadian Media Production Association – BC Producers’ Branch, this two day Conference and Masterclass is the premier showcase for Cross-Media in Canada. Merging Media is the place where media professionals converge to collaborate and capitalize on the media revolution that’s underway; it provides a high level platform for cross-disciplines to showcase their latest work, strategize, network with key business contacts and learn from each other. Read the rest of this entry »

Social Tactics is now offering corporate training courses in addition to their public workshops in social media and personal branding. The new corporate training courses, led by Susan Varty and Marc Roginsky, Co-founders of Social Tactics, are designed to address the corporate demand for understanding and embracing enterprise social recruiting, social media policies and best practices, and lead generation through social media.

“With social media access becoming the norm at work, more and more corporations want to be prepared to embrace the new shift in social communication using technology tools – inside or outside of the corporate firewall,” says Susan Varty. Read the rest of this entry »