The first two speakers hit the stage after lunch!

Gini and Geoff spoke a lot about measurement and use of data to discover the true value of our digital efforts. It was amazing to see how many people were not aware of Google Analytics. Gini did a fantastic job stressing it’s importance, and rightfully so – Google Analytics is necessity online.

Next up, Tim Burrows from the Toronto Police. Tim really stole the show with great laughs, and candid conversation. It’s safe to say that Tim definitely improved all of the attendee’s perception of the Toronto Police force.

Scene stealer, Tim Burrows

Next came a quick briefing on The Remix Project – a fantastic initiative helping youth in Toronto to flourish in a variety of artistic positions while providing coaching and mentoring.

Finally, yet another scene stealer hit the stage to close out the conference – Film Friday’s Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary’s insights and outlooks on business and social media were so enlightening and refreshing.

He made one statement that I thought was incredibly bold, yet compelling:

Gary’s site has tons of videos and keynotes that are worth watching, check it out here. 

FInally, 2 of my favourite pics from the day:

Me and speaker/online buddy Amber Mac

Cool vintage taxi parked outside of The Fairmont Royal York during the conference.

Hope you enjoyed the brief rundown, and I’ll definitely recommend that you attend this conference next year. It was worth it’s weight in gold due to it’s fantastic speakers, content, and level of engagement.

All in all, a ton of fun – and just what the name Social Mix should entail.

Here’s some screen grabs of my insights so far. I always take notes at conferences via twitter – that way I’ll always have them, and they’re shared with all my followers so they can learn along with me!

Amber Mac speaks of her childhood

Amber showed a cool video of her young son playing angry birds before being able to speak!

Great suggestion

More to come later, it’s almost time for the next set of speakers to hit the stage.

Click here to see a quick video about the conference.

There’s many reasons why going to industry events is (and continues to be) important. No matter how many articles you read in a day, and how many blogs you follow – there’s immeasurable value in networking. I always find it’s great to get perspective on your industry from the true experts and pioneers, and that’s exactly what I plan to do at Social Mix 2012!

The Social Mix speakers I’m most looking forward to are:

Amber Mac (obviously)

• Amber Mac is an internationally known speaker, bestselling social media author, TV host, and entrepreneur. She’s been called “…a leading voice of the Web generation” and “a virtual Swiss Army Knife of networking” and is a highly regarded thought leader in the social media field.

Gary Vaynerchuk

• Gary Vaynerchuk is a 36 year old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author, wine entrepreneur, and social media expert. Gary launched Winelibrary.com in 1997, helping to grow his family’s wine business from $3 million to $45 million by 2005. He continued to break ground in the often haughty wine world, creating Wine Library TV in 2006, and gaining 100,000 viewers a day with his irreverent humour and everyman wine reviews.

and Gini Dietrich

• Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro, and co-author of Marketing In the Round.

All bio/pictures are from http://socialmix2012.com/speakers.html

The topics being covered over the course of the day at the Royal York are vast, and promise to be informative! From blogging, business, sales and social – there’s plenty to be learned, and so much to expand on. With the digital landscape constantly changing  – it’s always great to gather together with like-minded people, and share our industry knowledge.

To grab a ticket to Social Mix on July 26, 2012 (they’re $299) click here.

Are you going to Social Mix? Tell me in the comments!

The experience was unparalleled and so much fun for me, mainly due to how kind and inviting Amber is. I have to say this was one of my favourite TV spots I’ve ever shot in my career with Shopcatch – and I definitely recommend following both App Central and Amber on twitter. Amber and the crew are consummate professionals, and churn out absolutely fantastic content.

The set was magical with all sorts of techy gadgets in the atmosphere. Being a closet geek, I was dying while watching as the hosts talked about all the latest and greatest in digital innovation. Amber was looking her best, while BFF Caron Court snapped photos with all the guests (see picture on the right). During our time there, everyone couldn’t help but comment about the Skinnygirl party at The Drake Hotel – we were living vicariously through twitter stream (yes, we’re all nerds). I’ll elaborate on my obsession with Bethenny Frankel another time.

I also took a blooper vid while I was there – Amber almost got hit by one of the gadgets they were showcasing!

To check out my interview (it’s episode 6.1), click here.

Have you ever watched App Central?