TORONTO, ON – From Thursday April 11, 2013 to Saturday April 13, 2013, Torstar Digital employees will have a chance to pitch, create and launch a new business in just 54 hours during their 2^nd Annual Startup Weekend. In partnership with Startup Weekend Toronto, this voluntary experience is a chance for employees company-wide to collaborate and contribute to diversifying and enhancing Torstar Digital’s growing portfolio of businesses.

Startup Weekend is a global organization with initiatives continuing to garner entrepreneur interest around the world. Last year, Torstar Digital partnered with Startup Weekend Toronto to be first at bringing this event into a Canadian corporate environment.

Chris Eben, founder of Startup Weekend Toronto, who will be mentoring during this year’s initiative comments, “In the past, Torstar Digital has been a great support to Startup Weekend Toronto. It’s been my pleasure to assist with bringing such a globally successful concept into a progressive organization such as Torstar Digital. I look forward to witnessing more of the innovation and creativity that was present at last year’s initiative.”

The event will kick-start with a keynote from Wattpad founder, Allen Lau and quickly progress into a ‘pitch’ session in which employees will be able to share their new business ideas with the weekend’s participants. The ideas will be voted upon, and participants will be divided up into teams to develop the top new business ideas.

Seema Lakhani, Torstar Digital’s Director of Strategy and New Ventures said, “Torstar Digital’s vision statement is to be Canada’s most entrepreneurial digital company. This event speaks to that vision. The goal of the event is to promote the entrepreneurial spirit amongst Torstar Digital employees, give employees an opportunity to build new business and meet new people across the organization. It’s also a great way for Torstar Digital to identify great new opportunities and businesses.” 

At the end of the weekend, all teams will present their venture to a judging panel of prominent Canadian venture capitalists and leaders from the startup community including: Andy Yang (Extreme Startups), Bram Sugarman (OMERS Ventures), Candice Faktor and Matthew Leibowitz (Plazacorp Ventures). While the winning team will walk away with $5000, the real prize will be the opportunity to see their concept further developed and potentially turned into a real Torstar Digital portfolio business.

About Torstar Digital:
Leading the charge in Canadian digital innovation and investment, Torstar Digital was founded in 2005 to provide leadership in digital media for Torstar Corporation and is building a portfolio of leading digital businesses that serve both Canadian advertisers and audiences, developing cutting edge technologies, and creating a centre of excellence for digital talent.  Torstar Digital’s current portfolio of leading digital businesses includes Workopolis.com, eyeReturn Marketing, Olive Media, WagJag.com, TravelAlerts.ca, Jaunt.ca, Tuango.ca, ShopCatch and web2mobile.

Website: http://www.torstardigital.com
Twitter: @TorstarDigital
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TorstarDigital

About Startup Weekend
Startup Weekend was founded by Andrew Hyde in July of 2007 in Boulder, Colorado. In June 2009, Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen purchased Startup Weekend from Andrew and restructured it as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit. Shortly after, Franck Nouyrigat joined as the third Director. Startup Weekend quickly became a nexus for early stage startup activity in communities across the globe. By the end of 2010, Startup Weekend had built a network of over 25,000 alumni, 150 volunteer organizers and 60 trained facilitators spread across more than 100 cities in 30 countries. In September of 2010, Startup Weekend received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, allowing Startup Weekend to come closer to reaching its potential in attempting to understand the unpredictable science of successful entrepreneurship.

For interview requests or photos, please contact:
Cory Stewart
Embrace Disruption PR
647.638.1586
cory@embracedisruption.com

What a day! Before we begin, we must say that this was one of the best conferences we’ve had the pleasure of attending. The best part? Being able to hear from so many different speakers, thanks to the 7 minute time cap on each person.

We arrived at 8:30AM and picked up our name tag. Interesting fact: any name tags that had a blue circle on them indicated that the person/company was hiring.

FYI:

All my social media peeps – Adobe is hiring (to the tune of 200ppl) in Canada! Check them out! #cmto13

— Cory Stewart (@coryjstewart) February 21, 2013

We were then treated to a lovely breakfast: complete with fair-trade coffee, bagels, fruit and croissants – followed by a prompting by super-host Gavin McGarry to get seated. It must be said that this isn’t Gavin’s first time at the hosting rodeo, and he did a superb job honing in the audience and keeping the pace of the conference (all while injecting selections of his quick wit and sarcastic humour).

We felt it necessary to call out the wifi password – as it definitely set the tone for the duration of the day:

Ha! Check out the wifi password for #cmto13 pic.twitter.com/Frp3YyBnJ8

— Cory Stewart (@coryjstewart) February 21, 2013

Up first was Roel Vertegaal, Director of the Human Media Lab, Queen’s University to talk about paper tablet technology. We snapped a quick video for your viewing pleasure (apologies for the shaky hands – too much fair-trade coffee!)

Here you can see Roel holding the tablet in his hand:

Corey Vidal (from YouTube fame) came soon after – offering up some sound advice for getting your brand out there in the Youtube space. Corey stressed many amazing points, a couple of them being:

Measure of success on @YouTube isn't necessarily view count, says @coreyvidal. Track + value audience engagement + your influence #cmto13

— Tessa Sproule (@TessaSproule) February 21, 2013

#CMTO13 Corey Vidal quote of the day "youtube is not really a job it's a lifestyle" I didn't even know it was a job.

— Frank Falcone (@frankfalcone) February 21, 2013

Soon after came Deborah Hall, Head of Mobile, Torstar Digital (one of our favourite clients). Deb spoke about the future of mobile, and how important it is to remain disruptive in the space.

Mobile marketiing should have some emotional connection – 70% of social marketing is mobile! #cmto13

— Cory Stewart (@coryjstewart) February 21, 2013

It became quite clear that DISRUPTION was the theme of the event, and you can imagine our delight!

Loving the overwhelming theme of #disruption at today's #cmto13 – our brand name is no coincidence

— EmbraceDisruption PR (@EmbraceDisrupt) February 21, 2013

Then came the entrepreneur lunch with the folks at Torstar Digital where we were treated to a spread of sandwiches, drinks and sweet treats! We got to meet some pretty innovative people, and fingers crossed we’ll be speaking with some of them in the near future!

About to start our #entrepreneur lunch at #cmto13 pic.twitter.com/yhADPq8R83

— TorstarDigital (@TorstarDigital) February 21, 2013

All in all, it was a fantastic morning of technology, innovation and disruption. By 1:30PM we were salivating at the thought of the afternoon’s speakers (inclusive of companies like Ribbon, Bit.ly and SavvyMom Media), and we can’t wait to share what they had in store!

Stay tuned as part two is coming your way tomorrow afternoon!

In a world where interconnection is quickly becoming the norm, CrossMedia Toronto is here to showcase how to make the most out of crossover in platforms to build the best business and outreach possible. The showcase will present 26 of the most innovative firms from gaming to marketing, television to mobile. The event, which takes place tomorrow, February 21^st from 8am-6:30pm at the Bram &  Bluma Salon, will feature speakers, demos, case studies and networking opportunities for attendees.

The speakers for CrossMedia Toronto represent leaders in their fields and include:

• Roel Vertegaal, Director of the Human Media Lab, Queen’s University
• Erik Martin, General Manager, reddit.com
• Veronika Sonsev, CEO and Founder,inSparq.com
• Jamie King, Founder, VODO
• Veronica Holmes, President, Digital, ZenithOptimedia Canada
• Andrew Macdonald, General Manager, Uber Canada
• Mark Ghuneim, CEO/Founder of Wiredsetand Trendrr
• Rhonda McEwen, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
• Brian Eoff, Data Scientist, Bitly
• Jeffrey Remedios, President and Co-Founder, Arts & Crafts
• Peter Vessenes,  Chairman & Executive Director, Bitcoin Foundation
• Rob Segal, Co-Founder, Get Set Games
• Deborah Hall, Head of Mobile, Torstar Digital
• Paul Kontonis, GM, Magnet Media Originalsand Chairman of the Board of Directors,International Academy of Web Television
• Ipsa Desai, Strategic Partnerships, Google
• Adam Clarkson, User Experience Lead,Chartbeat
• Corey Vidal, Founder and President, ApprenticeA Productions
• Hany Rashwan is the co-founder & CEO of Ribbon
• Asif R Khan, Founder & President,TheLBMA.com
• Tony Walsh, Founder, Exec. Producer & Creative Director, Phantom Compass
• Paul Sparkes, Executive Vice-Chairman and Co-Founder, Difference Capital
• Laurie Mirsky, President, 3DPhacktory
• Jeff Brenner, Co-Founder and CEO, Pressly
• Minnow Hamilton , Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder, SavvyMom Media
• Ross Davies, Director of Member Engagement, BBM
• Gavin McGarry, Co-Founder, Jumpwire Media

While this may seem like an impossibly long list for a single day event; CrossMedia Toronto is using a ‘quick fire’ method of presentation. Most of the speakers will have only 7 minutes to present their material to the audience. We’ll be posting a full run-down of the event on Friday, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here’s some more deets incase you’re interested in joining us there! 

What: CROSSMEDIA TO

Who: 26 top Digital Media & Tech Companies

When: Thursday February 21^st, 2013 8am – 6:30pm

Where: Bram & Bluma Salon, 789 Yonge St.

Why: Showcasing innovation & the future of crossover advertising and promotion

Simply put, Seema Lakhani is one of the reasons that Embrace Disruption Public Relations exists today. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Seema at Torstar Digital for quite some time, and can’t express how much she’s meant to me as a mentor, leader and friend. Seema’s ability to empower and encourage her co-workers, combined with her undeniable passion make her a invaluable person to know and work with. After reading her interview below, I’m sure you’ll agree that Seema is a fantastic addition to the EDPR profile series.

- Cory, EDPR Founder

What’s your ‘official’ job title, and what do you do at Torstar Digital?

My title is Manager, Strategy & New Ventures for Torstar Digital. I do a variety of things for Torstar Digital including staying on top of the latest changes in the digital media space, identifying new opportunities for us to play in and working with entrepreneurs to either invest or acquire their businesses in order to help them scale. I also work closely with the senior leaders across all the business units to help them develop and hone their strategy. It’s definitely busy, but always exciting.

Where’d you go to school, and what for?

I went to the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western, Ontario.

How did you land in strategy and was this always your plan?

I was never somebody who had it all planned out but I was lucky enough to be very clear from a very early age on knowing what I loved – media & the arts AND entrepreneurship. I went to business school because I believed this would give me lots of options to find my passions in a career.

Unfortunately, I found it disillusioning instead. We were given four career option given our degree choice: accounting, finance/investment banking, management consulting or marketing. The recruiting process was contrived and frustrating so I decided to stay out of it. Besides, I didn’t like being put into any of those boxes. So I decided I was going to go to film school and become a producer.

Then, I happened to be participating in a case competition hosted by the management consulting firm, Monitor, in my final year at business school. After the competition I was approached about applying to the firm, given my aptitude in strategy. I made it clear I was interested in media and I was sold on the promise that strategy consulting was a great way to get into media.

Following my time at Monitor, and after getting a strong discipline in strategy, I followed my entrepreneurial heart and worked for the Toronto innovation centre, MaRS Discovery District. There I worked with early stage digital media entrepreneurs and had fantastic exposure to constant inspiration and learning about building a startup in the digital space.

Starting at Torstar Digital gave me the opportunity to move from consulting and advising on innovation – to really living it.

My path was certainly not linear or planned – but I am truly grateful for it as it’s allowed me to discover my own talents and follow my passions.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your position?

My role is to drive innovation forward in the company – and that isn’t always an easy task. Change is always hard for people and the new and unknown can be scary. I’ve learned a lot about how to influence and how to motivate.

What’s the best part of your job?

I know it’s a cliché, but it has to be the people I work with. Working with a diverse group of intelligent and passionate people has always pushed me to grow and challenge myself. Whether it’s a leader who truly understands me and pushes me to reach my potential or employees who inspire me to ensure they reach their full potential – there’s always something to be learned from everyone.

Who do you look to for mentorship and advice?

I’m a big believer in mentorship so I actually seek out advice from a number of people including my current and former managers, the wonderful network of advisors I met at MaRS, former teachers and inspiring people I’ve met along the way.

What are your 3 favourite industry blogs/sites/news outlets?

http://www.avc.com/

http://hbr.org/

http://fakegrimlock.com/

What advice would you give for people seeking out a position in a similar field?

Don’t let your fear of failure or what anyone else says prevent you from pursuing your dreams. This could apply to anyone really, but it’s definitely been a life lesson for me. Fear is a perfectly normal thing to feel. Accomplishment and self-satisfaction come from learning and growth. Learning and growth comes from experience and failure. Experience and failure comes from facing your fear and taking action. They say you regret the things you didn’t do, not the things you did. I’ve failed at plenty of things (and I’m sure will fail at plenty more) and I’m proud of it – because I tried, learned, grew and got back up again. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for that.