The team at StartUpNorth constantly impresses me with their innovation and drive to make sure that news on Startups in Canada is distributed. Recently they launched the StartUpIndex where startups can include their company information in an attempt to create a comprehensive index. What’s interesting though is that it also includes investment information. They’re efficiently letting startups and investors know how to find each other. They’ve also generated a map for a quick visual of where startups are located in Canada.  

I did a quick search for some Atlantic Canada startups and didn’t see them in there yet.  Go on, what are you waiting for:)?

TrustMe API Launch

Wednesday May 14, 2008
Doors open at 5:00 PM
Presentations at 6:30 PM

Drinks, light food and a special opportunity to learn about our API inside the Mason’s Temple. iPod Touch Giveaway. 

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=115+Queen+Street,+Moncton+NB&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.126023,69.257812&ie=UTF8&ll=46.089878,-64.777408&spn=0.006845,0.016909&z=17&iwloc=addr

This past week I attended AIM (Atlantic Internet Marketing) conference in Moncton. Organized by Rob Swick and Peter Sickles of alpha search.

We started off with some networking events on Sunday. Several of us joined in for a game of foam ball (paint ball with foam balls instead). We donned our helmets and airguns and snuck in behind bunkers as we got to know each other by pelting each other with foam balls. My first hit was Peter Sickles and that’s how I got to know him. The bruise on his arm evidence in the coming days;)

As usual with conferences, we can never attend all the talks and have to narrow down to a choice for each time slot. Some of my favourite talks from this year were:

Actionable Analytics/Writing for the Web by Stephanie Lummis of ISL

Website Usability and Conversion by Rob Swick of alphasearch.ca

The Authentic Web also by Rob Swick and Jeff White of Brightwhite Design

Marketing yourself as a free-agent on the Internet by Harold Jarche of Jarche Consulting

Location Marketing by Malcolm Fraser of ISL

The panel critiquing websites was very popular with everyone. Those who offered the sites up for examining have got courage.

There were a few of us twittering the events. A quick tweetscan picked up these;

brightwhite :

watching peter sickles review a aim conference attendees website

2008-05-06 07:07:10

jbignell :

Great day at the AIM Conference, now off to play rubber ball!

2008-05-05 17:12:48

walkinggal :

listening to Rob Swick from alpha talk about Gary Vaynerchuk’s how to cut through the noise, http://garyvaynerchuk.com/

2008-05-05 15:22:04

Some suggestions for next year’s conference:

1. offer more advanced talks/seminars

2. topic suggestions - monitoring your personal/company brand online, social media measurement, e-commerce conversion, advanced web copy (writing for personas)

3. more case studies

4. more booths? with more swag;) Note to the Yahoo table, we were so disappointed the yahoo swag didn’t make it in time;)

I have to say that the atmosphere of the conference was fabulous. I made lots of new friends and contacts. We’re connecting up through twitter, linkedin and facebook and I hope to meet up with everyone at next year’s conference.

May’s Third Tuesday Social Media Meetup is in SJ this month at the Happinez Wine Bar on the 20th at 7 pm.

Generously sponsored by propelSJ, YourTeam Online & Evolving Solutions. We will have the first ever web circuit set up to give people a hands on crash course in some cool social media tools like Twitter, Friend Feed & Blogs.

Also, learn how to produce and use a social media news release, with services like prweb so your business gets picked up internationally and in search engines.

If you haven’t already please join Third Tuessday and RSVP. We have had a lot of fun at each event and everyone has walked away learning something new.

I’ve noticed lately that we’ve had a great shift towards information collaboration in the IT industry in NB.  It’s something this province really needed because of our geographical spread. Twitter has definitely played a role in that. I’d like to bring attention to a couple of great new or relaunched blogs that have cropped up. And I’m sure they’ll be posting more regularly than I do;)

Moncton IT Alliance (follow John on twitter at http://twitter.com/johnsgunn)

“We believe that Moncton has among the best and brightest IT talent in eastern Canada. Education, entrepeneurs, and innovators are among the power behind our IT community. Even Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak compared us to Silicon Valley during the ’70s while touring Moncton and Sackville last year!”

From My Eyes to Yours (follow Philippe on twitter at http://twitter.com/lpgauthier)

“I love business and technology and this is my little corner off the Internet where I experiment and share the things that I find interesting.

I pass it on, from my eyes to yours.”

I’ll have an update on AIM (Atlantic Internet Marketing conference) later today.