Podcast - hosting a holiday open house - Planning

Deck the Halls in style when hosting a holiday season party for your friends.

 

Click on the Podcast for audio details on hosting a Holiday party.

Decor is important, here is a warm welcoming entrance.

Photo

Blog Assignment #3

 

"At no cost, the need was made obvious, and the request was simple – register as a donor."

said Helene Campbell in an article published by Globe and Mail Nov 2, 2012.

 

 

Hélène Campbell (born in April 18th, 1991) is a young woman from Ottawa who has raised great awareness for organ donations, largely through documenting her own need for new lungs via social media and by attracting support from celebrities including Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres. (wikipedia)

 

I first came across Helene's story this past spring when a friend on my Facebook paged shared one of her videos.   It brought tears to my eyes, she is a very endearing girl.

 

This video shown on the Ellen DeGeneres show back in February 2012 when Helene's story was really starting to go viral has over 360,000 views.

Helene used social media, leveraged with famous people who use social media to raise awareness on donor needs and how to offer your organs.    The incredible impact she had on increasing donor registration in her community and beyond has opened peoples eyes to what can be done with social media, at no cost, to achieve tremendous gains in health.

Our dear girl tells us, "In Ontario, about 1,500 people are waiting anywhere from four months to several years for an organ transplant."   Looking at the overall waiting list from Trillium Gift of Life kidneys by far have the largest waiting list, then liver, then lungs and heart.

If you want to take action and do something remarkable, visit https://beadonor.ca/  and register.

Here is Helene's first video were she was rallying her troupes to get this organ donation thing going.  Her objective was to get as many people on January 19, 2012 between 8am and 6pm to tweet Justin Bieber and get him to retweet her message..he did January 21st. She really knew her social media, have a listen.





Helene has had a profound affect on donor awareness and registration, in an article posted in the Ottawa Sun, April 2012 by Mike Aubry, he writes, "Registrations for organ donations in Ottawa have skyrocketed by more than 8,000 since December, and the Trillium Gift of Life Network(TGLN) attributes it to the "Helene Campbell effect."  To see her full story from September 2011 to October 2012 click here.

Quote from Mike DiLorenzo

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"Social networks aren't about Web sites. 

They're about experiences" 

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In 2009 Mike Dilorenzo who at the time worked for the NHL as their Social Media Marketing Direct, was quoted saying "Social networks aren't about Web sites.  They're about experiences."  His quote has since been re-quoted, re-posted, re-tweeted and you name it, over and over again.  Mike was trying to get the point across, when you go to a social network site you are looking or should be looking for an experience, but these are not just a web site.

Look at it in terms of the Brick and Mortar world, if you said, at 123 Parsons Lane there is a building, who would really care.  Those people might conjure images such as this one(on right), an old abandoned place, not too exciting.

But, if you told me at 123 Parsons Lane their is the HOTTEST new dance club that all the celebs and who's who in town go to, well, that's an experience I don't want to miss.  I'll text all my gal pals and let them know we MUST go there.


Personally, I like to check into my social media sites (Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn) to see what's happening with my friends, family colleagues and community.  I'm always curious to see, what are the most Liked images on Pinterest, because I want to know what's in, and who's changed jobs, or their professional picture on LinkedIn.  What I'm really saying is, I hang-out at these sites, for HOURS a day!  It's not about going to these companies web sites, it's about visiting a social network and learning that my friend got engaged this past weekend, I got goose bumps.

I was at thesocialskinny.com site, were, this September, Cara listed 216 Social Media and Internet Statistics.  Here are a few I liked that support WHY it's all about the experience.

• 83% of people believe platforms like Twitter and Facebook help them make new friends
• 40% of people spend more time socializing online than they do face-to-face (source: AllTwitter)
• 80% of active internet users visit social networks and blogs (Source: AllTwitter)
• companies that blog have 55% more website visitors

Business wise, when I discuss with my customer what we'll do with their social networking sites, our conversation aren't around promoting product, or providing static information.  Rather it's about how we'll engage the community of cyclist, and we'll do that by offering an experience to them.  We post pictures and videos that are relevant to them, we post updates about others in the community,and they in turn comment and keep coming back.  It's then complimented with physical visits to the store to augment or compliment the online(social networking) experience.

 

I've been dissecting the article  Canadians-internet-usage-nearly-double-the-worldwide-average  printed in the The GlobeandMail Mar 2011.  Interesting piece, makes you think, and....I agree in part with some of the comments, like:

"The split among male and female Web users in Canada is almost exactly 50-50"

 and 

"Silver Surfers By far the fastest-growing demographic when it comes to Web usage" 

.... but really, what do they mean by

"the number of unique online visitors in Canada hovered at about 23 million users in the fourth quarter of 2010"

Let's have a good look at this..... are they trying to get me to compare this 23 million to our countries population of 34 million....or 67%, oh come on that's ridiculous, or is it.  First of all, that is 'unique users' in the forth quarter, the same user could be logging in daily or even multiple times a day from different devices; the home pc, the work laptop, a cell phone, tablet etc. and then, there's the whole argument about an IP address being associated with 1 person.   In truth this number doesn't give us a sense of how many Canadians are online. 


Looking further into the article, the statement

"Approximately 95 per cent of Canadian households can access broadband services using land-line facilities"

doesn't clarify how many of these 95% ARE accessing high speed..... and how many in-fact have Internet accounts.

As for Canadians being Internet junkies, I'd buy that, we spend alot of time online, it can get very cold in many parts of this beautiful country.  The fall is quickly approaching and we are reminded how few hours of daylight we get, so yes, we hangout inside were its warm and we go ONLINE, but are we double the world wide average?  What about Europe?

Taking a look at some real fact, I myself spend a considerable time online, I'd say higher than our supposed Canadian average.  Why you ask, well I'm job searching and the Internet, including some key social media sites such as LinkedIn(a social networking website for people in professional occupations) are a must when looking for work.  Not only do I spend hours reviewing job postings on the countless sites: eluta , simply hired, indeed to name a few, but then there is the company websites themselves.  They also have career sections, such as TD or Telus might even have a new role posted daily at times.  You can request job alert be sent to your email from these company sites.  Then, when an opportunity perks your interest, there is the hours of research visiting that companies website to asses the type of company they are, are they a good employer, how should I present my resume, my cover letter?  Then on search engines such as Google and bing, what does the rest of the world have to say about this company.  Do they have a social media presence, can I find a video clip of the person that will interview me on You Tube and of course, do they have a profile on LinkedIn.  Needless to say, when in job searching mode, spending 5-6 and at times 8 hours a day online is very easy to do.  If I took that number and narrowed it down to Social Media sites, I'd say 2/3 to 3/4 of that time.

Having an even closer look at Social Media, I spend a great deal of that time on LinkedIn and Facebook, but also Amazon, reading others comments on books I may want to purchase or writing some up myself.  Then there is You Tube, it's not only for music videos, like today I just watched an old clip of George Clooney on Facts of Life cause the radio mentioned it was 27years ago today he got his debut there.  You Tube also helped me understand how to properly prune my tomato plans this summer and change a flat on the rear wheel of my bike.  I love spending time watching TED presentations when I'm in the mood to be inspired.  Yes there is so much more to You Tube it's funny how it's viewed at times by employers only as a play thing rather than a learning tool.

As a Canadian, are you a heavy users of the Internet, are you spending 2-3hours or more online each day and what about on your mobile device too and in particular your Social Media time.