Third Tuesday Toronto Meetup

Last Tuesday, I went to an event hosted by a meetup group called Third Tuesday Toronto with Max and my mom, Deborah, at the Berkeley Church on Queen East at Berkeley (@ 315 Queen St East).
Every third Tuesday, a group of social media and PR people meet up to hear a speaker and discuss current social media topics. This event is organized through the website, MeetUp, and hosted by social media guru, Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications, 76design and Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF).

Last week's speaker was Nora Young, a host on a CBC Radio 1 show called Spark (former host of Definitely Not the Opera), which discusses technology, trends, fresh ideas & culture and the ethics of how to use social networks/media.

It was so hot, even my camera wouldn't focus!

Because it was SO hot in the Berkeley Church (I thought I would actually melt to death - I made up-to-the-minute posts, if you were following me on Twitter), I found it really hard to concentrate on what Nora was talking about. But (I think) basically she discussed her podcast, blog and radio show and how it reaches the public, what effect it has on people, as well as how social media can be used as a great tool to interact with and get a rise out of people.
At the end of her presentation, there was a Q&A period, where people in the audience of approximately 100 or so asked Nora challenging questions about radio versus television, comment moderation policies, joining a social media community, if people she had interviewed actually joined in on the discussions on the blog, whether or not she has done Twitter or blogging workshops, creating a Twitter following and so on.
Out of the estimated 100 plus people in attendance at this event, there were a few names I recognized on name tags from Twitter, the PR world and blogs: Terry Fallis, Martin Waxman, Eden Spodek, Dave Fleet, to name a few.
I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'll be attending any future Third Tuesday Toronto events, as I'm not sure it really pertains to me (not to mention, I was most definitely the youngest one there! What is with all the geeky, dweeby, dorky, nerdy, older people in social media? You don't have to be a techy with pocket protectors to enjoy social media, do you?). Maybe it was just this speaker, as I'm not really all that interested in podcasting and radio, combined with the insane heat in the Berkeley...

For those of you that are interested in attending these events, create an account at MeetUp, join the Third Tuesday Toronto group and you will get up-to-date info about future events.

The next event is on Tuesday, July 7 at 6.00pm at the Berkeley Church, featuring Bob Pearson, Dell's former Vice President of Communications and Conversations, now President of the Social Media Business Council.

Looks interesting, maybe I'll see you there!

StheF