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Past Events
Gatherings
Join us for our monthly gatherings. Learn, connect, interact, and be inspired by some of Toronto’s most knowledgeable experts!
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Axle Davids, “Pragmatic Branding: How to Create Brands That Are Simple, Social and Scalable”
February 16th 2010, 6:30pm
Function 13, 156 Augusta Avenue, Toronto (map)
Admission: $10
Traditional branding is too slow, complicated, and un-collaborative for today’s pace of innovation and communication. To survive and thrive, brands must now be more than relevant, compelling and competitive. They must be easy to grasp, share, and grow. Drawing on extensive branding experience with industry innovators like AT&T Mobility, Applied Biosystems, and AutoShare, as well as his experience as a technology entrepreneur in the MaRS Incubator, Axle Davids will reveal the new brand strategies and new tactics to help your brand simplify, scale and succeed.
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Scott Stratten, “Social Media Trends in 2010 and Beyond”
February 3rd 2010, 6:30pm
Function 13, 156 Augusta Avenue, Toronto (map)
Admission: FREE
2009 was the year of “What is Twitter?” and “Yes, I have a Facebook fanpage” but going forward, what are we getting into? This session will cover a variety of topics, including overused acronyms like:
- ROI: How companies are planning to actually justify social media, instead of just “being there”.
- FTC: Do the new guidelines come in to play for Twitter/Facebook/Blogs, especially for Canadian companies.
- TMI: Location based social media, like FourSquare. Is it more than just approved stalking?
Join us at 6:30 on February 3rd 2010 at Function 13 (156 Augusta Avenue) to hear Scott Stratten wax poetic on what 2010 has in store for social media.
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Tamera Kremer, “The Social Tools Won’t Save You”
January 18th 2010, 6:30pm
The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: $10
Social media is on everyone’s radar as we head into 2010, and while there are solid case studies proving the power of using the social web to drive business and relationships, social networking tools are not the answer to all marketing woes. Too many people believe that if you just open a Twitter account or run a UGC contest you are all set with customers, only to get burned in the space down the road. Social media is powerful when based on a solid foundation for engagement and a strategy that looks for long-term engagement vs quick hits. In this talk learn why integrating social media within the organization and engaging directly with customers and employees is the way to drive meaningful success, and what the tools can and cannot do for your company.
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Panel Discussion: Using Twitter as a Customer Engagement Platform
December 7th 2009, 6:30pm
The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: $10
Twitter is quickly becoming the de facto tool of choice for brands and companies to promote their products to a global audience. In keeping with the “engage, not broadcast” rule of thumb in social media, some organizations are also using Twitter to help customers solve tricky technical issues, resolve customer service complaints, or just find out why their flight has been delayed. If executed successfully, Twitter is a valuable tool that, when used in tandem with a larger social media strategy, can help companies engage with their customer, build new relationships and create an army of brand advocates.
However, in a recent study by Weber Shandwick, only 9% of Fortune 100 companies examined used their Twitter account for customer service. The panelists (Jenn Godbout from The Drake Hotel, Brad Ross from the TTC, Shabnam Weber from The Tea Emporium, and Mary Pretotto from Rogers), moderated by Martin Rubio, will talk about their experiences with Twitter as a customer service platform, what they’ve found works, what doesn’t and shed some light on why Twitter is becoming a popular platform for customer engagement.
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Lynette Latinsky, “Can Lunch Be On Me Today?”
November 16th 2009
6:30pm-11pm
Samovar, 51A Winchester Street, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeBuilding a business means networking and schmoozing, but without proper strategies it is not always financially viable.
It is important to work out what you are spending your money on. At the end of the month, do you know where your money went? As well, it is just as important to understand where your money is going and how to make it work for you in the most logical and effective way, so that you spend “smart – not more”. When this is added to the mix, people become more successful and less stressed, and can build their careers properly. I will present some strategies that work, and get you on the path to create your plan.
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Fireside Conversation with Erin Bury, “Using Social Media for Community Building”
October 19th 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 120, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeSocial media is a delivery vehicle flexible enough to be used for many purposes, be it political change, fundraising or connecting with other consumers. However, social media is also an excellent tool for building communities. We’ll sit down with Erin Bury, community manager for Sprouter, and talk about how they’ve used social media to get the word out, engage their users and also look at some ways social media can be used to build and grow communities.
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Colin Bowern, “The Not-So-Scary Side of ASP.NET – Model View Controller in the Real World”
September 21st 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 120, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeWith MVC stretching far back in the programming history books to languages like Smalltalk in recent years we have been seeing a resurgence in the popularity of this approach. With a recognition of the growing popularity of both the MVC pattern and the benefits of scaffolding in quickly developing and deploying professional applications Microsoft introduced the ASP.NET MVC web framework. It delivers choice and control to ASP.NET developers beyond the already diverse field of languages they could use (you know someone out there is getting a kick out of writing Web apps in COBOL). In this session we will do a fly over of the ASP.NET MVC web framework to give you an introduction into its riches, tell you how you can get yours hands out it without spending a dime and open up the conversation to see how it stacks up against other options on the market. Our goal is to get you familiar with choices available to you to broaden your skills in delivering professional web applications quickly into all types of environments.
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The Refresh Summer Social ‘09
August 24th 2009
7pm-2am
London Taphouse, 250 Adelaide Street West (map)
Admission: FreeThis event is a special one – we’d like to thank each of you that has supported Refresh Events over the past year. Come on out to The London Tap House on August 24th at 7pm to meet fellow designers, developers, social media experts and others working in Toronto’s vibrant interactive community.
No speakers, no presentations and no projectors. Just you and 250 of your closest industry friends.
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“Talking You Down From the Bleeding Edge: Making Mobile Work for All Communities”
Jonathan Dunn
July 20th 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 120, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeThe early days of widespread telephony often involved “party lines” where a community shared a single phone connection. Conversations would be shared, sometimes unintentionally; gossiping was practically a sport but important news could also be spread quickly.
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Refresh Events @ Net Change
Be Part of The Change!
June 11th 2009
6pm-8:30pm
MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeNet Change is Canada’s first week long, city wide event designed to dissolve the divide between digital professionals and social change-makers. Powered by SiG@MaRS Net Change is a concerted effort to join forces in order to:
- Minimize overlap between practitioners and capacity builders
- Have a single entry point for participants
- Give continuity to stand-alone programming
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The Game of Opposites
Dre Labre
May 25th 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 120, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeWhat happens when subculture becomes pop culture? What small thing is going to become the next big thing? In this presentation, I will discuss a creative technique often used – usually subconsciously, and seldom discussed – to set and predict trends.
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How "Augmented Reality" and the Mobile Web Changes Everything
Tom Purves
April 20th 2009
7pm-10pm
MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Collaboration Room 2, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeMobile broadband access and ever-smarter phones are shaking the internet out its lofty cloud and bringing the web into the real world. As a result, the old "real world", and many old ideas and many old business models will be running out of places to hide from the pervasive influence of the net.
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“Passion”
Peter Flaschner
March 23rd 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 120, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreePassion has always played an important role in humanity’s day to day existence. Until recently though, that passion expressed itself largely in non-work functions. Today passion is more important than ever. We’re free to explore and engage our passions like never before. It’s also never been so critical that we nurture and harness our passions to solve the complex problems our society faces. In this presentation, I’ll present a few thoughts on how as designers we can do that (and what to avoid) and turn the floor over the group to see if we can collectively develop a toolbox to help us produce work that aligns with our own and our audience’s passions.
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JavaScript Libraries: Prototype and jQuery
Cameron Westland & Eugene Andruszczenko
February 18th 2009
7pm-10pm
Centre for Social Innovation: 215 Spadina Ave, Suite 400, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeCameron and Eugene will perform deep-dives into Prototype and jQuery (respectively) and examine the benefits and drawbacks of using each language. The goal is not to see which one emerges as the “better language”, but instead to promote the concept of the right tool for the job.
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Advertising 2.0
Hussein Fazal
December 9th, 2008
7pm-10pm
Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeHussein Fazal will join us to talk about the social network advertising industry in general. On the agenda will be how the industry has grown in recent months, as well as different ways of advertising your products and services on social networking sites.
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Will the Real Information Architect Please Stand Up?
November 17th, 2008
7pm-10pm
Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeThere has been a lot of discussion over the years about what exactly information architecture is. These "Defining The Damned Thing (DTDT)" conversations have been primarily around the What, rather than the Who. But who are these people?
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Shipping an empty box – The challenges of user experience in the enterprise
Jon Lax
October 20th, 2008
7pm-10pm
Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeJon Lax, a partner at Teehan+Lax will join us on October 20th to provide us with the answers to a very simple question; Why is creating great user experience so difficult inside the enterprise?
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How to build a Facebook Application
Colin Smillie & Roy Pereira
September 15th 2008 @ 7pm
7pm-10pm
Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto (map)
Admission: FreeColin Smillie and Roy Pereira, principals at Refresh Partners will show you how to build a Facebook application, show you some tips and tricks, and answer any questions you may have.
Workshops
Sign up for our workshops and learn from the experts in your industry. Get first-hand knowledge from industry professionals and walk away with new skills, insight and understanding.
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Facebook Marketing: Inside and Out
October 1st 2009
9am-5pm
The Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto, ON (map)
Admission: $99/Single, $150/Flex PassInterested in learning more about how to promote your brand on Facebook? Want to understand how to leverage Facebook as part of a social media strategy? Or are you a developer looking to build the next great application? This day-long workshop, led by some of the most talented and well-known names in the Facebook community, are coming together to show you how Facebook and it’s components can be used to create engaging experiences on the world’s most popular social networking site.
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Introduction to iPhone Application Development
June 19th 2009
9am-5pm
Ryerson University, Ted Rogers School of Management, 55 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON (map)
Admission: $150James Eberhardt, co-founder of Echo Mobile Inc (echomobile.ca) will show you how to create an iPhone application, show you some tips and tricks, and answer any questions you may have.
