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Readers of this blog (and my Twitter feed) will know that I am a regular volunteer and patron of Intrepid Theatre.

I'm excited about the upcoming performances (March 4-13, 2011) of the play "Influence" written by Intrepid's artistic director, Janet Munsil, and produced to co-incide with the company's 25th anniversary.  And, thanks to the generosity of Intrepid, one of my readers (and a guest) will have the opportunity to attend too!

(See contest details below).

 Influence is set in the British Museum in 1817, the date of the controversial arrival of the Elgin Marbles. A young John Keats is taken on a visit to the museum by painter Benjamin Haydon when he inadvertently wanders into the middle of a millennia old feud waged by the gods of ancient Greece amidst the kidnapped statues of Athena’s Parthenon.
 
The play was commissioned and first produced by Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver in 2008 (directed by Katrina Dunn). While Influence had a reading in Victoria that same year, this will be the first time it has been performed in Victoria.  

Janet Munsil has been working for Intrepid since 1992 and is also a playwright whose works (that elusive spark, Circus Fire, Be Still, Emphysema) have been produced by some of the most respected contemporary theatres in the world (including Toronto's Tarragon Theatre & London's Soho Theatre). Influence is produced in association with her new Victoria-based production company, Missing Page.
 

Influence will feature a cast of Victoria’s favourite actors (Ian Case, Paul Terry, Elliott Loran, David Radford and Karen Lee Pickett).

See the full gallery on Posterous

March 4-5 & March 9-12, 8pm

Sunday Matinees + talkback: March 6 + 13, 2 pm

At the Metro Studio (Quadra at Johnson), Victoria BC

TICKETS $25: www.intrepidtheatre.com or call 250 590 6291

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter for a chance to win a pair of tickets to a performance of "Influence", post a comment below - what is your favourite poem by John Keats OR what do you think about the controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum?

A random draw will take place at 6pm Friday March 4th and the winner will be announced via the blog and Twitter.  The winner will have 24 hours to contact me before I redraw.

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Please join us and help us celebrate our wedding!

Although our wedding February 12th will be a very small family affair, we want to celebrate our marriage with all of our friends who have been such a fabulous and wonderful part of both of our lives!

We look forward to seeing you there, to help us celebrate and be able to share our moment with you!

(In lieu of gifts we are accepting donations to The BC Cancer Foundation. All donations of $10 or more will receive a signed copy of this year's Babes Go Bare Calendar. The BC Cancer Foundation is special to us as we were able to raise close to $10,000 dollars for them this past August as part of The Road to Port Hardy charity bike ride.)

See you there on February 17th!

Love,

Frans and Janis

aka @fransjonker and @lacouvee

PS: We're going to be offline from the 12th to the 17th and will be unable to respond to any tweets people send us. We want to be able to acknowledge you all and due to the restrictions of the Twitter API, this may not be possible. Please consider leaving your comments and well wishes here on the blog.

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A huge thank you to Drew and Kate of Tall Tales Books for hosting the #Read Up Tweetup for Family Literacy Day in their store on Saturday January 29th.

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"Family Literacy Day is a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and held annually on January 27. This special day promotes the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Developing early childhood reading and writing skills helps develop the learning skills necessary for good communication skills later in life, and can ultimately contribute to a child's chances for success. Every year on Family Literacy Day thousands of events take place that are coordinated by literacy providers, schools, libraries and individual families across the country.

In 2011, Canadians will Play for Literacy! Playing games that encourage literacy and numeracy - such as board games, card games and word games - is a great way for parents and children to practice their literacy skills and have fun. Games, and the carefree act of playing, provide a fun outlet in which individuals of all ages can engage in activities that inherently provide new learning opportunities to improve one’s reading, writing, math and comprehension skills."

The Victoria #ReadUp Tweetup was sparked by a similar one in Nanaimo organized via Twitter by Kim Plumley.

Kim encouraged Victoria’s Twitter community to get involved. I immediately thought of  Tall Tale Books since they have a very active social media presence and had already organized a tweetup among their regular events for families. They were the perfect fit.

Drew and Kate organized a wonderful day for families that included storytellers, a scavenger hunt in keeping with the "Play for Literacy" theme of this year's Family Literacy Day, activity tables and light refreshments.

Families were asked to bring gently used books for donation to the Read Society, ICA Victoria and the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society.

I popped in for a visit, ran into friends and neighbours, and had a chance to chat with Drew and Kate about favourite children's books, and the importance of supporting small downtown businesses.

My children are no longer small, but when they were, we spent hours reading such classics as the Narnia series by CS Lewis, Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little by EB White, and even Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Now there's a young nephew in my life.  I picked up books by two of my favourite authors - Richard Scarry's "The Big Word Book" and "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey.

Tall Tales Books carries a selection of books in French, and even some in Hebrew.  Special book orders, including adult books, are also possible.They are located at 795 Fort Street in Victoria BC and are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Regular events are scheduled, so be sure to check out their calendar. Of particular interest are the Musical Storytimes organized with the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

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It was an honour to be invited to an historic ceremony at Mary Lake, Sunday January 23rd, honouring "Past Stewards of the Land".

It was the first time that hereditary chiefs from the five local tribes came together for an event that was not political.

Respected Tsartlip elder Tom Sampson spoke. The Yellow Wolf Drummers and Singers offered 3 songs: a prayer, a song to honour the past stewards of the land, and a song to honour elders and ancestors.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Currently Mary Lake is the subject of a campaign to raise an initial $1M before January 31, 2011 in order to secure bridge financing, and eventually $4M for the purchase of this unique property in the Highlands of Victoria BC.

Mary Lake sits in the midst of a treasured 107-acre parcel of carefully conserved and endangered Dry Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem. Only a very small percentage of the land in the Dry Coastal Douglas Fir Zone is permanently protected.

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Individuals are encouraged to purchase their $10 square metre of Mary Lake to preserve the property in perpetuity. Social media has had a big role in the outreach of campaigners.There is the possibility to text donations using "MARY" and sending to 45678. A video contest "The Power of Many" asks people to create a video encouraging others in their lives to save a square metre of Mary Lake. Prizes up to $10,000 will be awarded; the contest closes January 31st. 

Local documentary filmmakers Mandy Leith and Nicole Sorochan are spearheading a live web-a-thon on Thursday January 27th from 4-8pm at Cabin 12, 607 Pandora Avenue.  There will be a "tweet bar" and live feed.

To learn more about how you can become involved in this campaign and the importance to the regional bio-sphere of the Mary Lake property, please visit the Save Mary Lake website.

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Join Powerhouse Performance Company for a short run of the hit musical EDGES: A Song Cycle by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

EDGES was written in 2005 while Pasek and Paul were undergraduate students in musical theatre at the University of Michigan.

This song cycle is about coming of age, growth and sef-discovery.Its most famous song, "Be My Friend", has come to be commonly known as the "Facebook song".  

 Powerhouse Performance Co. is co- founded by CCPA alumni Sarah Horsman (VOS "Will Rogers Follies) and Izad Etemadi (Theatre SKAM's "Smalltown").

"We're excited to begin the journey of contributing to the Victoria and Candian Theatre community!", they state.

January 7th-9th @ 8pm
WITH matinees January 8th and 9th @ 2pm
Tickets are: $12 for Adults and $10 for Students and Seniors

For more information or for advance tickets please contact Sarah Horsman or Izad Etemadi @:
 

powerhouseperformanceco@gmail.com

(250) 652-2458 - Sarah
(250) 889-0713 - Izad

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Traditionally December would be a month of planning holiday celebrations! Not for the Victoria social media community. Janine Theobald  came to Social Media Camp and Club, and was inspired to create the #twamper drive   and tweetup  held December 17th at Cabin 12 . Two families were assisted through these efforts.

TEDxJuandeFuca has plans for another TEDx event in April 2011.

The year ended in a flurry of tweetups #victoriatweetup (breakfast, WestShore, High Noon Hump Day, #U30 ladies, ladies, gents) and one final Social Media Club "Holiday Open Mic".  See Mike Vardy's "The Twelve Days of Christmas: Social Media Remix".

Words can never convey my huge debt of gratitude to everyone involved in making this a simply amazing year. 2010 will be remembered as the year social media came into its own in Victoria. Each and every one of you played a HUGE part.

I'm sure I've forgotten people and events that need to be remembered - it's not intentional. Please let me know.

Happy New Year! Here's to a fabulous 2011.

There is much to look forward to - #yyjbleeders tweetup January 15th,  Word Camp Victoria January 22nd, Frans Jonker and my wedding tweetup/meetup February 17th (stay tuned for details), IdeaWave February 26th & 27th, Twestival Victoria March 24th, TEDxJuandeFuca in April, Social Media Camp June 3rd and 4th, as well as regular Social Media Club Victoria meetings (3rd Monday of the month at the Victoria Event Centre) and many a #victoriatweetup.

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It's no secret that I enjoy fine craft beer, in particular Hermann's from Vancouver Island Brewery. It was a pleasant surprise to be invited to the Hermannator launch November 1st.

Trish Caddy launched the Babes Go Bare 2011 Calendar in early November.

Walter Schwabe @fusedlogic from Edmonton attended Open Gov West BC and met with the local Twitter community at our morning #victoriatweetup November 11th. Another long distance Twitter friendship culminating in a face-to-face meeting.

Both the "gents" and "ladies" managed to meet for tweetups in November.

Glenn Letham,  editor and founder of GIS User,presented to Social Media Club on "Geo-location technology and apps". Glenn is recently back in Victoria after many years in the States, most recently in Fort Collins CO. He has great insight! Glenn is also a very talented photographer.

The Johnson Street Bridge referendum vote was held November 20th. http://johnsonstreetbridge.org/.

After meeting initially in early 2010 and discussing it, Jaryd Zinkewich  and I presented on "Generational Knowledge Transfer"   at Pecha Kucha Night 4

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In time for Social Media Camp October 3rd, the Victoriatweetup meetup group  launched as a means to promote tweetups that need more concrete numbers for venues. 

The "after party"  at Bard and Banker allowed people from further afield the chance to connect with Victoria social media aficionados in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Volunteer Victoria was kind enough to invite me to guest blog on their website about "Using Social Media To Promote Events".

Teresa Sims started the #U30 lunch tweetups for young entrepreneurial and business minded women in October. Follow Teresa and tweet her for more details.

A second #yyjbleeders tweetup had 8 people sign up to give blood! Thanks for giving the "gift of life".

October is a month of birthdays for local Twitter users, and we celebrated at the Canoe Club on October 23rd. Shortly after some of the attendees (@Shelter68 @Phleygas @VIHippieChick @socialmediasean) started #randomtweetup - fun tweetups at a moment's notice.

José Albis, the Albis Group, presented on "Self Publishing and Launching Your Personal Brand" to Social Media Club in October.
 

October was again a month of connecting to long distance tweeps face to face. I love theatre and events as my twitter feed and blog posts will attest. Mid 2009, I stumbled upon #2amt, a group of theatre practioners on Twitter who literally "met" at 2am and started to consider the future of theatre.

These discussions led to the #2amt hashtag, Twitter handle @2amt and blog, as well as professional collaborations. When Simon Ogden, author of The Next Stage Magazine, moved to Victoria (check out his outstanding bartending at Veneto) we simply had to have coffee. In October I met Kate Foy @dramagirl from Australia and Lois Watson @smlois from Vancouver (soon to be in Edmonton) too!

Although Gisela @lifeasafestival is not part of the #2amt tribe - we managed to find one another through our love of festivals and celebrations. Gisela is travelling the world and volunteering/interning at festivals. It was a pleasure to meet her in Victoria.

Patrick Tussie is not a long distance tweep, but rather a movie fan in Victoria. We had very different views of some 2010's "hit" movies. Twitter allowed us to connect. Finally, we met for coffee. Congratulations to Patrick on his recent engagement.  I love how Twitter allows us to see the world through other people's eyes - IF we are open to that experience.

We travelled to Nanaimo for the 3rd Nanaimo Tweetup hosted by the Vitamin House. Although tweetup culture in Nanaimo is still in its infancy, tweetups are very well attended and organized.

After the #poutineoff came the #pumpkinoff October 29th between the Fairmont Empress and Hotel Grand Pacific. Chefs Ito and Choy produced some phenomenal carvings and desserts for judging by @ScrimporSplurge @AwesomeYoga @magsedoyle @lacouvee @cpudan @sashaangus. Once again, Chef Ito and the Empress team won out - very narrowly besting Chef Choy (by one point).

See the full gallery on Posterous

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WestShore coffee tweetups gained momentum in September and have continued since, usually every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. We've been meeting at Mirage Coffee on Goldstream but may need to move soon as the group keeps growing. Search for the words "Westshore coffee #victoriatweetup".

Regulars include: @Growlies @CrisVleck @brandscaping @Chris_Synesael @DrMarkWagner @psbdelegation @westcoast_dave @chiatweet @StyleRunner @Ahkonsu @KPAthleticWear @WestShoreLife @K9HQ @DustypupVI @CalebDelamont @taylorjenn @pearlbriteyyj @WillWinterPhoto @cpudan

Finally, after months of watching the "Gents #Victoriatweetup" from the sidelines, and prompted by tweets from @KirstySheldon @GDGeek @Auryanna, the ladies managed to organize their own tweetup! It looks like this too may become a monthly affair. Keep on eye on http://meetup.com/victoriatweetup for more details.

In early 2010, I introduced Sandy Ibrahmin @hittofit of Victoria to Eleni Kehagiaras @ekehagiaras of Portland via Twitter. Sandy and Eleni went on to arrange a business partnership and @hittofitpdx was born. I finally got to meet Eleni in person in September.

September was a good month for face to face meetings with long distance tweeps. Jamie Gale was moving to Victoria from Vancouver - we'd tweeted back and forth a bit and connected for coffee and more networking. Jamie understands the value of moving online to offline in order to build stronger relationships. He's a great addition to the Victoria community. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Photos: Debra Brash Times Colonist

Sarah Petrescu  from the Times Colonist often sources models for her articles via Twitter. That's how Melissa McLeod and I came to be featured in "Basic Instincts" an article on fall "must haves". Rumon Carter and Sean Dhillon  were the models for "Fearless Fashion"  in November.

The 3rd Mashable meetup on Sept 23rd for Social Media Good Day  was hosted by Parkside Victoria  and Lina Zussino. Discussions centered on using social media for social good. How can we effect social change using social media?

UVIC's LipDup went viral. But wait - it was UVIC in Spain.

Photo: tpholmes

September's Social Media Club meeting  "Religion, Spirituality and Social Media" with @Eshusan (Victoria Zen Centre) @NickTheViking (Saanich Baptist) and @DrMarkWagner (Salvation Army) had attendees considering the nature of community, as much as spirituality. Juhli Selby recapped the evening in two parts. 

One of the "ideas" to come out of the Ideas Victoria meetings was "Awesome Shit Club"  where "awesomites" grant money to "awesomers".  The inaugural event saw slam poet Missie Peters  win $600 towards creating the First Victoria Spoken Word Festival (February 23rd-26th). There is an event scheduled for January 2011.

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For three years Frans Jonker reclaimed his fitness by biking. His introduction to most of the Victoria twitter community in July 2009 was through tweets about his rides. Originally he planned to cycle to Port Hardy as a personal challenge but people encouraged him to use it as an opportunity to raise funds for charity.

Thus, The Road to Port Hardy charity bike ride for the BC Cancer Foundation became reality. After a tweetup Aug 12th, Frans launched his ride August 16th, cycling 525km in 4 days and raising almost $10,000!

Pecha Kucha Volume 3 August 12th focused on food.

Social Media Club's August meeting featured Social Video  with Don Power , Daniel Barton and Cris Vleck.

Carl Leone @VicCityParty who most of us met at Social Media Day, went to give blood in early August. That sparked the beginning of the #yyjbleeders tweetups (August 12th and October 23rd).

The next #yyjbleeders is Saturday January 15th. If you've never given blood before - why not make this a resolution for 2011? Please read the meetup description carefully.

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If you like ideas, don't miss this conference!

On International Free Hugs Day July 3rd a small group of us, mostly sourced through Twitter, greeted passersby at the Tourism Victoria info centre.

North Studio, Stikky Media, Vancouver Island Outdoor Adventure Expo and Birds of a Feather Bed and Breakfast hosted the 2nd Mashable Meetup July 29th. It was a lovely evening on Esquimalt Lagoon shared with friends old and new.   Thanks to FatDaddys BBQ for the fabulous eats too!

The Social Media Club meeting July 27th was an "Un-Meeting" with great discussions facilitated by Melanie Wood of ACD Systems.

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The founders of Social Media Club, Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer, visited Victoria June 4th to meet the social media community face to face. What a tweetup that turned out to be with over 100 people in attendance.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Later in June Paul Holmes, CEO of IdeaZone and Chris Burdge, BWest Interactive, members of the Social Media leadership team, presented "Leveraging Facebook and LinkedIn" at our monthly Social Media Club Victoria meeting.

June 30th was Social Media Day worldwide (as proclaimed by Mashable). Organizer Paul Holmes was able to have the day officially recognized by the City of Victoria. This made Mashable's front page!  The Fairmont Empress hosted a tweetup/meetup at the Bengal Lounge.

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Paul Holmes organized a second WordCamp May15th.  Attendance at both has been over 100 each time.

Pecha Kucha Night volume 2 was held on May 27th. Speakers included Ben Ziegler and Karen Rivers.

from The Vancouverite

May 25th @RealReporter Salim Jiwa spoke to Social Media Club on "Trends In Journalism Today & The Impact of Social Media". Here's some thoughts from one of the attendees, Yule Heibel.

photo from youcookca

Kudos to the Fairmont Empress and Inn at Laurel Point for innovative marketing. May 12th saw the inaugural #poutineoff on the lawns of the Empress Hotel. Judges, sourced via Twitter, were @cqwww @toots11 @flygirlWS @seedtocup @lacouvee @EATmagazine @TravelWithTaste @youcookca. Mayor Dean Fortin was the MC. Fairmont Empress Chef Ito's "Tiger Poutine" was narrowly declared the winner.

photo from youcookca

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Rod Cooper organized BC Social Media Summit April 7th as a fundraiser for his participation in The Ride To Conquer Cancer . Speakers included Chris Burdge, Rod Phillips, Tracy McAllister, Paul Holmes, Terri Davies, Rob Cooper, Ross Dunn, Janis La Couvée. My presentation "Building a Brand, Lessons Learned from Twestival Victoria" is here.

Evening tweetups continued sporadically. We met at the Bard and Banker on April 17th for a great evening out.  

April 14th also marked the beginning of the very successful "gents #victoriatweetup" organized by Frans Jonker. These continue on a regular monthly basis. Contact Frans for more details.

April's Social Media Club meeting topic was "Traditional Media Meets Social Media" with participation from Deborah Wilson (CBC), Dana Hutchings (CHEK News), Bryan Capistrano (the Q! and the Zone), Amanda Farrell (Monday Magazine) and Sarah Petrescu (Times Colonist). The discussion and debate were lively! Here are Yule Heibel's original and follow up posts. Did you attend? What did you think?

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Babes Go Bare For Cancer  had a scheduled Head Shave and silent auction March 6th and, on a whim, the week before, I tweeted that I would shave my head if I could raise $1000. Guess what? 

Babes Go Bare was founded by Trish Caddy in the fall of 2009. She connected with the local social media community for much of her sponsorship. Total fundraising efforts for the 2010 calendar were $19,000. The 2011 calendar features many "babes and blokes" from the local Twitter community. Please consider donating or purchasing a calendar. Here's why I decided to become a model.

Chris Causton announced his Liberal Party of Canada candidacy at an "un-press" conference and invited local social media enthusiasts and supporters.
 

"Recognizing the role online media plays in local news and opinion, this event is an opportunity for bloggers, online citizen and professional journalists, and social media enthusiasts to meet Christopher. Video cameras are welcome!".

Stay tuned for another Twestival Victoria local March 24th 2011.

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Social Media Club's topic was "Using Social Media to Advance and Promote Your Business" with Scott McDonald, Rocky Mountain Soap Victoria, Rod Phillips, Liquor Plus, and Michael Steveluk, Scooter Underground.  Scott, Rod and Michael are pioneers locally in their use of social media to engage with their customers.

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