Speaking Engagements: A Preview of Social Media Week’s BankConnect Event

Social Media Week (SMW12) hits Toronto next week and Delvinia President Steve Mast is among the speakers at BankConnect, a panel discussion presented by ING Direct and XConnect (a project of thirdocean), about how banks are using social media, technology and other new media tools to connect with their customers and potential new markets.

The event, which takes place from 6-9 p.m. at the ING Direct Cafe on Wednesday, February 15, will  bring together industry executives to discuss a variety of issues around new media and banking.

Attendees will hear from financial industry insiders about banking in Canada, learn how banks are adjusting to and are impacted by changes caused by technology and industry trends, and have the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to insiders in the financial industry.

In addition to Steve Mast, the BankConnect panel includes Daniel  Shain, founder of Finizi Corp.; Mark Nicholson, Head of Digital and Interactive at ING Direct; Andrew Jenkins, Head of Social Media Strategy at RBC; Debbie Dimoff, Vice President of Client Services at PwC; and Fahad Kamr, Founder of Stocial.com. The National Post‘s Matt Hartley will moderate the discussion.

In this video, Steve talks to Karim Kanji, co-founder and partner of thirdocean and XConnect, about the power and potential of social media in the banking industry and the challenges banks are facing in the areas of mobile technology and social media.

For more information about the event, or to register, please visit the BankConnect event page on the Social Media Week Toronto website.

Delvinia in the News: Canadian Government Executive Profiles eDemocracy in Markham

Delvinia’s work around eDemocracy in the Town of Markham is the subject of a feature story in the January issue of Canadian Government Executive, published by IT in Canada.

“Voting digital: Markham connects through tech,” authored by Delvinia CEO Adam Froman and Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, is based on a presentation delivered by the pair at the GTEC 2011 conference in Ottawa last fall. The article tells the story of Markham’s journey in using digital technologies to engage with citizens.

“Technology has fundamentally changed the way governments and their citizens interact. Governments are realizing that the future of eDemocracy is more than offering citizens a means to transact or obtain public service information; it is about listening to citizens and becoming part of the conversation,” the article states.

“This is something the Town of Markham understands. Through the use of Internet voting and the implementation of multiple interactive online initiatives, Markham has become a leader in eDemocracy.”

With Delvinia’s support, Markham became the first major Canadian municipality to introduce Internet voting in 2003. Since then, Delvinia has conducted three online surveys to gather data on the attitudes and behaviours of Markham residents, the findings of which are outlined in three reports chronicling voter feedback and preferences collected following the 2003, 2006 and 2010 municipal elections.

The Delvinia Report on Internet Voting in the Town of Markham, released in September 2011, can be downloaded here.

To read the Canadian Government Executive article in its entirety, please see the January issue.

Everything Is a Screen as Microsoft Imagines Future Productivity

If I can offer one piece of advice for people looking to invest in future needs, it would be this; invest in screen cleaning fluids and wipes. Soon everything from your coffee table to your kitchen counter and the wall in your living room will have screen capabilities.

Screens are both shrinking and growing, but they are also becoming thinner, mobile and more powerful everyday. Projection and surface technology are evolving quickly to enable the kind of interaction imagined in the video I’ve embedded above from Microsoft Office Labs.

It’s been almost ten years since we watched Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report interact with hologram projections both as a participant and as a target of personalized advertising. Now interactive digital screens are everywhere around us, from bathroom mirrors to interactive Out-of-Home advertising and information systems that can respond to gestures, voice or input from personal mobile devices.

People carry smartphones and tablets that easily eclipse the computing power of personal computers from just a decade earlier and feature applications that augment their productivity, providing instant communication, and allowing them to connect and interact with personal and public data stored in the cloud. It’s possible that you may even be reading this post on a mobile phone or tablet.

Microsoft’s video walks us through a day in the life of people from around the globe as they collaborate on projects, or search for an apple pie recipe for the school bake sale. They easily move their work from personal screen to shared screen and even to the space around them.

Can you imagine how your daily life will change when we are freed from our traditional screens?

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