30 Day Adventures explores hidden attractions of Lower Mainland and inspires shaking up everyday routines

(Vancouver – May 22, 2012) Social media community builder Marc Smith is embarking on 30 Day Adventures next week, a month-long sampling of the diversity of experience to be found in the Lower Mainland community.  

From June 2^nd to July 1^st, social media influencer and event guru, Marc Smith, will undertake a new adventure every day to discover a hidden experience of the Vancouver region. Smith will report on his adventures on the 30 Day Adventures blog at http://30dayadventures.ca, and will capture his experiences through photos, video, live-tweets and blogging.

“I’ve lived in Vancouver since 1989 and thought I knew the city pretty well, but when I asked my social media friends for ideas of how to shake up my life with new activities or experiences in town, I was flooded with suggestions for things I had never done,” says Marc Smith, Chief Muse at Amuse Consulting Inc. “I thought this would be a great way to try a lot of new adventures, and document them for my friends and followers to build community and promote some of the amazing adventures to be had in our region.”

Smith is drawing on his ‘friends’ and followers to help choose random adventures, allowing him to see Vancouver through the eyes of the people with whom he engages virtually and hopefully connect on a deeper level with them. He will also be able to showcase some of the amazing adventures to be found in the community. Adventures can range from a cliff walk, volunteering to read books to students at an inner city school, cheering on a little league team at their playoffs, cooking with an award-winning chef, or learning how to fly a kite at Vanier Park.

“I hope people following my adventures online will be inspired to get out and try something new and different,” says Smith. “It’s when we do something out of the ordinary that extra ordinary experiences happen.”

About Marc Smith

Marc Smith is the Chief Muse at Amuse Consulting, Inc. With more than 13 years experience in the event planning industry, Marc continuously strives to have a fresh perspective and the latest marketing tools. He is passionate about social media – connecting people to and at events, as well as educating professionals, students and entrepreneurs about the untapped engagement power of Social Media and events. Building community is everything to Marc. He was a founding board member of the BC Ethics in Action Society a current board member of The Synergy Foundation, and a tireless supporter of community for many years, most recently donating his services to A Loving Spoonful, Qmunity, and Five Hole for Food. 

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Contact:

Marc Smith

marc@amuseconsulting.ca

c : 604-687-6335

Twitter: @amuse_events

Last week I had a revelation and I’m working hard to bring it to life! It’s gonna be an adventure!!!!

Please leave a comment below with your twitter name & email address and I will put you on the official guest list for when the invite is ready to go out. REVISED RSVP below

I’ve already lined up some cool giveaways for the party

Well it’s official the  Anderson Cooper: A 360 Degree View Of the World is no longer coming to Vancouver on April 5th

To say I’m massively disappointed is an understatement. I even did a YOUTUBE video to show Anderson Cooper how a story he did in Oct 2010 inspired my to devote a year of volunteering to a great charity QMUNITY.

Instead of being sad watch this story and please leave a comment sharing why you were excited to see Mr. Anderson Cooper in Vancouver. I’ll forward this to his PR people and let’s see if we can get a response from Anderson. Let’s go viral baby and inspire action!

Share your inspiration below.

One of the top misconceptions I hear from businesses that are not on Twitter/Facebook etc… is that Social Media in general is a huge waste of time and that they don’t make money from it. Well I beg to differ!

On Feb 21st I’m part of an exciting event, with good friends and colleagues from CK Golf Solutions & Jordan Consulting, called “Social Media Money – How the shirt on your back can be profitable”. Ticket are $79 until Feb 10th and then the price goes up till $89. Get yours here!

At this event we celebrate and highlight businesses that have successfully used social media to grow & increase their business, in plain language they’ve made money from it! Here’s a brief bit on some of our presenters.

Jason Sadler – Jason Sadler is currently in his 4th year of wearing t-shirts for a living. From drawing on walls with crayons as a kid to eventually graduating college with a degree in Graphic Design, Jason’s always been creative. He’s worked with professional sports organizations, advertising agencies, Fortune 500s and before getting paid to wear t-shirts co-owned his own web design company. Jason loves playing Scrabble, watching terrible movies (sometimes for 24 hours at a time), has been known to shoot a hoop of basketball or two and is an avid automotive enthusiast. Jason lives at the beach in Jacksonville, Florida, which gives him the freedom to prance around in t-shirts 365 days out of the year with his Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Plaxico.

Josh Rimer -

Josh Rimer has been an official YouTube Partner for 5 years and has created 170 videos for his own channel, which have received a total of 5 million views. He has over 10,000 subscribers and has written a 40 page eBook about his YouTube Marketing Tactics, which is available for free on his blog at www.JoshRimer.com.

Josh works with companies to develop their YouTube strategy and help them optimize their videos to get found more often in YouTube and on Google. He also provides product placement within his own videos so that companies can benefit from his endorsement to a growing audience of people who know, like, and trust him.

George Moen – George Moen proudly describes himself as a Serial Entrepreneur. With more than 30 years of experience in food and franchising, he specializes in transitioning small businesses into big business success stories.

George Moen is the co-founder of Rapid Times Networks. Former President of Blenz Coffee and Co-Founder of High Output Business Networking. He also founded the Sandwich Tree restaurant chain in the 70’s as well as numerous other ventures over the years. He is one of the country’s most followed CEO’s in social media and speaks as a keynote or on numerous panels at a variety of events about franchising, entrepreneurship, business and social media.

Huge shout out and thanks to all our sponsors Mark McD Creative.com, The Westin Grand, Aussie Pet Mobile, University Golf Club, ING Direct, Rapid Times Network, Josh Rimer & Vancity Buzz.

Late Friday afternoon we were thrilled to get the call from Small Business BC to let us know we had made it to the final round for the Small Business BC Successful You Awards. A huge honour for us as Community is at the heart of the work we do at Amuse “we bring people together” is not just a tag line for us, it’s a philosophy and a way of working we hold dear.

The big gala is on Feb 28th and we are thrilled to celebrate with all the other amazing nominees the fabulous work that occurs here in BC by small business owners and their teams. If you’d like to join us please contact Marc Smith @ 604-687-6335 by Feb 2nd as I have a block of tickets available at $49 each a $10 savings from the current price of $59. Let’s celebrate!

How we got here:

Stage #1 – get nominated

Stage #2 – Collect enough votes from the public to be make it to the Top 10

Stage #3 – Fill out the long form application and include 3 letters of support from your peers/community in support of the nomination.

Stage #4 – A panel of judges review the long form applications and score each one. The 5 nominees with the highest scoring applications move on to…

Stage #5 – in front of the panel of judges we make a 5 to 10 minute presentation followed by a Q&A session

Stage #6 – on Feb 28th the award for Best Community Impact is announced!

Amuse Consulting is pleased to announce that it has been chosen as the event planner for two amazing charities providing services to residents of BC.

The Canadian Red Cross Western Zone has asked Amuse Consulting to plan it’s new signature Gala to take place in Oct 2012. The Canadian Red Cross supports our community with Disaster Management support, Migrant & Refugee Services & RespectED: Violence Prevention services just to name a few.

QMUNITY was the 2011 charity of choice for Amuse Consulting and that relationship is continuing into 2012 with Amuse producing a Donor Reception, the International Day Against Homophobia breakfast & the signature event Stack the Rack. A 4th event is also in planning with details soon to follow.

Amuse is please to be working with such amazing organizations and is looking forward to building a stronger community which we can all benefit from.

For more information on these organizations or about Amuse Consulting please don’t hesitate to call us 604-687-6335 email us marc@amuseconsulting.ca or tweet us https://twitter.com/#!/Amuse_events

Five Hole For Food – an annual coast to coast tour playing hockey to support food banks across Canada. Uniting fans of all loyalties, FHFF visited St. John’s, Halifax, Charlottetown, Saint John, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, & Vancouver in 2011.

In only 2 short years Five Hole For Food has raised almost 60,000 lbs of food for local food banks & has the support of some Canada’s biggest corporations Molson Canadian, Chevrolet Canada, Canadian Pacific, Boston Pizza, WestJet, TELUS, Marketwire & London Drugs just to name a few.

Mission Statement – Five Hole for Food brings together communities across Canada using hockey as a vehicle for social change and to support Food Banks in this country. Five Hole for Food creates a giving experience that inspires, cultivates change and has a legacy impact.

The Full Story

History – Since starting Amuse in 2005 I’ve contributed many hours personally & professionally to some amazing charities & groups that do great work here in the lower mainland. Traditionally groups have approached me when their need was upon them. In the fall of 2009 I decided to take a different approach.

I took stock of what was happening in Vancouver & researched charities I felt where addressing problems facing the community & chose one where I felt my unique skills & abilities would be needed most. In other words I chose the organization that my support would have the most impact on.

Current – In 2010 that charity was QMUNITY an amazing organization that supports, educates & helps to keep safe the LGBT community from teens to the grave. Definitely check QMUNITY out to learn more about what they do and how we’ve helped.

FHFF Story – Feb 2010 I was asked by my friend Dixon Tam to meet a young guy by the name of Richard Loat who started a charity the year before & who needed a bit of mentor-ship about approaching & managing sponsorship. I was promised that if I gave an hour of my time I would be wowed by what this 22 year old was doing. Of course I said yes & boy was I WOWED!

I spent 2010 helping out via twitter, phone, email & the occasional face to face. I helped plan the wrap up party in my gallery space once the media picked up the story for the final Vancouver game which meant all hands were on deck at the game.

When the dust settled on the 2010 events a core concern came up for Richard & the exec team, organizational sustainability & future growth. While not something I’m usually hired for it is something I’m passionate about. So during Sept to November I spent time with the exec team setting forth a long term strategy & then we met separately with the Ops & Marketing teams. Structure, accountability & work flow documentation were our focus.

Get Involved – So what will I be doing for 2012 with FHFF? All of the above + hosting & connecting major influencers with the team to help facilitate Five Hole For Food becoming the premier National Food Bank Fundraiser in Canada. If you want to get involved please connect with me via Twitter FaceBook Google+ 604-687-6335 or marc@amuseconsulting.ca

We are thrilled to announce that Amuse Consulting has been recognized in Small Business BC’s Successful You Awards Best Community Impact category. This is the first year for this category and we are honoured to be recognized to be in the Top 10 from a huge list of nominees.

Community is what drives Amuse Consulting founder Marc Smith and there is no recognition that means more to us than one that honours community spirit. In true community fashion we would not have been able to do this on our own so we would like to take a moment and thank all of our friends, colleagues and clients for their unwavering support over the years.

Behind Amuse is a huge village of suppliers, clients, colleagues and of course friends. Inspiration, support and striving to do better each time is what they help us do and without them there would be no Amuse Community.

Here is the list of the other amazing 9 organizations that we are honoured to be nominated with. Please check them out and if you can support them in the future AWESOME!

In no particular order:

1. Seeds Natural Food Market
2. Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE)
3. Lux Jewels
4. A Little More Good
5. Dance With Me Studio
6. Kit n’ Caboodle Quality Children’s Consignment Ltd.
7. HapiFoods Group Inc. (Holy Crap Cereal)
8. Academic Advantage Tutoring
9. Kids Physio Group

For a full list of all the nominees in all categories click here http://www.successfulyou.ca/vote.

The next step is a long form application from which 5 finalists are selected and interviewed by a panel of judges. The awards are presented Feb 28, 2012 at a gala event at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Hopefully we will see you there!

At the beginning of Nov I was part of Event Camp Vancouver and was asked to be the  Social Media Concierge for the weekend. At that conference one of the many people I met was Terry Coatta the President of AssociCom, a private social networking solution for associations around the world.

Terry was impressed with my grasp of the role of Social Media Concierge and asked if I was willing to do a Live Stream interview with him about the topic of Hybrid Events, Social Media and the role they can play to help Associations grow. So here are clips from that interview. I apologise in advance for some of the sound levels. Just crank up the volume. These may or may not be in order

1. The Role of Social Media Concierge

2. What is a Hybrid Event

3. Every Event is a Hybrid Event

4. Business Models of Associations

5. Hybrid Events for Associations

6. Price of Hybrid Events

7. How to Handle Event Disasters

8. Cocktail Rules for Social Media

For the 7th year in a row the Westin Bayshore is holding it’s Christmas Tree Decorating Contest! Watch the trees get decorated live during the Dec 6th taping of Breakfast Television on Citytv. Come by the Westin between Dec 6th-28th & vote for your favourite tree, best of all proceeds will go to the Canadian Red Cross.

Amuse was asked to help out with the launch of this years contest by creating 3 unique & easy centrepieces that could grace any festive holiday table. Here is what we’ve come up with including where we found all items. Please let us know Which is your favourite table centrepiece.

Here’s a snapshot of the segment that aired on Breakfast TV earlier on Dec 6th. Centrepiece pictures with full itemization listed below.

1. Dr. Seuss meets the Nutcracker – this table pays homage to two iconic Christmas tales “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” & “The Nutcracker”. Total cost $129.91

• Grinch Christmas Tree – Divine Vines$39.99 to $89.99 each
• Holiday Train Set 24” – Canadian Tire$34.93 each
• Nutcracker wooden statues – Michaels$7.99 to $8.99 each
• Fairy ornaments – Michaels$7.99 each
• Snowflakes – Michaels $5.99 each

2. Holiday Dinner for Two – A perfect setting for smaller dining tables just for the two of you. Total cost $30.97

• Metal & Glitter gift boxes – Wonderbucks$2.50 to $9.00 each
• Miniature Poinsettias – Garden Nursery  $3.99 each
• LED votive candles – Wonderbucks$2.00
• Holiday Sleigh felt place mat – Michaels $3.49

3. Viva Glam – All that glitters isn’t just for Christmas, what about New Years. A black and silver holiday. Glamorous & festive. Total cost $148.27

• Black sequin trees – Canadian Tire$9.99 each
• Silver Tree branches w/ LED lights – Chintz & Company$34.99 each
• Silver glitter branches – Michaels$3.39 each
• Silver twig w/ crystal balls – Chintz & Company$9.99
• Silver star votive holders – Chintz & Company$12.99 each
• Snowflake napkin ring holder – Liberty$6.95
• Silver charger plate – Michaels $2.61

I hope these inspire you to get creative. We’d love to hear what you think so please drop us a note Happy Holidays.