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.

Nov 4-6, 2011 saw the 7th ever Event Camp hosted in Vancouver at two beautiful venues, the Westin Bayshore & the Vancouver Convention Centre. Over 80 event professionals attended in person from Vancouver, Alberta, Washington, Oregon along with speakers from California, Denver, & Washington DC. We also had over 50 virtual attendees from Sweden, Belgium, Canada, USA & England to name a few. It was for those 50 virtual attendees that I was assigned to the task of Social Media Concierge. Here are my takeaways.

DEF: Social Media Concierge – a person dedicated to monitoring the virtual conversations taking place at a conference/meeting/event & to provide assistance to the virtual attendees as well as being the voice for them at the conference. Being the in room representative for the virtual attendees, asking questions & sharing knowledge. A conduit for the show organizers to gauge real time feedback on the event

Here are my 10 Do’s & Don’ts

Do’s:

1. Make sure the Social Media Concierge really understands the social media channels you are using & actually uses them efficiently for their own business/use.

2.Have dedicated hard line internet access. Wi-Fi is good but occasionally I was bumped off and it took me about 10 mins to re-establish myself which meant I was losing some potentially valuable engagement

3. Make sure your laptop or desktop is up to date and fast! if you are going to be multitasking on it all day the last thing you need is for technology to slow down. Invest in the best you can afford.

“What I adore about hybrid events is the networking that can happen between people on-site and people online. Event Camp Vancouver was a stellar example of the kind of community that can be created when you have active and visible stewards at the social media helm. With a dedicated concierge, someone who’s sole role is to bring the voice of the online community into the face to face event, not only do the remote attendees feel more engaged and valued, but the overall quality of the learning is enhanced by the dynamic exchange between online and onsite delegates.” – Erica St. Angel, VP Marketing, Sonic Foundry

4. Two screens are better than 1. When multitasking between Tweetchat , the Twitter List I was building & the other programs 2 screens would have made it much easier & efficient.

5. Provide the Social Media Concierge with the Key Points from each presenter in advance so that they don’t get missed. Having these in advance would have allowed me to pre type some tweets to coincide with the on stage presentations

6. Have a pre event meeting with the Event Producer/Show Manager & the Host/MC/Moderator. This ensures that all parties are clear on the roles & the Social Media Concierge adds to the event and is not a distraction

7. Treat the Social Media Concierge just like a presenter or co host. To be truly effective a Social Media Concierge is the voice of the Virtual Attendees as well as those in the room that don’t want to stand up. I thought Glenn Thayer & myself made a great team.

8. Understand the Social Media Concierge can in real time be the feedback gauge of the event. He/she can tell you exactly how the attendees are reacting to the venue/programming & speakers. Allow for real time communication with the Event Planner so that adjustments can be made to enhance the attendee experience.

“In the case of EventCamp Vancouver the social media concierge had a dual role. The designated role was to monitor the Twitter stream for the virtual audience primarily and to share what they had to say with those in the room who may not be following along Twitter. (especially as we did not have a feed running at the front of the room) The secondary role that some would say was of the most value was when we had small group sessions that included technology and people could ask their own specific questions to improve their knowledge of social media. Both invaluable. “ – Tahira Endean, Director, Team Creative & Production Cantrav Services Inc.

Don’ts:

1. Don’t run the show & be the Social Media Concierge at the same time, each is a full time job.

2. Don’t volunteer to be the Social Media Concierge if you were planning to be an attendee as well, you will miss some of the networking & learning opportunities. Better to have clear focus for either role – attendee or Social Media Concierge.

Events & Social Media are 2 of my passions. Actually, my passion is community building or as I like to call it, relationships! On Nov 2nd at 2pm I’ll be talking about Social Media and it’s impact & ability to engage attendees at events to a crowd of event professionals.

If you are interested in learning more about it check out the Canadian Special Event & Meeting Expo West line up of presenters and topics.

If you are attending let’s connect and engage.

But not my friend Marc. And that’s why I was so delighted to hear that he’s a nominee for the Successful You Awards in the first-ever category of Best Community Impact. The Ninth Annual Awards, to be held on February 28, 2012, will recognize the best of the best of small businesses in BC.

Recently, I chatted with Marc on the nomination, his passion for community, and what he hopes to achieve in pursuing this recognition.

On the nomination

“I was actually approached by several people to enter Amuse Consulting  because of all my pro bono work, especially with the recent success of the Stack the Rack fundraiser for QMUNITY, and the feedback from board members and others on the impact on the organization from both a growth and sustainability perspective. With just two and a half months lead time, we raised $21,500 in tough economic climate. The right cause, and having the right people in the room shows it can be done.”

On his personal philosophy

“Growing up in the small town of Terrace, I learned how to be a service-oriented relationship builder and apply it to every job I’ve had. I’ve always been a big believer in synergy and and leveraging relationships. Seven years at Capers taught me how to connect charitable giving with day-to-day operations.

It was a great platform from which to launch Amuse in 2005. Part of my DNA was that I would naturally be working for corporations and for charities. and blend the two whenever possible. My experience taught me that it’s not just about raising money or selling a ticket, but using every event as a tool to develop broader, richer and deeper relationships between businesses, charities, donors and sponsors.

For example, the longest-running client event is the Fernandez Earle Scholarship Foundation, which gives four-year scholarships to young people from Haida Gwai. The Foundation’s work has resulted in a dramatic increase in literacy and graduation rates. That’s brought a lot of hope to a region where there wasn’t much hope. Whether or not it’s a non-profit or corporation, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, it’s all about making both better and healthier. It’s my personal commitment. My address book is open. I help all I can.”

On social media

“I’ve been using social marketing before social media tools became popular, and I embraced them as a natural extension of what I do. After all, when it comes right down to it, all social media is just talking, and when it’s used properly, it’s very effective for building relationships. I love Twitter, because it helps me hone my messages, and because it’s like one big cocktail party – and I love cocktail parties!”

On achievements

“I’d say that my achievements over the past year have been two-fold. From a financial and organizational perspective, would be my work with Qmunity, helping them build their own community of connections, donors, sponsors they didn’t have before, taking them not one step up the ladder, but several levels up.

For me personally, it’s the fact that I’m being asked to mentor people who I consider to be brilliant in their own right. People are looking for guidance and I give advice in plain language, with my no-nonsense, no-BS approach. I’m swimming in a pool full of smart fascinating people and I never imagined that seven years ago.”

(I asked young entrepreneur and social media specialist Jason Baker for some thoughts on Marc’s mentorship, and he offered this perspective:

“After knowing Marc for nearly two years, he has become more than just a really good friend. Marc has become not just a professional mentor, but a life mentor. Marc has become that go-to person for me when I begin to over-analyze, over-think, or become lost on my path in life or my career. In the little time I’ve known him, he’s challenged me to become a better person, better professional, and provided valuable life plans on how to grow forward. Marc’s friendship, time, and kindness to take time out of his life and business to help me and the community has been invaluable on so many levels. He really has changed and improved the lives of many people in the community because he honestly cares about helping people. Without Marc’s generosity and heart, I’m not sure where myself and others would be right now.”)

On recognition

“At the end of the day, I don’t want to be recognized for the sake of being recognized, but for making a difference and for making people’s lives and the businesses I serve better. That fires me up every day. If this award helps me work with more businesses and non-profits who want to do better and be better, then I’ll have achieved my goal. The more I do, the more I can do. That’s what makes me excited.”

Check out the Amuse Consulting nomination here http://www.successfulyou.ca/nominee/best-community/83

With only 3 weeks left until Amuse Consulting Presents Marketing Essentials for Business Owners we’ve just received some major support from 3 Vancouver based businesses. Hootsuite. webnames.ca and High Output Business Network (HOBN) all have come on board to support the seminar and offer some amazing deals to our attendees.

Here are 10 reasons you should sign up now to attend Marketing Essentials:

1. Until Sept 16th get $40 off your registration fee thanks to support from our sponsors. Enter discount code Hootsuite  and $40 will be reduced from the ticket price. You must register by Sept 16th to get this discount.
2. Hootsuite is offering all attendees one month free Hootsuite premium + one month free access to Hootsuite University
3. webnames.ca will be giving every attendee a one year .tel domain. This is your online business card and is very SEO friendly.
4. HOBN will offer one month free membership to its weekly networking events to all attendees. events take place all over the lower mainland and you are welcome to attend any chapter event.
5. George Moen – President of Blenz Coffee, a serial entrepreneur, sought after speaker and all around marketing success story. See what Seth Godin has to say about George Moen http://www.neilgodin.com/marketingdangerouslyblog/2010/06/03/idea-of-the-day-how-did-george-moen-hijack-the-olympics/
6. Matt Astifan a great speaker and known for keeping his talks relevant and inspirational. Matt will really help you understand the Social Science of Facebook and how you can make it work for our business. Here’s what one of Matt’s previous seminar hosts had to say http://www.elevatedmarketing.ca/matt-astifan-webfriendly-review/
7. Kemp Edmonds will show us how we can really use Hootsuite to get the most out of our twitter efforts, from engagement to business intelligence and metrics Hootsuite does it all. Hootsuite is the biggest Vancouver Social Media success story having everyone up to the White House as a client. We are lucky to have them on board.
8. 6 acclaimed speakers promising you relevant actionable presentations that will enable you to take action right away!
9. You are serious about growing your business and taking it to the next level.
10. Commit to success. Register your participation now and begin the next level of success.