“As a founding sponsor of mesh, Edelman was a supporter quite literally within five minutes of being introduced to the idea.” – Stuart MacDonald
For the past five years, Edelman Toronto has successfully partnered in launching and sustaining the mesh brand, Canada’s leading web 2.0 conference. In addition to handling the conference’s traditional and digital media outreach, accreditation, and interview scheduling, for the past two years we have also been live-tweeting and maintaining social media communications throughout the conference.
mesh is a highly anticipated event at Edelman Toronto, and we are so proud to be involved!
Check out these highlights from #mesh10’s keynote speakers:
Media Keynote: Chris Thorpe
Chris Thorpe, Developer Advocate for the Open Platform at The Guardian, took the stage for the first keynote of the day. Thorpe described the “mutualization” of news as the guiding principle of the Guardian’s work in extending their open API to build businesses with the people who use their content.
Chris Thorpe talking with Giga Om’s Mathew Ingram
Photo Credit: Mike McNaulty, as uploaded to media.meshconference.com
Society Keynote: Joseph Menn
Next up was Joseph Menn, author of “Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet”, who entertained mesh attendees with his incredible stories of espionage and internet security. Even though some attendees thought Menn’s talk had “idea density too rich with awesomeness to extract nuggets”, here are our top three favourite Menn quotes:
I don’t think I’ve met a top computer security guy yet that hasn’t done something bad as a teenager
…it’s not like the mob’s saying ‘We gotta open an online division
[On his own personal security] In the unlikely event I get wacked, it’ll at least raise awareness
Business Keynote – Scott Thompson
Day Two began with a discussion of the future of money with the President of PayPal, Scott Thompson. Formerly a CTO at Visa, Thompson sees the value in having tech businesses actually be run by people who have hands-on experience in technology. Thompson also stresses the importance of consumer and business partner feedback, saying “if you can measure something, you can improve it.” This seems to have paid off – PayPal serving 84 million consumers internationally in 190 countries!
Scott Thompson with Freshbooks’ Mike McDerment
Photo Credit: Mike McNulty, as uploaded to media.meshconference.com
Marketing/Communications Keynote – Arvind Rajan
{Disclosure: LinkedIn is an Edelman Canada client}
Up next was Arvind Rajan from LinkedIn to talk about making lasting connections in the professional online space. Rajan gave mesh attendees a crash course in LinkedIn job hunting, saying that a filled-out profile, listing interests, and regular updating are the best ways to attract recruiters. Rajan also piqued the crowd’s interest when he said, “It’s fair to say that we’re looking at ways for users to leverage their LinkedIn network further online.” Looks like there’s much more to come from LinkedIn, especially with the opening of a Canadian office!
 Melissa Retty Edelman Digital, Toronto Follow on twitter @MelissaRetty |
 Laura Muirhead Edelman Digital, Toronto Follow on twitter @Lauraroni |
