MoMoVan E-Zine | October 20, 2008

This is our third season and we have a great line-up in mind for 2008-2009. We kicked off the season on Monday, October 6th with a unique event that brought together the wireless and the new media communities. We talked about the art of the perfect pitch and had a really good discussion about entrepreneurship and start-ups reminding us of the depth of expertise and innovation that exists in Vancouver. Once again we had a fantastic turn out showing that this is a committed, interactive and fun-loving community.

Momovan is an open forum for mobile professionals and enthusiasts held every first Monday of the month from October to June. It is an opportunity for you, our Vancouver wireless community, to get together to talk, share ideas and learn about each other. We hope to open a long-lasting conversation that is relevant to the wireless and Web 2.0 community in Vancouver and the world.

The evening is always a combination of an informal networking session paired with an organized speaker or panel discussion on a topic chosen by and relevant to your community. There is always beer and food and sometimes even a smile or two; after all, "Smile, it's Monday!" is the official slogan. Everyone is welcome.

We kicked off the 2008-2009 season with an event in Gastown's WorkSpace (www.abetterplacetowork.com) on October 6th.

It was a great evening and really demonstrated the unique momovan spirit of combining serious and useful with fun and relaxed. You will all agree that we have a really unique community, one that is not only energetic and dynamic, but one that is really able to relax, have a good time and be open. There exists a willingness to work together to achieve success; it is rare to have both innovative people and the ability to look outside and work cooperatively. It is a community in the truest sense of the word. This was all proven by your desire to be there. It was a long night and you were interacting until the very end. Free beer and pizza is no doubt is a good incentive, but you were all there because you enjoyed being there; that is something rare and is to be celebrated.

Thank you for coming out and making the evening such a success. And thank you to all the panelists and speakers who shared their insights and expertise and to our generous sponsors (BDC, Wavefront, Vancouver Economic Development Commission, and Workspace).

We also want to thank Bruce Sharpe from Singular Software for taping the event, Natalie from Edie's Hats, WorkSpace for the venue, and our community volunteers Carmen Bidu and Fepideh Ghafoori.

In addition to the informative sessions and discussions, we also selected the new face of momovan for the year (a unique tradition) for the official face on the "Smile, it's Monday!" button.

Edie, owner of Edie's Hats (www.ediehats.com) once again provided the props (sexy, crazy, trendy hats). There was some modesty at first, but Natalie (store manager) was relentless and no one was spared from the fashion show or the ensuing photo shoot . A top 5 was chosen from the room and after much deliberation, Igor Faletski passed the mantle to Amielle Lake. A big thank you to Igor for loaning us his smiling mug for the year. Congrats and a big welcome to Amielle. Her face will adorn the website and our newsletters for the rest of the season. Photo credits for the new face of MoMoVan goes to Natalie Hobbs.

1) Smart, fast pitches
Four members of the MoMoVan community were asked to give 3-minute pitches; the elevator pitch where you give enough info to hook your listener and guarantee a second meeting. You can view some of the presentations for each of the presenters:

2) Art of the Pitch
Woodrow Wilson once said, "If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if an hour, I am ready now." Ron Klopfer, no stranger to the technology industry or raising capital described the art of the perfect pitch; view his presentation here. Ron spoke to the difficulty of being clear and concise and how to master being efficient at pitching.

Discussed the how their companies organize and promote themselves as well as the challenges of competing in a global market. Throughout the discussion themes emerged; take home messages included:

4) Panel on Mobile Voting
John Boxall of Handi Mobility and John Lyotier of Direct Voter (www.directvoter.com) carried a lively discussion how the new technologies are being deployed; how politicians are doing a lousy job of embracing the new tools at their disposal and how secure mobile technologies are going to transform not only search marketing for election campaigns but also the way we vote.

	Date:	Monday, November 3, 2008
	Time:	6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
	Location:	Granville Island Brewing Company 1441 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC - Map
	Tickets:	FREE to WINBC Members
		FREE to WINBC Sponsors and Partners
		FREE to Students
		$25 to Non-members of WINBC and at the door
	Space:	Limited to 75 people
		Registration deadline: Friday, October 31, 2008

Every month we will be getting to know a member of the momovan community. It is a chance to for us to get some feedback on the events themselves and to get to know the people behind the logos and the technology. This is a community of people, not of businesses and what better way to kick off the new season than to interview the new face of momovan for the 2008-2009 season: Amielle Lake, the CEO of Tagga.

MoMoVan (MMV): Congrats on being selected to be the new face of momovan.
Amielle Lake (AL): Thank you. It was a great event, and I got to keep my hat.

MMV: How did you hear about it?
AL: I got a phone call from WINBC asking if I could present at the Oct 6th event.

MMV: Were most of the faces in the room familiar? New?
AL: A bit of both. There was the comfort of knowing some folks and feeling at home and the opportunity to be introduced to others in the community. It was a great mix of business types, development types and investors. I also really liked that there were so many students, they provide a different dynamic and approach the issues in a different way. There weren’t too many reps from the sales and marketing side, but that really is just more a function of Vancouver than of the event itself.

MMV: Did you find the sessions useful?
AL: Yes. Panels are a great format and an excellent way to have a focused discussion. The set-up was a good for learning and for interacting in a meaningful way. I also enjoyed Ron's tips. The evening itself was a good mix talking and networking as well as the more organized sessions where a lot of information can be disseminated in a short period of time.

MMV: Suggestions for the future?
AL: I think themed nights are a good way to focus on a specific topic and drill down enough to get useful information to take away. Keeping things a little shorter is good too. I stayed to the very end and really enjoyed the panel on mobile voting. But it was almost too much for a single evening and I felt badly that most people left and didn’t get to hear the last session.

MMV: What do you enjoy most about your day at Tagga?
AL: The people that I work with and the fact that there is always something new. When you are a start-up everything is pressing and you spend a lot of time with your team and your clients and you bond very quickly and get to know each other very well.

MMV: Okay, and now a few random questions for you. Are you from Vancouver?
AL: Almost. I was born in Toronto, but I was raised in Vancouver.

About Tagga
Tagga.com is the first website that allows people to instantly create SMS & mobile sites to assist them in effectively reaching other people on their mobiles. By combining SMS and mobile sites, Tagga’s solution provides distribution of quality and rich media content to all mobile users - a market that is 3x the size of the Internet. Tagga loves website owners and bloggers and offers all kinds of tools for them to enhance the distribution of their content and earn revenue.

Mobile Monday Vancouver had a site apparently developed in 2006 by Roland Tanglao and a few volunteers but that content somehow disappeared in ether.

Based on community demand and a subtle but firm suggestion from MobileMonday Global we developed a new website to help you connect, share, store, stay in touch, and have fun.

Not to worry, you will still be getting your bi-monthly newsletters and event updates, but momovan has also launched an interactive website. It will provide a forum for you to comment on events, provide feedback, post interesting happenings and news releases. It is a place for you to go between momovan events to mingle with your friends and colleagues and stay in touch with the community and other exciting events like LaunchParty, MobileCamp Vancouver, or other chapters' events.

Phil Heard, CEO of Vancouver Economic Development Commission (www.vancouvereconomic.com), did a sponsored pitch about an exciting event targeted at high school and university students in Metro Vancouver. WINBC is a partner in the production of the event.

To encourage and foster this spirit and to strengthen our branding of Vancouver as entrepreneurial, green and innovative, VEDC (Vancouver Economic Development Commission) will host a one-day entertainment and information based event at the Agridome on November 18, 2008 on the PNE grounds during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The region's entrepreneurial achievements in sectors such as digital media, wireless, nanotechnology and life sciences are already an increasing part of its international profile, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the region's small businesses is one component of Vancouver's comparative advantage as a place to do business.

Mark your calendars. PNWS (Ideas. Innovation. Insight. Investment) is in Vancouver January 18-20, 2009.

The three-day Summit is several events in one: It’s a leadership summit meeting, a wireless conference and tradeshow, a NOKIA University Relations Forum, International Forum, an Olympic & Paralympic Wireless Forum, and a Wireless Investment Forum.

The theme of PNWS 09 is Open. Mobile. Global. PNWS positions Vancouver as the best place on the planet for Asia Pacific and Western European visionaries, entrepreneurs, carriers, application developers, industry analysts, investors, academia, and students to meet with their counterparts from North America and explore ideas, innovation, intelligence, and investment opportunities.

The Summit focuses on wireless growth areas: Social networks, location-based services, mobile advertising and mobile entertainment, and mobile enterprise.

Momovan is part of the greater Mobile Monday Global (MMG) community and as such has access to a greater network beyond BC. Not only international events and conferences, but also blogs, random chatterings and insights into the ever-evolving wireless space.

Check out all the events MMG has planned in the next little while and see what is making a buzz around the world:

As the world moves to embrace new, greener lifestyles, one bright idea can make a big difference. Do you have an innovative idea that will change the world? Then PICNICis for you. It is a top-level professional conference and contest associated with MMG. The PICNIC Green Challenge offers a € 500,000 award for best green initiative in the field of lifestyle, design, mobility and communications technology. Through an extensive program of focused seminars and workshops, and an international competition to invent a green product or service, PICNIC challenges us all to think outside the box. The Chairman of the Jury is Sir Richard Branson. The 2009 event takes place 23-25 September in Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam. Register.

On November 3rd several mobile companies from UK are visiting Helsinki looking for cooperative business opportunities with their Finnish counterparts. They will no doubt have a pint or two in the now famous Molly Malone's Irish Bar, the birthplace of MobileMonday.

Sony Ericsson dip into red was much less than anticipated, providing its investors with good news. It shipped 25.7 million units in Q3, a sequential increase but flat year-on-year, while sales for the quarter were EUR 2,808 million, a decrease of 10% compared to Q3 2007.

Nokia met analysts’ expectations for Q3. It’s net sales of EUR 12.2 billion, were down 5% year on year and down 7% sequentially. The main unit in Nokia’s current organization, Devices & Services managed net sales of EUR 8.6 billion, down 7% year on year and down 5% sequentially. Services and software net sales turned out to be EUR 115 million (billings of EUR 140 million).

The UTR conference in Mountain View, Silicon Valley, on November 12th picks a number of exciting startups, who pitch their products to a panel of judges and 400 attendees. They’ve announced the first batch of presenting companies, with more to follow, and it looks like there will definitely be some cool stuff on display. You can see more about the companies and read some insights from speakers on the UTR blog.

There are dozens of chapters around the world meeting for the same reasons we are. Some are old, some are brand new and every one takes a slightly unique approach to creating an event for their community. Every month we will focus on one of these chapters, get a sense of the events they are hosting, the good times they are having and see maybe if they are doing something that we should be doing.

Mobile Monday Montreal (MMM) was started by high tech Montrealers Beverly Wilks and Daniel Martin so that members of the Montreal telecomm and mobile communities could network and stay connected. Their format is similar to momovan in that it follows the trend of the "un-conference", the MMM organizers role is to bring in interesting and topical speakers as well as provide a venue for networking. Attendees include everyone from programmers to systems engineers, and from marketing executives to venture capitalists. Attendance ranges form 60 to over 150 and continues to grow; the mailing list reaches hundreds of people in the Montreal mobile community. Events are free.

They just held their kick-off event on October 7 with a session on "Evolution of the Mobile Customer Experience." Speakers included:

This is your event and your community. We are always looking for elevator pitches, ideas for upcoming events and feedback on past ones. You can contact us here or visit the MoMoVan website.

About WINBC
Wireless Innovation Network of BC is promoting the fast growth and sustainability of British Columbia, Canada as one of the world's best wireless technology clusters and communities. We are the industry association representing more than 250 BC wireless technology companies generating in excess of $1B in revenues. www.winbc.org

About Mobile Monday
Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets. Mobile Monday is organized by a group of dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, Mobile Monday has grown into the world’s leading mobile community. More info at: www.mobilemonday.net

About BDC
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is a financial institution wholly owned by the government of Canada. BDC plays a leadership role in delivering financial, investment and consulting services to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses. These services complement those of private sector financial institutions. More info at: www.bdc.ca.

About Wavefront
Wavefront is the commercialization bridge between the wireless developer community in British Columbia and the mobile operators, government and large enterprises that are deploying new wireless products and services. In collaboration with its established partners, wavefront provides the developer community with neutral, independent test services and the market knowledge to enable rapid commercialization. More info at: www.wavefrontac.com.

MoMoVan Newsletter Contributors
Michael Bidu - Editor | Christina Chowaniec - Writer | Susana Lo - Design | Bruce Sharpe - Video Footage