Do Some Good, Have Some Fun, Attend a #Twestival

Last year around this time I attended a fantastic even known as #Twestival. This is a world-wide event that brings together the Twitter community in local parties for a global cause.

Parties are thrown in hundreds of cities around the globe to raise money for charity. Last year the charity of choice was Charity:Water and the global Twitter community helped to raise over $250,000 which assisted in the building of 55 water wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India.

This year the #Twestival will be raising money for Concern Worldwide. A little bit about Concern Worldwide not in my own words:

"Concern is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of poverty. Their mission is to help people living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives - improvements they can sustain without ongoing support."

Not only does #Twestival help to raise money for good causes, but it's also a really fun time. Last year I attended the local Toronto party, aptly dubbed #TwestivalTO. The party was at Circa Nightclub and featured great tunes, good times and lots of Twitter friends. In fact, it was at this party I met a lot of my online friends in real life for the first time.

If you don't believe me it's fun, just click here and check out the Flickr set of photo's from the past event for yourself.

Anyways. I hope that where ever in the world you're reading this from you can find a #Twestival near you to attend, and if not, you can always donate and watch and follow the parties online.

And if you're going to be at the Toronto party, make sure you come say hi to me.

For more info and to find a #Twestival near you check out the official #Twestival site. Through there you can usually get tickets to your local event.

So, do some good, have some fun, attend a #Twestival!

2 Posts In 1 - Both About Geeks Having Fun

The title rhymes. You like that? Thought so.

So first, I'd like to start off by admitting that I'm a terrible person.I made a promise at the beginning of the year to both you, my readers (if you actually exist), and myself that I would try to post more often here, and I have failed. All I can say is I will try harder. You can believe me or not, that's your call (I wouldn't), but I will try harder.

Now on to the real stuff....

I'm going to try something a little different in this post. First, I have two things to talk about in one post because of my slacking. And second, this will be a very photo heavy post. I borrowed a few pics from some people and want to share them with you.

On February 12th I took place in a really awesome event called the Twestival. This was a global fund raising party that happened in 180 cities. All 180 cities had a party where people, most of whom are Twitter people, got together to meet their Twitter friends in real life and raise money for Charity: Water, a charity that helps those in the world that don't have access to clean water. 

I went to the party in Toronto, also known as #TwestivalTO. Toronto's party was held at Circa night club and was a fantastic party. I got to meet a lot of local people that I speak to on Twitter for the first time beyond my computer screen, and it was just a generally fun party. These geeks knew how to party!

Overall the entire Twestival was a success. The Toronto party alone raised over $10,000, and worldwide $250,000USD was raised for Charity: Water. 

On a side note, I also made the news while at the party. Check it out here.

The second geek oriented event I attended this month was PodCampTO.  PodCamp is what's known as an "unconference." It was an event where a whole bunch of geeks got together at Ryerson University for a weekend to discuss all sorts of topics revolving around online media. The entire event was put together and run by volunteers and was free to attend. 

This was a great event where I again met a bunch of local people that I only knew online previously, but more than that I learned a lot. For two days straight I attended half hour sessions about all kinds of different topics ranging from how to build a brand on Twitter to the future of social media in Canada. I also got to see a live taping of the Inside PR podcast which I listen to all the time.

If you happened to miss the event, most of the sessions were recorded and should be up on the PodCampTO website in the next few days.

Here's some pics of the weekend in no particular order:

One last note before I finish this gianormous post: This will be the last time you see my blog with this look as I'm currently on the hunt for a new theme. See you next time with a different look.

Twestival Pics Courtesy Of:

Rannie Turingan aka @Photojunkie (http://www.rannieturingan.com/)

& Shawn Hawaii

PodCampTO Pics Courtesy Of:

Dave Fleet (http://davefleet.com)

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