Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Monday, January 18th, 2010
In response to changing priorities in the world economy the 40th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) traditionally held in Davos (Switzerland) is being held under the motto “Improve the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild”.
The premise of Davos is that changing the world requires global cooperation, which in turn needs engaging stakeholders from business, government, the media, science, religion, the arts and civil society.
The rethink component is driven by the work of over 70 Global Agenda Councils involving over 1000 experts that meet on a regional or sectoral basis to advance ideas and solutions to the most critical challenges facing the world.
The redesign components builds upon the ongoing work of the Forum’s Global Redesign Initiative (GRI), an unprecedented multi-stakeholder dialogue with the ambitious goal of adapting structures and systems of international cooperation to meet present and future challenges challenges that the world is facing.
In order to support a continuing dialogue before and after Davos, WEF has been building a Web 2.0 collaboration platform called WELCOME. Our own Rahaf Harfoush is a key member of that initiative. You can follow the Davos events and discussions on WEF’s web site, or on aggregator sites such as the Eqentia WEF portal. You can also follow them on Twitter (@davos or the tag #WEF). You can also watch on YouTube Lee Howell, Managing Director, Head of Programming & Global Agenda Councils discuss the themes of Davos 2010 here.
Tags: #WEF, Community Futures, Convention, Davos, Government 2.0, leadership
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Thursday, December 31st, 2009
The YTA Business Innovation group holds its sessions on the second Friday of each month. The next session will be on January 8th, 2010 from 12:00 – 1:30 PM, at the Corporate Training Center of Seneca College at 10 Allstate Parkway, Rm 113 in Markham.
Leila Boujnane, the CEO of Idee Inc., will be the featured speaker at this session. Idee Inc. is a Toronto-based company with innovative visual search technology. The topic of recent developments in visual search is timely given the recent disclosures of Google efforts, called “Google Goggles” in this domain. Google’s Visual Search for Android, simply put, is a service that will allow users to take a picture of a location on their Android-powered device, and it will trigger a Google search, which will then pull up information related to the image. Imagine the applications not only in tourism, but even informing consumers decisions about items in stores.
Visual search technology will have significant impact on many industries. The discussion at the January session promises to be interesting and enlightening. Attendance is free for YTA members and for prospective members on approval. You can register at the YTA web site, selecting “Programs”, “Peer Group Meetings”, “Business Innovation Peer Group” and then clicking the “Register” button.
Tags: Google Goggles, innovation, Intelligent communities, Marketing, mobility, New Media, visual search, wireless
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Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Happy Holidays to All
As we wind down an eventful year and look forward to the upcoming holidays, it is time to celebrate the most important elements of our humanity: The warmth of being with family and friends, generosity and compassion with our fellow humans near and far, reflection on what’s important in our lives, a mind set of reconciliation rather than conflict, and of appreciation of our blessings.
The Manara team would like to express its gratitude to all friends, customers, partners, colleagues, and competitors for their support, advice, business, wisdom, and the challenges that kept us on our tows and made us a better team.
We wish you all and yours a Merry Christmas, happy and safe holidays and a New Year full of peace, health, and prosperity.
Tags: collaboration, Intelligent communities, leadership
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Monday, December 7th, 2009
Leadership in the co-creation of positive change in our organizations and communities facilitated by conversations for meaningful action.
Designing with Dialogue (DwD) is a Toronto community of practitioners that gathers monthly to convene dialogue as a practice in social designing for the purposes of engaging the organizations, projects, and civic communities to which we’re committed.
Manara has been participating regularly in DwD sessions as we see the facilitation methods and tools discussed by this practitioners community as a significant component in the wider spectrum of collaborative design tools required for organizational change.
December’s session will be held the second Wednesday, December 11 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at the Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab) of OCAD. We are reserving this session to meet as a core group of committed participants interested in taking the DwD community to the next stage of its evolution towards serving the community at large. The December session, as an exception, will be dedicated to continuing the work we started in November for envisioning the plans and agenda for 2010.
From January 2010 on, we will meet the second Wednesday of every month at the Strategic Innovation Lab, OCAD, Toronto.
Tags: collaboration, Community Development, design thinking, facilitation, innovation, Intelligent communities, leadership, manara
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Communicate. Inspire. Build. These are the tenets of the 2009 Biannual Convention of the BC New Democratic Party, which will be held in Vancouver at the end of November. To commemorate the past 40 Conventions the 2009 Convention features the 40th Ruby Gala Dinner on the evening of Saturday November 28th.
The keynote speaker is our own Rahaf Harfoush, author of “Yes We Did” who will be talking about the changing face of social media and how these tools can be used to achieve organizational goals.
Tags: BC, British Columbia, Community Development, Convention, Government 2.0, NDP, New Media, Obama campaign, Obama volunteer, social media, Yes She Did
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an international organization founded in 1996, is the main representative body of the online advertising industry in the world. This international non-profit organization is dedicated exclusively to promoting the use and to maximizing the effectiveness of Internet advertising.
The IAB Argentina chapter, founded in 2001 by 22 major organizations in the online advertising industry in Argentina, brings together publishers of Internet content, advertisers, advertising agencies, media, ad networks, research and audit firms, interactive agencies, technology companies and other organizations committed to the development of marketing and Internet advertising .
IAB has currently more than 300 active member companies in the U.S. alone, and has also presence in Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Holland.
Rahaf will be the keynote speaker on November 16, 2009 at the IAB Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Tags: Argentina, IAB, Keynote, Marketing, New Media, Obama campaign, Obama volunteer, social media, Yes She Did
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Now in its sixth year, the Canadian Business Leadership Forum shares first-hand accounts of successful strategies and leadership initiatives that teach attendees new skills and innovative ways of thinking.
Organized by Canadian Business Magazine, the day-long program will be held on October 21, 2009 at The Carlu in Toronto and is aiming to inspire, motivate, and help deliver competitive advantage to organizations. The Foush is a featured speakers at this conference. More details on the speakers lineup can be found here.
Rahaf will be also signing her book Yes We Did on location.
Tags: Add new tag, Entrepreneurship, innovation, Keynote, leadership, Magazine, New Media, Obama campaign, social media, Voices that Matter, Yes She Did
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
HealthCare Leaders is a non-profit association of individuals who hold leadership and management positions in health care, or within organizations that serve health care, in British Columbia.
HealthCare Leaders is most frequently known for its continuing professional education offerings including its annual Leadership Conference in October and Community Care Conference in May, both of which draw hundreds of participants from all parts of the province. The Association provides several other services for members.
This year’s Leadership Conference will be held on October 19th and 20th at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, BC. It is titled “Leading Healthcare: Inspire and Achieve” and will be focusing on leadership strategies, complex networks and organizational reform. The full program of the conference can be found here. The Foush will be speaking at the conference on October 20th and will be signing her book Yes We Did
Tags: BC, British Columbia, Community Development, Government 2.0, Health Care, healthcare, Keynote, leadership, Obama campaign, Voices that Matter, Yes She Did
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Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Over the past 20 years, Moncton transformed itself from a blue-collar town with an uncertain future to one of the most diversified and fastest growing metropolitan centers in Canada. The success of its transformation is entirely due to its focus on the Broadband Economy, and how all stakeholders have collaborated to leverage technology for community development.
The hard work of the past two decades was recognized earlier this year when the Intelligent Community Forum in New York named Moncton one of the 2009 Top Seven Intelligent Communities in the world. In fact, the Canadian Province of New Brunswick has been identified by the Intelligent Community Forum as a best practice model. This year, two New Brunswick cities, Moncton and Fredericton, are among the 2009 Top Seven Intelligent Communities.
Now Moncton is host to the First Intelligent Communities Summit, where participants will share best practices and brainstorm on the next steps in leveraging technology for community development. These next steps will be designed to help businesses and communities weather economic storms, prosper and improve quality of life.
Rahaf will be the keynote speaker at the Economic Club of Canada luncheon on October 7th. The presentation will be followed by a book signing event for Rahaf’s book Yes We Did.
Tags: Community Development, Community Futures, Government 2.0, Intelligent communities, Keynote, Moncton, New Media, Obama campaign, Obama volunteer, social media, Voices that Matter, Yes She Did
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Sunday, August 16th, 2009
IT World Canada (publisher of CIO Canada) in association with the CIO Association of Canada, is holding its first CIO Exchange on September 16th, 2009. The format of this new “forward-facing event” consists of a on-day peer-to-peer direct exchange of insights and expertise around critical issues facing CIOs.
This first CIO Exchange will be addressing the precarious balance between two often-competing principles: the openness necessary to integrate with all partners in the value chain, and the security to ensure the safety of systems and intellectual property — and from potential legal liability. This topic has increasing importance given the rapid proliferation of wireless networks and mobile devices.
The keynote address will be delivered by Chris S. Thomas, Chief Strategist, Intel Corporation and Director of Architecture, World Ahead. Nabil has been invited to participate in this Exchange and will be reporting back in our blog on the outcomes of this event.
Tags: CIO Canada, CIOCAN, Government 2.0, Keynote, mobility, openness, security, wireless
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