How to avoid an onstage meltdown – Hollywood Style

Four tips to ensuring your speech or presentation doesn’t end in disaster

Stuff happens. But when it does, especially to a high-profile individual at a major event, you can bet the whole world will know about it seconds after it happens.

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WeKast presents from your phone to any screen anywhere

Have you ever had an opportunity to do a pitch or presentation at a business but it took longer to get all set up than to do the presentation? Maybe it was the wrong cable, the Wi-Fi too slow or locked down or your laptop wouldn’t boot up and oh well, so much for first impressions. Enter WeKast, a pocket-sized plug and “cast” solution. It’s designed to eliminate all the fuss and complexities and help you get to what you need to do – make that presentation. You don’t even need a computer; you can present wirelessly, right from your smartphone or tablet.

Plug and Cast

How WeKast works is really slick. It has a female VGA connector on one end and a female HDMI connector on the other. (HDMI M/M extender included in case you need it). You simply plug one end into your projector or TV and WeKast then acts a mini Wi-Fi router that wirelessly connects to a compatible iOS or Android. Using the WeKast companion, grab a presentation that you can easily pull from your DropBox or Google Drive and it’s quickly pre-loaded onto the WeKast device. The app then allows you to run your slides automatically or manually control with a swipe. There’s even a place to tap to see your slide notes.  Read full Post at Canoe Tech Blog.

Merchandising during tour just ducky with country star Paul Brandt

brandtAndDuckThe most popular sale item on Paul Brandt’s music tours is a rubber duck

EDMONTON, AB Sep 1, 2015/ Troy Media/ – Merchandise is as much a part of the concert tour experience as the music for many fans. It’s also a much needed revenue generator for many performers.

When I asked platinum-selling country star Paul Brandt what the most popular sale item was on his tours, he hesitated for a moment, then let out a big “Ha,” and laughed. “I don’t know if I should be embarrassed to admit this or not, but I guess the fans have spoken. Bar none, over the last 20 years, it’s been a little rubber duck.”

While my mind turned immediately to my youth and Ernie’s Rubber Duckie from Sesame Street, it turns out Brandt was referring to C.W. McCall’s novelty trucking classic Convoy,from way back in the mid 70’s. I should have guessed immediately, having owned that classic 45-RPM record that encouraged me to get my first CB Radio.  Read full article at Troy Media.

Nomad – ChargeCard, ChargeKey makers catch their breath

It’s rare you get a personalized special update message from a company letting you know where they’re at. But this is what happened to me today. Nomad which began as Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects and the makers of ChargeCard and ChargeKey, reviewed here and G4TV.ca, chimed in to tell me that they’ve cleaned up their backorders and are now able to fulfill orders the same day.
They’ve come a long way since their crowdfunding project kickstarted back in 2012 starting with the two co-founders in their grandparent’s basement to a full-fledged operation of 15 people in the heart of San Francisco.
So far, they’ve:
– Made over $2.5M in sales since launch
– Shipped nearly 100,000 cables
– Fulfilled all Kickstarter and Indiegogo pledges and pre-sales
– Become one of the top Shopify stores, the second in gross sales in the electronics category
Glad to hear about Nomad’s entrepreneurial success and look forward in hearing about their 3rd product which they are in the process of launching.

Forget “the box.” Think another dimension to access your creativity

silicontlesEDMONTON, AB, Dec 7, 2013/ Troy Media/ – Life can be pretty hectic. We often find ourselves running 18+ hours a day, and being electronically connected doesn’t make it any easier. So sometimes, when we are looking for a new idea, a solution to a challenging dilemma or maybe just have a desire to unlock one of life’s mysteries that’s been dogging us for eons, we tend to return to where we started, to the familiar and the comfortable, stuck in our current reality.

We think we’re starting fresh, perhaps with a clean sheet of paper. We might do some mind-mapping, a little brainstorming, throwing ideas around, capturing thoughts on coloured sticky pads. Maybe we resort to contorting pipe cleaners or squeezing the life out of stuffed toys to spark creativity or desperately hit up Google for some inspiration. It works, but only sometimes. It becomes our vicious cycle, being stuck on the same track, the same treadmill. But there’s hope.

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Card2Contact app turns your Android smartphone into a mobile CRM

Card2ContactTaking a page from their BlackBerry app, Waterloo, Ontario based mobile development firm Way2Smile Inc., announced today the availability of their Card2Contact app, now for Android.  Built from the ground up they’ve added five new features currently not found on the award winning BlackBerry version.

 

READ MORE at Canoe Tech Blog

Technology companies grab top 3 in most influential brands

ad-week-2013-top20

When you think of brands that influence you, what kind are they and which ones first come to mind? According to a recent study of most influential brands, the top three, ranked highest by Canadians are tech-related. In fact, technology brands grab five of the top ten spots.

Read more…AT CANOE TECH BLOG

Empire Avenue turns social media upside down

EDMONTON, AB, Mar. 5, 2012/ Troy Media/ – When I was assigned to do a story on Empire Avenue – another social media app? – I must admit at first glance I wasn’t very enthusiastic. I was already having a hard time keeping track of the ones I was currently using.

It wasn’t long, however, before I was hooked.  READ FULL STORY at TROY MEDIA

 

Steve Jobs bows out gracefully as Apple CEO

steve jobs sep 2010

While Apple product announcements and rollouts are almost always shrouded in secrecy causing the rumor mill to constantly remain intensively active, one thing is for sure; there was no secret about the challenging health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Read more… AT CANOE TECHNOLOGY