Most of my friends who live in “bigger” cities across the globe – Toronto, London, NYC, Tokyo and Seoul – laugh at the fact I relocated to Saskatoon. To my friends Saskatoon is just a small dot on the map, but like I tell them aren’t most cities just small dots on maps when zoomed out enough? On top of this their only knowledge of Saskatoon is what they hear on the news which tends to always involve potash. Then I get asked “what’s potash?” And then there’s the weather.
The fact that it’s -20 for more than half the year, it’s probably understandable why they laugh. I remember 2 months ago when we were still dealing with blizzards, Toronto was in the mid-teens. But at the end of the day us Saskatonians – yes, I consider myself a Saskatonian now – know there’s a lot more going on here then our “love” of potash. And -20? What those “big” city kids don’t realize is that when it’s -20 we’re happy people, as we’re just grateful it’s not -30.
Right now Saskatoon is booming and is an extremely vibrant city. However, to the outsider and those that have never traveled to Saskatoon you’d be surprised to learn about the host of international events we have here. And one such international event is happening very soon.
MoSo Conference 2013
In just under 2 weeks time Saskatoon, namely the Broadway district of town, will be host to Canada’s annual mobile and social media conference – the MoSo Conference 2013. I was unfortunate not to attend last year’s event and therefore missed out on over 300 engaging talks and presentations. As for the inaugural event in 2011, somehow I just missed it. So this year will be my first year attending – I got handed my ticket today and as I discussed with a colleague of mine this morning, I’m really looking forward to it.
To have an opportunity to be in the presence of, and listen to over 30 international thought leaders ranging from topics such as: web, marketing, entrepreneurship, start-ups, music, mobile, and social media is pretty awesome. And with over 60 bands – the MoSo Fest – thrown into the mix, then you have yourselves quite an event. Besides, you know when a conference is going to be a good one when one of the organizers describes it as “one part business and three parts pleasure”.
Now, in my eyes if “pleasure” involves 2 days out of the office, hanging out on Broadway, being inspired by any one of the speakers, and listening to some quality music over the 4 days that is MoSo 2013, then maybe me and DezGuy should hang out more.
MoSo 2013 kicks off on June 12 for 4 fun-filled days of “super awesome peeps… music, beer and tweets”. I’ll see you there.
