Sessions

STAY TUNED FOR 2013 HPX DIGITAL SPEAKERS AND SESSIONS.
EXPLORE 2012 SESSIONS BELOW.

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ALEXIS OHANIAN: INTERNET FTW

Music, Culture, Media, and Cats will never be the same. And that’s awesome news.

TIME/LOCATION: 4:00pm Friday, Guild Hall
SPEAKER: Alexis Ohanian
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AMBER MAC: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ENTREPRENEURS: AMBER MAC’S 7 STEPS TO SUCCESS

In this talk, Amber will share how her entrepreneurial roots took her from a one-room schoolhouse in the remote countryside on Prince Edward Island; to Razorfish in the heart of Silicon Valley in the late 1990s; to launching her own business (MGImedia.ca) where she was recently crowned one of Canada’s top social media expert on how to build a brand.

TIME/LOCATION: 4:00pm Thursday, Guild Hall
SPEAKER: Amber Mac
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2012: THE YEAR OF THE PEOPLE

It’s time for the ultimate face-off: People vs. Brands.
We’ll dissect six of the biggest trends in our industry, including storytelling, transmedia, entrepreneurialism, curation, influence & cause marketing. We’ll look at best-in-class examples from both brands and people. Currently relevant trends include storytelling, content curation, entrepreneurialism, transmedia, influence & cause marketing.
Each round’s winner will be determined by audience votes, so come prepared to participate. After determining who comes out on top, we’ll look at what we can learn from the winner and how to apply key learnings to brand communications & marketing strategies. This presentation will not be theoretical, but instead will be focused on providing practical applications and solutions.

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Thursday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Rosie Siman
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BACK TO THE GOOD OLD TANGIBLE WORLD

It’s time to move away from the safe margins of our screens and experience the sensations of the good old tangible real world. As the boundaries between the real world and what we used to call digital are blurring, we have the unmissable opportunity to innovate, combining creativity and technology to define new emotional experiences and new ways for people to interact with each other.
Join Riccardo for an overview of B-Reel’s approach to experimental technology, storytelling and the tangibleness of interactive experiences.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Friday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Riccardo Giraldi
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BUILDING MOBILE APPS THAT DON’T SUCK: DESIGNING FOR MOBILE

Over the past 3-4 years, mobile apps have moved from a niche market for a select few developers and designers to a massive new economy across multiple platforms. Gone are the days where a mobile application is seen as an afterthought; it’s simply not enough for a mobile platform to be “good at email”. While this is true and there are apps that cover almost every imaginable task, its arguable that the majority of those apps are poorly designed and could use significant improvement to their user experience. In this session, we’ll show you what you as a mobile app developer/designer should be thinking about when building your app, regardless of the mobile platform you are targeting. We will go through a great number of topics including how to standardize the look and feel of your app to the platform, creating an effective and appealing user interface, implementing your idea for the mobile form factor and more.

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Wednesday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Atley Hunter
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BUSINESS. PLAN FOR SUCCESS (PANEL)

Whether you’re just-starting a start-up or looking to re-energize your long-established establishment, getting a business plan in order can lure potential investors, secure new customers and guide you down a more profitable, creative and fulfilling career path. How can a strategic, realistic & ambitious business plan help you with business modeling, fund raising, product development and sales? Just ask our expert panel! You’ll learn from their interesting experiences, brutally honest advice & bright insights into the future.

TIME/LOCATION:
MODERATOR: TOON NAGTEGAAL
SPEAKERS: DAVID CROW, SAUL COLT, CHRIS KEEVIL
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CREATING CREATORS WITH RASPBERRY PI

David Braben is an iconic figure in the videogame industry, an angel investor and a passionate advocate in the field of computer science education. David will discuss the context, motivation and latest progress of the Raspberry Pi charitable foundation’s work to revolutionize computer science education through their $25 computer from the point of view of life at Frontier, one of the world’s leading independent videogame developers, and the rapidly changing digital landscape that affects all our lives. Computer Science is the new Latin!

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Thursday, Guild East
SPEAKER: David Braben
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CREATIVE CODING ROUNDUP

Whether you’re an experienced designer or developer, the chance to expand your toolset with one of the many creative coding frameworks is an invaluable opportunity – and today it’s easier than ever. But it can also be extremely perplexing – Where to start when there are so many options? Which tool is right for the job? Which is most expandable? Which is best for you to grow with?
This talk will cover the field of creative coding frameworks, from Processing to Flash to openFrameworks to the various Javascript libraries, exploring the capabilities and limitations of each, but especially the culture behind them, and the road ahead.

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Wednesday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Jesse Scott
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CROWDFUNDING FUELS BIG CHANGE

Musicians, artists and entrepreneurs are connected more deeply to their audience and network than ever before. Modern social networking makes reaching out simple and virtually free, while the costs of creative production and distribution have decreased. A new revolution is emerging on this grassroots level of creativity: crowdfunding. By leveraging one’s network and audience for funds, this manifesto combines the emotional power of traditional patronage with the massive reach of digital communication.

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Friday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Brian Meece
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DESIGN RENEGADE

In order to reach our goals in the upside-down world of graphic design, you need to be a rogue. A misfit. A renegade. James White from the Signalnoise Studio has based his career on doing things outside of the ordinary, turning his back on boardrooms and creative briefs in order to chase his design dreams with vengeance and rock n’ roll. He will be telling his story while discussing personal projects built from love and ambition in his small home office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. These led to him working with respected people all over the world, from his favourite metal band to film juggernaut Kevin Smith. James will talk about chasing your creative path, building your personal body of work, the value of supporting friends, and never forgetting the artist inside. Being “different” isn’t enough anymore. You need to be a renegade!

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Friday, Guild West
SPEAKER: James White
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DYNAMIC INSTABILITY: REBOOTING HOW YOU WORK

The explosion in mobile has made responsive design a necessity for any forward looking organization, but it’s not just about the code. How can we help clients understand the new challenges, costs and realities of responsive projects? It demands a new way of working based on some not-so-new concepts. Agile development in it’s simplest form provides the ideas you need to take your work to the next level and avoid the odyssey of pain that awaits waterfall practitioners. In this session we’ll see why responsive projects need this, practical ways to do it and what’s gonna happen when you don’t. Death to Excel!

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Friday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Kurt Krumme
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EVOLUTION OF THE WEB (PANEL)

Over the past 20 years, expectations of the Web have progressed from something akin to a slow-loading brochure into something commonly regarded as the central platform for audience interaction. Successful companies understand that a refined and integrated web presence can be an essential source of organizational value. Join our panel as we examine trends in user experience, design, and content, as well as sharing examples of exceptional sites and the latest development processes that are pointing the way forward for the Web.

TIME/LOCATION: 2:00pm Thursday, Guild East
MODERATOR: Jeff MacArthur ,
PANELISTS: Kathryn Tector, Stacey Mulcahy , John Atkins
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FUNDING DIGITAL PROJECTS: GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR PERSPECTIVES (PANEL)

As competition for funding increases, your business’ ability to present itself as both an innovative organization and also a solid investment is harder than ever. Are granting agencies becoming become more conservative and risk averse? Should you be emphasizing feasibility instead of innovation? How can you best communicate, position and network you way to gaining support for your vision, regardless of how unconventional it may be? Join our panel of experts from the National Research Council, the province and more to learn how to turn your creativity into opportunity.

TIME/LOCATION: 2:00pm Friday, Guild West
MODERATOR: Duncan McKie
PANELISTS: Jeff Stockhausen , Patrick Keefe , Jevon MacDonald
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GAMING’S NEW FRONTIER- FUELED BY A DIY ETHOS (PANEL)

A 14 year old from Kuwait built Doodle Destroy in three days using Game Salad then watch it go onto to generate over 900,000 downloads in the iPhone App store and a feature piece on CNN. With tools like GameSalad, Unity, Construct 2 making games has never been easier. Finding people that have skills you’re lacking so you produce a higher quality product is no longer restricted to just your friends (such as OpenGameArt.). Once you have your masterpiece, then your choices are open too. Steam, the Apple App stores, Google Play, Facebook or just put them on the web. Hardware too, Ouya and Oculus are examples of projects that are using the crowd funding site Kickstarter to get to market. What do these projects mean for an industry dominated by the big established players? Let’s discuss what makes this a good time to try your hand at writing games or bringing your gaming hardware to market and what’s out there to help you gain the skills you need.

TIME/LOCATION: 2:00pm Wednesday, Guild West
MODERATOR: Chris Pink
PANELISTS: Tony Walsh, Rob O’Quinn, Colin Nickerson
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GETTING YOUR FEET WET WITH RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
Packing a serious buzzword alert, this session will cover what responsive design is, and isn’t. From design and development considerations, to frameworks, tools and mindsets, this session is aimed towards those searching for a better understand of responsive design.

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Wednesday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Stacey Mulcahy
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HOW TO GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY

This is a discussion about sharing. Sharing code and ideas, and collaborating on artwork. Sharing personal information, and learning about the difference between what’s public and private. It’s about what you do when your girlfriend asks you to stop posting everything you type directly to Twitter. It’s about what you do when the Secret Service confiscates your laptop as you’re trying to learn about human computer interaction. It’s about responding to thousands of emails from people you’ve never met, who have questions you could never imagine. This is a discussion about the future of creativity.

TIME/LOCATION: 4:00pm Wednesday, Guild Hall
SPEAKER: Kyle McDonald
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HOW TO START A START UP

Everyday more and more web startups are getting founded by entrepreneurs tenured and new. However, most abandon basic business pillars when building a venture in the digital economy. Not every start-up requires the same advice, but there a similar threads that apply to almost every company attempting to build a new digital product. We will be discussing the 5 things every startup must have to succeed.

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Thursday, Guild East
SPEAKER: David Crow
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LIKE THIS LOLLIPOP

Getting people to like your creations on Facebook is what everyone aims for, but it’s easier said than done. Clients ask to embed Like buttons all over the app thinking that’s how to generate interest, rather than actually building something people want to talk about. They also ask for something new that no one else has ever technically done before, and ignore the story development.

In my experience, it’s best to start with a story and a theme and then build into that. We’ll explore how to merge creativity with new technology in a compelling, well-presented manner, as opposed to doing it just because. I’ll also walk through the experiences we encountered in creating “Take This Lollipop” and what its success means to the future of socially connected experiences. We’re at the beginning of a new era in online entertainment and it’s going to continue to evolve. There are a lot of possibilities in this new frontier so we’ll explore some ideas in creating new experiences like Lollipop.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Thursday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Jason Nickel
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MAKING A MASHUP: PINBALL MEETS RPG WITH “ROLLERS OF THE REALM

Rollers Of The Realm combines the frantic physics of classic arcade pinball with the epic adventure of fantasy role-playing games. How did this whimsical videogame for PC and iPad evolve from concept to a fully-financed production built with your tax dollars? Join Tony Walsh, founder and CEO of game-maker Phantom Compass, as he explains how Rollers Of The Realm was conceived, produced, and is now in the works. Learn how his 4-person team incorporated dozens of triple-A game developers, how the team gets paid, how the project won a funding decision from the Canadian Media Fund and how Phantom Compass works with distributed staff members. Take away practical tips on game financing, legal, studio operation and growth, team-building, successful planning and execution.

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Wednesday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Tony Walsh
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MOBILE STUFF WE’D LIKE TO BUILD AND USE MORE OF (PANEL)

This discussion examines how technology, design and content applies to mobile going forward. We’ll identify mobile trends as they relate to publishing, advertising and content distribution. Focusing on technology forward-looking but not far-removed from today’s state, such as casual local social networks, cross-screen environments, less disruptive monetization (if we can make more money, we can do more stuff!). Also discussing notable apps: Highlight (local social network), MLB At Bat (in-app purchase), Draw Something (social mobile gaming) and Instagram. Does building awesome product suffice in gaining user adoption?

TIME/LOCATION: 2:00pm Friday, Guild East
MODERATOR: John Arnold
PANELISTS: Phil Giroux, Bill Wilson, Andrew Burke
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NFC: THINKING CREATIVELY BEYOND MOBILE PAYMENTS

Quit waiting for Google Wallet to come to Canada, or for the next rumoured iPhone with built-in mobile payment to ship — near field communications (NFC) is already here and this technology can be used for much more than waving your phone at the cash register. In this session, discover some unexpected ways that NFC can be utilized on Android phones (and other NFC-enabled devices) that go beyond the checkout line.

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Wednesday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Pearl Chen
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PHYSICAL INTERFACES & WARM FEELINGS

When making physical installations it’s important to ask the question, “What should this feel like?” Every decision made over the course of an installation project directly affects how people will react to it. Putting thought into the emotional impact of an interface is a key part of our process. It starts with a feeling, and along the way we use cardboard, fur, bike tires, treadmills, sugar cubes, and ping pong balls to make those emotions happen.  We’ll show technology that you can swim through, jump on and ride through the forest with.  Interactivity goes far beyond buttons and swipey menus, and we’d love to show you how.

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Friday, Guild West
SPEAKERS: Zander Bromijoin , Charlie Whitney
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POINTS DON’T MAKE IT A GAME! (THE SEQUEL)

At North By Northeast Interactive in 2011 James presented “Points don’t make it a game!” wherein he challenged the assumptions of gamification, which was riding high on the hype cycle at the time. A year later and the space has matured considerably but the pitfalls remain, trying to apply game design like a coat of paint is just going to leave you with a peeling mess. James will examine how game mechanics modify player behaviour and why they have to be built into the foundations of an experience to succeed.

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Friday, Guild East
SPEAKER: JAMES EVERETT
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PROJECT BUTTERFLY: ESCAPING THE NET

What effect can learning about how sociable people interact in the real world have on the online space? We set out on a multi-city project, both online and in the real world, actively immersing ourselves in a variety of communities so that we could truly understand the elements that contribute to interaction and involvement. We entered real-life communities ranging from coastal skateparks to suburban supermalls, making observations and conducting “speed friending” experiments. We infiltrated college fraternities, entrepreneur hotspots and senior citizen get-togethers, all the time chronicling sociable behaviours and the way that they developed. We contrasted this with an exploration of ‘online hyperconnectors’, people who were extremely active on social media, those with literally thousands of friends on facebook/ twitter, those who self identified as being highly influential. By learning how we naturally interact with each other and by building a framework of how ‘highly sociable’ people work in each sphere, we’re able to use this knowledge to help build online social communities that act more naturally. This immersive qualitative work seamlessly merged social psychology, digital anthropology with cutting edge ethnography and is a collaboration between Toronto’s The Palmerston Group and Seattle’s Cole + Weber United.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Friday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Daniel Berkal
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PROXIMITY IS VIRTUE: WHY LOCATION BASED MARKETING ISN’T REALLY ABOUT LOCATION

Mobile technologies allow a whole new way of thinking about customers, providing the means to identify the precursors to purchasing, which in turn requires new ways to think about marketing.Mobile devices leave behind a digital exhaust, which lets people, and their favored brands, track, modify and optimize their behavior together – which may be what new marketing looks like.How to think about mobile – a medium which operates exclusively in different kinds of NOW.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Wednesday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Faris Yakob
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RISING IN THE EAST: LOCAL TECH STANDOUTS (PANEL)

Do you grow creativity or invite it in? This session will explore the panelists’ experiences with their studios and discuss the pros and cons of internal bootstrapping and creative cultivation vs. the benefits derived from networking and social participation.

TIME/LOCATION: 2:00pm Wednesday, Guild East
MODERATOR: Ryan Fitzgerald
SPEAKERS: Jonathan Burns, Paul Ryan, Jevon MacDonald
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SILICON HILLS: HOW AUSTIN’S MUSIC SCENE DRIVES TECH

While Austin, Texas is known for music – billed “The Live Music Capital of the World” – it’s also a major high tech hub. With companies like 3M, AMD, Apple, AT&T, Dell, Evernote, Facebook, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Nvidia, and PayPal putting down roots, Austin’s earned an equally important reputation as “The Silicon Hills.” What is it about this American capitol that draws so many large and small companies? Could it be the cultural hub that Austin methodically built? Join Don Pitts, the Music Programs Manager for the City of Austin, as he outlines how his hometown built a cultural and tech hub on a musical foundation. He’ll describe how the city encouraged the creative economy to thrive, new jobs to be generated and how this mid-sized American City in the heart of Texas became a global force.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Wednesday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Don Pitts
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STARTUP MARKETING: TECHCRUNCH IS NOT A MARKETING PLAN:

A while back there was a viral video about two people talking over a water cooler and how his startup was going to get huge any day because it was going to appear on Mashable as well as Techcrunch and thats all you need to hit it big. This was funny because people thought it was true. Most Startups fail because they don’t gain traction and people go about marketing them the wrong way. In this talk by the very handsome Saul Colt he will explain what the goals and steps you need to be successful in the very different world of tech startups.

TIME/LOCATION: 3:00pm Thursday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Saul Colt
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STRATEGIES FOR PITCHING NEW CLIENTS

Whether it’s a cold-call (ugh!), networking, or word of mouth, the “pitch” is crucial in establishing your relationship with prospective clients. Attendees will learn how to use social media, branding, research, and charisma to land the kinds of clients they’ve always wanted to. We’ll look at examples of what some studios use and hear examples from the presenter on how he landed clients like Dave Matthews Band, IFC, Greenpeace, Oxfam, and more. Attend this presentation and you’ll be full of confidence the next time you are approaching a new client!

TIME/LOCATION: 11:00am Friday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Daniel Schutzsmith
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THE SECRETS OF CREATION (PANEL)

Get inside the heads of HPXDigital’s most interesting minds and extract the secrets that make them make things. Find out how they break through the barriers of procrastination, distraction, and worst of all, self-doubt. What routines do they employ to make their work a priority? Discover their techniques for staying focused, and for capturing, cataloging, and reviewing their ideas. What makes them unique and original creators? Find out their secrets here, and make sure some of them rub off on you.

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Thursday, Guild West
MODERATOR: Riccardo Giraldi
PANELISTS: James White , Zander Brimijoin Kyle McDonald
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THE USER EXPERIENCE OF EVERYTHING

Successful organizations are realizing the need to become increasingly customer-focused in order to succeed in an immensely competitive marketplace. The incredible connectedness available through today’s technology is a double-edged sword – on one hand providing extraordinary opportunities to more deeply understand customer desires, while on the other hand providing customers with the means to amplify their dissatisfaction on an unprecedented scale. From product conception and refinement through to marketing, purchase, and support, Jeff MacArthur will discuss the considerations involved in evaluating and improving the user experience for products and services both online and off for the benefit of your company and your customers.

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Wednesday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Jeff MacArthur
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TURNING SLACKTIVISM INTO ONLINE ACTIVISM

In this presentation, Boyd Neil a former political activist and trade unionist looks at the fallacy that social web advocacy and activism channels energy away from making real-world social and political change. Using experience as a political and union organizer in the 70s and early 80s, Boyd demonstrates that slacktivism online is a failure not of the social web but of poor ‘organizing’.

TIME/LOCATION: 10:00am Thursday, Guild West
SPEAKER: Boyd Neil
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WHAT MAKES AN IDEA STICK?

Do you ever wonder why certain campaigns take off and others die a slow death? There is a lot more behind the latest viral campaign then meets the eye. This presentation will take a look into the steps that are taken to, dare I say, guarantee success (at least in the client’s eye) in a day and age where trying to get someone’s attention seems impossible.

TIME/LOCATION: 12:00pm Thursday, Guild East
SPEAKER: Mavis Huntley
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MANY MORE SESSIONS TO COME. STAY TUNED…