AQ's Blog Grill

Experience Architecture. And how to become an experience architect!?

You won't want to miss this throwback episode with top digital analyst, futurist and award-winning author, @BrianSolis as he discusses his book 'X: The Experience When Business Meets Design"

Brian discusses the importance of ensuring that data is HUMANIZED. The data tells a story. It's not just numbers and graphs and charts. Brand experience for the customer is number one! Tune in to find out so much more. So juicy!

CEO of Axonify and Alan's entrepreneurial heroine, Carol Leaman, stops by to discuss her growing business and her path of serial entrepreneurship. What began as an eLearning platform has transformed into a fully equipped knowledge platform, using gamification and brain science to deliver, share, measure and apply knowledge. The company has picked up almost 100 global brand-name clients including Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Bloomingdales and GE. "What is at the centre of both company performance and individual performance is knowledge," Carol states.

Carol is well known in Waterloo region and internationally for having "a batting average of 1000" when it comes to entrepreneurship. She knew at a very young age that she was meant to be an entrepreneur and she hasn't fallen short in proving that. In this episode she shares insights into her path of entrepreneurship, including the time she turned down a job with Google to acquire a startup. As well, Carol shares what she looks for in a startup when investing and the legacy she wishes to leave behind.

Ann Handley is a veteran of creating and managing digital content to build relationships for organizations and individuals. Ann is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller 'Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. She is the chief content officer of MarketingProfs; a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine; a LinkedIn Influencer; a keynote speaker, a mom, and a writer.

In this AQ's Blog & Grill Q&A, Ann talks with Alan about how we are all writers, and provides tips on being a great storyteller. Ann talks about how writing is a habit, not an art. Content marketers need to write a little bit every day to be effective. She also shares her favourite practical tools and apps that she uses to help her with writing.

In this episode of AQ's Blog & Grill, Alan chats with long-time colleague and friend Glen Drummond about a potential, slippery slope of AI and other emerging, predictive technology. "Empathy is an essential and defining human quality," says Glen. And, more than that, we're hard-wired to respond to empathy. So, what happens when there's a disconnect between what we expect to see happen, and what we experience?

Lean in as Glen shares his insights into how to avoid AI and predictive technologies evolving to deepen the gap, making corporations less empathetic, and how we can get ahead of it and program these technologies to do more corporate good.

She's the CEO of Sprint.ly, a marketing mentor and angel investor who started her hurricane of entrepreneurial activities by studying engineering. In this episode of AQ's Blog & Grill, April Dunford shares her experiences going from an engineer to a marketing genius.

Alan and April discuss marketing strategy vs. tactics, creating the right metrics and shifting your mindset from selling to helping your customer buy. Becoming a "stay-up" isn't an easy road, so April provides her top three marketing strategies start-ups should follow to find success.

A nimble marketing services consultancy? You betcha. Scott Gillum, the founder of Carbon Design, has built consulting success around working differently. Carbon Design delivers value-based services thanks to its team of carbonistas. Lean. Efficient. Non-dependent. These are, says Scott, the keys to successfully navigating the future of work.

In this episode, Scott shares key insights into working smarter - not harder - as he changes the consulting landscape. All Carbon Design projects focus on NEW. New staff. New ideas. New products. The Carbon team is called in to wade into uncharted waters to help clients navigate towards success. Learn more about the practical applications of the autonomy of talent, future of work, and more as Scott and Alan put meaning to buzzwords.

Gary Vaynerchuk, the hardest working man in social media, talks about how he takes time to engage with his audience on social media and how content marketing is overflowing on the internet. He touches on his worries that young entrepreneurs think business is easy, the fairness of capitalism, how he built his brand, and how he is creating a scalable business out of the unscalable. Finally Gary describes his new book, Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and how boxing and social media are linked.

About Our Guest

Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur, author, public speaker, internet personality, and avid investor. He has always been an entrepreneur at heart, starting at age 8 with a lemonade stand that puts all others to shame. Gary is well known for WineLibraryTV, the #AskGaryVee show, VaynerMedia, VaynerRSE, and writing best selling books including Crush It and Jab Jab Jab Right Hook.

A big AQ's Blog & Grill "Welcome Back" to Guy Kawasaki. While he may have hung up his hockey skates and taken up surfing, he's still giving it his A-game in his new book Wise Guy: Lessons from a Life. In this episode, Guy shares how he's in the "sweet spot." That time when he's acquired knowledge - and not yet lost it.

Alan and Guy have a chat about this highly personal book, letting all of us in on Guy's life lessons learned. The episode is full of laughter, banter and above all else - learning. Like this gem: Think of social media as Tinder versus eHarmony. Listen along as Guy shares about pursuing joy, not happiness, and building a meaningful life. Push your comfort zones and get ready for a wild - and wise - ride from the world's Tech Marketing Guru, Guy Kawasaki.

Joseph Fung understands that hard work, sweat and tears plays a role in startups, but putting yourself out there is a huge factor in success. After consulting with an advisor at Waterloo's Communitech, Joseph found success with his first startup, TribeHR. He went on to sell TribeHR to Netsuite, the first major chapter in his road to serial entrepreneurship. Joseph joins Alan today to share the lessons he's learned along the way and the new business venture he has taken on, Kiite. Joseph and Alan discuss the changing landscape of the workforce and how technology can enable a new mode of employment. Joseph shares how Kiite's sales-enabling technology provides employees access to information on their own terms. Joseph also touches on how philanthropic activities as an organization can open the door to a happier, more diverse workforce.

From personal brand to event media, Jane Barkley – founder and CEO of IM@Events – ­is a powerhouse of marketing talents. Jane joins Alan in this episode of AQ's Blog & Grill to share her path to success and how others can do the same.

Jane founded IM@Events after uncovering a need in the event industry to produce and execute event coverage from front to back. IM@Events provides full digital media coverage of events and conferences across southern Ontario, building buzz and creating a path for customer service. It also offers social media education to empower clients to maintain their social tactics in-house.

Alan and Jane discuss the skills that make up today's social media marketer. They call on the dangers of putting youth in charge simply because of the assumption that it's "their world". Jane touches on social media myths, the most popular being "content is king". She challenges this notion by stating that the community is in fact the King of your social media realm and is the driver of your content's success.

Developing a personal brand? Jane suggests making video a key player in your strategy. Even if you don't post anything online, filming yourself discussing your passions is an effective tool to find confidence in your voice and discover your "edge". She shares the key traits she looks for in hiring and what she believes makes a successful social media marketer, as well as common mistakes marketers make when starting out.

About Our Guest

Jane Barkley is the founder and CEO of IM@Events, a go-to event marketing firm in Kitchener, Canada, founded in 2013. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with an Honours in English Literature from the University of Waterloo. Jane is also a writer, speaker, YouTube vlogger, community builder and Social Media Professor at Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.