Well, alas no FreetheNet here at the YWCA on Beatty Downtown Vancouver so will limp along with the delayed coverage of Kris Krug and Rob Cottingham's spiel to a crowded room of PR and Marketing minded peeps.

6:31
Okay, the intros are starting at the Vancouver High-Tech Communicator's Exchange meeting. VHCE HTCE are an organization with about 440 people on the contact list and they put on events inexpensively, run by volunteers, with top notch speakers form the community.

6:33
HTCE Members get a discount on Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo's book "Getting to First Base" a contemporary guide to savvy marketing.

6:34
Upcoming events focus on convergence, lead generation (getting sales and marketing working together) and more workshops to help these PR pros get new media savvy.

6:35
Lovely intro for Kris (he has a great speechwriter ;-)) - ditto for Rob (who came recommended from Darren Barefoot who's garnered 3 mentions already despite being in Morocco).

Rob and cohort Alex are top notch strategic consultants as Social Signal. Pro speech writer Rob doubles as a funny guy - stand up and comic writer - he has a cold to go with his dry and intelligent sense of humor

6:36
I wave hello as they introduce me as the token citizen journalist (that's me on the floor in the front).

I am on board to speak at another cool event, this one put on by The High-Tech Communicators’ Exchange about the topic: Social Media: A new way to market?

This should be a real interesting group to address since, according to their blurb, there will a variety of disciplines and industries represented which should make for some interesting questions.

I'm sharing the stage with Rob Cottingham - he is part of web strategy company Social Signal and also a professional speechwriter for politicos and roasters (check out his Squidoo speechwriting lens for useful tips) and he draws awesome comix about Web 2.0 culture.

Here's the aforementioned blurb:

Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, myspace … what does the social media revolution mean to marketers and communicators? How is it redefining how we communicate, connect, network and build relationships with customers, stakeholders and even employees? How are companies using social media to increase visibility and build awareness? What are the risks and pitfalls of using social media? And what’s coming next?