Thanks to Simon Chen of Ramius, Ottawa now has its own franchise of Social Media Breakfast, an event started by Bryan Person (a blogger and podcaster Simon and I had the privilege of meeting during this month’s Community 2.0 Conference).

According to Bryan, Social Media Breakfast (SMB) is “an almost-monthly event where social media experts and newbie’s alike come together to eat, meet, share, and learn. Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, new media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend.”

Cities that host SMB include Boston, New York City, the Twin Cities, Austin, Memphis, Phoenix, San Francisco, Singapore, and Cincinnati. And now Ottawa!

SMB Ottawa 1 takes place Tuesday, June 10th.

The inaugural speaker is Adrian Salamunovic, Co-Founder of DNA11. DNA11 is a company that pioneered the creation of personalized artwork from the DNA of its customers. Much of DNA11’s success has derived from social media exposure.

To find out more and register to attend SMB Ottawa 1, visit at http://smbottawa.eventbrite.com. You won’t want to miss it!

Melany Gallant | Women 2.0 Canada | Ottawa Co-founder

Come join Women 2.0 Ottawa at the next Ottawa DemoCamp - scheduled May 26th at The Velvet Room in The Market.

For those of you not in the know, DemoCamp is a variation of the un-conference style event. PowerPoint is not allowed - presenters must give an actual demonstration of the product or service they are presenting.

Demonstrations are 15 minutes in length: 2 minute introduction, 8 minute demo, 5 minutes for Q&A and discussion.

It’s a fun event that brings together a wide range of people from Ottawa’s high tech sector. And it would be great to see more women from the high tech sector attending DemoCamp.

So we encourage you to come watch demonstrations of some cool products and technologies either already created or in the midst of development. Give feedback to the presenters, ask questions and learn about the cool technologies and products being developed right here in the Nation’s Capital.

To register, add your name to the registration list on the Ottawa DemoCamp wiki at http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/DemoCampOttawa9

The companies presenting at this month’s DemoCamp:

• - dD dot tv - beta preview
• - Stockify - Investing Software
• - SIMtone - Virtual PC, http://www.simtonecdu.com
• - picsphere - complete workflow solution for event and studio photographers
• - Ramius Corporation - Sixent.com (psst…Ramius is the company I work for - Sixent is our newest product)
• - myChoiceBot - Web app for shoppers researching any type of purchase decision.

Date and Time: Monday, May 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Location: The Velvet Room, 62 1/2 York Street, in The Market (b/w William and Dalhousie)

Melany Gallant | Women 2.0  Canada | Ottawa Co-founder

Good time tracking is key to any successful project. Throughout the years  I have used many different tools to help me keep track of time spent on any given task or project. Here are some of the best tools I’ve come across in my time-tracking travels. 

Lightweight (and free): If you’re you’re a part-time entrepreneur simple is best.

ClockingIT is a hosted application for tracking all your tasks, issues, projects and time spent, with a focus on software development and handling large amounts of tasks.

Heavyweight: When the basics just won’t do.

Tickspot.com  is a simple and friendly time tracking application focused on helping you hit your budgets, by accenting the ‘time left’ on a particular job. - Includes both mac and pc widgets. 

Harvest is designed and built so you can quickly and easily track time, log expenses, run reports, and bill your clients. - Includes both mac and pc widgets. 

This from a ClickZ article I came across, while sitting in a NY hotel lobby -

Online communications and spending is up in Canada, according to data from Statistics Canada.

In 2007 81 percent of private sector businesses used e-mail, up from 78 percent the previous year, and 74 percent in 2003 when the study began. Use of the Internet is slightly higher: 87 percent of businesses have access, and 41 percent maintain a Web site.

Really - only 41%. On a serious note, I find that shocking.

Beverly Crandon | women 2.0 | Toronto Co-founder

The 2^nd Skin opening night was Friday April 25^th in San Francisco and it opened up with a launch party of designers toting digital and analogue clothing. To give you an idea of the types of things seen at the party, one of the outfits adorned that evening was worn by a woman and every time she walked, her clothing would generate power.

Will this be the fashion of tomorrow? Will it become the uniform required for ‘Camp’ entry? Who knows, but it sure is interesting to read about.

Beverly Crandon | women 2.0 | Toronto Co-founder

Women 2.0 Ottawa invites you to join us at Vineyards in The Market on Wednesday, May 7th.

For this event we have no set topic for discussion. Instead, we’ll get together for a casual conversation about whatever topics come to mind!

Event deets…

When: Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Vineyards, 54 York Street (In the Cellar) website
What: Super casual networking mixer for women in technology and related fields
Why: To swap energy, ideas, and experiences with each other

Please RSVP

Please RSVP for this event on the Women 2.0 Ottawa event wiki.

You can also email ottawa [at] women2 [dot] ca to to join our mailing list for upcoming Women 2.0 events in Ottawa.

Melany Gallant | Women 2.0 Canada | Ottawa Co-founder

Geekspeakr - ‘We help you find technical women to speak at your events’

A wonderful resource for event organizers and the tech community in general. It’s incredibly important that women in technology step out of the shadows and start embracing the limelight. So ladies, if you have the tech knowledge and flair for public speaking, stop by geekspearkr.com and sign up. 

ana.g | women 2.0 | Toronto Co-founder

Shane Schick of ITWorldCanada has taken the time to recognize 10 Canadian tech bloggers worthy of following. Shane lists some great bloggers to check out, including two well-known female tech bloggers you may have heard of before.

Shane promises the list is in no particular order so I’ll put the two female bloggers first…just because I like them so much:

Maggie Fox - Longtime W20′ers know of our great respect for Maggie of Social Media Group. A guest speaker at our February Pass the Torch event, Maggie is a leader in the social media industry with great insights on how to leverage social media as an engagement tool.

Kate Trgovac - Of My Name Is Kate - Kate is a Internet marketing expert. She blogs about marketing and technology in a funny and engaging way that makes you want to read more.

Jevon McDonald - StartUp North - I started following Jevon on Twitter (@startupnorth) because he gives really great overviews of companies that have pitched or demo’ed products at BarCamps, DemoCamps and other Canadian tech events. If you’re interested in following tech happenings in Canada, follow this blog.

ITWorldCanada bloggers - http://blogs.itworldcanada.com - Because they deserve to promote their own talent!

Alec Saunders - http://saunderslog.com - Alec is an Ottawa blogger and co-founder of Iotum, an Ottawa-startup focused on communication technologies. He discusses a lot of different topics related to technology. Check out his list of Ottawa blogs.

Michael Geist - http://www.michaelgeist.ca - a law professor at the University of Ottawa, Geist is also a columnist for the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, and BBC. Writing about technology law, Geist covers topics such as digital copyright, net neutrality, Internet governance and user-generated content.

Mark H. Goldberg - http://www.mhgoldberg.com/blog - Goldberg covers the telecommunications industry including issues, news, trends and so much more.

Stephan Ibaraki - http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers - Ibaraki is a key contributor to this blog. As ITWorldCanada states, he “interviews countless executives (such as General Motors of Canada’s CIO) and turns them into easy-to-download podcasts. He also serves as a sort of online liaison between the vendor community and associations like the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), giving him a good understanding of issues across the board.”

Mark Evans - http://markevanstech.com - Evans is a technology journalist with The Globe & Mail and The Financial Post. He’s also the co-founder of the mesh Conference - Canada’s only Web 2.0 conference. He covers a range of technology topics including telco and emerging technologies and startups.

Rob Hyndman - http://www.robhyndman.com - Another mesh Conference co-founder, Hyndman describes himself as “a lifelong student of technology, and a geek at heart.” His blog covers topics related to business law and technology, as well as developments in business, media and politics.

Melany Gallant | Women 2.0 Canada | Ottawa Co-founder