Making plans for Nigel

I was very lucky that from an early age (about eight-years-old) I knew that journalism, media and any form of writing was the career I wanted to be in. Every morning I’d devour my parents’ newspapers from cover to cover, watch all the news I could on TV and even created my own little magazine … but for the life of me can’t recall the name of it.

One of the columns I really enjoyed was written by Nigel Dempster. He was a renowned British journalist, author, broadcaster and diarist best known for his celebrity gossip columns in newspapers. His work appeared in the Daily Express and Daily Mail and also in Private Eye magazine.

Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, was reported as saying: "His scoops were the stuff of legend and his zest for life inexhaustible." I wanted to be Nigel.

So, around the age of 14 I composed a nice hand-written letter (no e-mail back then) to Mr. Dempster c/o Daily Mail asking if I could maybe pop by and say hello. I thought it would be great to meet the writer whose work I admired and maybe pick up some tips for a young, aspiring journo.

I heard nothing back for a few weeks so was a little disappointed that maybe my letter hadn’t even made it to his desk, or he was just too plain busy as the most celebrated gossip columnist of his time, hanging out with celebrities, politicians and socialites of the day. Oh well, was worth a try!

But lo and behold, a week later on our front doormat was an envelope addressed to “John Carson, Jnr.” — my dad’s name was John too so I signed off as Jnr. to avoid opening his mail — with the Daily Mail logo on it.

I tore it open very quickly and it was indeed a reply from Nigel Dempster. Even better, it was an invitation to spend the day at his Daily Mail office in London, penned by the man himself. I was ecstatic and very excited.

So about a month later I was on a British Rail train heading to “The Big Smoke” to meet Nigel at his office.

His personal assistant met me and we went to Nigel’s office, which was in an open plan room along with other journalists. I remember he had his desk right by the window looking out on the busy hustle and bustle of London life. It was very exciting for me to be in the thick of the action.

Nigel himself greeted me and was extremely charming and kind. He pulled up a chair and I sat next to him, reading some of his column items for the next day’s edition and just soaking up the experience, which I knew then was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We talked about journalism and what it was like to work for a major news organization, how he got some of his story tips, people he had met and so on. Nigel was extremely well connected and seemed to be in the perfect role for his time as Fleet Street’s king of gossip.

The day flew by but I never forgot the experience and how it solidified my choice to carve out a media career, one I’ve really enjoyed being in since 1995.

More importantly, I fondly recall how kind Nigel was and how respectfully he treated me. He was a very busy man and didn’t have to go out of his way, but I’m glad he did. He taught me that in any career, you should make time for those who need it … you never know how it will affect people and how it helps.

Sadly, he died in 2007 and I never had the chance to thank him properly, something I regret. This is my belated little personal tribute to him that has been a long time coming.

Nigel Dempster photo courtesy of Eric Hands.

How I became a Manatee

“Sorry, John, but we have to let you go.”

And with that short statement – in December 2020, right before Christmas, in the middle of a global pandemic – I lost a job I loved and the pleasure of working with one of the best teams in my career.

“She’s gone, John.”

January 2021 and my sister was on the phone from the U.K., one of those horrible middle of the night calls we all dread, to inform me our mum had died unexpectedly of natural causes. I still recall a few weeks later watching on my computer laptop screen as my sister’s shoulders heaved with sobs at the funeral. I couldn’t make the trip to Scotland to lay my mum to rest because of travel restrictions so had to remotely pay my respects from Toronto, Ont. courtesy of video networking. That was absolutely devastating.

“He’s had a mini stroke.”

My father-in-law took very ill in March 2021 when a vein in his neck got blocked. He had a stent put in, got through it, but the recovery was long. It’s been very hard watching a former Toronto District Fire Chief lose the use of his left hand and shrink to a physical shell of his former self.

“It’s cancerous.”

May 2021 and I started radiation treatment for a grape-sized lump on the side of my right cheek. The biopsy … laying on a machine and having your head strapped to the table by a rubber facial mesh that has been moulded just for you … not a barrel of laughs.

Suffice to say I was experiencing the worst period of my life over a very dark six months. Those that know me quickly realise my glass is always half full, but at that point in time, I could see it quickly draining and I was staring at the bottom.

If you’re still reading this after that depressing opening, please continue. It gets better and I’ll explain how.

Music has always been my therapy. I was very lucky to be a teenager in ’80s England so the range of choice and genres was very varied. Top of the Pops was our weekly TV ritual, Duran Duran battled Spandau Ballet for pop supremacy and Smash Hits was required reading. Music – good and bad, depending on your taste – permeated British life and I was swept along with it all. My “boom box” and Sony Walkman went through more batteries than I care to recall. What a melodic time to be alive!

This whole article could be about those heady times, but I digress.

Back to mid-2021. Over a year into a pandemic, locked down, all masked up and nowhere to go. Especially nightclubs. Along with a ton of pubs and restaurants, many clubs simply didn’t survive and closed for good.

One of those was Remix Lounge situated at Dundas and Dovercourt in Toronto. I was a regular there most Saturday nights to hear and watch DJ Lazarus and his sets. His brand is called Living On Video and most weeks he played Alternative, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synthpop, Goth, New Romantic, Industrial, Indie, EBM, Future Pop, Electronica, Britpop, Darkwave, Shoegaze, Minimal Wave, Electro, Cold Wave, Dreampop, Ska, House, EDM, Techno and Pop. Something for everyone, really, if you’re into that scene.

I liked his style a lot and hired him to be the DJ at my 50th birthday at the – now defunct too – Duke of Gloucester pub, formerly at Yonge and Isabella. It was a brilliant night, the last one I had at my favourite Toronto pub, great memories forever … and a lot of credit for that goes to Lazarus.

But I missed the regular in-person music scene and needed an alternative. I wanted something to make me – not forget, per se, because what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger – but to put aside the previous shitty six months and be entertained for a few hours a week.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask, is it?

So in June 2021, when I discovered that Lazarus had started streaming his music on the virtual platform Twitch, I was intrigued. Up to then I’d only thought of Twitch as a channel for online gamers, a hangout for people to shoot ‘em up and run around fragging other noobs in a parallel universe.

But as I started to explore it, I found that a lot more DJs were taking their music online with regular shows, chat rooms and like-minded music-craving communities. I was instantly hooked and jumped into that world with both feet. Virtually, of course.

But sometimes, when the mood takes me – and a glass of wine or two – I’ll boogie around the living room. I stream on my TV using apps and prefer that visual aspect to wearing headphones.

Lazarus was initially on both major platforms: Twitch and Mixcloud. Both have their pros and cons, people prefer one or the other … but I have leaned more towards Twitch as I feel it gives the DJ a better chance to actually earn a living from it. I regularly tip the DJs I support. I see it as the entry fee to a virtual club night. Tips are optional and can be any amount you want.

On Twitch you can subscribe to a DJ (alleviates adverts and the DJ gets a cut), buy “Bits” (their form of online currency that you can “cheer” in the chatroom) and other forms of showing your appreciation. Some DJs perform online for only an hour, some five or more, some go the distance.

On a recent weekend to celebrate 2,000+ Twitch followers, Lazarus played a set for 15 hours straight. I think I tuned in for only about half of that! But respect due to him for that marathon effort.

DJ Lazarus

Lazarus started DJ’ing on radio in 1993 and in clubs in 1996 at the aforementioned Remix Lounge, plus at Velvet Underground, also in Toronto.

His streaming shows are Double Trouble on Tuesday, where he plays two songs by the same artist. There’s also Panic: ’80s/’90s tunes; Britannia: Britpop/Madchester/UK Indie; Bleach: ’90s Alternative; Spellbound: Goth and Industrial; Retro Guilty Pleasures, Pump Up The Volume, Thursday Trivia nights and more.

I wanted to talk to some of the DJs making a go of it online and find out more about their experiences pivoting their efforts during the pandemic. Was it an easy transition? Did the communities embrace them? Is this the way of the future?

I phoned Lazarus for a chat and started by asking when did he sense the change happening with the loss of his in-person DJ and events business?

“When the pandemic hit Toronto in March 2019, I was doing an event and noticed that my attendance was down about 75 per cent on my last party that I did, so I knew things were changing pretty rapidly. And then the government shut us down,” he recalls.

“They said it would be only for two weeks and then it would all be over. After the two weeks I got depressed and lost 75 per cent of my income. Luckily I had a little part-time job to help but I lost everything.

“I noticed some DJs were doing some streaming and I questioned myself. If I do streaming and give my product away for free, maybe people won’t want to come out to my nights and pay cover? But if I didn’t do streaming maybe I wouldn’t stay relevant and quickly be forgotten. So I was late to the game compared to a lot of other people,” he says.

“I was looking at all the different services, such as Twitch, Mixcloud and Periscope and chose Mixcloud for my streaming to begin with. I was on there for a year before I started using Twitch properly in June of 2021. So I’ve been streaming for two years overall online.

“I chose Mixcloud due to Twitch not having their copyright stuff sorted out. In the terms of service it says they do not want DJs lip syncing or doing karaoke … anything to do with music. If video games had a pop song playing in the background they could get their stream shut down. I didn’t want to put my time, money and energy into something that may get shut down,” he explains.

“Mixcloud said everything is sorted out. So you could go on there and play music all day and they had it all legal. But Twitch has a much larger community. There’s more people overall, easier to discover streamers; so at the end of the day I joined Twitch because that is where the momentum was. I moved over there and tried to rebuild my streaming following that I had on Mixcloud. Being late to the game made it way more difficult too because everybody already had all their viewing patterns and the DJs they liked on Twitch, so I was the new kid on the block trying to carve my little space. It’s been an uphill battle,” adds Lazarus.

“As the pandemic weans and people go back to their real world, watching Twitch – or any other streaming service – is greatly diminished. A lot of my peers in Toronto are already doing DJ nights, but I’m not comfortable, yet, doing that regularly. I’ve got post-traumatic stress syndrome from all of it,” he says.

“I’m starting to plan some events, but for the fall. I’ve already booked Halloween at Velvet Underground and I’ve got an amazing band. So I’m working on stuff. This summer I am doing a couple of fetish nights and maybe one concert DJ gig.”

Will Lazarus continue the online events when his in-person business is back to good standing?

“Yes, I’m hoping that my stream I do on Tuesday afternoons will continue,” he replies. “I would like to think – that if I actually get back into the clubs – that I will be able to sort out something where I can do the streaming from the club as well. Have a multi-camera set-up in the club so people can see me DJ’ing and the music videos and get a vibe for it. So people who don’t live in the area for the club nights will still be able to enjoy it and participate in a way. It might be the new way going forward for those DJs who have built up a following online.

“But at the same time I still question it,” he says. “If you can watch a stream online, for free, instead of having a shower, putting your clothes on, drive, pay for parking, $10 to get into the club and $30 on drinks … if you can get the product – the music – online for free … will it have unintended consequences of hurting the night? I don’t know. But those are the things I think about.

“You would hope that the community of viewers would be kind to the community of real-life dancers – because they’re the same people. I’ve been lucky I haven’t had cruel people in my streams, for the most part. The ‘ban hammer’ comes down pretty quickly!”

I was curious, from a DJ standpoint, how the online and in-person events differ for him.

“The experience is completely different. I prefer the in-person DJ’ing; the instant feedback and gratification of seeing the crowd dance and move to your music – and controlling the dancefloor in-person – is amazing. That’s what makes most DJs want to be a DJ. Not many people say, ‘I want to be a DJ and sit in a chair in my kitchen,’” quips Lazarus.

“When you’re DJ’ing online you can interact and talk in the chat … but it’s not the same. You don’t get the same satisfaction. I will say this: in a nightclub environment my main focus is the dancefloor and I do have to keep in mind not just that everyone is having a good time, but also the business of the nightclub … which is usually selling drinks. So you have a lot of pressure on you in-person to make sure that people there are satisfied, they’re getting their money’s worth of entertainment and being happy,” says Lazarus.

“Online, my freedom of music I can play is broader, because I don’t have to worry about a dancefloor so I can play weirder music, or slower music, lots of newer music. That’s what I’ve been focusing on: my Spellbound show is trying to play newer music on that stream so when I do go back into the clubs I’ve ‘trained’ people to appreciate more newer music,” he explains.

“When you get a dancefloor going and it’s packed, and people cheer ‘WOO-HOO!’ and run to the dancefloor … everybody – including me, the DJ – we’re all sharing a single emotional response all at the same time. That moment is what got me into DJ’ing. It doesn’t matter who you are – religion, colour of your skin, what you believe in politically – none of it matters. You are all on that dancefloor sharing that single emotion. And that unifies all of us. Online streaming, you don’t really get that.”

Lazarus goes on to explain his feelings of what the experience has been in connecting solely with the online community over the last 18 months or so.

“The relationship I have with the online viewers is different than with the people that come out to the club nights,” he says. “When I’m streaming I don’t always talk on the microphone because I want the music to speak for me, but I am active in the chat. Some people have more intimate conversations with me in the chat than they can have in the club.

“I’ve met lots of people online that I haven’t met in real life. You have to be personable and friendly in the chat and I try to do that in real life too. Build up that sense of connection and community. If people feel connected to you, they are a little more loyal in their viewing and attendance. I try to use social networking to promote my events: Instagram, Twitter and mostly through Facebook.

“When I’m in a club, the attendance will only be from people in the Toronto area, whereas on Twitch, the world is my audience. So even though the time zones are crazy I can have people in Australia watching me during their lunchtime, when it’s 2:00 a.m. or something, here in Toronto. Your viewership becomes broader, but at the same time, your competition becomes broader. Obviously every major city has a person like me doing something similar. So all of a sudden, when you’re on Twitch, you’re not as unique as you think you were. But it’s been great! I’ve met some really wonderful people, mostly from America, who do video dance parties and similar types of streams. That’s been really nice, actually,” he adds.

“I was working nights through the pandemic so I couldn’t stream for the most part. More of my peers online were able to stream longer sets, more often than me. So they were able to reach different time zone demographics. When I did the 15-hour stream, I went from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m., I was able to hit different time zones so picked up viewers I’d never seen before. I was also very lucky and lots of kind DJs on there were raiding me because I was going late. I am thinking about doing that once a month actually, maybe 10 or 12 hours on the last Friday. Keeping it open format, start in the afternoon and go to four or five in the morning.”

“Raiding” is short for a “Raid Train” on Twitch. This is when a DJ is finishing a set and then joins another DJ’s set, thus carrying their followers over with them. It’s a really smart and fun way to discover DJs that play similar music to the ones you regularly listen to. And it’s an organic way for the recipient DJ to gain some new followers and enjoy extra exposure.

DJ Lazarus in his Twitch channel

Lazarus is not resting on his aural laurels though, and is already planning to create some fresh offerings: “By the end of May I’m going to rejig some of my shows and start a new one called ‘Records I Bought as a Teenager’ all-vinyl set. You’re the first person I told!”

What other online DJs does Lazarus follow and how does his set-up work when he’s streaming?

“DJ Jeff Moyer in Chicago does similar stuff to me and he’s one of my favourite Twitch DJs, for sure. It’s a good quality product, he has a good community, good people … so he’s a good person to look up to on Twitch.

“I have no moderators. I’m not against mods but I don’t know anybody who would want to spend their whole Saturday night looking for assholes in my chat! Me streaming online … I can put myself through that, right? I don’t want any friends or associates to have expectations to have to leave their Saturday night open to be on Twitch. It’s a big ask.

“Mods are great because they can help the chat get going by posting questions and thanking people more frequently than I can. But at the end of the day, a mod is not imperative for me at this stage. Now, if I had 10,000 followers and 400 people watching then I would probably need a mod. As it stands now I try to be present in the chat,” explains Lazarus.

“It’s difficult, though, because you’re balancing out all the equipment and trying to properly DJ while looking at the chat. It’s like reading a book when you’re DJ’ing! Sometimes I miss requests or comments – I can’t look at it 100 per cent of the time – as I’m looking for music, trying to mix and taking care of all the equipment.

“It’s important to be connected to the audience and some of that connection means looking at the camera and making eye contact,” he says. “When you watch my streams, my eyes are down – maybe 75 per cent of the time – because I’m reading the chat, typing in the chat, and/or looking for music in searches. I have two computers on the go at the same time and then I have a monitor in front of me as well to see what videos I’m playing. So I have three different screens I’m looking at the same time.”

Lazarus ends our conversation with his thoughts of how this experience has shaped him as a DJ and how he will take all that moving forward.

“One of the things I take with me is the sense of community building – it’s difficult to do that, it’s kind of an organic thing, you can’t force it. I have enjoyed my streaming, and as going back into clubs becomes a thing, how to integrate the technology aspect of Twitch into my real life gigs and honour both communities. At that point I’m servicing the real life people and the virtual people; how do I combine those two communities into one to make them vibe together?” he ponders.

“I can picture having a stream at a club night and someone there in person going on their phone, on Twitch, and participating in the chat. I can image people would be curious. What are the online people saying about this night? Or people bragging, ‘Hey you guys are a bunch of suckers for not being here! This is the best party I’ve ever been to! Hahaha!’” he laughs.

“There are concerns, too, where some people don’t like photos or images of them being taken at a nightclub. So you have to be aware of people’s privacy. It’s a bit messy. But it’s something to work through with the community and figure out what works best for both crowds, basically.

“I’m hoping by the end of this year, going into next year, that I’ll re-establish some events and figure out the online aspect of it and hopefully have a renaissance of my DJ nights in some capacity,” he says.

I started to hear about other DJs and get recommendations too. My good friend Sangeeta (who lives in the U.S.) said I should check out DJ Jake Rudh as I’d like the kind of music he plays. Sangeeta knows me very well and she was spot on.

Rudh (“R-U-D-H” as Jake spells out for his many listeners) has been DJ’ing events for 30 years, full-time for 15 years. He’s based in Minneapolis, MN, and – pre-pandemic – played at First Avenue and Uptown VFW.

His brand is called Transmission (named after the Joy Division song) and he plays on Twitch every Wednesday and Saturday starting at 8:00 p.m. His first Twitch show was April 9, 2020.

He has mentioned many times on his show that the pandemic affected his living and the streams are now the only source of income for his family via viewers’ tips. When did he sense the change happening with the loss of his in-person DJ and events business?

“For almost two weeks straight I was doing nothing but cancelling events or postponing them into the next year … and then having to postpone them again,” recalls Rudh in a phone call. “It’s been a very brutal year. But owning a DJ company that runs events and counts on people gathering for the event, and having that be your income was extra brutal for us and the family.

“Thank God Twitch came along fairly soon after COVID was a thing. Literally weeks. Twitch has been my go-to and proven to be an amazing platform to do what I do. And I just saw that other DJs were doing it. It’s like, OK, boy, the world is a completely different place all of a sudden,” says Rudh. “What are people like me doing to make money, make a living? I looked into it and the rest is history; here we are still doing it today.”

DJ Jake Rudh

It’s very different to seeing a DJ perform in a club setting from watching them online. I wondered if Rudh’s regular fans had easily made the transition to virtual?

“Thankfully, I’ve been a DJ playing to the public for 30 years since doing parties in college! Professionally, for 15 years full time and then 20-22 years as a club artist. So that’s roughly 27 years of providing dance parties locally; that has given me some time to build up an audience within the Twin Cities and then, being a radio DJ for Minnesota Public Radio, The Current, that has expanded the Transmission brand and put a few more people on my radar,” he explains.

“But it wasn’t until this Twitch gig where Transmission’s brand really went global, along with the help of social media like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. That is really the key that has helped me.”

Rudh gives a shout-out to his buddy, Matt Sebastian of Slicing Up Eyeballs: “We fit hand-in-glove. It’s been a beautiful thing, this relationship that Transmission and Slicing Up Eyeballs has had.

“All those folks followed me to Twitch because there were no club gigs, no shows happening, and people were starved for entertainment. They could now listen to – and watch – the videos that they loved and missed.

“One of the DJs I brought on and championed was Cindy (DJ Synthia) because she basically does what I do. She has a heart of gold and an amazing personality and is an absolute walking encyclopedia about this music and these eras that we play and I’ve just been ultra-impressed. I haven’t met her face-to-face yet and look forward to doing that!”

How much preparation goes into each online show?

“About three or four months into it I started to do themes every weekend so that’s where the prep work really had to happen,” explains Rudh. “I needed to keep these shows entertaining but yet educational, and making people want to come back to the show … not having to go, ‘Oh, you know, we saw Jake last week and he kinda does the same old thing.’ I want Transmission to be a different experience every time someone tunes in. That’s why the Wednesday shows are kind of like the freeform themeless gigs because people don’t know what’s coming next. I think that’s fun and exciting for everyone – including myself. There can be quite a bit of prep work for the weekend shows. Then on top of that is the Manatee …”

OK, let me stop you there for a minute, DJ. Before you go any further I have to explain your reference to the Manatee.

Manatee is the nickname of the denizens of the Twitch channel. They are highly intelligent and love a wide variety of music. Thus it has become a bit of a game sometimes where DJ Jake Rudh will try to sneak in tracks to stump the crowd.

The name comes from an autocorrect that DJ Jake Rudh made during a Duran Duran theme night on 2020-07-11 in the Twitch chat. “... so many people ...” became “... so manatee people…” and the rest is history.

Please carry on, DJ.

“Then on top of that is the Manatee … the community that has formed around my channel and digs shout-outs, or have found that it’s been really exciting for them to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, new jobs and so on. Even on the opposite end we can be there for each other when something tragic happens like someone has lost a parent, a sibling or even a pet,” explains Rudh. That night Jake played The Love Cats by The Cure for a Manatee who lost her cat.

“That’s what really gives the show a heart and I am very honoured to be the DJ that connects the dots and make that happen. I have this amazing team of moderators that makes the channel happen behind the scenes and makes sure the chat room stays a positive place. We all know that chat rooms can get real nasty with all the trolls and that is just not allowed on Twitch Transmission programs,” he adds.

DJ Jake Rudh’s Twitch channel

Will Rudh continue the online shows when his events business is back to good standing?

“Yes, 100 per cent. Will it look like it does today? I don’t know … and I’m not sure yet … I guess I won’t know until thrown back into the live events and I’m just starting to get my feet wet back into that.”

(Rudh opened for Toto the previous week and was due to open for Gary Numan the day after this interview on March 22, but Numan’s show was postponed due to illness.)

“I’m not hosting dance parties yet because that comfort level is not there yet for the majority of people – it’s different to just standing there watching a performance. I would love for it to be by summertime but every week and every day is different,” he says.

Similar to Lazarus, this experience has shaped Rudh as a DJ and he has some learnings from it all.

“This has really cemented what music means to people and how it has played a big role in their life,” he says. “Sometimes people are like, ‘Meh, it’s what I have on in the background,’ but with my channel I’m very lucky with the fact that the people who tune in on a regular basis are huge music fans. They love the eras that I play, the flashbacks, more ’70s, ’80s, ’90s playlists, and the educational part of being a radio and club DJ is I like to fuse in new entertainers and it’s usually artists that are inspired by those in the Transmission brand. I think that people find that exciting as well.

“There’s no doubt I will have programs that will be just be about newer artists within the last decade or so that are directly inspired by all the classic alternative bands and artists that I play.

“This whole Twitch experience and simply playing a song and seeing the feedback that is directly put out into the chat room is proof how important this music is and these artists are to people and I am beyond honoured that I am, again, able to connect the dots for folks. ‘I’m going to see this band play next week or month; would you play something by them?’ Of course! I’d be happy to.

“Music is an international language and this channel has been proof of that,” says Rudh.

Back to Toronto now for a chat with DJ Dreamdoctor who has been a DJ since 1990. Prior to our conversation, he filled out the history of his career.

DJ Dreamdoctor

“In the ’90s I was a radio DJ on the college radio station CFRE 91.9 FM out of Mississauga, Ont. where I had a weekly show called Radio Corrosion. Also during the ’90s I DJ’d at CIUT 89.5 FM out of downtown Toronto: a University of Toronto radio station where I did mostly overnight shifts,” explains Dreamdoctor.

“Throughout the ’90s I had a club residency at a club called the Blind Duck in Mississauga, where I hosted Alternative Thursdays with DJ Dreamdoctor. In addition I partnered with a house music DJ called DJ Tremor and together we hosted many private events but also sometimes spun at other clubs such as Whiskey Saigon in Toronto.

“In the 21st century, I continued to host infrequent private events but I retired from DJ’ing at clubs and on terrestrial radio. I did have a music podcast on SoundCloud that I started in 2012 called Neptunes and continued that until SoundCloud kicked all DJs off their site.

“The pandemic, in fact, brought me out of DJ retirement and in 2020 I became a regular DJ on Internet radio and on Mixcloud.

“Ever since 1990, I have always played – and continue to play – classic alternative music and new alternative music which continues the legacy of the classic alternative scene covering genres like Punk, Post-Punk, New Romantic, Synthpop, Goth, Darkwave, Industrial, Ska and alternative electronic music. Since 2020 I have also done numerous live streams on Mixcloud.

“Currently my radio show, Sensoria with DJ Dreamdoctor, airs on Flashback Alternatives every second and third Thursday of each month at 9:00 p.m. After each show debuts, it then repeats twice on the station. After it does, I upload each show onto my Mixcloud page for on-demand listening,” he explains.

“Up until recently I had a weekly live stream on Mixcloud also called Sensoria (sometimes Club Sensoria) but I have decided in 2022 to make the live streams less frequent so there is no longer a regular schedule for live streams. Those who follow me on Mixcloud, Twitter or Facebook receive notifications of all upcoming radio shows and live streams.”

DJ Dreamdoctor’s Mixcloud channel

I was curious why Dreamdoctor chose Mixcloud over Twitch.

“I was doing a radio show – which I still do – and got permission to upload the shows to Mixcloud and so I rediscovered the platform that way. Then I realized it was great for live streams. I think Twitch was around at the same time but it was mostly for gamers and these days they’re pretty vibrant when it comes to DJs as well.

“Mixcloud does pay the artists; they have a copyright agreement with the recording industry and they pay the artists and the labels. I like that about them, for sure. Twitch doesn’t really have that, but I think it’s interesting that they are bringing that gaming model to DJ’ing with a lot going on. People are buying and donating Bits, there’s points, thousands of emojis [called ‘Emotes’ on Twitch] that can be unlocked and purchased, plus Hype Trains. So it’s almost like a video game, right? It’s very unique in that way.

“I don’t know which one is going to win out in the end … maybe it’s not a competition? I do think it’s easier for DJs to monetize if that’s their goal. With clubs closing, people that did real gigs in 2019, they suffered a lot. So if they are able to monetize by using Twitch, then I think that’s wonderful.”

So, with a busy online presence, I asked if Dreamdoctor picked up regular listeners from other shows?

“I think that would be very true,” he replies. “A lot of the people that were listeners on the same streams as me would gravitate to my shows. So there’s some kind of cross-promotion but it’s not really planned … it’s more organic via meeting people and networking. Mixcloud have been great but they do need to work on a few things to improve that platform.”

Dreamdoctor goes on to lay out how the online and in-person events differ that he’s done. It seems to be a wide gap.

“If you’re talking about clubs, the difference is huge. There’s nothing like DJ’ing at a club when you’ve got a packed place and people right beneath your DJ booth dancing, coming up to you and making requests. Nothing will ever beat that experience, right?

“Livestreaming on the Internet is certainly a lot of fun and certainly rewarding – and of course you can’t see the people – but the key difference is that you’re getting listeners from all around the world tuning in. I’ve had people from South America, Mexico, all over Europe tuning in and that’s something you wouldn’t get at a club as they’re very local.

“Nothing beats the live club; however, this is an excellent substitute, particularly during the pandemic. Even now people are reluctant to go to a club. We’re not out of the woods yet.

“The pandemic kind of brought me out of DJ retirement, so if there’s any positive aspect out of this awful time, is that I got back into it. I will continue doing it. I don’t see myself going back into a club setting. Or a terrestrial radio station. They are much different now with a lot less room in the schedule for people who just play alternative so I can see myself continuing this for quite a long time on the Internet,” he adds.

Three online DJs with one thing in common: they all adapted to regular, virtual gigs and made the best of it during very trying and stressful times.

I know the work and effort that goes into these shows, the research, the complex technology, the tireless promotion, the rare moment when the stream buffers or the sound cuts out and the DJ just owns it – laughs it off, no one minds, we’re all human – and carries on with the set, or when their mum is tuning in, or they dance around on screen with their pet dog.

These communities of online DJs and chatroom friends have been a mental lifeboat to me, during some tough days. They are decent, supportive, fun people.

Or Manatees, if you prefer.

A huge thank you to the DJs featured in this article and for their profile photos. Manatees photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library. Edited by Peter Carter. This article was nominated for a Canadian Online Publishing Award.

Welcome to The Lawyer's Daily

It's been a long while since I last posted in this blog, almost a year actually. Time flies!

And there's a reason. After completing some client work last summer, in the autumn I joined LexisNexis Canada on contract to work on a new project so had to put Herb Communications on hiatus for a while.

Here's the result: The Lawyer's Daily. Canada's first daily news website for the legal community. It was a huge team effort and I was glad to play a role.

We have an amazing editorial staff to take this product forward, and it's very exciting. Please share with your colleagues in the Canadian legal community. Thank you.

John.

Creatives Table will help place creative students from low-income schools in paid summer internships

Lucy Leiderman is the COO of Retreaver and describes herself as a full stack marketer and digital strategist.

This summer she plans to launch the Creatives Table, a non-profit initiative aimed at empowering talented high school students with the knowledge and opportunity to learn about creative careers.

Lucy says she is working with School Board-designated "low income" schools to find students who excel in photography, writing, film, animation and other creative skills who can be placed with companies for between four to eight weeks in paid summer internship roles.

"There are two omnipresent droughts in the tech industry talent pool: developers and diversity. The need for both is well known and prevalent everywhere people dare to dream of a product, business or service that requires code," writes Lucy on her blog post detailing the scheme.

"Now we need to shine a light on the creatives of the world and explore the lack of diversity there -- in advertising, in design and the tech space," she adds.

Lucy is currently looking for start-ups to join the Creatives Table and mentions there is also federal funding for small businesses (less than 50 employees) that covers the cost of summer job opportunities for students.

Full details of her plans can be found on Lucy's blog post, so please contact her if you can help or pass the word around.

John.

Facebook just made us a little bit more lazier

Imagine, if you will, a world without the Internet. No e-mails. Just the written word, phones and fax machines.

That was the world in my youthful '20s, my glorious backpacking days. Say goodbye to your family for at least six months, put your worldly belongings -- plus a spare toilet roll, essential -- on your back, hop on a plane and see what adventures lie ahead.

But my loving family back home wanted to hear about those adventures. Because my mum and dad were divorced at the time, I didn't want one to feel "left out." So, I wrote two letters exactly the same and posted one to each parent. Took a little longer, but when the cows are milked or the crops are harvested, there isn't a lot to do other than sit in the sun, think about life and write.

Fast forward to the modern world. Write an e-mail, string a few paragraphs together, add in a couple of random LOLs and a smiley face ... and BCC that message to all your family members at once. Job done, and on with Netflix.

I know, I know. Can't live in the past. Times change. Don't be an old fart. Etc. etc.

So when Facebook introduced its Reactions option the other day, it made it easier for us to go one step further from the basic Like into the whole gamut of emotions. With one single, lazy click, your online friends and family can now love, laugh, be surprised, sad or angry at your posts. Then move on. To Netflix.

Of course Facebook is free and no one forces you to use it and give up your privacy. I choose to and enjoy it, actually. Great way for keeping in touch with people I care about here in Toronto and worldwide.

But it's a little sad when there's another incentive just to be lazy and click an icon to express a response, rather than crafting those words and thoughts. But then again, when did you last go out to the shops, choose a birthday card, write a nice message, buy a stamp and go to a post box to mail it to a friend on Facebook ... instead of clicking the "wish your friend a happy birthday" option?

Don't think I've done that for a while. Shame. Written sentiments via pen and paper are very rare these days, which is what makes them more special if you receive one.

(Don't want to get into "business speak" on a Friday, but try writing a "thanks for being a client" handwritten letter now and again, see what happens ...)

And please, if you like this blog post, don't forget to take a second and click on the Heart icon below. Thank you.

Have a great weekend!

John.

We are community, I got all my tweeters with me

For various reasons, I've been thinking a lot about communities in the last few weeks ... how they come together, interact with each other and advocate for causes and interests that they have in common.

Today, Upper Canada College announced it has appointed a new principal to start in July 2016. I used to work there as the Acting Communications Manager/Editor and subscribe to their e-newsletter, receive copies of Old Times (alumni magazine) and keep in touch with various former colleagues. After so many years, I still feel a part of that particular community, just as the current staff, parents, students and alumni do, so today's news was of interest to me, and I suspect, the wider private school network in the local area.

A few days ago, Goodwill's sudden closure affected another community in a very negative way. Workers turned up to find the doors locked, and it was only today that they learned that -- yes -- they'd be receiving unpaid salary, a decision that was too long in coming for those people. I am part of this community too, having a family member with special needs and learning disabilities, similar to some of those that Goodwill did employ. I can emphasize with their anguish of not having a reason to follow their regular schedule that day, having seen first hand how a change in routine can cause a lot of anxiety for someone with special needs.

I manage a Facebook community of over 2,200 members interested in being a kibbutz volunteer, or sharing their experiences having been one. I did it for two years as a carefree 20-year-old so can speak to it. I posted this message today:

"This is a great community and we all have other lives in the 'real world,' but the main focus here is on our kibbutz experiences and thoughts, likes, issues and so on around that subject matter. Any off-topic spam or hate will be deleted and the user banned permanently, no questions asked. We're all adults so don't take advantage of the group, and thanks for keeping an eye out for posts like that and reporting them."

I get help from the members who also care about the integrity of the group when they report spam and hate comments. As the message says, that will result in an immediate ban. I have no time for those who even consider abusing the goodwill of a group, so out they go. If members don't agree with that policy, no worries -- it's a free world and they can choose to leave and join another community. I won't take it personally; everyone has their preferences and point of view.

So there's just three examples of communities I hang out in. You must have your own.

The social media platform I find most useful for promoting communities and finding people of a like mind is definitely Twitter. It's easy to search for subject matter, jump in on what's trending (if relevant to your community) and create lists of advocates that have an interest in your community's topic.

But I don't like being told what to do in social media.

In this article, entitled Jack Dorsey Has A Lot Of Work To Do, the author quotes Twitter Head of Engineering Alex Roetter: "Every time you open Twitter, we should show the best stuff to you."

NO THANK YOU, ALEX!! When opening Twitter, I want to see the latest, happening-right-now-or-seconds-ago tweets ... not what someone (or algorithm bot) has deemed it worthy to consider as the "best" stuff.

Sure, it may be horrendous, horrible news ... or it may be something uplifting ... extremely useful ... an opinion that you want to disagree with ... a photo that you dwell on all day. But it's real time happenings, lasting a few seconds (I use TweetDeck with its Matrix-like scrolling option) before another tweet replaces it.

All those people, saying what they think is important in their diverse and varied communities, all over the world. As a communications junkie, that is gold to me, and opens a window into that collective outpouring of subject matter and viewpoints that one can only learn from.

And that is my longest Herb Communications blog post so far. TGIF. Have a great weekend in whatever community you may choose to spend it with!

John.

Thank you David Bowie

Waking up yesterday to the tragic news of David Bowie's untimely passing was akin to hearing about John Lennon's assassination, or Princess Diana's car crash -- it took a few minutes to sink in and comprehend.

I am still a little shocked today, but wanted to put a few thoughts down on Bowie's impact to the arts, culture and technology.

Consider this: 1998. David Bowie, ISP provider of BowieNet. From The Guardian, "At a time when plenty of major corporations were still struggling to even comprehend the significance and impact of the web, Bowie was there staking his claim. 'If I was 19 again, I'd bypass music and go right to the Internet,' he said at the time. He understood that a revolution was coming."

Not only a leader in musical genres, he was also a technological visionary. Back in 2000, Forbes reported that Bowie started his own online bank, BowieBanc.

In addition to that, he co-founded an Internet start-up called Ultrastar in 1998 with four colleagues from the music industry, that aimed to build subscription-based websites for celebrities. Early clients were the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.

Amazing, entrepreneurial and ahead of his time.

It goes without saying that he was also pretty successful on the music front too, and I grew up with his ever-changing characters, styles, shifts in direction and classic songs through various stages of my life.

This one below particularly resonates with me as I was feeling a little homesick back in 2000 when I moved from England to Canada.

Thank you David Bowie.

John.

Live in Berlin, 2002.

Less is more

[Disclaimer: incoming prerequisite food segue alert.]

See that juicy dish above? It's flank steak with salad, a few bits of bacon and blue cheese drizzled over by a nice mustard and cider vinegar dressing. Made it last night in 20 minutes. Very simple.

Twitter is still simple. For now. But all hell broke loose yesterday when it was announced that it may be considering a 10,000-character limit for tweets.

I literally said, "What the eff?" when I read that.

As a writer for the last 20+ years, I relish putting my thoughts down on the medium of the day. Whether it's a blog post of a few hundred words, a magazine article anywhere from 1,000-10,000 words or a book of 100,000 words, it's what I love to do and have been lucky enough to make a living from it.

So when Twitter came along -- back in the day when Social Media Guru was still on people's LinkedIn profile -- I was really confused. I couldn't understand how to get all my thoughts and opinions into a scant 140 characters (not even words). I struggled with it for a while and wasn't a fan.

But then I realized after following the early adopters that, yes, you don't need to blah blah blah for ages to get your point across. As someone who likes to cut to the chase, this was perfect for me!

I became a special ops tweeter = get in, get the job done fast and get out. Then onto the next 140 mission.

The aim now was to make full use of that limited space, and it became a fun challenge. Real-time self copy editing came to the fore ... "thanks" became "thx" ... say goodbye to "the," "a" and em dash. It was like the wild west of writing.

And now I'm hooked. And now Twitter may be trying to change into something it's just not. A mini blogging platform.

Please, Jack, reconsider.

John.

Social@Ogilvy Key Digital Trends for 2016

Today Social@Ogilvy released its customary seasonal report, Key Digital Trends for 2016, authored by Marshall Manson, CEO, Ogilvy PR London and James Whatley, Digital Director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising London.

Part one of the report focuses on how well they predicted 2015 ... "not bad at all," in their own words.

Part two (starting on slide 36 if you want to skip to the good stuff) covers their trend predictions for the upcoming year.

To summarize their much more detailed analysis:

• It's not looking good for ads. Blockers are all the rage.
• They coin the term "microtargeting" whereby, "content must be created and tuned against specific audience interests, preferences or affiliations." = "The interests are as focused as possible."
• Seriously start to check out 360 video views options in 2016.
• "'Millennial' is a cheap, lazy and boring way to describe a homogenous group of around 80 million people globally," and "it's also often predicted by a vast misunderstanding of exactly how old the group actually is."
• Twitter usage is declining (probably).

Head on over to the report for all the stats and intel. I really liked the way this one was written. Had some humour in it, which is always a bonus.

John.

Catch The Most Contagious 2015 Report

"Banks: hacked. Cars: hacked. Marriages: hacked. Ads: blocked. Greece: smashed."

That's how this year's report from Contagious opens up and covers the key movements, trends, creative work and ideas of the year.

Contagious is an e-newsletter and blog that I check on a regular basis instead of skimming. It positions itself to, "help brands and advertising agencies understand and adapt to shifts in marketing, consumer culture and technology."

Some interesting info from the report that caught my eye ...

• 167% = growth of the drone industry
• Advances in deep learning mean that -- in 2016 and beyond -- Virtual Personal Assistants could become the gatekeeper between people's virtual and personal lives
• In November, Facebook announced average daily video views of 8 billion and a 27% year-on-year increase in mobile daily active users
• Brands are no longer afraid to stand up for diversity

And there's a wealth more information on what 2015 brought, and what 2016 may bring.

John.

Humber’s 2014-2015 Applied Research & Innovation annual report

[Disclaimer: Herb Communications is a member of Humber College's HumberLaunch business incubator.]

Humber's 2014-2015 Applied Research & Innovation annual report is now online. Designed and developed by a team of Humber students, this year's report is in the form of a responsive website.

"HumberLaunch was founded in 2011, offering services to Humber students and alumni. In September 2014, HumberLaunch opened its doors to entrepreneurs from Etobicoke and surrounding areas, offering resources and membership to community businesses.

"Since then, HumberLaunch has engaged with over 30 community agencies, developing collaborations with the Lakeshore West Post, MicroSkills, the Queensway Employment & Social Services, Enterprise Toronto, and MaRS.

"HumberLaunch has also joined three community based networks: the ONE Network Partners in Peel, the Etobicoke Youth Network, and the Lakeshore Interagency Network.

"In its first year, the community outreach initiative has been a success. Nine community entrepreneurs have joined HumberLaunch to develop their innovative business ideas, and HumberLaunch has delivered quality events and workshops to the community, including a Startup Weekend with over 70 attendees, a Startup Skills Mixer, twelve information sessions, and several community tours of the Prototype Lab located at Humber’s North campus.

"Humber's New Venture Seed Fund provides up to $10,000 of start-up capital, on a competitive basis, to businesses founded by Humber students and alumni. Since 2010, the fund has provided support to over 33 new businesses to build on their innovative ideas."

Here's more details on its applied research and innovation.

From a personal viewpoint, it's been a great resource to be part of this organization.

John.

Two innovative companies: Aquanty and DNAstack

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) is a client of Herb Communications and drives the development of Ontario’s economy by helping create new jobs, products, services, technologies and businesses. 

In partnership with industry, OCE co-invests to commercialize innovation originating in the province’s publicly funded colleges, universities and research hospitals. They also support and invest in early-stage projects, where the probability of commercial success and potential total return on innovation are substantial.

Another expanding focus for OCE is the development of the next generation of innovators through their entrepreneurship fellowships and programs for students and youth across Ontario.

OCE recently released its 2014-2015 Annual Report and featured two companies profiled by Herb Communications: Aquanty and DNAstack.

1) Aquanty

Post-doctoral fellow and hydrologist Michael Callaghan left a lot of uncertainty about his future behind when he recently landed a spot with a globally cutting-edge company in his field and some strong future prospects.  

A fellow with OCE’s TalentEdge Fellowship Program, Michael has been working with Steven Berg, President and CEO of Aquanty since April 2015.

Full profile here.

2) DNAstack

"If we could find five to 10 more 'Jims', that would be ideal!"

Given that those words come from an expert in human genomics and DNA, it might be natural for the word "cloning" to come to mind.

But it's simply Marc Fiume, Founder and CEO of DNAstack enthusing on the talents of Senior Engineer Jim Vlasblom, a biochemistry graduate he hired in August 2014 through OCE's TalentEdge Fellowship Program.

Full profile here.

Have a great weekend.

John.

Making personal connections at the Small Business Forum 2015

Thanks to an invite from HumberLaunch, I helped out on their booth this morning at Enterprise Toronto's Small Business Forum 2015 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

It was an excellent networking opportunity, and I came away with some really good contacts and around five potential new client leads. Interest was very high in HumberLaunch's offerings so we were kept busy talking to a lot of people.

Other organizations represented included -- to name but a few -- GoDaddy, Google, Uber, Shopify, FreshBooks, Yellow Pages Group, Toronto Region Board of Trade and National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (never knew about the latter).

The one thing I took away from my interactions with the booth visitors is that people still want to make that personal connection, face to face, initially. After chatting and finding out we can potentially help each other, or just have something in common, the first thing I ask is if we can connect on LinkedIn. All agreed. (One even invited me on the spot!)

I'm one of those people who don't like to just send the default LinkedIn template message, it's so lazy and disrespectful. I usually ask in an e-mail conversation first, or follow up on Twitter to ask beforehand.

It's very east to connect these days with people you meet for a brief time, and then you are lost in a sea of business cards or follow-up sales pitches. Spending just five to 10 minutes getting to know their business, what they need and requesting the later invitation, pays dividends in my mind.

And I think that goes a long way these days.

John.

No, you don't have to be a jerk at work

I can't stand this article about being a jerk at work for two reasons:

1. It's an obvious click bait headline
2. I took the bait and clicked it

Thought I was better than that. Oh well, live and learn.

The author quotes that sometimes it's, "important to be a jerk at work" and believes that, "it's a skill that you should develop as you get further along in your career."

I call total BS on that front. Further down the article the interviewee summarizes her definition of a "jerk" and so I looked up the definition too. The one I found described the term as, "a contemptibly obnoxious person."

Fine, no probs. If you think it's a strength to be a jerk at work then add "a contemptibly obnoxious person" to your resume, or get someone to endorse you as a "a contemptibly obnoxious person" on LinkedIn.

There's a massive difference in being a strong, honest, focused leader/manager than choosing to be a jerk sometimes. Don't really think that helps anyone at the end of the day.

John.

Action Entrepreneurship Guide To Growth

Futurpreneur Canada recently released the Action Entrepreneurship Guide to Growth [PDF], a report that, "outlines specific recommendations on how stakeholders can better support young entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses. These recommendations come directly from the more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, business leaders, policy makers and educators who attended Futurpreneur Canada’s 2015 Action Entrepreneurship roundtables and national summit."

The report is packed with some interesting data. For example, did you know that Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to Canada’s economy, accounting for almost 90 per cent of employment, with small businesses contributing 77 per cent to employment alone?

Some good news: Canadian entrepreneurship is relatively healthy. The birth rate of new enterprises is high, and about half survive their first five years.

The bad news? Canada generates a lower proportion of fast-growing companies than other developed countries, and relatively few small businesses sell outside their local markets or export internationally.

At the Action Entrepreneurship Summit, participants were asked to prioritize solutions for making useful connections with mentors, advisors, peers and other organizations to facilitate growth.

The top five action items were identified as:

• Facilitate more peer-to-peer mentoring by groups of young entrepreneurs for the purpose of sharing experiences and learning
• Form mentoring boards with a range of qualifications and experience to work with small groups of young entrepreneurs
• Create a "matching service" for prospective mentors and mentees for young entrepreneurs in the business growth stage post start-up
• Create formal networks of young entrepreneur-led businesses to achieve scale economies through shared purchasing of services such as legal, accounting and market research
• Form young entrepreneur associations, chamber of commerce branches and/or boards of trade offering their own services and events as well as joint networking events with established entrepreneurs

Great report -- check it out.

John.

HumberLaunch Fall Series Workshop: Creative Idea Generation

You know those brainstorming meetings where you all sit around, throwing ideas out there, and no one really says what they want to because the boss is also there? Yeah, those ones.

Today's HumberLaunch Fall Series Workshop was run by Jennifer Morozowich, Principal of INideas, who walked us through how to dive deeper into the brainstorming process to really get at the solution to any problems a client may be having.

The workshop usually takes two days, but we ran through it in two hours ... so by Jennifer's admission it was an overview rather than a full-on intense study.

One of the aspects that came across in the session is not to shut people down, but be open to ideas. For example, when hearing someone's idea, it's better to lead with, "Yes, and ..." rather than the negative, "No, but ..."

We also looked at:

• Divergent Thinking -- Generating lots of ideas
• Convergent Thinking -- Evaluating ideas/options and making decisions

These two steps encourage people to come up with "off the wall" ideas to begin with, then examine those more closely to what are realistic and doable as it relates to helping a client solve their problem(s) or need(s).

Jennifer asked us to write down a problem anonymously, and she picked one for the group to examine. I was the lucky winner so had the good fortune of hearing my fellow attendees' thoughts and feedback on solutions to my small business needs.

I'm finding these HumberLaunch sessions extremely useful, from a knowledge standpoint and also networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs.

[As an aside, Jennifer is also starting up a cat cafe in Toronto!]

John.

Google Digital Breakfast: Micro-Moments

This morning was an early start to head to Google Canada and attend a Digital Breakfast event hosted by the behemoth of search. Beautiful offices. Catered sausage, bacon and egg breakfast too. Nice start.

A member of the Google Partners marketing team talked about Micro-Moments which was very interesting and gave some insight into how Google views these fleeting interactions with its user base.

These days we're all in a massive rush it seems, and impatient for information. You're on the road and in the mood for some food. Most people won't search for "McDonald's near me" but "food near me" and then scroll through the results, giving brands a chance to move in and capitalize on that uncertainty and decision-making process.

People are not as loyal to brands as in the past and will jump around depending on what service they receive, how fast it is and how convenient to them.

To paraphrase an example: you want to buy a new smartphone. You go online, do your research, read the reviews and decide on a brand and model. You Google the carriers that provide that smartphone, and check the nearest location to you.

In your lunch break you head there, pick up the phone, put down your cash and you're out of there in 10 minutes. The brand thinks it has a great sales force to close the deal in 10 minutes ... but not really. The customer has done all the work leading up to it.

Brands can give the human browsers what they want, when they want it. Position your services as a convenient option, get that lead and take it from there.  Keep that new client with stellar customer service and never rest on your laurels.

It's a fickle consumer that knows they have choices.

John.

Don't go for the quick buck, it's just not worth it

I made a quick Twitter comment yesterday that all of the work Herb Communications has done -- or pitched on -- so far since April this year has come from referrals or previous relationships built via LinkedIn and other places.

It's very gratifying and much appreciated! Brands have put their trust in our results and that means a lot in this very competitive digital communications space.

I'm very hot on customer service, referrals and making sure that every effort is made to ensure the client is happy. For those that know me will also understand that I regularly call out what, in my experience, is not working too well ... and make suggestions (with examples and case studies) of what may be a better option.

The client can then decide if they're comfortable with that particular strategy at that particular time. Sometimes, it just needs to be revisited in the future. That's OK. There's no rush. Better to make sure the client is totally on board before proceeding because YOU ARE IN IT TOGETHER.

You have put your name and reputation on that particular piece of work or project and should be very happy to stand behind it, and use it as an example for your portfolio once launched.

Whatever you do, never chase the $ signs just for the quick buck. Sure, it may pay a bill here and there ... but you may never hear back from that client again.

Solid, regular, reliable work is the key to being successful and making a living. Just be honest, call it as it is and put out there what you hope to get back. Ask for referrals, send reasonable and fair quotes and respond in a timely manner -- even if it's a, "Sorry we don't know yet, still finding out an answer for you."

And help people for nothing now and again. It won't kill you. They'll remember that and -- the genuine ones -- will gladly reciprocate if you ever need some support in the future.

Don't go for the quick buck, it's just not worth it.

John.

Hootsuite plans to educate one million social media professionals by 2017

Today Hootsuite announced Podium, its free online social media education resource that plans to, "educate one million social media professionals by 2017."

That's a lot of competition!

Hootsuite is ofering the following:

• Six Podium courses and 40 videos, for free -- These short, tactical videos offer tips and strategies on the fundamentals of social media marketing, including content marketing and social advertising
• A self-paced education experience -- Online and on-demand, students can learn at their own pace
• A community forum -- Ask questions and learn from other experienced professionals
• Hootsuite Certification in Social Media Marketing -- Recognized credentials from the industry leader in social media
• Listing in public Social Media Professionals directory -- Certified professionals gain visibility with prospective employers and clients

Free education is always good in my book. As someone that's extremely comfortable with social media and its foibles, I think it's a positive thing to help others understand it a little better.

It's obviously a good move for Hootsuite too, as its bread and butter is in social media management. Happy students = more clients.

I'm curious to see what the certification entails and how much stead that will have with prospective employers down the road when people announce they are a "Social Media Professional" in a job interview. Seems you have to pay from US$199-US$2,200 for those certifications.

Money well spent? Will keep an eye on that one.

There's already some testimonials from users who were given early access, including a lulelemon employee who started the Social Media Marketing Certification in June 2015.

If you're keen to dive in, here's the sign-up page.

John.

Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose Windows 10.

Well, it seems like some people have no choice. Apparently Microsoft has started downloading Windows 10 to those that qualify, whether they want it or not. (Sources: The Inquirer / Global News)

First, let me say that I've always used Windows, like it, feel comfortable with it and it's always met my needs. I'm also an update freak too, so signed up and downloaded Windows 10 a few weeks ago. Apart from my screensaver timeout reverting to one minute by itself, not many glitches that I have experienced.

I'm not a fan of Windows 10 updating itself whenever it feels like it. But, I read about that first and was aware that it was my choice to have those updates forced on me. I could have stuck with Windows 7 (never went to 8, looked horrible) and chose my updates whenever I wanted.

But the key word here is "choice." I knew what I was getting into and went ahead anyway.

As the Unofficial Computer Fixer for seniors in my condo complex -- thanks to my father-in-law -- I know there's tons of users out there that aren't familiar with their machines, and will let them handle the updates automatically.

As The Inquirer article above mentions, "'I know of two instances where people on metered connections went over their data cap for August because of this unwanted download. My own internet (slow DSL) was crawling for a week or so until I discovered this problem.

"'In fact, that's what led me to it. Not only does it download, it tries to install every time the computer is booted. It appears to download more data each time the install fails. It's a huge problem. What if the install partially succeeds? What if it continues to eat hard drive space?'

"One user pointed out that, if someone was on a 500MB data plan for a tablet and didn't connect to WiFi, this could eat up the better part of a year's worth of data."

These are not just annoying glitches, they are legitimate concerns and may be costing people money who don't have large data plans.

How are system admins facing this? They usually need time to check upgrades against company software, make sure it's all compatible etc. Imagine coming into work at 9:00 a.m. and your network is crawling, or worse -- down -- because Windows 10 is trying to download itself on all the computers and having problems. Nightmare!

As I've said to people before: "I love technology. I just don't trust it."

We rely on technology to make our lives easier ... but it will go wrong. Things will be happening that you are unaware of, and once you find out, it may be too late to rescue your brand's reputation.

It's a shame about this current "Updategate" as it's being called. Microsoft were on a roll with Windows 10, the reviews were good and people seemed to like it.

It may have blown all that goodwill and positive sentiment by simply not asking one question:

Do you want to download Windows 10 now?

• Yes
• No

John.