Yulbiz September 2007 was another classic meeting of business bloggers.
The "incontournable" networking event, as one participant put it to me, saw some fresh faces and also some familiar ones my regular readers will have seen before. Heading that list of friendly faces are of course Michel Leblanc and Philippe Martin, cofounders and organizers of the event. They are, respectively, one of the most respected voices in internet marketing in Montreal and one of the top blog designers in Montreal.
Read the full post to find out about the other fascinating people I met and spoke with, including one awesome entrepreneur who's just raised $1M in VC funding (Round 1)! To start things out, I'd like to give kudos to the smart team at Les Affaires for coming by to do a story on Yulbiz. This included Mr. Jérôme Plantevin, journalist for Les Affaires, and tech blogger.
He was there with cameraman Benjamin Nantel (couldn't find blog for him, and I don't recall him saying he had one, but he's got videos on Youtube). There was also an editor from Les Affaires but somehow I didn't get his card (if you read this, please leave a comment to tell me who you are and where you'd like me to link!).
But then, I figure some credit should also go to Guillaume Brunet, who's left TD Meloche Monnex (your loss!) to go to Transcontinental (smart move!). Transcontinental, for those of you who don't know, is a Canadian media giant that owns, amongst others, Publisac and Les Affaires.
Mr. Brunet and others were also busily talking about the new Regie des blogues d'affaires - the first French language blog ad network, a la Pajamas Media and Federated Media. It's supposed to be fully operational since the 20th, according to Guillaume, but I can't see a site for advertisers and publishers to sign up. Congrats also to Guillaume for snagging a juicy speaking spot at a Quebec tourism industry conference.
A little later in the night I had the pleasure of meeting Benoît Marcoux, who is a veteran in this computer stuff. He used to program in C back in ... 1987! We're talking about when the Internet consisted of Usenet groups and Al Gore (sorry, Al, I couldn't resist ;))! Benoît registered Marcoux.ca back when you needed a company to register a .ca domain! You know, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth ;) (and when Al Gore was busy inventing the Internet). He is a management strategy consultant.
About the same time I met Phillipe Régnoux. He's working for 2RCommunications, when he's not planning a Quebec - Gabon entrepreneurship exchange. The man has got at least one thing right (and probably many more): it's business development, not charity, that will help Africa develop and solve its economic hardships.
Running through the beautiful cards I collected this Yulbiz I find the names of Jerome Paradis and Kim Vallee. Jerome has a software company and is currently developing some Web 2.0 type stuff and a Facebook app! The specifics aren't coming to mind at the moment, but I recall being impressed at the idea when he told me aout it. Kim is blogging on party tips and advice.
Other people I got a moment to speak to include Geoffroi Garon, whom I'd met at a Yulbiz a while ago, and who's taken his consulting skills in house at K3Media. Also interesting was Marc Snyder, who's a political consultant with the Mayor's office for Le Plateau. You can reach him at marc.snyder@ville.montreal.qc.ca.
I was also fortunate to once again (see my previous Yulbiz post) speak with Sylvain Carle, the popular blogger and serial entrepreneur behind A Frog in the Valley (his personal blog) and Praized Media. A loud congrats to Sylvain, Sebastien and Harry on raising their first round of financing from VCs!
(Speaking of VCs, the VC I told you about (my cousin's best friend) is called Liroy Haddad.)
Interestingly, Sylvain's two partners are both local search experts! Harry Wakefield and Sébastien Provencher both worked at the Yellow Pages Group for a while before moving on to other projects.
I've just gone to add Sébastien as a friend on Facebook and I see he's got a Restaurant Reviews App on his profile ... the man is familiar with local! And wouldn't you know it - Praized "will enable you to find and discover local places and merchants with help from people you can trust." By the way, though we didn't have a very long conversation, Seb, it was certainly nice talking to you at tonight's Yulbiz!
Did I mention I save the best for last ;)? Once again, great Yulbiz folks!
your wrap-up of the montreal-Yulbiz event is just too much. you make me blush. It was nice to meet you again last night, although it was too short. See you soon Gab...
Thanks Gabriel, for this detailed article of your latest yulbiz experience. Just this morning I have followed through with your advice to give wordpress a try ( to start a very personal wine appreciation blog,...) and, yes, I am looking forward to further exchange with Philippe in the near future. Will let you know when I get to write a ticket on coaching, blogging-web and ROI, not quite there yet! Keep up the excellent work you do!
SEO Montreal is a Montreal-based local Search Engine Optimization consulting company. Nous sommes une agence spécialisée dans le référencement. It is part of the SEO ROI family.
Thanks for this report. You have a real journalistic talent.