High Road Communications

High Road Vancouver’s Jo-Anne Stayner will discuss public relations strategy for product launches in the upcoming Go2Market roundtable by the British Columbia Technology Industry Association. The event is held on March 22 at 7:30 PM in the BCTIA boardroom (1188 W. Georgia, Suite 900). More information and registration on the BCTIA website.

Ok. So, I might actually be able to buy a phone I want – when I want!  I heard Roberta Fox from Fox Group on CBC radio early this week – which resparked my interest - doing a series of spots on number portability and there have been a number of blog posts in Canada looking at how Wireless Number Portability will change the Canadian wireless landscape.

Today, Bell, Rogers and TELUS will allow customers from BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec to switch cell providers and keep their cell number. In addition, other wireless carriers will be required to allow users to make this change by September 12. If you look at how Rogers and Bell have battled it out for the land line market, it will be interesting to see how WNP will affect competition within the wireless space.

With the CDMA and GSM wars still waging and high early termination fees in place, we might not be able to leave one carrier for the other as easily as we’d like. But at least now we don’t have to be at the mercy of the carrier’s choice of which phones to bring into Canada. Canadians who were locked in with one carrier did not have the option to upgrade to the latest and greatest phones.  Now at least the opportunity exists…

With half of all Canadians using a cell phone, I expect that we’ll see this help push carriers to adopt new phones faster, to try to encourage users to switch based on the device/platform.  And although I love my phone – my UTStarcom Pocket PC – I am looking forward to having more choice between some of the cool new devices with Windows Mobile that Americans can already purchase.

It was great to be back in Chicago this week. I always forget how amazing the architecture is and how entrenched technology companies are in the city. Our hotel was in the same building as the Chicago-Sun Times, which was quite convenient.  After our meeting, we received an amazing tour of the city and learned about Art Deco and Frank Lloyd Wright...I really must get to Falling Water soon in PA to check out the house there. 

As I wait for my flight, I cannot find a copy of The Chicago-Sun Times, so I’ve picked up a copy of USA Today.  In one of the small briefs in the front section is a story about how hospitals and surgery centers in Indiana reported 77 serious medical errors in 2006 – including nine surgeries performed on the wrong body part and two on the wrong patient.

It’s amazing how much we rely on technology to make our decisions for us – and while I am a bona fide techno junkie and go to meetings when my Outlook calendar dictates and pay the bills my bank shows me online – it’s rare that I go back and look at where the information populating my calendar, my banking, comes from. 

As hospitals move to put more of their patient information online under the watchful gaze from HIPAA, it’s every more important for them to look at how that data is being managed (there is an interesting post by Curious Cat from last year that I think is still relevant and worth a read) .  There shouldn’t be the need for doctors to draw an arrow on a patient’s leg to highlight which one should be operated on – they should have enough confidence in the information that’s coming through their systems. 

Faced with quality of patient care issues and compliance regulations, healthcare organizations have had to address increasing demands for information – and journalists are beginning to take note, with more publications like eWeek and Baseline looking at dedicating more coverage to data management overall.  2007 will be an interesting year to watch this sector take off and editorial focus from to work with technology and business publications take a closer look at the IT that runs our hospitals. 

Thousands of game developers have invaded San Francisco this week for the annual Game Developers Conference, the biggest industry event of its kind.  (Let’s say there are worse assignments than to leave Montreal in a chilly -35?C to head to sunny California…) This year, the event has attracted over 12,000 attendees – a sharp increase from previous years. This can in part be explained by the cancellation of E3 as we knew it, many wanting to take this opportunity to network and conduct business. Interestingly, media attendance also seems to have increased for the same reason.

Gaming has really entered the mainstream world (one only has to look at the ever rising popularity of the Nintendi Wii – attracting gamers as much as people who have never picked up a controller before in their lives) and is now very much part of our entertainment environment, it’s fascinating to get to see the underside of this industry. E3 was very product-centric, (where everything was oversized) but this show is about the people, the technology and the skills.

Go check http://www.gamasutra.com, they are covering the show live with a great overview of what is happening. Jill Duffy reported on the conference given by Warren Spector (of Deus Ex’s fame) on storytelling. As always, this great visionary has given food for thought to his peers. Last time I had the pleasure to hear him speak was at the Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS) in 2005, where he gave a much publicized keynote discussing violence in games. It created waves for weeks!

Big surprise factor for me was the Quebec presence. While Montreal is now known worldwide as a major development hub, it was still quite a shock to realize how strong the Quebec presence is at GDC: everywhere I walk, I pick up the easily identifiable Quebecois accent from groups of people I walk past. That’s not to mention the acquaintances I’ve been running into since the show started! From the MIGS team to Ubisoft Montreal employees, to High Road’s very own clients, the Quebec representation is quite remarkable. I had the pleasure of walking around the show with Electric Playground’s host Victor Lucas, showing him some of Montreal’s greatest technologies.

Of course, a tradeshow isn’t complete without an array of parties and events. Last night was the show’s Awards ceremony, where Xbox 360’s big hit Gears of War won the top honors. I selected to celebrate the evening with Montreal’s A.I. Implant who was throwing a little cocktail party and celebrating their latest customer adoption (a “small” studio called Bioware!).

Now back to the show for Day 2 – and hoping to enjoy some nice warm weather before heading back tomorrow to chilly Montreal…

Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion and, until a couple of hours ago, its Chair, is speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday as the keynote for the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation’s (OCRI) Tech Showcase. The Waterloo-based BlackBerry maker has said it expects to restate earnings by about $250-million (U.S.) going back to 2004.

The Tech Showcase is an annual event that always does a good job of attracting local interest and media to Scotiabank Place. I don’t know what the exact media turnout expected for the Tech Showcase was before today, but I’m sure the number has shot up. And in one way that’s really too bad for OCRI. Until today there may have been fewer media attending, but at least they were looking for emerging success stories. Now the circus is coming to town and everyone will be focusing on the elephant in the room.

I’ll be at the event on Wednesday and am interested to gauge journalists’ attitude toward Balsillie. The overall media response to RIM’s announcement today has been milder than I first expected, but it appears RIM has gone to great lengths to maintain its integrity and get its message out to the analysts and media. It’s really too bad RIM will be the dominant story on Wednesday. I’m sure they would be happy to have the spotlight shine elsewhere.