Canada is known for its video game development, but if one Canadian city really shines it is Montreal.

On November 1 and 2, the city welcomed the eighth annual Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS), an industry event for professionals to learn, exchange and network with the best of the best from across the globe.

High Road has been a proud partner of MIGS since its very first event, working closely with Alliance Numérique to help promote the event internationally and grow its profile year after year.

High Road’s challenge eight years ago was to build the event’s image from the ground up, attract the attention of the industry and compete with some very high profile, large-scale and well-established events such as the Game Developers Conference. This year’s challenge was to renew our approach to generating interest, help drive more attendance, and fully integrate social media into MIGS’s communications arsenal.

One of our tactics over the years has been to bring the success of the industry to life for Montreal media. For example, the creation of 7,000 jobs in Quebec alone has a way of painting a compelling portrait for the business press! Social media activity on Facebook and Twitter before, during and after the event also got people buzzing about MIGS and helped the team engage with the developer community and grow its overall online following.

MIGS also attracts high profile industry celebrities for conferences and keynotes, and while at other shows reporters have to chase speakers after their presentations, for MIGS High Road coordinated all interview requests to ensure everyone got what they needed. When media and speakers arrived at MIGS, they were handed coordinated interview schedules, with no conflicts and clear information on where to meet up.

Overall, this year MIGS was a huge success, attracting a record number of more than 1,700 participants – up from the steady 1,500 over the past couple of years.

With 85 registered media (also an increase) and impressive coverage, the HRC team is not only celebrating a job well done but looking forward with great anticipation to next year’s edition!

2011 will go into the record books as the year of the tablet.

IDC predicted that 1.5 million tablets would be sold in Canada during 2011 and yet for a majority of owners, they are simply using these devices for the basics: web surfing, watching movies and (of course) playing Angry Birds. Luckily, there are other Canadians using tablet PCs as productivity tools, personalizing the experience to their industry and enjoying new levels of full-featured mobility.

The Fujitsu Slate Summit highlighted two such examples and gave media and influencers in Toronto and Montreal a firsthand look at the ways in which tablet technology is being rolled out across Canadian industry. Steve Rush from St. Andrew’s College discussed his school’s enthusiasm for Fujitsu tablets, both at a student and a faculty level, dazzling attendees with seamlessly demos of Microsoft OneNote and customized course materials. Dr. Michel Hébert also appeared, talking about how the speed, portability and performance of Fujitsu tablets has been integral in the launch of Kinlogix, an innovative electronic patient record system.

Attendees such as CTV News, the Globe and Mail, Metro and L’Actualité took in the hour-long panel discussion and then enjoyed some 1-on-1 time with the new Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550 slate PC (and some 1-on-1 time with the panel members themselves), diving deeper into this incredible device and learning the ways in which Fujitsu is becoming a brand of choice for advance tablet users across Canada.

After months of heavy snowfall, salt build-up and winter grime, homeowners are eager to get outside to prepare their backyards, decks, garages and cars for summer fun and entertaining. To help deliver the message that pressure washers are one of the fastest, most efficient ways to tackle outdoor cleaning jobs, Canadian Tire invited media and consumers to three outdoor spring cleaning spectacles featuring the latest Karcher pressure washer. The events took place in early May in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

High Road worked with local graffiti artists, Patrick Thompson, Howie Dowitt and Scott Sueme, who were challenged to create works of art using only a pressure washer on enormous 8×12 foot structures made from dirty fence and house siding. The unique art pieces were created free-hand over the course of three hours and demonstrated that spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a chore.

Passers-by in each city also had a chance to try their hand at pressure washer art while also getting to test out the hottest spring cleaning tool. Giant collective art pieces, with the aid of the graffiti artists’ stencils, were created by consumers, one spray at a time.