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I just got back from sunny Saskatoon (sunniest city in Canada: fact.) and let me just say that this “Paris of the Prairies” town of 200,000, in a province that’s 700,000 square km., has a lot happening and much to offer. Talk to anyone from there, and this, they have always known. It’s time for the rest of us to have a peek and take some notice.

This year marked the second annual Saskatchewan Interactive conference, organized and funded predominently by local businesses. The focus this year was “well beyond websites”, with a great blend of interactive gaming, mobile, and social media content. The conference started out with a dinner on the first evening for the speakers introduction, and then continued for HOURS, with all of us meeting, mingling and competing in front of several massive projector screens, where we could each have a go at Wii, Super Mario Brothers and even Pong!

I was invited to speak this year on an introduction to social media, web 2.0 and citizen journalism. The sessions were recorded and the organizing committee has a copy of each speaker’s presentation, so hopefully I can point to that very soon once they get it up on the official site.

It was an inspiring place to be. There were some great people involved: Keynote John Lester from Linden Lab, who brought us all into Second Life, a second Keynote, Mike Parkhill, Director of Education at Microsoft Canada, Ian Verchere, CCO of Vancouver’s Shift Control Media, Daivd Voigt from Mobile Muse, who talked to us about mobile culture and content, Roland Tanglao from Bryght gave his infamous EverythingCasting presentation, among many other educators, innovators and technologists from all over North America. Check the speakers page for a full run-down.

The buzz and energy has already begun in looking forward to next year’s conference, which, if this year was any indication, promises to be nothing short of fantastic.

I want to thank some people here: Barbara Rackham and Deborah Black of DBlack Communications and Ryan Lejbak from zu.com all played a key role in getting this conference up and off the ground, and their hard work was evident. It was great to have Roland from Bryght with his expert and veteran insight, and to show a newbie to the Toon around town. Thanks as well to Izzie Egan, Kris Krug, Robert Scoble, Raincity, Dave Olson and Marion Ryan – all of you had a hand in shaping my presentation, whether you know it or not, so thank-you!

And to all of those crazy cats from zu, an old home of mine and one that I miss, it was a treat to hang out again.

I hope to see you soon Saskatoon!