This year, Twestival is supporting Concern Worldwide, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to reducing suffering and ending extreme poverty. Since the beginning, over 42 years ago, they have focused on improving the lives of the poorest people.

They tackle the root causes of extreme poverty.  They do this through education.  Watch the video above to learn more about Concern Worldwide.

Tweet.  Meet.  Give.  That was the slogan from 2009’s Twestival in which Calgary participated along with Edmonton and 200 other cities worldwide to raise $250,000.00 for Charity Water.

We will be joining the world again on March 25, 2010 in support of childhood education.  Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization transforming the lives of the world’s poorest, most marginalized children through access to education.

Join us at the Firewater Grill for Trivia Night… with a twist.  Come test your trivia knowledge in competition with your local tweeps for prizes - or just come and cheer them on. Some of these trivia contest questions will be general knowledge, some will be about Calgary social media and Calgary social media users.

The Firewater Grill is located in Eau Claire at 222 7th Avenue SW.  We’ll kick off the event at 5:00 pm with some happy hour specials and the Trivia Contest will get underway at 7:00 pm.  And don’t worry, we’ll have the TVs tuned into the Flames game.  Tickets are $14.00 and can be purchased online or at the door.  Any tickets purchased online will be eligible for a draw prize that involves a limo to and from the event, and dinner for two at the Firewater Grill, courtesy of - The Firewater Group.

So come on out and test your knowledge, have some fun, and help us raise some funds to educate kids all over the world.

Read the Calgary Twestival press release for more details regarding the event.

We need your help! As part of Calgary Twestival, we want to raise a minimum $10,000 for Concern Worldwide, the Twestival international charity. That’s a lot of money when we’ve all just dug deep for Haiti, so in addition to event ticket sales and draw ticket sales, we’re producing a book. We need your help in producing a multi-media digital book on Social Media – by example.

What I want from you is an example of social media and a 500 word (max) story or explanation that goes with it. The video, the podcast, the Facebook or twitter campaign. The photo or music that kicked off a storm of enthusiasm or protest. The wonderful connections you’ve made in online communities, the bizarre coincidences, the worst identity theft story. Perhaps you use social media in a way most people haven’t considered. Here’s your chance to show off - for a good cause.

rapidBOOKS, a new digital publisher in Calgary will do the conversions and setups. A minimum 75% of the sales price will go to Concern Worldwide from Calgary Twestival.

To contribute, please email lyn@rapidbooks.ca

Twestival Local events are taking place in cities around the world between 10-13 September 2009. Twestival is an international movement where people meet offline for one night, have fun and do some good for an important cause in the process.

Calgary’s Twestival Local is a party, with DJ (Melissa Kuchner) at

The Auburn Saloon - 163-115 9 Avenue SE

Sat, 12/Sep/2009

doors open at 6:00 PM

Come early for a Twitter workshop 6:30 - 7:30 or join us for the party at 7:30.

Ticket sales and silent auction proceeds will all go to supply Calgary kids with lunches http://makeityourproblem.ca

Get your tickets at http://bit.ly/yycfestivals

Check out MasterMaq’s recent analysis of the Calgary Twittersphere http://bit.ly/klEOo and come on down to Twestival to meet Calgary’s Twitterati. Note: We now have more tweeters than Edmonton.

BROWN BAGit for the Kids

Start prepping your silent auction submission. Get a regular size brown paper lunch bag, fill it with your donation, and decorate it. Be prepared with it’s value and a suggested starting bid. Need help with bag decor? Come early and hand over the goods.

Hey everyone, we are nearly there. In the next 24-48hrs the first batch of Calgary Twestival Tickets will be available. There will be early bird pricing for both couples/business partners and mates who just can’t have a good time without each other and of course singles.

If you have a group that you want to book, let me know via @roger (on Twitter) or via email

Also don’t forget to join us on Twitter and Facebook!

PS. A link is already in the top right corner next to Search but it won’t work without certain details finalised and also we will tweet and Facebook the information once its ready.

Okay Calgary Tweet’ers we have a maybe in mind but we don’t think its the right fit and wanted to ask you guys/girls who were so helpful in selecting a charity to support if you have any great suggestions for a location. We need to choose one soon so your assistance would be really appreciated!

Here are the requirements and if your suggestion meets those requirements then please comment below:

1. Licensed to serve alcohol
2. No charge for the use of their location
3. Have a capacity for over 100 attendees
4. Allow us to make it a ticketed event
5. And if possible close to the downtown area so we can make it equally easy for anyone to attend.

Lets make this Twestival the best one yet and with your help we can make it happen!

Join us on Twitter and Facebook!

Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids

Hi Everyone!

I have some exciting news, as of today Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids [Website Link | Twitter Link] has been selected as the Charity Calgary Twestival will support. This means all revenue from the event and any sponsorships will flow into helping kids in Calgary.

What does Brownbagging do?

They help feed children in need at school by providing free lunches. Think about what that would me to a child who is hungry for whatever reason and some kind volunteer offered them food to sit and eat with their friends. How would that change your life experience?

Joanne’s Story

“Having hungry kids in Calgary schools is both shocking and unacceptable. To prepare and extra lunch for a child in need, is an easy  short term solution. We need to think collectively when it comes to caring for all of Calgary’s Kids. When we raised awareness about child hunger through our Paper Bag Princess campaign, parents, teachers and children responded with amazing understanding and commitment.” – Joanne

Every day, thousands of kids go hungry in Calgary. Lack of proper nutrition leads to decreased concentration in school, poor health, lack of attention and reduced academic performance.

Their future is our future. Make it your problem.

Do you have a brownbagging story? If so we would love to hear it!

FYI You can follow Calgary Twestival @yycfestivals and on Facebook.

Calgary Twestival is pleased to announce the following members of our social media panel for Thursday night.

Michael J. Sikorsky - Michael has been called a “CEO to watch” by CNN Money. In addition to speaking at conferences throughout the world, he has also spoken at Harvard Business School, MIT, and Stanford.

Michael has raised over $10 Million dollars for his ventures, won a national elevator pitch contest, holds a patent related to rendering, and sold his last company to ThoughtWorks when he was 28.

He is an active angel investor with portfolio companies across North America.

Michael’s current company, Cambrian House, is his 5th startup and has been called a “national treasure in the Web2.0 space, constantly pushing the boundaries in all that they do”. Recently, it was selected as the #4 best Web2.0 company across Canada by Backbone Magazine (Globe and Mail) and KPMG.

He blogs (infrequently:)) at killingmichael.com and is married to Camille and a proud father of twins: Vienna and Rayne.

Lyn Cadence - Lyn Cadence operates Cadence Public Relations and Your Book is Your Business PR, Inc newly established in 2008. She has done PR in the book publishing industry for over twenty years – as promotions director at Fifth House Publishers in Calgary (Alberta Publisher of the Year while she was there in 2006 and 2007) publicity and marketing director at Key Porter Books in Toronto, and as a publicist at Raincoast Books in Vancouver.  Currently YBYB does work for Frontenac House Publishers and Kingsley Publishing as well as other businesses and not-for-profits. She is on the Business and the Arts Committee of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and will soon be launching a new business online.

Jacob George - Jacob George is the Corporate Marketing & Communications manager at the City of Calgary. His responsibilities at the City include media relations, employee communications, corporate marketing and web operations.

Prior to joining the City, he has worked in advertising, marketing and brand management with various companies in Mumbai, Dubai and Calgary. Jacob won the marketer of the year award from Mattel Europa for his efforts to make Barbie an acceptable brand in the Middle Eastern countries.

The need to find avenues to reach, communicate with and engage Calgarians in more efficient and effective ways brought Jacob into the wonderful world of social media.

Daryl Pamplin - Daryl Pamplin who is known as Daryl Cognito in the podisphere has been dappling in social and new media since 2005. He is part of Canada’s first wave of podcasters and is possibly Calgary’s longest running podcaster.  Daryl has been Twittering since March 2006 and according to twitter grader is part of Calgary’s “Twitter Elite”.

Daryl has taught podcasting for Chinook Learning Services as well as private classes. He has produced close to 200 podcast episodes, and has assisted with Calgary’s Addiction Centre’s podcast.  Daryl  is a founding member of Podcalgary.  podCALGARY.org has grown from three guys with a passion for new media to a group of Calgarians with a passion for new and social media.

Wendy Peters (moderator) - Wendy has been pursuing her interests in web design, internet marketing and online communications since 2005.  She works full time as a communications professional and is co-founder of  SW Concepts, a local web design company.

Wendy has always maintained an interest in participating in the community she lives in.  Currently, she is a leader with a Girl Guide unit in Calgary, an active frisbee player in the Calgary Ultimate Association and an avid participant of many design, social media and marketing interest and user groups in Calgary.   She has been using Twitter since April, 2008 and began blogging late last year.