Speakers

Mr. Sébastien Provencher

Social media sites: don't miss out!

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs have shaken up the Web and are regularly visited by more than 80% of Canadian Internet users, many of whom participate actively in them. But these sites are no flash in the pan: they signal the emergence of powerful word-of-mouth networks with the power to amplify Web users’ comments. So what are the best business practices? And where are all the lucrative business opportunities? In addition to sharing his vision of the future of Web-based business networking, social media specialist Sébastien Provencher will provide advice aimed at ensuring that you don’t miss out on this trend!

Sébastien Provencher is a remarkable web entrepreneur and ambassador of Praized Media Inc., a Montreal-based developer of social networking tools for traditional media.

Sébastien has more than 12 years of experience in the areas of local searches, on-line media and interactive entertainment. He played a key role in formulating the e-business strategy for Yellow Pages Group (1999-2007) and developed the company's most popular Web-based advertising product (Directory Plus). He also entered into a strategic partnership with Google and created a strategic vision focused on local searches.

Sébastien founded Praized Media in 2007 to help local media publishers (newspapers, directories, etc.) maximize the potential of social media and word-of-mouth online advertising. He addresses a range of issues in his blog (blogs.praized.com/seb), including traditional media, local research and social media. His Twitter stream is @sebprovencher. Sébastien Provencher's LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastienprovencher

Mr. Farhat Ali

President and Chief Executive Officer, Fujitsu America

Mr. Claude Bélisle

Vice-President, Satellite Communications and Radio Propagation Research Branch, Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC)

Mr. Daniel Blanche

President and CEO, CRIM

Mr. Jim Carroll

Futurist, Trends & Innovation Expert

Mr. Patrick Chanezon

Team Manager, Client and Cloud Advocacy, Google

Mr. François Coallier, Ph.D.

Chair, Department of Software and IT Engineering, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)

Mr. Robert Courteau

Senior Vice-President, Business Solutions, Fujitsu Canada

Mr. Mourad Debbabi, Ph.D.

Vice-President, NCFTA, and CIISE Director & Professor, CU Research Chair Tier 1 in Information System Security, Concordia University

Mr. François Gratton

Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Business Solutions, TELUS Québec

Mr. David E. Hershberg

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Globecomm

Mr. Austin Hill

Canadian entrepreneur, angel investor, Co-founder and CEO, Akoha

Mr. Tom Jenkins

Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Open Text Corporation

Mr. Henri Kaufman

President, HiP iP iP

Ms. Najoua Kooli

Project Manager, CEFRIO

Mr. Sylvain Lafrance

Executive Vice-President, Radio-Canada

Mr. Claude lemay

Vice-President Québec, ITAC and Chief Executive Officer, WCIT 2012

Mr. Mark Lowenstein

Managing Director, Mobile Ecosystem

Mr. Yannis Mallat

Chief Executive Officer, Ubisoft Montréal & Ubisoft Toronto

Mr. Stéphane Marceau

Chief Marketing Officer, Yellow Pages Group

Mr. Jeff McDowell

Senior Vice President, Business Marketing & Alliances, Research in Motion (RIM)

Mr. André Mondoux, Ph.D.

Researcher, columnist and professor, UQAM

Mr. Andy Piper

Consulting IT and Social Media Specialist, IBM Consulting

Mr. Sébastien Provencher

Co-founder, Praized Media

Mr. David Robertson, Ph.D.

Professor, Innovation, Technology Management, and IT, IMD - International Institute for Management Development

Ms. Clara Shih

CEO, Hearsay Labs and Author, The Facebook Era

Ms. Jennifer Stoddart

Privacy Commissioner of Canada