| Patti creates memorable, fun and educational experiences. She is a passionate award winning college Professor, talented brand strategist and committed social media marketer. As co-founder of WhyHire.me, she is responsible for the development of personal branding curriculum and its implementation in the classroom and online. |
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Skills & Talents
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Constantly Creative Always coming up with new ideas, solutions, approaches, and designs.
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Passion for Learning On the hunt for knowledge related to marketing, social media, dynamic learning tools and innovation.
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Mentor and Leader It's a natural instinct to support and help others.
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Getting Things Done Planning and organizing events, campaigns, groups, classes, and programs.
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Education
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Coaches Training Institute Fundamentals Course Jan 2009 to Jan 2009 Toronto, Ontario Completed Coaching fundamentals, the first of course of four which are required for a certification from Coaches Training Institute. The development of active listening, curiosity to ask probing questions and trusting intuition were covered in this course.
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Stanford University Cultivating Creativity Sep 2000 to Dec 2000 Palo Alto, California Attended Stanford University to expand my understanding of the spirit of creativity. The teachings, approaches, and experiences shared in this class have influenced me on every level.
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Carleton University Bachelor of Commerce Sep 1984 to May 1988 Ottawa, Ontario Completed a four year Bachelor of Commerece program at Carleton University. Additional courses were pick up at Acadia University prior to arriving at Carleton and during the summer months at the University of Manitoba. Area of specialization was Marketing and Consumer Behavior.
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Experience
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Algonquin College Innovation Consultant Jan 2010 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Provide on-going education and teaching in the ares of social media to staff and faculty. Development of an effective internal innovation website which will allow staff to share their stories of innovation and thus encourage others to experiment with new tools and approaches called the Innovation Station.The college has a strategic mandate to move into the 21st century with innovative new ways to engage todays learners as outlined in the Algonquin Experience.
The continuation of community building and the development of a comprehensive communication plan are the next steps in this project. Integration of an institutional wide approach to creating solid and lasting indutry relationships will be a key part of my mandate for 2010 Fall term while working in Innovation & Special Projects at Algonquin.
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WhyHire.me Corporation Co-founder Jan 2009 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Identified the need for a new and progressive personal branding model for today's Generation Y post-secondary students while teaching Marketing 1 in Fall '08. Together with my partners, we develop personal branding curriculum, a social network, and integrated the latest social media tools into the WhyHire.me program. Additional responsibilities include: development of teaching materials and approaches, brand development, positioning, social media marketing and sales.
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Algonquin College Professor Sep 2006 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Teach Introduction to Marketing in the 2 yr Business-Marketing program and the 3yr Business Administration program at Algonquin College and WhyHire.me in the 2 yr Public Relations program. Connecting the teachings to real business situations is key to making the learning experience relevant to the students. Enthuiasm and passion are also essential for creating dynamic learning experience. The introduction of a variety of new social media tools in the classroom including the blog Oh Ya Ottawa, social networks like WhyHire.me, Twitter, and Facebook have expanded my reach to these tech savy students.
Winner of the 2010 Dianne Bloor Part-time faculty award.
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Independent Consultant Marketing Services Sep 2006 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa 67s Hockey - social media education and strategy, conducted a variety of research with a student team
We-Vibe - key messaging, branding and positioning strategy
Boomerang Kids - social media and retail concepts
Quichua World Market - branding, positioning, location assessment, environmental scanning, retail store design
Dovercourt Recreation Centre - environmental scan to analyze new product and market opportunities
Miuzu/Soju - branding strategy, messaging, and social media marketing
Sex with Sue - web site conceptual design, positioning, and product strategy -
Tween Club - Dovercourt Recreation Centre Co-founder & Program Development Oct 2006 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Janis Hass and I developed Tween Club when we noticed our tween daughters were starting to show signs of negative self-worth and body image issues. Our goal was to provide tween girls with opportunities to develop their self-confidence and empower them by providing inspiring instructors and new experiences.
Awarded 'Leading Woman, Building Communities' Award, April 10th, 2010 by Ontario MPP Yasir Naqvi, Ottawa Centre.
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SpinMamas Founder & Social Adventurer Sep 2006 to Present Ottawa (Westboro), Canada Spinmamas was developed to serve the needs of busy woman in the Westboro neighborhood who were looking for social adventurers. The 125 members have zip-lined, belly danced, curled, bowled, snow shoed, hot tubbed, african drummed and enjoyed yoga on Westboro beach. The club is presently, reevaluating it's vision and direction.
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Independent Product Development - Flingbag & Jiblits May 2003 to Mar 2005 Ottawa, Ontario The concept for Jiblits, reusable stickers that inspire change (nag busters) was developed in the spring of 2003. The next phase was research, product development, and a marketing plan. The product was test marketed in the winter of 2004 in several local Hallmark stores and Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, a chain of local toy stores. The product failed for several reasons but was a significant learning experience which has been very useful as a teacher and entrepreneur.
The FlingBag was a leather bag conceived and designed in winter of 2005. Although research showed there was a market for the product, the local production costs did not line up with the capital that was available. The project was shelved after the prototyping phase. -
Animatics Multimedia Project & General Manager Feb 1993 to May 1997 Ottawa, Ontario Initial responsibilities included project management and sales for government and high tech clients. Educating clients on 'new media' was a key part of the role when the industry was emerging. Managed project for key clients such as The Museum of Civilization, St. Johns Ambulance and Mitel. In addition to project management, responsibilities included general management of day-to-day operations, pricing strategies, financial managment, and human talent management.
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Up & Running Systems Marketing Director & Manager of Operations May 1987 to Jun 1993 Ottawa, Ontario As an Apple dealership, Up & Running had a retail presence, corporate sales operation, and training centre. Responsibilities included developing sales tools, designing retail advertising plans, managing newsletters, facilitating corporate events and trade shows, plus conducting research including focus groups and surveys. After three years as the director of marketing, the position of General Manager was assigned.
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Accomplishments
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Ontario Government Winner - Leading Woman, Building Communities Apr 2010 to Apr 2010 Westboro, Ontario Together with Janis Hass, Patti will be recognized for the development and on-going support and programming for Tween Club, a club for tween girls in the Westboro.
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Westboro Community Fundraising Participation Sep 2004 to Present Ottawa, Ontario Patti offers her time and energy to numerous fundraising causes including the Dovercourt Community Centre, Churchhill Alternative School, Dragon Boat Races, and Rene Faucher Fundraiser.
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"Within the first minutes of meeting Patti I sensed that she would be an excellent coach for me and time and again this has proven to be true. Patti is authentic and engages in a meaningful way by listening carefully and asking great questions. Through probing and thoughtful dialogue with her I have been able to overcome some significant roadblock." Cynthia Bland Voice Found, Founder Coaching Client
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“Patti has a very active and agile mind. She stays current on the changing business landscape, listening for what's coming next. This helps keep her progressive, and potent. She is persuasive and enthusiastic, making her effective at influencing others. She has a lot of energy, and it's contagious!” Dave Brown President Miuzu
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"Patti is one of the most innovative, open-minded and entrepreneurial people that I have had the pleasure of working with. She is always looking for new and creative ways to help her students absorb and enjoy what she is teaching them and then shares these ideas with her colleagues." Margaret O'Brien Professor Algonquin College
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"It’s apparent that Patti cares greatly about the success of her students. She breathes life into Marketing and makes it extremely interesting for any student who is in her class. Her teaching method is dynamic and interactive, and allows individuals to expand their mind past the text book and into the real world. She has a broad knowledge base which she uses to give her audience genuine examples, giving legitimacy to the concepts she is working through." Chelsea Fournier Algonquin Student Marketing 1 - Winter '09
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"Last semester, I couldn't follow the teacher's lectures, and I had difficulty understanding what was expected of me. I finally ended up dropping the course....I'm grateful that I was in your class, and I believe it was a factor in my success this time. I enjoyed your teaching style and lectures, and they made sense to me." Anonymous Algonquin Student Marketing 1 - Winter '08
This is a test
April 26th, 2010* Is there a problem with these little start things?
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Making Your Profile Public
April 20th, 2010For some of you, graduation is just around the corner which means you should be considering ‘flicking’ the switch and making your WhyHire.me profile public. It’s as easy as clicking a button. Go to ‘Edit Profile’ (when in the dashboard mode) > ‘Privacy Setting’ and click on Profile to public. You profile will be indexed in a few days. You blog will be indexed in minutes. If we blog about you in our Grad Posts, your profile will move up the Google rankings.
A few additional suggestions:
- make sure you switch your email contact information to an email address that’s not attached to your educational institution
- make as many connections as possible – LINK, LINK, LINK. The interconnections back a big impact on search results.
- If you have a Twitter profile, add your WhyHire.me profile link to your Twitter Profile
- If you have a LinkedIn profile, add your WhyHire.me profile link to this profile
- If you have added your photos in WhyHire.me, consider placing them in Flickr instead and link your Flickr set back to you profile. View the ‘How to’ video in the Zone for details.
- Within the body of your profile add links to your program of study, institutions, organizations, blog posts, events you attended, photos, etc. Add detail to your experiences through links. If people want more information, give it to them.
- The sharing of your perspective, ideas and knowledge doesn’t stop when you walk out the doors of your school and the learning doesn’t either. Use Twitter, your blog, and your profile to illustrate your initiative, share your on-going experiences and to stand out. Your commitment can be minimal (1 hour per week) but the impact could be dramatic.
Good luck and keep up informed – we are happy to share your stories!
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Meet Josh Clarke – Video Blogger, Student and more
April 20th, 2010Josh and I met on Twitter last term. He launched himself into the world of video blogging in December of 2009. I was impressed with his initiative and his area of study. At the time, I was looking for people that were sharing their thoughts on design thinking. Josh is attending the Ontario College of Art & Design where he is studying Industrial Design.
Josh shared his experiences with my Public Relations students on his blog. Listen to Josh share his reasons for getting into video blogging, the level of commitment he’s made to his blog and where he thinks it will go.
Click HERE to jump to Josh’s Tumblr Blog and scroll down a bit.
We had problems bringing Josh into class via Skype last week so he agreed to produce these videos instead. Josh – Thanks for the effort and sharing you story.
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LeeEllen Carroll, Words of Wisdom for New Grads – Video Post
April 20th, 2010LeeEllen shared a coffee and some words of wisdom with me last week. Thornley Fallis is a full-service marketing communication and public relations firm located in Toronto and Ottawa. LeeEllen now holds the position of Vice-President and has been with the firm for 4 years.
Please feel free to ask question and make comment for LeeEllen to respond to.
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It’s Time to Practice What I Preach
March 31st, 2010It’s my turn to show some initiative. I just submitting my application to participate in Seth Godin’s nano-mba program. Seth has designed the program for 11 people who;
- Already have a job
- Want to do more in that job
- Can spend five days at my office with their boss’s blessing
- Take initiative as a matter of course
- Are willing to work really hard and read a lot too
- Do work that makes the world a better place
He has limited the program to “people at non-profits doing important work (or for-profits that leave a significantly positive impact on their communities).” I believe that Algonquin College and I fit the criteria. We shall soon see.
I really enjoyed the process of getting my story together. I found that my WhyHire.me profile really allowed me to create an image for myself that is representative of what I bring to the table. Let’s see what Seth thinks of my initiative. I believe I am a linchpin!
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The Right Profile Picture
February 19th, 2010We’re here to develop a professional presence online. The picture you choose is important. Here are a few of my recommendations:
- No vacation pictures – the focus should be on you not your travels (save those for the photo section but limit them)
- It shouldn’t look like you’ve taken the picture yourself (the long arm shot)
- Don’t crop yourself out of a picture unless you can make it really clean
- Hopefully, the image will illustrate something about you on top of your professionalism but that will depend on planning and your photographer, if you have one. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to take shots like these from the Rotman Business School, scroll to the bottom to see them. I don’t think that we all have to wear suits but I like the visuals that support the overall image.
Your thoughts?
Tags: online presence, Rotman Business School
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Blog Testing for Tomorrow
February 10th, 2010
Just checking out a few new features.
Great video - Sarah Ormon Talks Up WHM
Document – Creating Video for the Web – eBook(2) Read the rest of this entry »
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Rene Faucher Family Fun Day with the Ottawa 67s
February 7th, 2010
In two weeks, it has come and gone. Soon after Rene fell and broke his back, I walked into a meeting with the Ottawa 67s to discuss issues related to their social media marketing strategies and tools. During that discussion, I asked if they would consider putting on an event for Rene Faucher, a friend of ours that had just fell during a hockey game and was now facing life in a wheelchair. Their response was quick and direct – “what can we do to help?”
We started planning the Rene Faucher Family Fun Day. We drafted press releases, blog posts and Tweets. Our goal was to raise $$, bring the community together to celebrate a family that needs our support and to raise awareness for their Trust fund, Rene had no long-term insurance a the time of his fall.
I think we achieved all our goals. We haven’t done the tally yet but overall I think we will definitely make an impact on that Trust Fund, the visibility for their Fund and story was very evident from the many people that stopped by to provide support and share stories with us at the game. And on top of everything else, we know that this family feels loved and cared for by this community. Rene’s wife Dianne stopped by to tell us so. Her Dad and son also stopped by to sign the flag and say ‘Thanks’.
Tags: Rene Faucher, Ottawa 67s, fundraiser
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TED Videos About Creativity
January 26th, 2010I just have to share these two:
Sir Ken Robinson – Schools Kill Creativity, and
Elizabeth Gilbert – Nuturing Creativity.
Each video is about 20 minutes in length. If you haven’t been exposed to TED yet this is a great place to start. Please let me know what you think.
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![Sir Ken Robinson – Schools Kill Creativity](http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SirKenRobinson-2006.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=320&vh=240&ap=0&ti=66&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity;year=2006;theme=how_the_mind_works;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=top_10_tedtalks;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;theme=how_we_learn;theme=master_storytellers;event=TED2006;"></embed></object>){kind=link}