Staff Team
Mitchell Beer, President
Profession: Chief company strategist, audience development and conference content specialist, rumoured to be a frighteningly fast writer
Years of experience: Seven as a journalist, 25-plus as a conference publisher, 30-plus as a sustainable energy specialist
Industry affiliations: Deputy Director, Trottier Energy Futures Project, 2011 to present. Founding Chair, GMIC Sustainable Meetings Foundation, 2011-2012. Columnist, MeetingsNet Extra, published by Penton Media Inc, 2009-2012. Member, board of directors and conference programs committee, Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), 2009-2012. Member, Board of Trustees, MPI Foundation Canada, 2005–2008. Project manager, study of the economic impact of the Canadian meetings industry, MPI Foundation Canada, 2007–2008.
Industry recognition: MPI Ottawa Supplier of the Year, 2003, Volunteer of the Year, 2005. Attained Global Certification in Meeting Management (CMM), December 2003.
Favourite reading: Online news updates from The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and SciDevNet. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist by Ray Anderson, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin, Getting Green Done by Auden Schendler, Natural Capitalism by Amory and Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken, The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon, Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, The Antibiotic Paradox by Stuart B. Levy, MD, The Best-Laid Plans and The High Road by Terry Fallis.
Passions: Sustainable energy technologies; online content strategies as if audiences mattered; a properly funded public education system; smart research solutions that enable organizations and communities to do well by doing good.
Proud moment: Building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with my daughter when she was 11 years old. (Now studying interior architecture at Toronto’s Humber College, she’s ‘way beyond that.)
Favourite quote: “The plural of anecdote is not evidence.”
Email: mitchell<@>smartershift.com
Jenise Fryatt, Social Media Strategist
Profession: Social Media Strategist, Blogger, Content Marketer
Years of experience: Three as a social media strategist, 20 as a small business marketer
Industry affiliations: MPI Southern California, GMIC
Favourite reading: Copyblogger; Conferences That Work; It’s All Virtual; Sustainable Destinations; Plannerwire; V3 Integrated Marketing; DIY Blogger; Jeff Bullas Blog; Reality is Broken; Trust Agents; Delivering Happiness; All Harry Potter; Orson Scott Card; Autobiography of a Yogi; A Course in Miracles; All Dune Books; A Stranger in a Strange Land
Passions: Improv, Yoga, Karaoke, Dancing, Theatre, Traveling, Gardening, and Social Media
Proud moment: Completing two research papers for MPI—one on virtual meetings and one on hybrid events—with an AMAZING team; joining The Conference Publishers and helping to launch Smarter Shift.
Favourite quote: “Everyone has the right to make an ass of themselves. You can’t let the world judge you too much.”
Email: jenise<@>smartershift.com
Karen Irving, Social Media Advisor and Managing Editor
Profession: Social Media Advisor and Managing Editor
Years of experience: Many.
Favourite reading: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, A.D. 500—A Journey Through the Dark Isles of Britain and Ireland, by Simon Young.
Passions: Knitting and spinning—and blogging about the next stage of parenting at After The Kids Leave; family history and history in general; anything that challenges the brain and touches the heart.
Proud moment: Watching both our children grow into smart, caring, independent adults who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and try new things.
Favourite quote: “Haud ullis labentia ventis.” (“Yielding under no winds.”)—Clan motto, Irving of Bonshaw
Email: karen<@>smartershift.com
Sylvie Lavoie, Bookkeeper
Profession: Bookkeeper
Years of experience: Over 12 years.
Bio: Proprietor of YSL Consulting, a consulting company that specializes in bookkeeping, accounting, and financial management services. She brings more than a dozen years’ experience with small and medium-sized clients in a variety of sectors, including services, retail, construction, photography and graphic design, and non-profit organizations.
Passions: Running, playing futsal, reading, knitting and spending quality time with her family and two cats.
Email: sylvie<@>smartershift.com
[...] original spark for this post came from my colleague, the amazing and insightful Jenise Fryatt. A few months ago, she spotted the large number of former journalists who were reinventing [...]