CaseCamping

This past Tuesday, I was glad to be able to attend my second CaseCamp gathering at The Fifth Club – Toronto’s fourth since they started, organized by Eli Singer. A couple months ago, I remember being dragged after a tiring day of work by Sacha to my CaseCamp Toronto 3. This time, I had a couple days’ notice and tried to drag a co-worker along, but prior commitments meant I showed up alone for this CaseCamp, right when the presentations were starting.
I really liked the vibe of this CaseCamp. It kicked off with a discussion of parent blogging in Toronto by Catherine Connor, a very polished and articulate presenter (due to ample practice speaking at the University of Toronto, I imagine). We then proceeded at a decent clip through the case presentations for newmindspace‘s capture the flag event (which I’m happy to say I participated in), the CO₂ cloud over Metro Hall (which I’m sad to say I missed because I had really wanted to go), and ZipCar (which helped me and my roommates move in December!). The combination of these presentations really gave it a bit of a environmental, “sustainable entrepeneurship” feeling, although there certainly were more suits in the crowd than one would ever see at a BarCamp. Maybe green in that sense that the Green Party is green (disclaimer: I know nothing about the Green Party).
The use of the phrase creative professional really perked my ears. Up until now, I had never really associated the idea of being a creative professional with my career goals. I think that’s because I feel that I’m trying to use my creativity in anything I do, whether that’s formatting a table in Lotus Notes or cooking up a visio diagram for business process. It feels like that will always be the “me” part of my work; but do I trust it to make it more than the frosting on my value statement? (I’ve also heard it suggested that integrity is my thing.) New spice to add to the mull mix.