A few weeks ago, we kicked off our summer in style with the Ottawa Riverkeeper’s first ever Riverboat Gala. Together with our partners we organized a three-part event to give our precious Ottawa River the love it deserves. Starting with a VIP event on Parliament Hill, our guests then enjoyed some live performances by Kathleen Edwards and Sam Roberts in the Voyageur Salon of the Museum of Civilization. We saved the real treat of the evening for last with our decked-out riverboat where we brought our guests up-close and personal with the evening’s real celebrity, the Ottawa River.

It was a killer event and we were absolutely thrilled with the turnout! The event was hosted by CBC’s Evan Solomon and Ottawa Riverkeeper’s Executive Director  Meredith Brown. We were also joined by Mark and Diana Carney who received the recognition as Ottawa Riverkeeper’s first honorary Riverkeepers. As guests mingled and chilled to the sounds of DJ Zattar on all three decks of the Empress of Ottawa boat, they enjoyed beer from the BDT, premium martinis made with Ungava Gin, delicious riverboat cuisine from Next Food and tasty dark and stormy’s made with dark rum and Harvey and Vern’s Olde Fashioned Ginger Beer supplied by Kichesippi Beer Co.. With the help of Prestige Rentals and Quality Entertainment, our team transformed the boat into a chic, pulsating lounge filled with sofas, glow bars, cool lighting effects and beautiful take-home orchids from Blumenstudio.

The team at MediaStyle have already begun planning a bigger and better event for next year!

The MediaStyle team was pleased to co-host Danny Brown author of the book ‘Influence Marketing’ at an informal event we called “Gin and Talkin”’ with Bob LeDrew, of Translucid Communications. The event kicked-off with a Q&A discussion featuring our very own Ian Capstick who picked Danny’s brain about what Influence Marketing is, how can businesses implement it, and the classic do’s and don’ts.

Birds of North America Redstart top, 129$ (available at both locations)

Turquoise “Favourite Shirt” by Sara Duke, 74$ (available at both shops)

Valerie Dumaine navy Flavie dress, 205$ (available at both shops)

Darling Paloma dress, 119$ (available at both shops)

Ganni striped dress 169$ (sold out!) worn with Ursa Minor leather leggings, 160$ (available at both shops)

Birds of North America Mallard dress 179$ with Betina Lou Lucy cardigan, 140$, and Bohten frames 260$ (dress & cardi at West only, Bohten frames at both locations)

We are working with Katie and Régine on their new web series “Shop Talk”, which focuses on the different aspects of what makes Victoire so unique (hint: their personalities and passion are a big part of it!)

Check out the latest episode which gives you the low-down on mastering the layered look:

Make sure to check out their vimeo for all other episodes!

And go meet these lovely ladies in person and do some perusing of your own!

Dalhousie shop: 246 Dalhousie St

Wellington shop: 1282 B Wellington Street West

Photos courtesy of my wonderful mother, Caroline Warrior.

With outstretched arms, the Ottawa Riverkeeper invites you to the first ever Riverboat Gala Cruise to be held May 29th.

MediaStyle has partnered up with Executive Director of the Ottawa Riverkeeper Meredith Brown, CBCs Evan Solomon and first ever honourary Riverkeepers Governor of the Bank of Canada Mark Carney and partner Diana.

We are planning a night to remember.

Juno nominated Kathleen Edwards whose last album “Voyageur” charted in the Top 40 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was #2 in Canada, will be providing an exclusive performance. A second, very special Juno winning musical guest will also be announced on the night of the event.

You can still make a donation or buy a ticket.

Many amazing sponsors have already come forward. Beer will be supplied by one of Quebec’s foremost craft brewers, Brasseurs du Temps. Gin will be provided by Quebec’s Ungava Premium Canadian Gin. The event begins at the Museum of Civilization and then guests will walk along the banks of the river to a waiting boat where they will take a sunset cruise on the beautiful Ottawa River. DJs will provide music late into the night while locally sourced food will be supplied by Ottawa’s culinary genius Chef Michael Blackie of NEXT Food.

This is only a sample of what’s in store. More details to come. Be sure to visit our website often: http://www.riverkeepergala.com/

We are excited to present to you our newest podcast series, Social Solutions! This show is about you, the advanced social media user.

We want to share with you the tips and tricks we have learned through our time working with these mediums. This means that we need to hear from you, so please fill out a comment bellow and we can better understand your needs and how we can help.

This episode focuses on email management. I run through three steps you can take to help you manage your inbox and utilize your time more efficiently. Here are the steps and some resources to help you manage your email inbox.

1. Use the filter system within your email

This will help guide your emails into folders to keep your inbox organized. You can even create a coloured folder or flagging system for important emails. My best tip from the video is to create a filter with the word “unsubscribe”. This will aggregate all your marketing emails in one place. Or one step better, you can use the unroll.me system; I just recently started using it and found it to be extremely useful!

Gmail resources:

Google’s How To

Use Boolean operators

Mashable on Gmail filters

Outlook resources:

Microsoft’s How To

Using Rules Wizard

Basic Instructions

Using Alerts in Outlook

Using Outlook to track messages

Plus, a feature-by-feature rundown of Outlook vs. Gmail features

2. Ruthlessly unsubscribe

Now that all your incoming marketing emails are in one place, take some time to go through all of them and unsubscribe from the ones that are no longer useful to you. Another thing to do is to change your social settings. Visit the social media sites you use and modify the email notification settings to suit your needs better. Here are a few resources to help you manage your privacy settings:

Facebook: The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Managing Your Facebook Privacy

Twitter: How to Stop Twitter Notifications

LinkedIn: How to Set Your LinkedIn E-mail Notifications

3. Don’t be afraid of the phone

If you think an email will take a long time to answer, try giving the person a phone call to avoid spending time writing a detailed email. It will save you some time!

That’s it for this week’s episode, I hope these tips were useful to you. If there is anything specific you want me to cover, please let our team know by writing a comment below!

Stay tuned next week as we cover the Twitter API. Here are a few resources to get you up to speed:

What Is An API & What Are They Good For? [Technology Explained]

Using APIs: Not Quite as Hard as it Looks

Explaining the API Revolution to your CEO

The next step for us is demolition, and we want to offer folks who weren’t able to contribute during the campaign an opportunity to chip in. We need hands! Hands to wield a sledgehammer and remove the rubble from the space. If you have ever come to visit the building’s 4th floor, then you know it’s going to be a lot of work. MediaStyle is willing to repay you for this work, with IdeaSpace dollars. For each hour of labour, you will receive 25 IdeaSpace dollars, that you can use in the future to book the space, or to purchase an opening night ticket. Work 4 hours, and your opening night ticket will be paid for.

We created this project for our community, and we are so happy to have received this kind of support from you all. The blueprints for the space are almost ready, and we are all excited to get this project started!

If you would like to get involved with the demolition, please email rebecca@mediastyle.ca and keep an eye out for more updates on IdeaSpace!

Thank you, Ottawa!