#falltourinteractive

The Fall Tour Interactive 2013 was a two days incredible experience where students and freelancers had the chance to visit the leading companies from interactive digital media industry in the downtown Toronto core. As well as attend workshops, presentations and panel discussions with experienced industry professionals and have the opportunity to ask questions to presenters and panelists in an intimate environment and learn from them a little more about the interactive digital industry.

  The highlights of this particularly year was enjoy on Day 1 all about interactive design, marketing and advertising and on Day 2 have the opportunity to select your passion, whether if it's Gaming, Interactive Advertising or Post/VFX and attend to a specific industry workshops, presentations and panel discussions about those theme, meet people from other programs and schools and make new friends with the same interests as you. The participants were divided in small groups that allowed the interaction with the tour guides, presenters and panelists were in a relaxed, informal and intimate atmosphere to speak freely and ask any kind of questions.

  On Day 1, I had the opportunity to visit four companies related with interactive design, advertising, public relation and social media, very different from each other. Derooted an agency specializing in innovation, creative exhibitions and projections; Bensimon Byrne a big company with huge clients like Google, Scotiabank and Aldo; Lotus Leaf Communications a fashion and public relations agency; and S-Trip a company that brings fun trips to Canadian high schools and universities around the world. On Day 2, I decided to make the most out of the day and spend the morning with a Gaming group and the afternoon with an Interactive Advertising group. I went to Social Game Universe a small group of passionate and talented game makers with a great working environment; and Secret Location a great interactive entertainment agency with huge clients and awesome projects, I can tell it was one of my favorites.

  On these two days event I had the opportunity to interact and meet students from others colleges like Seneca and Sheridan College and talk with the tour guides and ask question about their experience, internships, tips and suggestions about the industry. The workshops, presentations and panel discussions gave me the opportunity to meet creative and talented people who knows very well about the digital media industry and learn from them where and how to start. It’s very gratifying to know that this industry is growing and we may have a safe future and good chances of being successful. 

When I asked myself "Why IDM?" in the first post on this blog, I answered honestly that I wasn't quite sure. It's one thing to be a user of interactive tech and consumer of digital media, but what was it like on the other side? Fall Tour Interactive, an annual event founded by Tim Willison, the Director of media solutions provider Oddly Studios, gave attendees a glimpse at what it would be like to work in the local industry, and introduced me to a number of talented people working in Toronto. FTI provided tours of local businesses, held panel discussions and keynote presentations with industry talent, and set up workshops that gave attendees a chance to network with said talent, as well as students from other schools.

Some highlights from the two day event: Bensimon Byrne, an advertising agency responsible for many national campaigns (including Svedka Vodka and Scotiabank). The building where the agency was located was completely nondescript on the outside, but inside revealed a sleek and ultramodern office. My group was given a tour of the agency's many departments and their duties.

A presentation by Jay Bregman, CEO of Hailo, an ingenious smartphone app that puts people in touch with taxi drivers using GPS. The story of this company's humble beginnings on a boat and its expansion to cities around the globe was insightful and really quite inspiring.

Rachel Kennedy and Shauna Roe, "Canada's Ballsiest Interns": These two bright and talented women - who both currently work at ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi - showed us the creative ways they were able to distinguish themselves from hundreds of other interns: by challenging agencies to complete outlandish tasks in exchange for an interview. An interesting look at what it takes to get noticed in the industry.

Shopify, an e-commerce platform that acquired local UX design agency Jet Cooper earlier this year. This stop on the tour was a pleasant surprise for me personally, as I happen to know the company's Director of Design and former Co-Founder of Jet Cooper. Representatives Arati and Trevor described the services the company provides, and detailed the many perks you receive when working there. The most intriguing thing we learned was how the company breeds creativity by holding "hack days," a 48-hour period that allows employees to work together on creative, non-work related projects. Shopify is definitely one of my top choices for prospective field placement next year.

Get Set Games is a local game developer known for popular mobile games Mega Jump and Mega Run. What I think was supposed to be a presentation by Producer Andy Smith quickly turned into an excellent Q&A session that provided a lot of insight into the mobile gaming industry.

A keynote presentation by one of the Animation Directors from Ubisoft Toronto, developer of "Splinter Cell: Blacklist." Using gameplay videos, the keynote showed how character animation and dialogue interactions further immerses players in the game world. I have no interest in game animation but this inside look at what goes into the making of a single feature of a AAA blockbuster game was a tour highlight.

For future students taking the tour next year, some words of advice: be prepared for long walks and cold weather. Be sure to grab a business card from keynote speakers, panelists, and studio tour guides. If you have your own cards exchange them with other people taking the tour. And most important: ask questions. The people you're there to see are fountains of valuable information; you just need to ask the right questions to get it out of them.

  Every year, a giant group of interactive digital media students from various schools descend on Loft 404 to take part what is known as Fall Tour Interactive (or FTI). These students spend a good part of two days running around downtown listening to talks, panel discussions and touring various studios. I was fortunate enough to take part in the event this year.  A few days removed from the experience, I feel like I can really sit back and process all the things that happened over the course of those two days. Tim Willison, the head of Oddly Studios and the brains behind the event, said many times over the course of the event that “it was never supposed to be a yearly thing”. Based on the success that I witnessed this year, however, I think Tim is going to have to plan for a few more students next year when he is forced to start it all over again.

  Based on the fact that I am relatively new to the industry, just listening to a few producers and directors talk about the studio culture at their various companies would have probably been enough. But what separates this event is that participants are actually granted access to a wide variety of studios located throughout the downtown Toronto core. Walking into a series of beautiful loft spaces and being greeted by dogs and beer fridges was pretty eye opening. The agencies/studios that I got to personally see included Secret Location, John St., Usability Matters, Derooted, and a host of others. From a professional point of view, the highlight for me would have to have been Usability Matters. This small agency is putting UX and information architecture in the spotlight like no other company I have seen. Considering that these are the areas I am most interested in, I could not help but be excited to meet some of the people who worked there and gain some insight on how I might be able to get into the area myself. From a more personal point of view, I would say my favorite studio was Secret Location. When you consider the types of individuals they are looking for, I really have nothing to offer this studio professionally. That being said, I would kill to grab some beers with the founders of this studio. They told us a lot of great stories and seem to have this certain “coolness” factor to what they do that simply cannot be found anywhere else.

  While the studio tours were great,  another hugely important element to FTI is the people you meet. I had the opportunity to meet people hailing from Seneca’s Digital Media Arts programs and from Sheridan College’s Interactive Media program. It was great talking to these people about their programs and their goals as a way of informing what I might be looking to do. I am really hoping to organize some kind of a gathering in the future with some of those people, as there were definitely a few who I could see working with down the line.

How do I break into the industry? Who do I talk to?  Who offers the best internships? How can I impress a potential employer? These essential questions situate themselves into a young professional’s mind when contemplating their future and their future employment opportunities.  It can become a rather overwhelming task when attempting to decide where to apply for a job or internship, as students blindly attempt to feel out the interactive digital industry, as these questions seem to go unanswered. However, in 2006 an event was created in support from Oddly Studios to help connect students on the verge on graduating with potential employers and internship opportunities. Students are now able to visit an extensive assortment of technology-based companies, allowing the students to expose themselves to the culture and reality of careers based in this burgeoning industry.

   When I was first told about Fall Tour Interactive, I won’t lie, I was a little confused as well as a bit skeptical about how useful or beneficial this event would be for furthering my career within the digital industry. I thought that myself as well as my fellow classmates would be sitting around the Loft 404 space taking in presentation after presentation until our brains slowly turned to mush.  However, when I arrived on the first day of the tour my anxieties concerning the event were quickly put to rest as I was put into a group of about eighteen students from various Ontario colleges and sent off into the city to visit and explore the culture of local Canadian interactive businesses. I believe that it was extremely beneficial for myself and the other attendees to visit various offices located around Toronto, getting a first hand look at what these companies create.   I felt even better when we entered the first office, Bensimon Byrne and we were exposed to the creative and collaborative space of those who are passionate about digital advertising. Bensimon and Byrne had a breathtakingly modern office that favored an open concept that encouraged collaborative work. Actually, every office that we visited throughout these past two days had the exact same concept, a modern look and layout with an open concept to encourage collaboration with co-workers. I absolutely fell in love with the aesthetically pleasing and stimulating offices that encouraged creativity through various art installations, murals and paintings that could be found throughout the various offices. This created a welcoming atmosphere and garnered impressive first impressions that were supported by enthusiastic and encouraging young professionals who were fervent on exposing their companies’ visions and accomplishments. 

Although we visited eight different offices during our time as participants in Fall Tour Interactive, a few of these companies stood out to me personally. Firstly, Lotus Leaf Communications offices were obviously my favorite stop on the tour. This particular company is a PR & Social Media agency that concentrates on beauty, fashion and culture in the digital age that provide cross-platform solutions to business challenges. I was very impressed with their showrooms and offices and the overall environment that acquired a positive and confident atmosphere. As a profession in fashion concentrating on the digital aspects of this particular industry is what I truly wish to be a part of, visiting the offices and showrooms and learning more about their internship process and overall vision benefited me and exposed me to other areas of this industry that I may want to experiment with.

Some other offices that I really liked were John Street Advertising, Secret Location and Shopify. Although these three locations were all very different, providing diverse and unique ways to create, inspire and improve within an interactive digital context. I really enjoyed visiting John Street as they garnered a tone of professionalism, creativity and structure.

Overall, these past two days at Fall Tour Interactive have inspired and excited me to go out and explore, network and discover innovative agencies and companies that will give the opportunity for myself to show my skills and passion for being a part of the interactive digital sphere. 

One tip I would give to students attending their first Fall Tour Interactive: ASK QUESTIONS!!!