Social Wisdom: Digital Strategy Musings

The Blue Sapphire Ball held to benefit the Kol Hope Foundation for Children was an absolute hit – with me and with my entire table.  There was dancers, an opera singer, a 10 year old flamenco sensation, an original Canadian fashion blue dress design contest and more.  Melinda Rustia delivered a very touching speech highlighting the charity, where it spends its money (wheelchairs at Easter Seals, summer camps for disabled children, genetics reasearch at Sick Kids) and the inspiring story of Kol Rustia.  Kol is Jeff Rustia’s son – who was given six months to live at birth.  He is now turning 12 years old thanks to the constant care and attention from his family and Sick Kids Hospital.

I always love seeing my friend Jeff Rustia in action (go to his front.tv website and look up manifesto, visionaire and watch the video kit) (errr.. no direct link given the site is in flash …  grrr.. I can hate flash for that).   He is the circus ring leader and is the one person I personally know that can ignite a room full of excitement.  The ball was catering to a lot of different audiences and it appeals to everyone.  I especially love the high attendance by the Phillipino community because there is is always so much talent packing the room.  (the ball room dancing was amazing!).

Lucky for me – I managed to sneak in good one on one time time with almost everyone at the table.  Sacha Chua and I arrived early and I got to know a bit more about her being someone I admire so much.  I finally met up with Gwen with whom I haven’t seen in over a year and half.  Gwen owns a BAR! in the Kensington market (LOLA’s) and I will heading down there to check it out.

I also caught up with Steve McCormick – who is always great at party.  His business, Lift Communications, is going really well – having won a bunch of RFPs recently.  His backyard is getting a face lift and he is part of tv show.  So much going on for him.

I finally met Rick Declute’s better half and spent an evening with Mary and Anne. 

Great time.  Will have to do this next year.

The Kol Hope Foundation’s   Blue Sapphire Ball is NOW officially SOLD OUT despite all previous claims.    So.. I had the last ten tickets to this event – mostly because I was slow in selling the table I agree to sell for Jeff Rustia – friend and owner of Front TV, a broadcast design firm.

Now as the proud power seller of the fun table – all my guests get FREE drinks at the after party (where in addition to the 450 guests, 300 more attend)!  Yipeee.

At $100 a seat, I was a bit nervous given – I’m really busy and $100 bucks is a lot for an evening during the great recession.  

But I’ve always supported this charity — The Kol Hope Foundation supports children with genetic disabilities related to having extra chromosomes in their little bodies.   Jeff’s son Kol is one such boy who has been the face to charity supporting hundreds of kids thru sick kids and easter seals.    The Kol Hope Foundation is run by volunteers so most of the donated funds go directly to Sick Kids and Easter Seals, so I pressed on.

I wrote a compelling grovel and spammed my closest 48 linkedin connections.  My grovel went something like this - 

Under great duress (promise of free drinks), I agreed to sell a table. So I’m emailing you – my linkedin power people who I’d love to sit with at a dinner for a good cause. Warning ** it will be so wacky and over the top ….

And that’s all I did and managed to sell all tickets.   Okay – so I forced my husband to go.  But I managed to reconnect and drink coffee with a lot of people during the process.

Among the fun table, I’m really excited to see:

• Steve McCormick – President of Lift Communications Inc..  Steve always cracks me up.  We were on the CMA together back when he was Director of E-com at Columbia House.
• Sacha Chua - evangelist, brilliant woman, geek, nominated as one of Canada’s most influential women in social media.  I just want her smarts to rub off on me on Saturday.
• Gwen Bang – owner, Catering with a Bang.  We car pooled to Great Gulf together saving the environment one car ride at a time and in the process became great friends.  
• Rick Declute (2)- owner of a very successful real estate brokerage in the beaches, Toronto.  I bought my house thru Rick’s team.
• Mary Hayes – owner and executive producer of Engage Learning Systems – an e-learning company distinguished by creating really cool e-learning and using new and social medias as part of their delivery platform.  Mary is always on the road so I’m so glad she will be in one place so we can catch up.
• Anne  – an owner of a North American publishing company whose kids cds & books have been entertaining my kids
• Philip Schalk – my bro  in law, excellent conversationalist, Pension benefit know it all and socialite at Morneau Sobeco
• Andrew Schalk – my better half who would probably want me to stop working on the computer about now.