about me
I'm William Azaroff. I direct Online Strategy & Community Engagement at Vancity, Canada's largest credit union.

My opinions and views are just that, and don't reflect the views of my employer (or, perhaps, anyone else).

my peers
:.BankerVision
:.Banking Kismet
:.Banktastic
:.The Bankwatch
:.Benry
:.The Boardcast
:.Buzz Canuck
:.The Client Side
:.CU Communicator
:.CU Employee
:.CU Hype
:.The CU Loop
:.Currency Marketing
:.Denise Wymore
:.Doug True
:.EverythingCU
:.The Financial Brand
:.Marketing ROI
:.NetBanker
:.Nexus Connection
:.Open Source CU
:.Small FI Blog
:.Social Signal
:.The Story
:.Tinfoiling
:.Trey Reeme
:.Verity's Our Voices
:.Visible Banking
:.Web Strategy

See you at Cossette Convergence.

I'm excited to participate in the upcoming Cossette Convergance 2008 here in Vancouver at the Arts Club Theatre.

I've been asked to speak on a panel entitled Giving Your Brand Away: Brand Communities, and will be a panelist alongside Ben Stringfellow from McDonalds USA, Thierry Hay-Sabourin from Future Shop and William Bakker from Tourism British Columbia. The panel will be moderated by Angele Beausoleil from Fjord, Cossette's online agency.

I'm honoured to be among these amazing people, and it should turn out to be a great event.

I'm very keen to hear from the keynote speaker Grant McCracken the author of Culture and Consumption.

If you'll be there, please let me know. And if you're thinking of attending, you can register here.

Labels: azaroff, changeeverything, conference, social marketing, social media, vancity

posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008

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My Net.Finance results.

I received my scores this week from Net.Finance. These are the accumulated scores I received from the people at my presentation on April 14th.

Highest possible score: 5
Content: 4.4
Presentation: 4.7

Comments:

Great presentation
Excellent concept, illustrative presentation, thought provoking
Very interesting. Would have liked a bit more info on how they built this channel
Great insight into social marketing
Great presentation, just a little fast at times

I'm really pleased, because it means people liked both my content and my presentation style (although I was called out for speaking too quickly, to which I plead guilty).

I now have results from three Net.Finance presentations: this year's, last year's and this past January's Online Innovation conference.

Just as a point of reference, my scores from last year's Net.Finance were:
Content rating: 4.72
Presentation style rating: 4.61

My results from Online Innovations were:
Content Rating: 4.5
Presentation Style Rating: 4.67

It's nice that my results are fairly consistent, and people seem to like what I've been serving up. I look forward to the myriad of conferences that lie ahead for me this year.

Labels: azaroff, conference, netfinance

posted on Thursday, May 01, 2008

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Interview with me in Globe and Mail.

I am so pleased that some of my thoughts and tips on corporate blogs were published in today's Globe & Mail newspaper, in the Report on Business section. The article is called Enter the blogosphere, and was written by Andrea Southcott, who is the President of TBWA\Vancouver (Vancity's agency of record).

The article focuses on helpful tips for companies that want to blog. I've been working on Vancity's internal and external blogging strategies and policies, and so the timing was good to share some thinking.

By the way, because most of my audience on my blog is American, the Globe and Mail is Canada's largest nationally published English language newspaper. I'm pretty jazzed about it!

Enjoy!

Labels: azaroff, blogging

posted on Monday, March 31, 2008

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I'm signed up for The Age of Conversation.

Several months ago Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan organized and published a book by bloggers called The Age of Conversation.

I first become aware of this book because my blogopal Ron Shevlin was a contributor. The book was an interesting read - each page was its own chapter, each authored by a different blogger.

A few weeks back, my friend Brent Dixon notified me that a sequel was being planned and that I should put my hat in the ring to be an author for the next book. I did.

And now, I'm going to need to write a hell of a good page, because I'm in. To be fair, everyone who submitted their name by the deadline got in. All 275 of us!

Now my question to you is: Any ideas what I should write about? My topic is Accidental Marketer (those of us who stumbled backwards into being in marketing).

Here's a list of all 275 of us:
Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, R.J. Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Labels: ageofconversation, azaroff, blogging

posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008

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The Social Economy at the Partnership Symposium.

I'm so pleased that FORUM Solutions published a guest post I wrote on their blog.

It's about my preparation for the keynote I'm delivering at the Partnership Symposium in October.

The post is called Discovering the Social Economy.

I'm really looking forward to the conference, and I hope to see you there...

Labels: azaroff, blogging, conference, credit union, partnership symposium

posted on Monday, March 24, 2008

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My scores at Net.Finance

I was so pleased to get the audience's rating of my presentation at Net.Finance's recent Online Innovations in Financial Services Marketing conference in New York.

PANEL RATING:
Highest Possible Score: 5.0

Content Rating: 4.5
Presentation Style Rating: 4.67

COMMENTS:
Very engaging
I like his presentation

It makes me very pleased that my content resonated with people, and that I delivered it in a way people responded to. Okay, enough horn tooting... for now.

Labels: azaroff, conference, netfinance

posted on Friday, February 08, 2008

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Honoured to be featured in innovator podcast.

I am so happy to be included in instalment #3 of Currency Marketing's Credit Union Innovators Podcast series. I was honoured that Tim asked, and I hope the resulting podcast is informative and entertaining.

Enjoy!

Oh, and you can subscribe to the whole series via iTunes.

Labels: azaroff, banking, changeeverything, credit union, currency marketing, innovation, podcast, social media, vancity

posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008

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Looking forward to the Partnership Sympiosium.

Last October I was unable to attend the Partnership Symposium, a credit union conference sponsored jointly by FORUM Solutions and Trabian. I was greatly disappointed because my peers who were there said it was a highlight of their year.

So I'm very excited to announce that I have been invited to deliver a keynote at this year's Partnership Symposium. Some of the other amazing speakers already announced include some of my favourite CU peers and thought leaders: Tim McAlpine, Morriss Partee, Robbie Wright and Gene Blishen (with more to follow I'm sure).

I have proposed the following as my topic, and I'd love feedback from you on this. Does it sound interesting? Am I missing anything at a high level?

Engaging with the Social Economy
A growing segment of the economy is being driven by social decision-making. Credit unions play a natural key role in this shift, both as community-focused organizations and as holders of significant consumer assets. This presentation will include examples of the emerging social economy, as well as a case study of ChangeEverything.ca, a social network created by Vancity which speaks to the values the largest credit union in Canada shares with the community it serves.

UPDATE (Feb 4, 2008): Ron Shevlin was just added to the lineup in a very interesting way:

Ron Shevlin will serve as the host for the 2008 Partnership Symposium. He will spend time with each presenter following their session to ask a couple of questions and engage the audience in asking their questions. This is an interactive conference and Ron will help ensure that everyone takes part!

I'm nervous and excited to work with Ron in this way. He's tough, but all in search of making us better, more rigourous marketers.

Labels: azaroff, conference, credit union, partnership symposium, social economy, vancity

posted on Saturday, February 02, 2008

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An interview with me in CU Management Magazine.

I was interviewed by Diane Franklin several weeks back for an article in CU Management Magazine's upcoming issue. The article, entitled Web 2.0: High Tech, High Touch focuses on what a credit union board should know about social media.

We had a great interview, addressing many different topics, and I guess it was enough material for a whole other piece, titled One Credit Union's Web 2.0 Strategy. It's a good take on Vancity and why we launched ChangeEverything.ca.

Take a look...

Labels: azaroff, changeeverything, credit union, vancity

posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008

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Off to Net.Finance.

On Tuesday I fly to New York for a couple of days to attend and speak at Net.Finance's Online Innovations in Financial Services Marketing conference. This is an extension of their main conference which occurs every April in Arizona.

Last year the final day was focused on innovations in the financial services industry, and included an excellent set of speakers and presentations. I spoke about ChangeEverything.ca, why Vancity did it and what we get out of it.

Next week I will be doing a brand new presentation about responding to bloggers. I have been delivering the presentation internally, getting some incredible feedback, and am excited to deliver it in New York.

I'm particularly keen to see some terrific people, including Shari Storm (who always speaks right before me), Michael Seaton, Jurie Pieterse, Jason Knight and Jim Bruene.

I have been to the last two Net.Finance conferences, and find them to be valuable sources of information and incredible networking opportunities. This April's conference looks like an outstanding line-up. I am delivering a presentation about FIs and social responsibility. It's a big topic, and frankly I'm a little nervous as I begin to plan out what I want to cover.

So let me know if you'll be at either of these two conferences, and if you are there, please make sure we connect in person.

TWO QUICK UPDATES: One, I'm so excited that my friend Trey Reeme will also be there. And I'll try and blog the conference each night. No promises though!

Labels: azaroff, blogging, conference, netfinance

posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008

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For credit union employees on LinkedIn.

I'll be honest with you, I am not quite sure what to do with LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn started this service a little while back, and I thought it would be cool to create a group for all credit union employees on LinkedIn. But then I wondered if I was the right person to create such a group.

So I passed the idea to my friend and EverythingCU marvel, Morriss Partee. Morriss went ahead and started the group.

I'm not sure where it will go, but if you're a CU staff member who uses LinkedIn, go ahead and invite yourself to this group and let's see what develops.

And if anyone has any thoughts as to where it can evolve, let Morriss or myself know (and if anyone wants to create a little icon for the group, that would cool too!).

UPDATE: To join the group, click here.

Labels: azaroff, credit union, everythingcu, LinkedIn, social media, web 2.0

posted on Tuesday, January 08, 2008

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Reflections on five years of blogging.

Five years ago today, I was living in Los Angeles, working at the now defunct Media Revolution, producing a site for Honda motorcycle enthusiasts when I decided to start a blog.
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