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If you are of the Gen Y demographic – relax. I mean no disrespect. Au contraire! I need to give you props for being amazing at life. As a borderline Gen Yer <that’s code for really being a Gen Xer>, and for being one who must give credit where credit is due… my hat’s off to you lot!

This generation appear to be ridiculously smart, grounded, confident and more entrepreneurial than a bunch of Texan sales men who are so happy that they’d be two people if they were any happier! The rest of us can learn loads from them. I’d like to share with you, some of the smartypants out there that you should be connecting with, supporting, encouraging and learning from. If you have more to add to this list, bring it on!

Alrighty – here we go: <in no order but a random one>

@danielleherb – 15yr old rock star changing the world for those who have ADHD!

@pencilbugs – this kid is 13!

@rjhealy of employeeevolution.com and brazencareerist.com

@andreibiltan – budding genius in the making! Go Romania!

@stanleytang – genius!

@jaceperry – www.jaceperry.com – recommended by @gabestrom

@gabestrom – check his videos out   www.gabeontv.com

@bradleywill – and check out his link to his list of smart ppl that smart ppl should be following: http://www.bradleywill.com/2009/06/03/50-leaders-who-young-entrepreneurs-must-follow-on-twitter/ - I know!

@entrepreneurpro  – great advice.  

@danielleherb – smartypants.

@ben_armstrong - child prodigy

If the @Names are confusing you… they’re twitter identities. Google them and you’ll find what you need.

More to come… I have an appt. with the personal trainer – aka my personal demon!

Jun 05th by Shannon

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Blog post, compliments of Andrei Biltan

Two weeks ago, I had the outstanding opportunity to participate as a youth delegate in “TOWARDS 2020: Canada’s Commitment to Children & Youth” Conference held in Ottawa. It focused on bringing people together in order to create a vision for the future and craft a new agenda for this generation. It focused on exposing successful movements from the past, highlighting our current situation and raising questions for the future. With a blend of stimulating and empowering guest speakers and networking opportunities, the event initiated discussion, which further lead into delegates and organizations promising change. The highlight of the gathering, however, was the emphasis on youth engagement and the action steps present as to how teens can be part of the framework. Towards 2020 asked guests to “look at every young person not as a problem to be fixed but as a promise to be fulfilled.” How to achieve that? The end goal was to initiate a social movement for children and youth as well as to empower all delegates to invest and improve the conditions of youth across the country. Of course, by involving young people along the way! There were many questions raised, but two that stood out were: 

“How can we combat apathy and encourage civic engagement?” and

 “How can youth partner with adults, for them to equip young people with skills in order to succeed in the future?”

Bottom line is that we are all joint curators of this society. Nowadays, we all have good intentions but it is not enough to just be compassionate but to act as well in order to foster change. If we invest in our young people today, we can see an outlook of profits, especially since such a large demographic sector is counting on them for the future.  At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself: “ What have I done to change the life of a Canadian young person?” and see if you can come up with answers.  Personally, I am overwhelmed with joy that such high profile national conferences, movements and organizations are starting to see the potential that young people can bring to the table and involve them in the process. The truth is, there is such a vast number of adolescents out there with untapped latent and capacities waiting to be “exploited”, that it is ironic how they are not being “taken advantage of.” I encourage everyone to keep this thought and see what you can do to move this idea forward in your own endeavours! If you have further comments or questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at my new blog: http://andreibiltan.wordpress.com/.

May 13th by Shannon

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So I came, I saw and I kicked some a**! As per my earlier post, I was in a lovely little place in Crieff chatting with some super smart and very talented young adults about Social Media and the power behind it. Going in I expected a pretty Social Media savvy bunch. I mean c’mon, these people grew up with the internet, they were on facebook out of the gate.    Far from it. This group knows all about facebook of course, but not much beyond that.

Fascinating and scary all at the same time. They are young. And young people do stupid things. But to think that those stupid things could last an eternity online, is something that really hadn’t hit their radar.

The presentation was a success. I feel like they got a really good glimpse at what Social Media is, why they need to be aware of it and how to keep themselves out of the scandals.

I drove the 45 minutes home in silence. No music. No news. No me singing my guts out to a bit of  Beyonce or Savage Garden. Just silence. I think I was so quiet because I was in a room with a couple of Kevin Rose <Digg types> a lady who I believe will transform the legal side of Social Media and then some. And several others who I will see as celebrity bloggers, international event speakers and one two or three who will be arm pit deep in the Chindia powerhouse. I also met someone who wants to be a CDN ambassador…  I think I felt honored to be in their presence.

Smart kids. They have lots of ideas. I cannot wait to see what they do to change our world for the better.

Another interesting thing to mention… this was a room of Gen Yers who made it clear that they hold values and tradition near and dear to their heart. They want to resist the ridiculusly fast technology advances for fear it may be costing us dearly. I also work with a number of Gen Yers who feel the same. I am fascinated as to why they think technology means one must  compromise on what’s near and dear to to them. It doesn’t. At least I sure as hell don’t let it.

Hmmm! These are our new soccer moms, the new metrosexuals and diet coke drinkers. If this room of people represents the force that is Gen Y… and p.s. people, by 2010 Gen Yers will outnumber baby boomers, then we should all watch very carefully as they could easily turn the table and course correct the evolution. Lest we not forget. The power has shifted from the corporate boardrooms to the people.

Oh! And then one fabulous woman and I <we ducked out to her cabin for a sneaky gin and tonic, bombay sapphire, tall glass, wedge of lemon, lots of ice> entertained the idea of what life would be like if someone pulled the www plug out of the wall! Zap! Gone. – Holy Shizah! That would be one interesting pickle! Non?

Thank you for inviting me to the party Ralf!

Apr 18th by Shannon

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So I’m speaking tomorrow at Camp Enterprise. I get to talk to 50 odd 16yr olds about SM. I have been asking myself… why would they care. How is this relevant to them. What value can I bring to the table.

Gen Y has never known life without the internet. Is it probable that SM will be like iTunes to them? Will this be anything new to them at all? Will they be rolling their eyes because they already get it? Possibly.

But do they know how to leverage this to further their careers? Do they know how this could devastate them if they choose to distribute private info about themselves, visuals that surpass the PG13 tag? Probably not.

So… Although they probably don’t need as much of a debrief on the SM basics… it’s probab ly going to be helpful for them to understand the power behind it. The good and the bad.

<cool. just needed to talk that out for me more than you really>

Just for a laugh… try punching your name into www.pipl.com and see what comes up. I don’t know why… but I still find this a little scary. Digital footprints are a force to be reckoned with. Monitoring yours is imperative. Knowing how to mitigate the less savory stuff on you is priceless.

Apr 17th by Shannon

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