CUTC Blog

Your Sneakpeek Inside CUTC HQ

Check for updates from our organizers about all things technology and CUTC related.

Live, From the Holiday Inn on King, it's CUTC 2005!!

Thu Jan 20 2005, 6:26AM | by dinu.nesan

That's right, keep your eyes right here, we'll be posting live blog updates from the conference!!!

The first installment:

It's 630am, I'm sitting at the registration desk. In just over an hour or so, this is going to be a whirlwind of activity, but right now most organizers are just trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

Today we've got such a full line-up of events, it's craaaaaazy! 2 keynotes, 2 sets of seminars, the brand-new TechShow event. I'm telling you, here at CUTC we don't mess around. First day, full throttle baby!

I've got some stuff to handle before I'll feel secure that I'm not going to metaphorically trip and fall on my face, but keep tuned here, I'm going to try and catch all the speakers I can and maybe I'll give some thoughts.

Also, are you attending the conference? Take advantage of the wireless internet (kindly provided by Bell!) and blog your own thoughts about the conference. Then drop me a line at dinu.nesan AT cutc dot ca (you know how it works, boourns to spam), and we'll give you a shiny new link from right here at CUTC HQ!

Attention CUTC Couch Potatos!

Wed Jan 12 2005, 10:47AM | by dinu.nesan

Hey CUTCers!

Do you love nothing more than vegging in front of the TV? But do you wish that you could get a little taste of CUTC while you lounge?

The solution is here for you today! Tune in at 5pm to CP24 to see your friendly CUTC media reps: Your PR Team Lead (yours truly, Dinu Nesan) and your Media Relations Office (Diana Low)! We'll be on their weekly tech show "HomePage", and I think we'll be going live, so let's all hope there are no wardrobe malfunctions (har har, I'm hilarious) or lip-synching incidents (this is comedic gold here people).

Anyways, tune in (and tape us too!) to see us and hear about what great stuff is going on, not that you don't already know :)

Happy New Year!

Sat Jan 08 2005, 11:21AM | by dinu.nesan

Ok, so it's a bit late for good tidings for the new annum, but hey, cut me some slack :). Things are picking up here at CUTC HQ as we march closer and closer to gameday.

Did you know that CUTC was on Slashdot? As always with /. pages, set your comments filter to 0 to avoid the trolls, then read the nice things people have to say about us. That's the stuff that gets me up in the morning.

We're proud to note that we confirmed our final keynote, Hisham and the rest of the team were working with Bell for the last little while to get just the right person for CUTC. So go, go read about the wonders of Eugene Roman, you'll see and hear him live in just a couple of weeks.

Anyways, I'll try and keep you all up to date on things, the PR Team just finished sending the conference guide to the printers, so when you sit down and look at all the pretty layout and scintillating text, think of us.

As always, an interesting read for you: Gizmodo & Gates. I don't know about you, but I always think of Bill Gates as some kind of otherworldly figure, sitting up on top of some mountain made of money, inaccessible to the everyman. Then I read things like this, where he just decides to sit down with a web journalist and talk shop. The geek part of me wishes that he'd find out about CUTC and drop us a line. Seriously Mr. Gates, the email's dinu.nesan@cutc.ca, I would definitely love to swim in your money bin!

Until next time CUTC-ers!

Interesting Read

Thu Dec 16 2004, 8:07AM | by dinu.nesan

So we were all really excited here at Camp CUTC when Joel Spolsky confirmed to attend the conference. I mean, wow, when we started out on this whole adventure that is creating an actual conference way back in May, it all seemed so abstract. I mean for me at least, this being my first year as an organizer who's actually doing stuff, and trying to lead a team as well, it was sort of like "yes, build a conference... let's do that". Suffice it to say it was a bit overwhelming at the time. But now, with things just around the and everything coming together, it's totally amazing. And then we go out and land such great speakers like this. It just blows me away how much a group of students can do with nothing more than passion and enthusiasm (and a frightening amount of emails, thanks Gmail for organizing my life!).

Anyways, it's finals time here at UWaterloo, so we're all balancing our academic lives against our CUTC lives, myself included. So while I study for population biology, here's Joel Spolsky's take on pricing software.

My favorite quote: "Humps mean local maxima! Or camels. But here they mean local maxima!". I totally geek out when math is used in everyday life, I think it's the frustrated mathematician inside this poor scientist (or is it a mathmagician? watch me make this remainder disappear!).

Keep watching for more great CUTC updates!

10 Reasons To Attend CUTC!

Wed Dec 15 2004, 1:01PM | by dinu.nesan

#10. If you want to take a break from school/coop and enjoy catered
meals, grab a bag full of goodies, and learn about new cutting edge
technologies in just 3 days!

#9. If you want to party with the best and brightest students from of all over Canada. Our wacky ice breakers, friday night outing in Toronto, Professional Lunches with industry Leaders and semi-formal banquet are the places to be!!

#8. If you're into software, then you'll want to see Joel Spolsky, Allan Vermeulen (CTO of Amazon), Alan Ganek (VP of Autonomic Computing at IBM) and more…

#7. If you're biotech and/or physics-inclined, then we have Lee Smolin from the Perimeter Institute, Tom Regier from Canada's newly built Synchrotron, and Steve Scherer from the Chromosome 7 Project.

#6. If you're interested in mechatronics, then you don't want to miss all the above plus our speakers on MEMs and Nanotech.

#5. If you're about saving-the-world and green Engineering, then you'll love the environmental speakers, our 'let's solve Canada's problems' ThinkTank event, and our TechPanel on outsourcing!

#4. If you want to expand your contact base and
interacting/learning through personal communication, then you will
want to meet the several entrepreneurial millionaires such as Cognos'
Chief strategy Officer, and network with the 500 students/50 industry
leaders at CUTC!!

#3. If you want to develop your career skills, then you'll definitely want to participate in our Career expo and go on the tech tours - you may even find yourself a mentor!

#2. Steve Cutler is hosting our brand new Jay Leno-style TechShow
event! You don't want to miss him interviewing four superstars from
the tech industry, "Jay Walking" with UW Arts Students, resolving the
VI vs. Emacs debate, and more tech-flavoured comedy!!

and finally……..

#1. Any of the above reasons apply to you, and you own a shirt that
says on the front and on the back. Well, you can still
attend even if you don't own that shirt, but don't tell us about it.
:)

FAQ - For Delegates

Sun Dec 12 2004, 12:23PM | by dinu.nesan

Here are a series of questions and answers that you might be having about CUTC and what to do. The answers all found elsewhere on the website, but we thought it would be nice to summarize them all for you here. The CUTC blog, it's all about making your life easier! Do you have a question that isn't answered here? Email me at dinu.nesan@cutc.ca, and I'll get you the info you need.

When/where is the conference?

CUTC 2005 is taking place January 20 - 22, 2005 at the Holiday Inn on King in the heart of Downtown Toronto.
Address: 370 King St. West Toronto, Ontario M5V 1J9 Canada


If you would like to stay at the Holiday Inn, CUTC has arranged for special discount rates with the Holiday Inn on King.
Due to hotel safety regulations, the maximum number of delegates per room is 4.

Hotel Room Information
Standard Room - 2 double beds
Number of delegates staying in room: 4
Price per person, per night: $32.50
Note: Prices include tax


Reservations (N. America) 1-800-263-6364 or Call 416-599-1987


Call in reservations directly to the hotel prior to the cut-off date by January 7, 2005 and quote the following code: UNDER to ensure you receive our group rate, as well as mention that you are with CUTC when making the reservation. CHECK-IN TIME IS 4 PM, CHECK-OUT TIME IS 12 NOON.


Additional info on other rates can be found here


If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at registration@cutc.ca


How much does the conference cost? Is there an early bird price?

The early-bird registration price is $99 CDN, if you pay before Monday, December 20, 2004.


If you choose to pay after this date, the fee will be $119.00 CAD. However, several programs/universities have generously offered to subsidize some or all of the registration fee. You can check to see your eligibility for a subsidy at the Main Registration Page. Here you will be prompted to enter your school/program information to calculate your registration cost. Your subsidy will be included in the calculation of your registration cost and will be displayed with the result of the calculation.


Additional funding that is not posted on this website may also be available. For more information on this, as well as transportation and hotel arrangements of students coming from your school, please contact your school's ambassador.


Registration for CUTC 2005 is now open.


What does the registration fee cover?

The registration fee gives you access to all the events of conference – Seminars, TechShow, TechPanels, Keynotes, TechTours, TechExpo, ThinkTank, CareerExpo, the Banquet and Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner where identified on the schedule. Unfortunately, the registration fee does not cover accommodation for the conference duration.


How do I register and select my seminars?

In order to register for the conference, you have to fill our online Registration Form. The process is broken down into 5 steps as you will see.


Seminar registration will occur closer to the date of the conference, this is to ensure that the information about timing and various speakers will be as reliable as possible. New speakers can sometimes sign on for the conference later than expected, so we try to be prepared for this.


How can I find out if I'm eligible for a subsidy?

You can check to see your eligibility for a subsidy at the Main Registration Page.


Here you will be prompted to enter your school/program information to calculate your registration cost. Your subsidy will be included in the calculation of your registration cost and will be displayed with the result of the calculation.


Additional funding that is not posted on this website may also be available. For more information on this, as well as transportation and hotel arrangements of students coming from your school, please contact your school's ambassador.


What can I do for accomodations?

CUTC 2005 will be held at the Holiday Inn on King.


Our Accomodation Recommendations:
Wednesday Night - Out of town delegates are encouraged to stay.
Thursday Night - Social and networking events at night.
Friday Night - Social and networking events at night.
Saturday Night - Delegates attending the final banquet are encouraged to stay.


Unfortunately, the registration fee does not cover accommodation for the conference duration. In order to best accommodate the needs of all delegates (i.e. roommate preference, number of nights at hotel, size of room, etc.), the CUTC is requesting that delegates deal with the hotel directly for booking their rooms.


If you're looking for potential roommates, be sure to check out the CUTC Forum. Register for the forum and post that you're looking for roommates, it's a great way to contact other CUTC2005 Delegates!



How do I get to the conference?

CUTC 2005 will be held at the Holiday Inn on King.
370 King St. West Toronto, Ontario M5V 1J9 Canada


You can check this interactive Map to plan your route or input your starting address and get driving directions to this location.


For those taking the TTC/Subway
The closest subway station to the Hotel is St. Andrew's, from there you can take either Bus# 504 or 508 (depending on scheduling time) traveling on King St. West to get within walking distance of the hotel.


From the Airport (Driving Directions)
Take Highway 401 east into the city, until you reach the Don Valley Parkway (DVP)
Take the DVP south to the Gardiner Expressway.
Take the Gardiner west to Spadina Avenue.
Exit the Gardiner at Spadina and go north.
Continue on Spadina to King St.
Turn right onto King St.
The hotel is 370 King St. W.

Spreading The Word

Sat Dec 04 2004, 11:27AM | by dinu.nesan

Hey CUTC delegates, I thought I'd drop in on the blog and reintroduce myself. I'm Dinu, the PR Team Lead, and a fourth year bio major here at UW. I just spent the last hour or so going over letters to media contacts, and the more I spend going over the stuff we have to offer this year, the more hyped up I get about spreading the CUTC word.

I also spent the last couple of days manning CUTC booths here on the UW campus, and let me tell you, it wasn't a hard job to get delegates. I mean, as soon as people see the speaker lineup (way to go AIR Team!) and the events (Go Special Events!), they automatically start getting interested.

Make sure you watch this space in the next few days, more and more content is going to be coming up, so keep your eyes here! Seeing as I spent time that I should have been studying watching the Amazon movies that Hisham posted (thanks a lot for helping me procrastinate!), I thought I'd add this article. As the rare scientist on the CUTC team, I thought it should be science-related.

So here you go: 100 (Scientific) Things to Do Before You Die.
My personal favorite: extract your own DNA.

Amazon Short Videos -- Pretty Smart

Thu Dec 02 2004, 9:12PM | by hisham.al-shurafa

So I (Hisham -- Co-Chair) just confirmed Amazon.com as Friends sponsors for CUTC and we have some cool prizes from them to giveaway in the conference.

For some reason, this reminded me of Amazon's neat short movies at Amazon Theater. Now that's creative marketing! To make a movie and tell customers they can buy almost any item shown in the movie at Amazon.com is a new idea. I wonder how much addtional sales it got them.

My favorite so far is "Do Geese See God". "Tooth Fairy" is not bad, if you look closely, Jeff Bezos is the security guard!

Hisham

Funny Stuff Until It Happens To You

Thu Nov 11 2004, 3:12AM | by cutc

On a lighter note:
Inspired by a goof I (Dinu from Public Relations Team) made while trying to drum up some CUTC inspiration, here is the tale of how a few silly people crashed Microsoft's email servers!

Also take a look in the comments for the tech-related fixes that have since been implemented. Here at CUTC we both love to laugh and love to learn!

The CUTC Blog: Your Sneakpeek Inside CUTC HQ

Thu Nov 11 2004, 2:49AM | by cutc

Hello CUTC enthusiasts!

Big things are happening here at CUTC HQ, most importantly: Registration is live! We've also got some exciting speakers lined up and some more confirmed sponsors too (watch the News for details).

You can also start watching this space more and more, not just for conference news and updates. But also to get a little bit of a feel for the people behind the event! That way you can come up to us and say, "hey, great job, and what a great blog too!". That kind of stuff makes us happy.

So keep checking the CUTC blog, and sign up for CUTC 2005 now!