Raincity Studios' President Kris Krug is becoming as important to any new media event as the roof (but not quite as critical as wi-fi and coffee). Indeed, Kris Krug is in need of some serious carbon credits with all the travel but he is karmicly making up for the impact by bringing his new web savvy and business acumen to a diverse assortment of events.

The tour stop roster is getting a bit lengthy for my achey blogging fingers but here are a few forthcoming gigs to catch you up on Krug-Tour 2008 (t-shirts available soon - Kruggies, get your ducats ready!)

In continuing coverage (otherwise known as "staying up with the Raincity crews' activities"), here's a recap of Bridging Media at the Great Northern Way campus (AKA The Hangar). The event was wrangled up by Megan Cole and Erica Hargreave with able assistance by RCS's KK and Bmann and the speaker roster included many of our Van-groovy eco-system.

I am on board to speak at another cool event, this one put on by The High-Tech Communicators’ Exchange about the topic: Social Media: A new way to market?

This should be a real interesting group to address since, according to their blurb, there will a variety of disciplines and industries represented which should make for some interesting questions.

I'm sharing the stage with Rob Cottingham - he is part of web strategy company Social Signal and also a professional speechwriter for politicos and roasters (check out his Squidoo speechwriting lens for useful tips) and he draws awesome comix about Web 2.0 culture.

Here's the aforementioned blurb:

Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, myspace … what does the social media revolution mean to marketers and communicators? How is it redefining how we communicate, connect, network and build relationships with customers, stakeholders and even employees? How are companies using social media to increase visibility and build awareness? What are the risks and pitfalls of using social media? And what’s coming next?

Loading up your calendar with geeky goodness with another big-time event - Web Directions North 2008. Naturally, some of the Raincity Studios clan will be on the scene.

This time Vancouver technology consultant and VP of Product Development, Boris Mann is speaking about (what else?) using open CMS for sharing content. Additionally, El Presidente Kris Krug will put on this fashion and editorial photography toque as the on-site photo-maker to document the splendor of designers at work and play.

The Web Directions North line-up features a raft of speakers from hot-shot companies you've probably heard of (or should have anyhow) and includes lots of our webby pals like Citizen Agency's Tara Hunt and Chris Messina (real life and professional partners), nitobi super-hero Andre Charland, and many more making the trip to our beautiful 'burg. The event is notably taking some time to enjoy the local environs.

Vancouver's techie confab schedule is bustling along with another great looking conference lined up - Content Convergence and Integration 2008: Changing the Content Management Landscape - and I'm not just saying that because I'm a speaker.

The three-day gig is March 12 - 14, 2008 at Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre and seems to particularly well-suited for big-picture and strategy oriented thinkers plotting big ideas for the coming years.

Salim Ismail (The Future of XML Publishing), Liz Danzico (The Framework Age) and Michael Fergusson (Culture, Commerce, and Copyright) are the keynotes.

My amigo Boris Mann is also on the docket with "Get out of the Silo - Using Open Software to Share Content."