THIS WEEK IN TECTORIA

A community blog celebrating Victoria's booming tech sector

CONTACT THE TECTORIA BLOG

Got a cool story about technology and creativity in Victoria? Email stories, tips, pictures, links and anything of interest to Tessa Bousfield at: tectoria@viatec.ca

Flytographer

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: Flytographer!

Flytographer turns three today and we can’t believe the amount of success they’ve had in such a short period of time. In the past year alone they were on an episode of the Dragons’ Den (making the tough decision of turning down a deal), and they scored an incredible GLOBAL contract with the Fairmont line of hotels.

Most recently, the queen of ‘favourite things’, Oprah, named Flytographer an ‘ingenious travel hack’ on oprah.com!

Tectoria can’t wait to see what the future holds for this local startup success story.

Happy birthday Flytographer, have a blast this weekend! We assume you’ll capture it all on film 🙂

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Devan McCannel

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Our Tectoria blog has been leaning more towards featuring companies or organizations lately, but we couldn’t resist featuring one of our very own on his birthday, and a week away from his last day with VIATEC.

You may know Devan McCannel from when he dealt you a hand at a Dawson City casino, from his days at UVic (BCom – Entrepreneurship) or when he attended the City University of Hong Kong. Maybe you crossed paths when he worked for RevenueWire, when you took that random dance class in Vancouver or maybe you commented on his bungee jumping photo saying something like “Nope, no way, never.”

"Nope, no way, never."

“Nope, no way, never.”

Devan has a wealth of life experience for being under 30 and has worn a few hats, including Engagement Concierge (EC) at VIATEC since August 2014. As the EC he’s been responsible for community management, administration, advising and event management for the Venture Acceleration Program. He got to assist start-up technology companies identify viable business models and rapidly grow their revenues, in addition to helping start-ups find funding for their co-op positions through the BC-ISI Program.

He’s also been the lead organizer for VIATEC Peer Roundtables and several VIATEC events including the February 2015 VIATEC Food Bank Challenge (successfully raised over $40,000), and the Pitch Pit and Demo Camp events during Experience Tectoria 2014 and 2015.

Devan has not only proved himself to be a hard worker, but he’s also taken on the role of “office clown” with ease.

Devan’s contract with VIATEC is nearing an end, but his team will still see him half a block up Fort Street where he’ll be working with local startup company, LlamaZOO Interactive.

VIATEC wishes him the best of luck and thanks him for all the dedication he’s shown! Happy Birthday Devan!

 

Girls Learning Code

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: GIRLS Learning Code!

You may have heard of Ladies Learning Code, which is a monthly meet up with rotating topics to help improve Digital Literacy for Women. It’s a national event and has become very popular in Victoria with continuously sold out events at Fort Tectoria and UVic.

Well, they also want to improve Digital Literacy in girls ages 9-13. On April 9th at St. Margaret’s School, girls will get to learn programming with Ruby. The workshop is designed to introduce beginners to coding in a fun, interactive way. They’ll play code-based games, solves puzzles and complete online activities to help them learn all about the language.

Ladies Learning Code also has a Ruby session this Saturday at UVic.

Click here for the April 9th Girls Learning Code session

Click here for the March 19th Ladies Learning Code session.

HackVictoria

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Have you ever wanted to find something in Victoria that could be better, and make it awesome with technology? You may want to attend HackVictoria…

HackVictoria is an event for developers and designers of all skill levels to launch their own project that makes something about Victoria better.

This weekend’s event starts on Saturday and runs through Sunday. Presented by UVic Web Development Club and Sponsored by MetaLab, it will be held in the University of Victoria’s David Turpin Building.

For full details please visit http://hackvictoria.com/

FIRST Robotics

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: FIRST Robotics!

FIRST Robotics engages kids in kindergarten through high school in exciting, mentor-based, research and robotics programs that help them become science and technology leaders, as well as well-rounded contributors to society.
They are hosting an information session tomorrow (Saturday) from 1pm to 3pm about FIRST Robotics and how a school might go about putting together a team for FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).
FTC high school teams design, build and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams!

Mini Tectorians

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Our Tectorians of the Week are: Every Mini Tectorian that came to Discover Tectoria last week!

On February 19th, the Crystal Garden was flooded with job seekers, investors, students and thousands of bright-eyed, awe-struck kids. The Island’s biggest tech expo landed on a tri-city Pro-D Day this year which allowed kids and their parents to spend a full day learning and interacting with Greater Victoria’s #1 Sector – Technology.

Science Venture conducted science experiments and tech gadget demos which had everyone fully entertained. The Video Game Lounge was also a hit as kids got a glimpse into what a coding job can look like, and how they can work right here in Victoria.

We hope this event made an impact on every youth member that made their way through Crystal Garden, and that our tech community can continue to shed a light and inspire our future generation.

Every media outlet in the City captured Discover Tectoria. Have a look, a read and a listen below!

CTV

Shaw TV

CHEK TV

The Zone@91.3FM

Times Colonist

RecStaff

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: RecStaff!

RecStaff is an online staff scheduling service that works on every device and takes spreadsheets out of your daily routine.

The RecStaff team is based right here in Victoria and you can meet them at Discover Tectoria on February 19th in the Startup Alley at Crystal Garden from 11am to 6pm.

To learn more about RecStaff and if it’s something that can be applied in your office, visit http://recstaff.com.

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Revolution 3D Printers

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: Revolution 3D Printers!

Revolution 3D Printers (R3DP) is a Canadian manufacturing and R&D company that manufactures 3D printers, with a focus on technologically innovative product development. They provide their customers with a complete 3D printing solution.

R3DP is hosting a 3D Printing Workshop TONIGHT from 4pm to 7pm in Sidney. This is a great event to create something special for your significant other, yourself, or simply watch their Infinity 3D printers in action! Click here for details.

You can also find them at the upcoming Discover Tectoria tech expo on Feb 19th at the Crystal Garden in the Startup Alley. This event will feature a tech tradeshow, Video Game Lounge, Research District, Science Shows, robots, flying drones and food trucks. Free for students and their parents!

Congrats Revolution 3D Printers, keep on making cool stuff!

Global Game Jam 2016

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: Global Game Jam 2016!

Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the largest event of its kind, and in 2015, generated over 135,000 participants from 500 cities in 78 countries. Seasoned game developers, graphic artists, musicians, writers and anyone with a love for video games are gathering in Victoria at Fort Tectoria at 777 Fort St. starting at 6PM on January 29 – 31st, for a weekend of collaborative game development, industry insights, and sleep deprivation.

For those simply curious about game development or eager to help, there are limited volunteer spaces available. Sign up info can be found at the Global Game Jam Victoria website: http://globalgamejam.org/

Roy Group

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: Roy Group!

Roy Group is sponsoring the very first installment of F*ckUp Nights in Victoria on January 28th at Fort Tectoria, so guests can enjoy some complimentary drinks and bites!

Roy Group  is a modern day tribe of practitioners, organizational advisers and executive educators who share an appetite to be better, everyday, at what they do for their clients including: designing and delivering 1:1, group and organization-wide experiences that accommodate the nuances of organizations.

Ian Chisholm of Roy Group just had a busy week of exploring Alberta with EEDC (Edmonton Economic Development), exploring the potential, power and .

F*ckUp Night will feature stories of failed businesses and projects that are told, questioned and celebrated.

Thanks for stepping up to support a tech community event, Roy Group!