Alexa Clark, blogger, author, publisher, and social media maven, was kind enough to agree to a feature email interview with me. We talked about the best and cheapest spots to grab a bite in Ottawa, her involvement with the hugely successful #HoHoTO holiday fundraiser in Toronto, and her predictions for the online communications world in 2009. Perhaps most interesting, we uncover the blog Lex thought was forgotten.
The interview
Q | Which restaurants are your personal all-time favorite CheapEats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Ottawa?
Alexa: My favourites for breakfast include Barbe, Mello’s, and the Elgin Street Diner for breakfast. Shafali Indian Food Bazaar or Merivale Fish Market are high on my list for lunch.
For dinner, it’s a little tougher because it really depends on what I feel like that particular day. In general, “favourites” are challenging for me since they change with my mood. Do I want a nice atmosphere or great food? Am I in the mood for attentive service or do I just want to get fed? Do I want to impress a guest or settle into comfort? This is why there are so many restaurants in the book; so I was covered no matter what my mood. That said, I’d include Jadeland, the Clocktower, and L’Argoat. Though I’m still on the lookout for the perfect mix of cheap and class.
Q | Did social media/ internet play a part in any of those restaurant choices?
Alexa: Not those ones.
Q | How large a role do internet contributions play in the CheapEats series?
Alexa: The internet & social media are huge components of CheapEats for a couple of reasons:
- We are an old-school restaurant guide and restaurants can’t buy their way into CheapEats like they would a directory. We use our website, the internet, and social media to put the call out for restaurants we should consider for the next editions. We think it’s important for our guides to reflect the voice and preferences of the cities they are written about. We often use the input we get on restaurant verbatim in the book. It allows people’s passion and enthusiasm for their favourite restaurants and dishes to be shared with the CheapEats readers without being muddied or “cleaned up” and thus lose the intensity of the recommendation (and by extension, the voice of the city). Finally, we are all big web-heads here at CheapEats, so it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to do the books if we weren’t able to engage in the new tech toys and sites that are popping up all around us. Because of this, we have websites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook groups, and Flickr groups for each of our CheapEats cities and we use each medium to collect recommendations and feedback on what’s happening. In fact, we are working on a new, more social media-friendly process for people to make recommendations, comment on CheapEats, and talk about their dining experiences. (Fingers crossed) We’ll be launching it very, very soon.
Q | #hohoto :: That small hash-tag must still stir up some emotions? As one of the organizers of the HoHoTO fundraiser, what lessons did you learn about organizing a physical event primarily using online tactics?
It sure does. One of the most amazing things about #hohoto was the fact it really was social media at it’s finest. The communication and tools all were used to within an inch of their capabilities. In fact, before the event there was only one time when people got together physically and that was at the beginning. Everything else was done over Twitter, Google groups, email, and conference call. There were committee members I met for the first time at the event.
The lessons for me were really around what can be accomplished by a small group of empowered people with a shared vision. Decisions were made on-the-fly, with that vision as the tool used to evaluate everything. There was very little time to pull this off. Once a decision was made, there was very little time wasted on debating the choices or if it was absolutely perfect. It was accomplished and we moved on to the next item. Like many things in life, sometimes a time crunch will get things finished faster as opposed to plenty of time to fuss.
Q | TheApprenticeBlog.com received a lot of ink and more hits over its many seasons, eBay sale and all. Any more TV blogging in the future for you? Any last words on TheApprenticeBlog.com?
Wow, I’m surprised you knew that was me. Most people just knew me as “Lex” and assumed I was some white guy in the United States somewhere. There might be more TV blogging for me in the future, but it will have to be the right show. Creating TheApprenticeBlog let me explore a number of my interests at once: business, gaming, writing, blogging technology, SEO, and community building. In fact, the entire impetus for me to create it was for me to learn more about blogging. The timing and vehicle were perfect for me to create something unique and appealing to a large audience. These days both reality-TV and blogging are old hat. The other styles of TV shows don’t lend themselves as readily to that kind of focused blogging; and frankly there isn’t another show that is bringing a new tech-savvy audience to the table either.
Last words? Next time I wouldn’t sell it; I’d hire people to continue writing it for me.
Q | Any bold predictions for 2009?
Alexa: There are going to be some changes in the Canadian book industry. It’s already happening with BookExpo Canada cancelled, and plans already underway for BookCampTO. It will be a fascinating industry to watch as technology and the social media tenants of sharing start to seep into how books are published, distributed, and shared. In the restaurant industry, I’m actually excited to see what the current economic climate will do to the dining scene, and which restaurants, cuisines, and dishes will gain popularity over the next twelve months. It is a great time for CheapEats. For example, high-end restaurants are already starting to add lower-priced items to their menus and gourmet burgers seem to be popping up on menus everywhere. (The Works got there first, of course). I don’t think it’s a “bold prediction” but I expect a large volume of restaurants will end up closing their doors. This can be a good thing. While choices are reduced, generally quality will prevail. Restaurants will be forced to focus on what they do well. However, it also puts some great “mom & pop” restaurants at risk. So, if you have a favourite spot you want to be around in a year, make sure you are going there now.
Photo credits: Alexa Clark’s Flickr & ceotblog.com/resources.html
