Derek joined a team of seven other young adults and twelve youth from Saskatoon’s Elim Tabernacle that partnered with Mexico’s La Viña (Mexican for vineyard). For nine days the team gave food bags away and made meals for hundreds of people. Any remaining money was given to other feeding projects when they left. The communities didn’t have money and resources so the group would bring in a mobile stage, offer children’s church, and set up a mobile kitchen to feed the entire community. Aside from feeding people, the group found the time to dig several five and a half foot deep, by three and a half foot wide holes for a foundation to a church.

What’s your most memorable story?
“One of the most memorable moments was feeding people at the local Mazatlan dump. Hundreds of people worked at the dump right in the garbage collecting plastic, steel, cardboard and anything else they thought they could sell. They do this because they can’t find a job anywhere else. I was in charge of crowd control for the food line. I’m not going to lie, I got pushed around quite a bit, but the people were overall very nice. They are regular men and women (yes, lots of women and kids worked there too). The only difference is that their job is to collect garbage and they smell kind of funky!”

What’s the story behind these people?
“Most people go to Mazatlan for a vacation and it’s a nice place to do that. What those vacationers often don’t see are the communities of squatters. Thousands of low income Mexicans moved to Mazatlan to try to get jobs in the tourism industry. The problem was, there weren’t enough jobs and these people had nowhere to go. So they built houses on unused land hoping that some day they would be able to buy the land. The other problem is that the houses aren’t houses; they are more like sticks, blankets and old coca-cola tarps – kind of like the forts I used to make in my basement when I was little, except that these people have to live in them.”

What did you gain from this experience?
“It was my 15 minutes of Mexican fame! I would leave feeling like a rock star because when we would ride in the back of the truck home after helping these people all day they would wave and cheer as we drove away.”

“But the bottom line is, I’ve gone on a trip like the Mexico mission before and I will go on more in the future because it helps me to be a more grateful person. I feel our society is extremely possession oriented which inevitably makes us less thankful for what we have. The people that I had the opportunity to help were remarkably happy even though they had very little. I was constantly reminded that, no matter what happens in life, I need to be thankful and content with what I have. It also made me realize how fortunate I am to live in Canada and to have a great new job, and for all the people I get to interact with in Saskatoon and beyond. In the end, I think the people of Mazatlan gave much more to me than I gave to them.”

Here’s to you Derek Robinson!

What would you do if you went to outer space?
AL: I would try bowling or playing ping pong.
AB: I would silently scream as my eyeballs froze and then quickly asphyxiate.
zu: Huh?

What do you want to be when you grow up?
AL: I’ve never been in a band, but there’s still a part of me that wants to be a rockstar. But not the main singer, the mysterious bass guitar player in the background.
AB: Taller.
zu: Nice.

What are you passionate about?
AL: Music. I love playing and listening to music.
AB: Films and the Internet.

What do you do in your spare time?
AL: Play guitar. Mostly blues and rock. I love reading. I just finished ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. And sports, I’m not the best, but I still love playing.
AB: I watch, act in and make videos of all kinds but mostly short films because they’re cheaper to make. But I’ve acted in comedies, dramas, and full length features.

Are you aware that there is a two-handed pro-bowler?
AL: Next time I go bowling, I’ll have to give that a try.
AB: Nope, I didn’t know that. But I’m impressed.

Favourite lunchtime TV show?
AL: Well, the only option we seem to have here at zu is the Price is Right or the Flinstones, I suppose. We watch that the odd time.
AB: The Price is Right.

Favourite book?
AL: Heart of Darkness. Sounds depressing, but it’s an awesome book.
AB: All I read is tech books.

Favourite video game?
AL: Super Smash Bros.
AB: Star Control 2.

What surprised you the most about zu?
AL: How good zu is to its people. They obviously care and are willing to accommodate.
AB: That it’s run by two man-children. Seriously, Ryan and Tony are like two big kids, which is awesome. Oh, and that the receptionists were still nice to me after I got hired.

What’s your favourite thing about zu so far?
AL: The entire atmosphere. It’s so relaxed; it has this feeling of being in a really cool place. I’m always excited to tell people where I work.
AB: The people. It’s such a great collection of extremely talented and creative people all in one place.

zu: It’s been a pleasure. Welcome to zu Andrew and Adam!

What is your full name and what is its meaning?
You’d better copy that from the email I sent! My full name is Alex Nana Kwame Osei-Gyau. If you break it down, Alex is my father’s first name and was given to me. Referred to historically as one’s ‘Christian’ name, it is an English name attached to (or sometimes replacing) one’s Ghanaian name. Nana literally means chief (unisex for both male and female).  At one point it meant one was part of the lineage of chiefs for a particular village, but now is used more to reflect what one hopes their child to be.  So it means ‘one who leads’. Kwame means a male child born on Saturday from the Ashanti group of tribes. Osei-Gyau is my family name.

Throughout your life, which countries have you lived in?
In order: Ghana (where I was born), Nigeria, Kiribati (Gilbert Islands), England, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Grenada, and Canada. I’ve lived in Canada the longest, 8 years. After that the longest I lived in one country is Kiribati for 6 years. I moved around a lot because my father was a lawyer for the British Commonwealth. So he always had contracts in the various Commonwealth countries.

What will you miss about living in Saskatoon?
Well, a lot of things. But most of all I would say the ‘do it yourself’ attitude of the people. I think that exists because people here come from a past where they couldn’t rely on others to do things for them. I will certainly miss the survival attitude of Saskatchewanians.

What will you miss the most about zu?
Again, a lot of things but to sum it up, the work culture. By that I guess I mean the amazing work hard, play hard culture of zu. Oh, and also the approachability of the bosses. One of the things that has impacted me the most is the approachability of zu’s owners. It is such an incredible asset. You don’t get that everywhere. I’m not sure I will ever find anything like this anywhere else, but I sure hope I do.

I will also miss the themed parties! Even though I sometimes complained about the work and time involved, I always looked forward and enjoyed the group projects. They take a lot of work to prepare and are sometimes stressful, but they are always worth it. For example, we had to do a choreographed dance routine but in the end it was great to perform what we practiced and see what everyone else did.

What’s your most memorable zu moment?
Hmmm, ha. Probably when Albert and a friend of mine threw me a surprise 30^th birthday party last year. Al mistakenly thought it was my 30^th, so all the guests showed up thinking the same. When in fact, it was only my 29^th!

Why are you moving to Ottawa?
Oh, lots of reasons. Part of it is habit; it’s just the way my life has been, always moving to new places. I typically don’t travel a lot. I like to move somewhere new and stay there for a length of time. I’m ready to start something new in a new environment with new challenges. Maybe eventually I’ll settle in one place, but for right now I want to keep experiencing new homes.

What’s one piece of advice you would leave people new to zu?
Relax. Relax and be ready to be passionate about what you do because it’s going to involve working hard. And be open to the people because they will be open to you. If you want rules, order and structure zu is not for you. Things are intuitive and you need to be able to adapt. If you are an independent thinker that doesn’t need constant guidance you will flourish at zu.

Wherever your adventures take you Alex, we are sure you will flourish too! Happy travels and don’t be a stranger.

Cameco and PotashCorp were listed as the Best Ranked IR Websites in North America. They were in good company alongside Intel, General Electric Company, Microsoft, Bank of Montreal, Del Monte Foods Company, and Overseas Shipholding Group.

After a complete site redesign and reengineering in 2008, Cameco has worked to enhance their environmental assessment content, regularly update the CEO messaging, add webcast and audio recordings, and consistently keep the site’s content fresh and relevant. In the past Cameco achieved an overall Top 5 ranking for best ranked IR website in North America (2009) and best online annual report in North America (2008), along with best IR website as ranked by technical criteria in North America (2008), and best IR website in Canada by technical criteria (2008).

“We strive to be a leader in our ongoing communication with investors,” says Lyle Krahn, Cameco’s director of external communications. “We rely on zu’s knowledge, advice and expertise to achieve that goal with our website. The awards reflect our combined efforts.”

PotashCorp reloaded and relaunched this year with a complete redesign and reengineering of their website. The new site features a  DataTool that allows users to easily find historical market and company information, and a library to access a range of documents in one convenient location. The focus on ease of navigation and simplified usability was spurred by feedback collected from investors. In past years PotashCorp has taken home IR Global Rankings awards including Best Online Annual Report in North America (2009), Best IR Website in the Basic Materials industry (2006), and Top 4 for Best Earnings Releases and Disclosure Procedures in North America (2006).

“At PotashCorp we focus on clear, transparent and timely disclosure,” says Denita Stann, senior director of investor relations with PotashCorp. “Our website is an important part of our communication strategy, and zu’s expertise and vision has been a key part of our success.”

“It is extremely rewarding for our team at zu to see the accolades our clients receive from everyone’s hard work,” commented Lejbak. “We are very proud of the work Cameco and PotashCorp have done and believe they will remain leaders in online Investor Relations for many years to come.”

About the IR Gobal Rankings
The annual IR Global Rankings and Awards survey is the most comprehensive auditing and ranking system for IR websites, corporate governance practices and financial disclosure procedures – a great opportunity to benchmark IR efforts vis-à-vis peers and industry leaders. Based on extensive proprietary research of publicly held companies and investors, and supported by input from independent audit, corporate governance and legal experts, MZ’s methodology is highly detailed, transparent and fully accessible to all participants.

Devon will be graduating with his Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing next month. But life won’t slow down for him; he will be preparing for his June wedding. The Lloydminster boy keeps busy with shinny, curling, football, fishing, golf, snowmobiling, video gaming and boxing. Phew! And he cheers for the Oilers and the Riders. Nice.

Devon says, “When I envisioned my first post-university job, I did not think I would be downtown with my own corner office. At least that is what I tell my friends. Truth be told, I just stole Jordy’s office while he was on holidays!” Sorry you didn’t get to keep the corner office Devon but we’re happy to have you on board!

24hrAssistant (www.24hrassistant.com) is a zu sister company, offering cost-effective, easy-to-use online appointment scheduling software to its clients.

Levi Bucsis (pronounced bew-sis and often referred to as Levi B or Levi 2) joined zu in late November as a Project Manager and brought with him extensive web design and programming experience as well as a degree in psychology. I’m sure we’ll put that degree into practice around here at some point. Levi hit the ground running, taking on all internal zu project management, the MLT rebuild, and Teck Resources, one of our newest clients, just to name a few.

Levi is a sucker for anything related to health and wellness, travel, culture, languages and music. So where have you been at the last zu yoga classes, Levi? He’s passionate about people and the web. Could we ask for a better fit? Oh ya, and he adds good depth to our street hockey squad. Sweet.

Meet Heather Adams. She’s an avid soccer player, dancer, ponger, and shoe shopper. Or maybe better put, she’s an intensely competetive ping pong player. You’ve never seen a programmer with their tail between their legs like after a game with Adams. And I can vouch, she’s got some pretty sweet shoes in her vast collection. With Heather, anything she does she does full-on and she does it well.

Heather has spent the last three years at Rawlco radio managing their online advertising department as the Client Services Coordinator and comes to zu fully armed with a wealth of Internet knowledge and excellent customer service skills. She is, again, a perfect fit for zu. She is currently in full force working with clients such as Cameco, Elk Ridge and Lexcom.

Mmmm, ice cream floats at the February birthday celebration.

Welcome to zu Heather and Levi! We’ll introduce a few more new faces next week.

Oh so debonair.

Now that’s pancake perfection.

The 85th Annual MacKenzie Thayer Awards for Entertainment Excellence

No peeking!

CN, a North American railway, brings its business closer to its customers by providing live, updated information on every operational facet of customers’ shipments. It is an evolutionary approach in websites for customers who want it all.

About CN
CN is a leader in the North American rail industry. More than just a railroad, CN is a transportation company offering integrated transportation services including rail, intermodal, trucking, freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution.

Situation Analysis
The previous site design and architecture was outdated and cluttered. There was no existing database or content management system (CMS) and all content was built and updated in HTML. A current inventory of 2,500 pages was taxing to manage so content had to be condensed to 1,500 pages while maintaining multilingual communications in four languages. The functionality of the existing online customer tools (eBusiness) also required upgrades to establish a positive customer-centric experience. The CN website was mainly used by customers to carry out tasks regarding their shipments. However, it provided a confusing architecture to find information regarding how, what and where things could be shipped.

A complete redesign, reengineering and implementation of a third party CMS (RedDot) was required.

Goals
Due to the complex nature of the inherited assets in the existing site, the CN project required initiatives to be rolled out in phases. The infrastructure, navigation, appearance and usability of the website required immediate attention. Secondary goals addressed recruiting needs, investor relations reporting, corporate information and news, and customization of relevant target marketing messages. And finally, the eBusiness site required a redesign to better integrate with the new public site design.

Challenges
The true challenge of this project laid in the need for trust and transparency between parties in order to reach a common goal.  The zu team worked diligently with CN on coordinating a seamless project. Because the content was provided by CN, and the CMS integration was done by the CMS vendor, this created a need for zu to develop a strategy that would support third party CMS integration by acting as an intermediary between the CN web team and CMS vendor. zu Systems Analysts developed functional specifications that were  complex in nature and zu Developers had to undergo extensive training in order to clearly define the third party CMS requirements. Converting 5,000 pages of content required editing and proofing resources in four languages.

Solutions
The design and information architecture solutions were developed by zu and applied to the frontend of the new site. In order to create an intuitive user experience, simple and clean design enhancements were implemented and the information architecture was rebuilt to facilitate typical customer tasks and information needs. zu provided CN with the tools to update specific real estate in the website by assisting with the configuration of the CMS. This created more autonomy for CN to craft custom messaging when required and further eliminated HTML updates that once fell on IT. Customization tools were applied to the eBusiness components in order to create a customer-centric website which would enable the CN ecommerce sales channel to better achieve financial targets. zu created a strategy that enabled marketing users to insert tailored banners to communicate key information to investors and analysts.

Solution Summary

• New site design
• New site information architecture
• Technical strategy
• Functional specifications
• Development of cascading style sheets (CSS)
• Integration and support for third party CMS (Red Dot)
• Integration of third party data feeds and components
• Functional programming
• Reintegration of web analytics
• Content editing, proofing and insertion of 1,500 pages in 4 languages
• Integration of Google Search

Result
Despite an economic downturn in 2009, CN’s public website page views increased 25% year-over-year compared to its previous website. A service-oriented site allowing visitors and customers to quickly determine how, what and where they can ship was achieved.

Where You Fit In
The CN case study is an example of what zu values in a client-business relationship. The process of evaluating needs, providing strategic advice and working together to reach collective goals is what zu does best – regardless of a project’s size. With some of the freshest minds in the game, zu will find innovative ways to take your business to new heights. Combining captivating design with effective online tools will give your organization a fresh, new appeal.

“zu’s dedication, flexibility, creativity, and expertise made our project successful.” -Paul Clarke, CN eBusiness

Recipe for office tea party success:

• Ten teas from around the world supplied by a local teashop. We recommend Leopard Snow Buds, Crime of Passion and Lapsang Souchong (although a love of beef jerky or a shot of spirits helps with this one).

• A spread of goodies ranging from cucumber sandwiches, to fancy dainties from a local tearoom, to baking from Saskatoon’s best Asian bakery.

• Themes and hosts for each tearoom. We went with the Asian Tearoom, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, English Tearoom, Tea Saloon and the Princess Tea Party. Fine china, top hats, colouring books, ponchos and all. Oh, and of course enthusiastic hosts willing to participate.

• Theme music.

• A few good people with a willingness to wear tiaras, speak in fake accents, sample tea and eat.

And voilà! A fabulous tea party. We consider ourselves a bit more cultured after our classy affair. Well, maybe not, but at least we tried. Take a look for yourself.

Thursday December 24 – Open 8:30am to 2:00pm
Friday December 25 – Closed
Monday December 28 – Closed
December 29, 30 & 31 – Open 10:00am to 4:00pm
Friday January 1 – Closed
Monday January 4 – Back down to business for 2010. Regular 8:30am to 5:00pm office hours resume.

If we don’t cross paths in the next couple weeks, have a wonderful holiday season and we’ll catch ya next decade!

Happy holidays,
The zuCrew

StampsConnect is a unique social media aggregator site that uses familiar platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. The Calgary Stampeders have successfully enhanced fan engagement by permitting their audience to participate and contribute to the content. Connect is a real-time aggregator of fan-generated photos, comments, blogs and videos that allows them to interact and share with others around the world.

The 2009 Grey Cup Festival also adopted the Connect concept to build anticipation and engagement around their event with Grey Cup Festival Connect. The potential for Connect sites spreads beyond sports, with opportunity for political parties, artists, actors, musicians and many others to enhance stakeholder engagement.

The Interactive Media Awards™ recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development, and honour individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. The Outstanding Achievement award is the second highest honour bestowed by the IMA and is an extremely challenging award to win.

twitpitch: StampsConnect takes IMA outstanding achievement award in sports for social media site. #calstampeders http://twurl.nl/ihc88p