André Valle, MA 14, started the speaker series DynamicMTL as a side project at Dynamo, a digital design studio based in Montreal.
Two years on, the series attracts leaders from companies such as Google and Facebook to share digital strategies every three months at the Phi Centre, a multifunctional community hub in Old Montreal.
“We always feature one Montrealer as a speaker at our events,” says Valle, whose co-leader on the project is Max Kaplun, a graphic designer and art director at Dynamo. “That is a statement on the relevance of local projects that rival the importance of what’s happening in Silicon Valley.”
The idea behind Dynamic Collective Ventures is — instead of spending $3,000 to send an employee to a conference — to fly the speaker in and have sponsors, training and marketing budget and ticket sales cover costs. DynamicMTL events are $20 to attend, $15 for students.
“Our goal is to help startups become the next Frank and Oak through the design of knowledge sharing experiences,” says Valle, referencing the Montreal-based online retailer that reached a $1-billion valuation.
Dynamic Collective Ventures designs projects that are at the centre of challenges faced by for-profit and non-profit organizations. Its goal is to bring them together to fund projects that simultaneously tackle challenges faced by individuals and the community at large.
“Let’s say you want Seth Godin,” says Valle, referring to the American marketing powerhouse. According to Forbes, Godin charges $91K for a speaking appearance. “You can bring L’Oréal and Frank and Oak together to share the expense of flying him in.”
Considering that L’Oréal Canada’s Montreal office has 250 employees and Frank and Oak about 100, it would cost over $1-million to send every employee to the United States to see Seth Godin.
Valle explains that while the price tag might seem high, per unit cost among employees is lower, in this example $3,000 versus $260 plus saving a few days in travel time. Additionally, a community aspect could be included, such as a $20 lecture run by Valle at the Phi Centre for the general public.
A pilot project called DynamicLabs was launched by Valle in 2015, which uses a similar model although it offers hands-on digital expertise training — such as instruction on monitoring web traffic or learning how to get the most out of YouTube. Five workshops of about 20 people each have taken place to date at La Gare, a collaborative workspace in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.
Guest speakers at DynamicLabs add to the learning experience. “We had Khoi Truong, the director of media at L’Oréal Canada, explain what he expects in terms of digital strategy,” says Valle.
Valle is currently designing a program for startups to work on design and meet minimum product requirements. The idea is to collaborate with other agencies and offer services free of charge to handpicked startups in the Montreal area.
Among those who stand to benefit is District 3 Innovation Center, Concordia’s startup incubator. “District 3 has a number of promising young companies thirsting for cheap digital branding and outreach resources,” says Valle.
Learning and performance — a new corporate must-have
“Educational technology has become quite essential for companies that need to understand performance,” says Valle, who studied Ed Tech at Concordia.
The field represented a change for Valle, who completed a literature degree at the University of São Paulo in his native Brazil.
“It hit me that when I tried to teach, I couldn’t do it,” says Valle, who discovered he was crowd shy. Undeterred, he decided to pursue his studies further at Concordia’s Department of Education.
“Educational Technology serves companies that need to understand the best way of training their employees, especially as it relates to getting the most out of technology,” says Valle. He joined Dynamo as an intern in 2013 introducing content strategy to the company, a discipline that is very similar to instructional design which he was taught at Concordia.
Having moved up in the company, he says the non-profit work he co-leads benefits the organization. “Whatever is good for the community is ultimately good for Dynamo,” says Valle.