We have limited space so if you haven’t grabbed your free tickets for Thursday’s TwestofTO in Mississauga you’d better grab them now.

As you may have heard, we’ve teamed up with 12for12k.org to raise some money for #Tweetsgiving with a silent auction at our TwestofTO meetup in Mississauga tonight.

Thanks to our generous sponsors we have six items up for bidding tonight… in no particular order, because all of these are amazing…

Item One:  A basketball signed by all of the Toronto Raptors

Approximate Retail Value: $150

Minimum Opening Bid: $25

Minimum Bid Increase: $10

Thanks to the Toronto Raptors Basketball team and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. for donating this basketball, signed by all of the current Toronto Raptors.

Be sure to check out the Toronto Raptors website and follow @Raptors on Twitter.

Item Two: Flip Video Ultra Camcorder

Approximate Retail Value: $125

Minimum Opening Bid: $25

Minimum Bid Increase: $10

Donated by FridgeForagers.com (part of Walmart’s ElevenMoms) this cute white and pink pocket-sized camcorder has 2 GB of memory and records up to 60 minutes. It comes with TV connector cable, wrist strap, soft carrying case, 2 AA batteries and can upload directly to YouTube, MySpace and other online video sites quickly and easily.

Item Three: Chocoate Apple Basket

Approximate Retail Value: $40

Minimum Opening Bid: $10

Minimum Bid Increase: $5

@RandyMatheson was pretty tempted by this one – 5 chocolate dipped apples donated by the amazing folks over at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory located at Square One, Mississauga. I predict there will be a bidding war on this one.

You can visit Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory or follow @rmcf_chocolate on Twitter.

Item Four: NOMA Solar Outdoor Holiday Lights – 6 boxes of 50 lights

Approximate Retail Value: $150

Minimum Opening Bid: $25

Minimum Bid Increase: $10

Donated by your TwestofTO.org hosts, Merlene & Randy – these NOMA Solar Outdoor Holiday Lights are multicoloured LED lights with a solar panel that can be wall mounted or used with a stake – more information about these lights can be found at Canadian Tire.

Item Five: Twilight Mega Gift Pack

Approximate Retail Value: $150

Minimum Opening Bid: $25

Minimum Bid Increase: $10

I don’t even know where to begin with this package – includes a Twilight messenger bag, Twilight DVD, Twilight novel, Twilight soundtrack cd, pins, keychains, dogtags and a special edition Director’s notebook. Sure to please even the most rabid Twilight fan. Donated by FrugalFamilyLife.com (part of Walmart’s ElevenMoms)

Item Six: Two Tickets to Carmen at the Canadian Opera Company

Approximate Retail Value: $200

Minimum Opening Bid: $50

Minimum Bid Increase: $10

Your chance to see one of the world’s best-loved operas at the Canadian Opera Company. Please visit the site to learn more about this production of Carmen – read synopsis, listen to audio and more.

If you can’t make it out Thursday night to The Brogue Inn, but still wish to contribute, you can use this Tweetsgiving widget to add your support to this year’s celebration of gratitude.

We have always been amazed and humbled by the support of the community for our TwestofTO meetups. Our goal has always been modest “bring people interested in social media platforms together in real life to meet, chat, collaborate and have fun”. Our first two meetups in Burlington brought together over 50 people each. It was always our plan to spread the events around the various communities in the west-end of the GTA, and we couldn’t have picked a better and more supportive venue than The Brogue Inn.

Awareness Social Media Marketing Software of Burlingon has stepped forward to sponsor a great selection of muchies for the evening (thanks Anji Barton @poshmoggy).

The Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Raptors have stepped forward with some great items for the Silent Auction. COC has donated 2 tickets to their upcoming production of Carmen. Jonathan Sinden (@bigthinkerjon), Social Media Guy for the Maple Leafs/Raptors/TorontoFC came up big and is donating a basketball autographed by the entire Toronto Raptors team. We’ll be adding more items over the next few days and a complete list (and pics I hope) will be available on Wednesday.

All proceeds of the Silent Auction will be going to support 12for12k’s November nonprofit of choice: EpicChange’s Tweetsgiving project. The goal of Tweetsgiving is twofold: 1) Create a viral expression of gratitude and 2) raise money for a school in Tanzania. See here for more information.

We’ll start accepting bids at 6:30pm Thursday and will wrap up things around 9:00pm. Make sure you’re there. Great friends, great cause.

November 26, 6:30-10:3opm. Don’t look now… but there are only less than 40 drinking days left to Christmas, you could do a lot worse than spend one of them with us at the Brogue Inn in Port Credit. Let’s end off the TwestofTO year right and get together and have a great time with  to old and new friends.

This time we’ve come east to my hometown Port Credit  and the best bar in town, The Brogue Inn, located at the corner of Lakeshore Rd. & Hurontario (Highway 10). The Brogue has just expanded and have a bright new bar area for us to gather, chat and bend an elbow or two.

If you’ve never been to a TwestofTO Meetup before, don’t worry – you’ll be among friends. We basically get together and talk about the stuff we love – pop culture, social media, business, good beer and whatever is going on that week. Its the best time ever – come connect with people just like you

Please RSVP here on Eventbrite so we know you’re coming. We’ll announce our sponsors in the next few days.

QUESTIONS:

When is the Meetup?
Thursday, November 26 from 6:30 to 10:30+

Do I need to RSVP?
Yes you do, we have a limited amount of room and need it estimate resources. If you cannot make it and you have RSVPd, please let us know so we can give someone else a chance to attend.

Where is the Brogue Inn?
The Brogue Inn is located at the corner of Hurontario Street (Hwy10) and Lakeshore Rd.

Who organizes TwestofTO?
TwestofTO meetups are organized by (me) Randy Matheson and (her) Merlene Paynter. And supported by our friends, sponsors and partners.

Is there parking at the Brogue Inn?
Yes, there is parking on the north side of the Inn, just off Hurontario

Where is Port Credit?
Port Credit is a Village within the city of Mississauga – its located south of the QEW where Hurontario Street meets Lakeshore Road.

How do I get there from Toronto?
Driving: Go west on the QEW, exit at Hurontario and drive 3-4 minutes south to Lakeshore Rd.
GO Transit: Take the Lakeshore line train from Union at :43 past every hour. Exit the train at Port Credit station, walk two blocks south to Lakeshore, walk a block and a half east til you find the Brogue just before Hurontario. The cost to come from Union is $9.60 return – the last train back to Toronto is 11:43 – be on it, you’re not staying a my place.
TTC: Its too far, use GO if you’re coming. But you could travel via TTC to Long Branch and then grab a Mississauga Transit bus West and get off at Hurontario.

How to I get there from Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Dundas, St Catharines, etc?
Driving: Take the QEW east, exit and Hurontario Street, drive south 3-4 minutes to Lakeshore Rd.
GO Transit: Grab any train east towards Toronto from your nearest station – the last train headed west would be at 1:08am. But trains head west from Port Credit station at :08 after every hour.

Should I really come to this, I’m really tired and I might miss my regular shows?
Its called social media, not “sit on your ass at home media” – DVR your favorite show or download the thing of the Interwebs.

We’ll be back in Burlington at the Queen’s Head in 2010, with planned stops in Oakville, Hamilton also on the way. If you know a cool place to meet let us know about it.

Merlene Paynter is a Hamilton-based social media strategist and blogger. As one of WalMart’s ElevenMoms she provides social media insight and an active communication channel for WalMart and their marketing partners and suppliers. Her blogs FrugalFamilyLife.com and FridgeForagers.com allow innovative packaged product and service companies reach several highly-desired audience demographics. Merlene has been highly active with online initiatives and digital content development for more than 15 years. She is also co-organizer behind TwestofTO.org (meetups bringing together digital culture enthusiasts for networking and knowledge sharing), as well as SnappedandFound.com (an innovative social scavenger-hunt game featuring online, mobile and live interaction).

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Randy Matheson is a Social Engagement & Creative Specialist with Delvinia, a Toronto-based producer of interactive design and digital marketing solutions for clients such as RBC, Scotiabank International, Manulife and the Canadian Opera Co. Randy has more than 15 years of experience producing interactive content for CDROM, internet and mobile initiatives and is a highly active participant on social networking sites such as Second Life, Facebook, Digg, Delicious and Twitter, Randy is an early adopter of emerging media and communication platforms and co-organizer behind TwestofTO.org (meetups bringing together digital culture enthusiasts for networking and knowledge sharing), as well as SnappedandFound.com (a social scavenger-hunt game featuring online, mobile and live interaction).

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Hear Ye! Hear ye!

Announcing the TWestofTO Summer Meetup which will take place on August 6th in Burlington, Ontario.

This will be an informal meet up, much like the one in May so come on out and meet your fellow “West of Toronto” folks.

Be sure to RSVP to the event here as we are limiting the tickets this time around. You’ll get all of the details for the event there.

Keep an eye on this space as we will be announcing smaller meetups in Mississauga and Niagara Falls over the next week or two.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

The first TwestofTO event is just a few hours away and we thought we should add some reminders.

Raffle Prizes for Fundraiser

This is a free event and all are welcome. We’re hoping to raise some funds and awareness for 12for12k so all raffle tickets will be $5 (cash only) each. Raffle prizes include a Bissell ProHeat upright deep carpet cleaner (valued at $199), Griffin Simplifi iphone/ipod docking stations (valued at approx $50), laptop bags, shirts, hats, cds, gift certificates and much more. We have more than two dozen prizes to be raffled off tonight!

How to Find The Queen’s Head Pub and the TwestofTO party

The Queen’s Head Pub is located at 400 Brant Street in Burlington at the corner of Brant and Elgin. TwestofTO guests are asked to enter through the Elgin Street entrance closest to the corner – the awning will say Empire Room. The TwestofTO event is taking place in the Empire Room of The Queen’s Head pub but don’t worry – if you end up going through the main entrance any of the staff will be happy to point you in the direction of the party.

For those of you taking the GO train – The Queen’s Head Pub is about 3 minutes by taxi from the Burlington GO station and there are usually cabs available as you exit the station.

For those of you coming by highway take the Brant St. exit. There is a map in the right side column of this page if you scroll down a bit.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our sponsors for this event. A heartfelt thanks go to the following companies: Jones Soda, Griffin Technology, Molson, Bissell, Brickworks, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Yummy Mummy Club.

Your Hosts

Randy and I want to thank everyone for their interest, support and participation in TwestofTO. We’re looking forward to meeting everyone tonight and just on the off chance that you don’t know what we look like … just look for us (minus the cigar smokin bunnies) tonight! We can’t wait to meet you!

@RandyMatheson & @Merlene

The first TwestofTO.org event is only a week away and we will have some exciting announcements over the next few days.

TwestofTO.org has joined forces with 12for12k.org to raise funds for Hospice of Peel. We’ll be selling raffle tickets to win great prizes from our sponsors Griffin, Bissell, Jones Soda, Molson and more. All proceeds for the ticket sales go directly to Hospice of Peel via 12for12k.org.

More info about 12for12k.org and Hospice for Peel to come and some detailed information about our amazing sponsors and the great prizes they’re donating to come. Stay tuned by subscribing to the RSS feed, following @TwestofTO on Twitter and following the #TwestofTO hashtag.

If you haven’t already RSVP’d to the event what are you waiting for? We promise a great time, great people, great prizes and some more great surprises!