Arianna Huffington is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the highly-popular Huffington Post, a thought-leader on the topic of new media and one of the most engaging speakers we’ve attended. Huffington was in Toronto as part of Advertising Week 2010 and offered her insight on the future of media in a presentation titled “The Brave New World of New Media.”

Huffington began her speech by stressing the importance of staying in line with technology as media emerges. “The information superhighway is a busy thoroughfare and there’s going to be some road kill along the way. But only among those who insist on merging into traffic riding a horse and buggy,” she says, adding that it is absolutely critical that traditional media outlets embrace digital media and alternative sources of information like blogs, Twitter and social media.

Huffington also took some time to criticize media agencies and their tendency to cover sensational news as opposed to issues that really matter. She cited last year’s Balloon Boy story as a primary example of this and touched on the impact viral information has on shaping news and politics.

Most importantly, Huffington talked about the emergence of citizen journalism and the increasing ability for ordinary citizens to be heard and contribute news. “People don’t just consume news – they share news, they develop news,” she says,” referencing the reaction of Iranians on social media websites like Twitter after last year’s controversial election.

Huffington concludes her speech by reminding us that we need to connect in order disconnect from all these new technologies and innovations and connect with the most precious resource we have – ourselves.