I am happy to announce a sweet project close to my heart and of course my belly! I am working with the Fraser Valley Strawberry Growers Association on their online strategy. I will also produce four short films that will focus on the the local strawberry industry in the Fraser Valley.
Pinch me please. This is a really amazing project to be part of as I am so passionate about local foods and where we get them from AKA, “The 100-Mile Diet”.
The other day we filmed quite a few farms in Abbotsford and in Langley as well as met the growers and even had a chance to sample the goods. It was so beautiful in the valley. It was my first time touring this area and to my surprise was such a stunning landscape and a lovely community of passionate foodies.
Sadly with this whole weather change, the strawberries are taking their sweet time blooming but we had a chance to speak with berry scientists and they said that we may have a longer season. This is only if that darn sun starts to shine.
I am looking forward to training the growers as well as the association on how to share their knowledge, passion as well as their findings online as well as share their stories of berry growing. Stay tuned for more to come!
I am very excited to be attending Merging Media’s Transmedia Seminar and Lab happening April 28-29, 2011.
The seminar and lab provide a framework for Transmedia business and creative development as well as explores ways to identify and develop the operative idea of multi-platform production. I am really excited to benefit from Anita’s invaluable business advice and creative development tips at this inspiring event.
The two day hands on lab covers full cycle of development, writing, production & distribution from “Conception to Consumption”.
The Seminar is open to professionals from all media sectors and is suitable for practitioners who are curious about transmedia and want to learn more or know about it and are seeking a framework to continue the development of their transmedia programs.
Check out this promotional video we did to create buzz for the event.
These past few months I have neglected to post anything on my website which is a shame. Although I have been super busy which is a great sign on a fun project called Neonology.
The study of the new, Neonology is all about promoting a welcoming, safe and inclusive community for all youth. Neonology encourage today’s youth, teachers, school administrators and parents to become leaders of change and help silence stereotypes and prejudices.
The project provides youth with the tools to understand the impact power and privilege has on their lives, teachers and administrators with the means to become aware of the power they have to create an anti-oppressive teaching culture, and parents will a deeper awareness of the complexities and intricacies of their children’s social framework.
During this time I have worn several colourful hats during the development stage of this project. With no real communications plan in place I stepped in to help the North Shore Multicultural Society grow this project into full fruition. Which means that I worked with them on their brand while working alongside an illustrator to get the vision and message on to paper and online.
Our next step was to create a content strategy of what the website would hold for youth. Once the framework of the website was in place, I built their channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help share their message online. Because this project was more visual than content rich, I decided to bring in a film production company to create a promo video for their audience to share.
Did you know that Neonology workshops are in a few high schools across the North Shore and over 1000 students gained a new perspective this year and they are continuing to gain more interest.
Our next step is to get some publicity around the workshops so that they could implement them into other schools around the world but their first priority is the have them across the North Shore.
Lastly we will be launching an event for the students, which will have an arrage of fun workshops focussed on movement physically. Ironically Neonology is a MOVEMENT.
This week on Collaborative Corner, Robert Ouimet who focusses on digital content creation discusses content that drives successful social media strategies.
I first started working as a journalist in 1976 in Calgary. I’d been working in radio for a few years, but when I moved to CHQR Calgary in 1976, I became a full-on news reporter, working ‘the street’.
The tools of the my trade were my 1965 Mustang with a giant Motorola 2-way radio strapped under the dash, a pager, a Sony cassette recorder and a bag full of spare batteries.
Stories were my business – and on a good day I’d cover a couple of press conferences, stop by city hall or the police department (the cop shop), and I’d pick up one or two more stories by doing the rounds.
If the newsroom got hold of a good story they needed me to cover, they’d page me. My beeper would go off and I’d have to find a pay phone to call back to the station. I’d write my stories long hand on a steno pad, or if I was close to city hall, would pop in there where we had a desk and a typewriter I could use.
Filing stories meant cracking open a phone headset, and with 2 alligator clips, ‘patching in’ my cassette deck audio output to the phone wiring so I could feed clips back to the station. Then I’d file my story over the phone while they recorded it at the other end.
It’s no surprise that in those days, we didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the technology of delivering the story. We spent all of our time talking about ‘the story’ itself.
Flash forward to 2010.
I now have a huge collection of digital tools, both software and hardware, that make my 1976 toolset look ridiculously archaic.
These days, it seems to me we’re always talking about the technology. And why not, it’s exciting. Particularly in the social networking sphere where things are developing fast and furious. But it’s easy to get lost in the conversation about the technology, and forget the point. What are you there to talk about? What stories are we actually going to tell with all these new tools?
One of the first things I tell clients is that for business, a social media strategy is actually a content strategy. It’s about opening up and telling the stories about your product, your company, and your employees – really about anything that someone might be interested in learning about. Interestingly, often this kind of content isn’t found on the company’s own web site.
The second thing I tell clients? Stories talk back. Social media is about engagement. Sure it’s ok to tell people about your products of what you’ve got on sale, but you also have to engage in the conversation. The analogy I use is that it’s like the customer service desk, not the bulletin board.
I encourage my clients to get involved with social media – but – with a couple of key pieces in place. First, we spend some time thinking and planning the kind of stories they intend to share. Second, that they understand that social media isn’t ‘set and forget’; they need to be engaged in a meaningful conversation in order for it to provide meaningful results.
I wouldn’t for a minute go back to the dark ages of 1976. I love my digital studio and suite of distribution tools. I love knowing there’s something new coming at any moment. I would, however, encourage you to remember that without ‘the story’ none of it means very much.
Oh. One thing I would do is take the Mustang back.
I am pleased to announce that my site as been re-vamped and feeling a lot better than it did before.
I am also really excited to announce that I am collaborating with a few colleagues who will be posting articles on my site. They specialize in business development, web and content management, SEO, graphic design, strategic and creative thinking.
Every Tuesday I will add one of their articles and call this post ‘Collaborative Corner’ so stay tuned!
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