Back to School With Kontent

Summer is winding down, and with it my days of zaniness.  Time to buckle down to more serious matters, like interactive storytelling!

Excited to be a part of Kontent Creative’s Summer School with a workshop on Interactive Brand Storytelling:

Creating Interactive Brand Stories

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 7pm – 9pm

No matter how many new technologies and forms of media we invent, the most powerful form of communication will always be the most ancient, the art of storytelling.  The beauty of these new technologies and forms of media is that they are vehicles for stories that allow us to tell them in new ways and spread them to new audiences. They also allow our audience to interact within the story itself, allowing them to feel a part of it.

Often we think of stories as medium strictly for entertainment sake.  The reality is that we are all storytellers, telling our own stories, that of a company or a brand, or those of the culture in which we live.  The trick is recognizing what our story is and learning how best to tell it.

In this workshop, we look at examples of brand storytelling, identify what others stories are and how they are using the online space and social media to tell their brand’s story and engage with their audience.  Just like the stories online, this workshop will be interactive and we will be doing some story building of our own.

Click here to register.

So what do you think –  should I go with my summer look:

…or move on to the autumn wardrobe?

Lori Goes Viral

Howling with laughter!!!  Always knew our very own Lori Yearwood was a Rock Star,  but the paparazzi pics that spread virally of her on the web today proves it.

As seen on celebuzz.com, Lori’s paparazzi pic!

Not much of a celebrity hound or quite frankly an advocate of star power, but I have to say that it was interesting to see how a paparazzi pic taken of our very own star, Lori Yearwood, could go viral on the web in a day.  She’s on:

  • celebuzz
  • the velvet hot tub
  • ocean up
  • socialite life
  • popsugar

…. and the list goes on.  And the funny part, the info they gave on all these sites isn’t even accurate.  Same misinformation across the board.  Just goes to show you that not everything you read, especially online, is true.

As for the original photographer? Not a clue, but glad nobodies jumping out of the bushes to shoot me.

I AM CANADIAN!!!

A classic, from our good friends at Molsons!  These guys know their story.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg]

Story Bites for Talk:

  • Molson’s 2010 Mural
  • Rickard’s Grill

Delta School District = a Social Media History Maker

Cross-post from DSD Youth Activities

Pretty impressed with the forward thinking of the Delta School District, as as far I am aware they will be one of the first school districts in Canada to fully embrace social media this summer, by actually offering students a course in it.

That’s right, the Delta School District is having me teach two mini-courses this summer on ‘Blogging and Storytelling’ and I’m pretty gosh, darn excited about it.  I love Interactive Storytelling (which is a part of what using social media tools to tell story is), I love to share knowledge (especially that which excites me) and I love working with young people and seeing them get excited about learning.

So details on the classes?  Here they are:

BLOGGING – STORYTELLING RESPONSIBLY & SAFELY (ages 10 – 15)

If our youth are going to blog, tweet or fire up flickr photos – on the new information highways – then might it be wise to teach them to do it in both a socially responsible and personally safe fashion?  Join media arts specialist and Delta teacher Erica Hargreave as she helps students create their stories and characters online in a safe and responsible manner.  This week of storytelling explores the use of social media tools which are becoming more and more a part of their lives.  And of course … don’t forget your digital camera!

Fee: $70

ID 8153     July 6 -10      9:00 – 11:00 am    Seaquam Secondary

ID 8154     July 13 – 17   1:00 – 3:00 pm      Delta Secondary

Nervous about your child learning how to use social media?  Well, I hate to say it, but it is just like sex.  You can hide it from them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to experiment on their own.  By showing young people the cool things they can do with social media and storytelling, we can encourage them to be safe, show them how to be safe and how to use the tools responsibly.  I also might add, that it is the knowledge of how to use these tools safely and responsibly that a lot of businesses are looking to young people for guidance, opening those that know how to do this to a lot of opportunity.

Hope to see you and your young storytellers this summer!

Chicks Who Click Hit Vancouver!!!

A few of you have been asking about Tris Hussey’s and my upcoming workshops and where you can sign up.  Those are still on the horizon, but in the mean time there is another exciting event coming to town where you can learn the ins and outs of utilizing social media in your storytelling and other aspects of your business and personal life.  That’s right Chicks Who Click are coming to town on June 26th and 27th.

What’s that you ask?

Chicks who Click is an initiative born in Colorado thats designed to bring dynamic women together with minds that are creative, connected and looking to collaborate and be the best in their fields with social media.

Does that mean that you need to be a leader in social media to attend?

Absolutely not.  The event is designed to foster women starting to utilize Social Media and provide those already using  Social Media with growth opportunities.

So should you come and will you gain from the experience?

Absolutely.

For those of you curious to learn more, here’s what the event looks like:

Friday, June 26, 2009

2:30-4:30
101 Track-“We are Living in a Digital World and I’m Just an Analog Girl”-Doyle Albee 

5:00 p.m.
Chicks who Mix:
Tweet-up at the Alibi Room

Saturday, June 27, 2009

8:00-8:30
Breakfast and Networking8:30-9:30
Via Livecast from Seattle-Monica Guzman, from the Seattle Post Intelligencer

9:45-10:45
“Twitter: Tweeting, Following & Finding” -Monica Hamburg

11:00-12:00
“Breaking the Glass Ceiling-Women in Tech Start-ups”-Megan Cole, Victoria Revay, Alexandra Samuel, moderated by Boris Mann

12:15-1:15
Lunch
Carrie McCarthy-Marketing your image-online and off.

1:30-2:30
Connecting Communities-Traditional Media and New Media”-Erica Hargreave

3:45-5:00
“Privacy vs Transparency-Where do you draw the line?”- Gillian Shaw, Rebecca Bolwitt, Erica Hargreave, Moderated by Doyle Albee5:30-?
Chicks who Mix Cocktail Party and Networking

That’s right I’m speaking at it along with a few other great gals in town.  I can’t tell you just how much I’m looking forward to this.  It should be a rather inspirational day!
Hope to see you lovely ladies there!

Making Twitter History in Yorkton, Saskatchewan

A very cool thing happened to us at this years Yorkton Film Festival.  We hit the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’!

Festival Social Media Team: Lee, Karen & Tris tweeting away

Festival Social Media Team: Lee, Karen & Tris tweeting away

Now I know what some of you are thinking, so what, we do that all the time at various events here in Vancouver.  Well, what made this hit on the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’ so exciting for both Tris Hussey and myself is that it was the twitter community following along on the Interactive Storytelling Panel conversation from outside of the room that drove us up to the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’.  To the best of Tris’ and my knowledge this had only ever been done with conferences and events from inside the room.  Definitely a twitter first for both Tris and I.

yff09 delegate, Joanne MacDonald, tweeting for the first time.

yff09 delegate, Joanne MacDonald, tweeting for the first time.

To make this even more exciting, this happened whilst one of the main points that we were getting across is that social media is about community and building the community around you. The twitter community demoed this for the festival delegates in real time, as they illustrated to the room how a conversation could go beyond four-walls and those that could not be present could still be a part of the conversation.  The highlight of this for me was not during the panel, but at the awards gala, when @heckofamom could not be present at festival to see her sister, Teresa MacInnes win two Golden Sheaf Awards for ‘Norm’, but she could follow along in real time on twitter and be a part of the night with her parents, brother-in-law and Teresa.  My eyes welled up with tears and I got all choked up when they thanked Tris and I at the end of the evening.

Teresa & her husband, Kent winning the Golden Sheaf for Best of Festival for Norm

Teresa & her husband, Kent winning the Golden Sheaf for Best of Festival for ‘Norm’

Community is also the factor that makes the Yorkton Film Festival so special to me. This Film Festival is a whole community event that the families of Yorkton, Saskatchewan put on for the film community.  The community made us dinner every night for heavens sake.  It was pretty gosh, darn special and I feel incredibly fortunate for having been a part of it.

Members of the Yorkton Red Hat Society at Opening Night

Members of the Yorkton Red Hat Society at Opening Night

An enormous thank you to the twitter community, Yorkton community and yff09 delegates for making this years Yorkton Film Festival so very special to us!

Raising a glass to the following tweeters:

From Outside the Room:

From Inside the Room:

The Yorkton Film Festival Goes Interactive

Most excited to be heading off to the Yorkton Film Festival this week with Tris Hussey (from m2o)  and Emme Rogers.

The three of us, along with locals, Richard Gustin, Karen Brownlee, and Lee Robertson will be demoing Interactive Storytelling to the Festival by telling the Festivals story through tweets, snapping pics, blogging and possibly even shooting a bit of video.  Much of this is very new to both the film world and Saskatchewan, so we will be posting some basic how-to set-up various social media platform posts on Bridging Media.  We will also be talking a fair bit about characters on the web there.  We even did a podcast with @SookieBonTemps (the True Blood character Sookie Stackhouse on Twitter) that you should be able to find there later this week.  For the lighter side of the Festival (or as Emme likes to call them festivities) check out Emme’s posts on Being Emme.

Designed by Mitch Doll

Designed by Mitch Doll

The main highlight of the festival for us is the Interactive Storytelling Panel on Friday May 22 from 1:30 – 4 pm Saskatchewan time, 12:30 – 3 pm PST.  Very excited about this panel as it is all about what I am passionate about – Interactive Storytelling.  We will be talking about building stories and characters interactively with the audience,  using social media tools to effectively tell stories and further your projects, and discuss the future of media.  Joining me on the panel is Richard Gustin (former head storyteller at SCN), Gresham Bradley (Director of On-line Development at e-cast in New Zealand), and Peter Raymont (Executive Producer of the Border).  Emme is also insisting that she’s going to be making an appearance (apparently the lack of an invitation hasn’t dissuaded her) and Tris will be our in the audience online panelist driving the traffic and conversation online along with Lee Robertson and Karen Brownlee.  We are really hoping some of our social media savvy friends from Vancouver and elsewhere will jump into the online conversation during the panel – the tag is #yff09 – as we want to highlight the sort of talent out there that the producers and broadcasters in the room should be bringing on to their projects.  I know for sure that both @SookieBonTemps and @LordLikely are planning on hopping into the conversation.

Stay Tuned for more from Yorkton (mainly on Bridging Media, m2o, A View from the Isle and Being Emme)!

Vancouver’s Got A New California Studio Teacher!

A little known fact, with working with some wonderful teachers, Ahimsa Media has a boutique set teaching division, Ahimsa Kids, geared to providing engaging and inspired teachers to teach child actors on-set in BC.  Well, Ahimsa Kids had some very exciting news yesterday, they got their first ever California Certified Studio Teacher for teaching the young actors from LA!!!!

An enormous congratulations to Lori Yearwood on obtaining her California Studio Teaching License!!!  We are so, so proud of you and appreciative of the hardwork you put into obtaining the certification!   Well done you gorgeous girl!

Launching Ahimsa Media 2.0

Welcome everyone to the new and improved Ahimsa Media!!

As many of you are aware, Ahimsa Media has been undergoing some changes over the past year and a half, shifting our focus from Traditional Broadcast and Video Production to New, Social and Emerging Media Storytelling and we are loving it!  In the busyness, it’s taken a while to update and rebuild the Ahimsa Media site to reflect our current focus and work, but here it is at long last!!!

So what are we up to these days?

Our main focus is on New, Emerging and Social Media Storytelling.

What does that mean?  Well, that we consult with Traditional Media (films, tv series, video, books, magazines, writers, directors, advertisers ..etc), Businesses and Corporations to help them tell their stories to the new and interactive Social Media space.  This involves building aspects of their stories online in an interactive manner or telling the behind the scenes story of the making of. An example of this would be Being Emme, one author’s adventures in the writing of her novels.  We also built the original Sexy In Van City (2008), helped with the online promotion of the Vancouver Theatrical Release of Mark Leiren-Young’s The Green Chain, and are currently consulting on menvent.

Being Emme

As an accompaniment to New, Emerging and Social Media Storytelling Consulting, we are also busy educating on New, Emerging and Social Media Storytelling.

Photo Taken by Invoke Media at WIFF New Media Day 2009

Educational Initiatives have included:

  • building Bridging Media with Megan Cole
  • helping Achilles Media tell the stories of the 2008 nextMEDIA and the BANFF Television Festival online
  • co-producing the 2009 WIFF New Media Day with Maayan Cohen and Danika Dinsmore.

Upcoming educational initiatives include:

Aside from that, we are busy as always with a few Traditional Media Projects.  The current projects include:

  • writing the scripts and education packages for four BC Health related ESL Videos for ELSA Net
  • writing the educational package for the movie, The Green Chain
  • regularly contributing to Cloverleaf Country Magazine
Ahimsa Media