Have finally sorted out my plans for next week which is a bit more organised to what I’ve been doing these days in terms of professional development events!

Australia Council of the Arts: Marketing Summit 2010

Marketing Summit 2010 focuses on issues around digital and youth marketing, branding and culturally diverse audiences.

The Summit has assembled a team of national and international experts to share their knowledge and experience and includes options for you to curate your own pathways through the program. You can actively contribute to the Summit, and with each other, through Open Slather and networking opportunities.

Download the program pdf here

Some of the speakers and corresponding that we can expect at this event:

Mark Scott, Managing Director, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Challenges and opportunities of the digital era from the national broadcaster.

Russ Meyer, Chief Strategy Officer, Landor Associates, San Francisco
How to maintain and develop brand value in the digital world of the double click.

Christine Dunstan – Moderator
Jill Colvin – Head of Marketing and Communications, Sydney Festival
Brand awareness in the digital landscape and lessons learnt from Sydney Festival’s 2010 digital campaign.

Russ Meyer – Chief Strategy Officer, Landor Associates, San Francisco
A session fuelled by delegates’ real world branding questions.

Tweets and blogs – who’s the critic now?
Fenella Kernebone – Moderator – Presenter, Art Nation, ABC – Sound Lab, Triple J
Alison Croggon – Critic and long term Blogger of Theatre Notes
Stuart Buchanan – Director of The Nest and previous Producer of The Program
Marcus Westbury – Broadcaster, Writer, Media Maker and Festival Director

Festivals and the challenge of cross artform marketing
Marcus Barker – Moderator – General Manager, Ten Day on the Island Festival, Tasmania
Teresa Walters – Marketing Director, Major Brisbane Festivals
Paul Davis – Marketing & Communications Manager, Next Wave Festival
Amanda Jackes - General Manager, Woodford Folk Festival and The Dreaming

Christine Dunstan – Moderator
Adam Penberthy – Director, Fresh Marketing
How far should you go in pursuing Gen Y and Gen Z?  How long will they stay once you found them?

What’s in it for me? Implications and opportunities from the research Australian participation in the arts: more than bums on seats
Bronwyn Edinger – Moderator – General Manager, City Recital Hall Angel Place – President, APACA
Sandra Bender – Executive Director, Arts Development, Australia Council
Wayne Denning – Managing Director, Carbon Media
Stephen Champion – Centre Manager, Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre

Christine Dunstan – Moderator
John Grant from UK via Skype – Author of The Green Marketing Manifesto and Co-opportunity
Meegan Jones – Global Greening Consultant, Live Earth and Julie’s Bicycle
New opportunities to work together with practical and sustainable strategies.

Passion to pragmatism – how to translate artistic vision into marketing reality
Martin Portus – Moderator – Director, Marketing and Communications, Australia Council
Kate Champion – Artistic Director, Force Majeure in conversation with Simon Hinton – Artistic Director/CEO, Merrigong Theatre Company
Yaron Lifschitz – Artistic Director, Circa and Scott Maidment – Director, Strut & Fret – Commentators

From the ground up – creating a shared vision with audiences and stakeholders
Jo Duffy – Artistic Director, Darwin Festival
Tony Grybowski – Executive Director, Arts Organisations, Australia Council

Stuart Buchanan – Director of The Nest and previous Producer of The Program
Krissie Scudds – General Manager,  The Program
The Program* is Facebook for the arts. Learn how to use The Program to market your company from one of its makers.

David Cranswick – Director,  The Edge
Discover The Edge.  Recently opened, The Edge is a place for experimentation and creativity, it offers the space and tools for young people to explore critical ideas, green initiatives, new design practices and media making.

Denise Montgomery – Communications Consultant, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and La Jolla Playhouse, USA.
Based on the innovative work at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, learn how to engage culturally diverse audiences and implement effective audience development strategies.

Claire Eva – Head of Marketing and Audiences, Tate, UK
Explore how digital marketing provides new opportunities to build bridges between artists and the public, reach wider and more diverse audiences, and experiment with creative content and marketing techniques.

Denise Montgomery – Communications Consultant, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and La Jolla Playhouse, USA
Claire Eva – Head of Marketing and Audiences, Tate, UK
Informal workshop on how to implement audience development, engagement, and digital marketing strategies.

Thang Ngo – National Manager, SBS in Language
How to harness the cultural diversity in your area to build engagement and audiences.

John Galloway – General Manager, The Hyperfactory
Learn the building blocks for a mobile program.  Are real time engagements such as customer alerts, news and offers critical to a successful campaign?

Dr Peter Steidl – Partner, Mindshare
What is the bigger picture? GFC? ETS? FB? PC? RT? DM?
How do arts organisations change and position effectively for the next decade?

Jeff Brookes – Regional Director, Sulake Corporation (Asia Pacific)
To engage with Gen Z do arts organisations need to become part of the online conversation?

AIMIA Queensland: The Mechanics of Mobile Marketing (#aimiaqld)

The penetration of smart phones and touch devices is only in its infancy in Australia. Despite it only being early days there are many examples of leading brands using the mobile market place to make their fortune. AIMIA Qld is proud to present The Mechanics of Mobile Marketing.

Warren Hamilton, eCommerce Manager at Virgin Blue will talk about how they have embraced the mobile checking and boarding pass platform to streamline their business and how this is the first of many revolutionary steps they will be taking in the mobile space.

Dale Rankine at Vodafone Hutchinson Australia will recommend when to build your mobile platform for device or mobile web from the telecommunications perspective.

Brett Wiskar, Director of Speedwell eBusiness Solutions, was the development partner in the delivery of the highly successful Domino’s Pizza iPhone application and will be giving us an insight, or a behind the scenes look, from the agency perspective.

Carl Poplett, Content Relationship Manager for News Digital Media, will be discussing the mobile explosion, News’ mobile platforms and the opportunities available for brands in the mobile space.

NB: Have decided to miss out on the launch reception for X Media Lab at Customs House to attend this event as I am keen to learn more about mobile marketing!

X|Media|Lab: Global Media Cultures (#xmedialab)

This is the first time that X|Media|Lab is held with Vivid Sydney which means that the beautiful Sydney Opera House will once again be dressed up as part of the Festival’s focus on light, sound, creativity and ideas.  A double treat for us interstate visitors!

XMediaLab: Global Media Ideas will explore: cultural and commercial content in a global world; creative ideas and innovation in media and technology; international media business opportunities; new media and new geographies; and new platforms, applications, and content.

Industry speakers will be hailing from London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Mumbai, Japan, Washington, Beijing, and of course, Sydney.  These are founders, entrepreneurs, designers, strategists, writers, directors, innovators and more for companies including Apple, Google, the Oprah Winfrey Network, StumbleUpon, The New York Times / International Herald Tribune, Yahoo! Europe, MOB, twofour54 and more.

The last X|Media|Lab that I attended late last year involved for going about 2-3 days with only a few hours sleep so hopefully we won’t get a repeat this time around!

If wishes were horses…

I had a bit more time, a bit more energy and a little less work to catch up on I would love to check out UnConvention Brisbane on June 12 and 13, the Young People and the Arts Australia ‘Changing Habitats’ Symposium on June 8 to 10.

On the other hand if you have missed out on some of the previous X|Media|Lab and AIMIA Queensland events, writeups can be found at Media Suarez and Brisbane Creative Industries.  Subsequently, I’ll be blogging, liveblogging, tweeting and twitpicing and I look forward to other people doing the same.  I have set aside hashtags except for the Australia Council one – have asked Project Coordinator what the hashtag is and will update it once we know.  Delegates can follow me on Twitter here and also add on Linked in here.

Llew Jury of Reload Media (SEO specialists based in Brisbane) MC’d the workshop.  After some brief networking, we got straight to work on refining our web strategy with General Manager, Toby Jenkins, by writing down some issues and problems with our current strategy.  I am pretty sure I heard someone (he will remain nameless) claim that he has none but I’m sure that we all have some kinks to iron out, right?

I really like Toby’s general approach – solve the problem then find people to action it.  Great piece of advice!

Some mistakes in a business’ web strategy include:

• Poor planning
• Technologically driven/focused.  An example was the flash loading bar which is a small ‘bells and whistle’ type of feature that should be used appropriately
• Do not offer a lot of information (information overload)
• Do not offer very little information (lack of trust)
• Poor visual design
• Plain human error

In a nutshell, web design strategy should be used as a sales tool and beyond a marketing tool.

Ask Smile Artistry was used as the main case study.  A problem has been solved where rather than (potential) customers arriving at this dentist physically, the decision to purchase (and subsequent action) were determined before the arrival.  There was a free call function as they have detected that calls to reception had high conversion rates, trademarked certain labels for uniqueness, used realistic photographs of people rather than formal stock photography, implemented video content such as a YouTube channel and worked closely with the copywriter to incorporate the right keywords.

After Toby was Adam Franklin, Marketing Manager of Bluewire Media, focusing on how businesses and organisations can market their way to the top of Google.  He asked the audience if our names/keywords in relation to our businesses are on the first page, heck even the top page, of Google and I was surprised to see very little hands up in the air (mine was).

The number one tip – stay away from assuming that SEO is for web designers and it is to be focused on when the site is being built.

Adam used Iceworks screenshots (both the site and their rankings in Google) as a case study – very suitable! He used this, along with a few other samples, to illustrate some problems which need to be actioned;

• Are people linking back to you?
• Are you persistent with your copy?  Allow 6 to 12 months to write copy.
• Encourage people to write about you (hence this blog entry guys)
• Seek permission regarding content (ie a Twitter follow, a Facebook page like etc)

Adam mentioned ArticlePR.com which is a reliable article submission site – “writing content is like putting money in the bank”.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Recognised as the most significant play of the 20th century by the National Theatre of Great Britain, Waiting for Godot opens with two men waiting on a desolate road for the arrival of another man, Mr Godot. They pass the time with philosophical debate, petty arguments and game playing.  Funny, sad, trivial and profound in every moment, the characters typify something about us all, as we strive to understand a world which has many more questions than answers.

Director: Joseph Mitchell
Designer: Simone Romaniuk
Cast includes: Martin Blum, Jonathan Brand, Eugene Gilfedder and Bryan Probets (pictured)

Somewhat related: Tonya Turner’s Courier Mail article, “Theatre buffs miss out”.

I haven’t attended a QTC education performance yet so looking forward to see this.  An educational peformance isn’t part of their mainstream season.  They have general admissions.

Let The Sunshine by David Williamson

Ageing Sydney radicals Toby and his wife Ros head north to escape scandal, only to find that their coastal refuge may contain more treacherous undercurrents than they thought.

There’s Natasha, the upwardly mobile ‘Queen Bee of Noosa’, an old schoolmate of Ros, and her brash property developer husband Ron – not to mention the potential minefield of which celebrity to invite to the next book club.

When Ros and Toby’s drop-out musician son falls in love with the high-flying lawyer daughter of Natasha and Ron, it’s on for young and old as these two decidedly odd couples attempt to reconcile themselves to the love of their very own Romeo and Juliet.

Director: Michael Gow | Designer: Robert Kemp | Composer: Peter Farnan | Lighting Designer: Ben Hughes
Cast includes: Paul Ashcroft, Robert Coleby, Rachel Gordon, Andrea Moor, Jacki Weaver, John Wood

Just want to say that I really love the branding/creative that they have done for Let The Sunshine.  It is very Noosa-ville. I love the character’s faces in their promotional postcards – one of the comments made in the play briefing (started by John Wood) is that this play is not only a comedy but it is also highly character driven. Will write more of my notes from the playbriefing on BCI later on.

Maeve Higgins and Nick Coyle “A Rare Sight”

Armed with a couple of bites from a brownie as a pre-show meal, I readied myself to watch Maeve (a Celtic) and Nick (an Aussie) do their husband and wife thing (on stage), showing us life’s importance lessons – “How to Dance if a Someone held a Gun to our Head“, “How to Tell if Your Partner is an Alien“, “How to be Funny at a Job Interview” and the secret and delicious recipe on “How to Increase your Low Self Confidence“.  I really enjoyed their show (Ok, their “presentation”) I think that they would do well on Thank God You’re Here!

Josh Earl on “Josh Earl vs vs The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cakebook”

I decided to buy a ticket to this at the very last minute and I am really glad that I managed to catch Josh Earl’s last night here in Brisbane! It was close to being sold out as well with many rave reviews about the show.

2 years ago, Josh mentioned this book at another show and received such a great feedback that he decided to dedicate show about this.  For anyone who has either decorated one of those cakes, or anyone who has eaten one or anyone who has received one this is definitely a show to have watched – good memories of birthday parties come and gone and more to come.  Josh, a black jeans wearing, “New Kids On The Block” t-shirt wearing, and hair that looks like “an upside down house” rises up against the newer and updated version of the Women’s Weekly cakebook in favour of going “indie” and “old school” by preferring the old classic version (seen above) by activism – writing letters, songs and making cakes to Ita Buttrose.  There are also Helsinki metal shows, Tasmanian family stories, and far too many tears (of laughter) AND cakes in this show.

I now feel like going through those 80′s cookbooks.  If I owned any.

I intend to dive into this whole thing rather than put my foot in the water and test it.  So, in the spirit of diving into things, I saw three shows in two nights.

Claudia O’Doherty – Monster of the Deep 3D

Claudia O’Doherty is the last surviving member of a small colony that lived in a deep-sea habitat called Aquaplex. She is going to tell you about that through the powerful medium of cultural presentation. In addition to colossal squid, the salinity of the Pacific Ocean and the effects of long-term deep-sea living on humans, Monster of the Deep 3D will cover gang warfare and witchcraft.

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Claudia, walking into the set wearing a sky blue op-shop type dress (a summer colour – she prefers autumn colours though), introduces herself as the last remaining survivor of a world called Aquaplex.  Using our imaginations, and with the (visual) aid of Claudia’s show, we are transported into the cultural highlights/mishaps and various other learnings that was Aquaplex.  It is a good show to watch if you can easily suspend in your belief in certain things like the presence of sea monsters or being able to jetski underwater. My favourite part was the last part – when we looked into this really awesome device which I am not going to mention because it’s meant to be a surprise.

Des Bishop

Follow Des as he masters his acerbic observations on life in Australia – sure to uncover many parts of our own identity we don’t even know ourselves.

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I didn’t have a chance to read this description before I saw the show but I think that this short snippet didn’t cover 100& what his performance was about.  Watching Des talk about his dad and family life reminds me of my own and he has some really good things/stuff/advice for me to think about (ie the whole “You’ll understand” thing and why I should not be offended if guys can’t get it up).  He is really entertaining to listen to and was pretty interactive with the crowd (though not as interactive as “The Boy With The Tape On His Face” – he won’t make you jump through a hoop but you never know) as well and getting them involved.  I couldn’t stop laughing so this is definitely a show to watch.

Melinda Buttle

Melinda is 27. Melinda teaches part time at a school for juvenile delinquents. Mel likes to bring it in life, especially when she rap battles. (By ‘it’ she means wicked rhymes and a cardigan.) And not to get too Susan Boyle on you, she has, um never been kissed.

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Big kudos to Melinda who did fabulously in her first solo show.  Melinda is Brisvegas through and through – from recounts of Fortitude Valley and her dad, hilarious stories of teaching in the local high schools and more I think that Melinda should be part of your must-see for BCF if you are looking for something BNE.

Overall, having a great time into my first foray in comedy shows   I am definitely looking towards checking out more of the programme hopefully on Friday and definitely on the weekend.   I find that I have a preference to stand-up and/or those who can look at reality, find a very unique and interesting story or way of looking at reality and to be able to perform it in an entertaining way….the reason being is that I think that this should be taken on board with life in general!

Brisbane Comedy Festival runs until March 21 2010

As a sidenote, www.bigfish.tv did a really awesome job with the Brisbane Comedy Festival Twitter wall!