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Friday, January 14, 2011

Old construction marketing ideas blog: New experiments

I've moved most of my material and thinking to the new Construction Marketing Ideas blog, but am reserving this place for experiments and ideas.  It is where I report on the "test bed" of innovations before they are ready, really, for the shining light. 

"Wait", you may wonder.  Why would this blogger use the blog with higher search engine rankings (number one in most of the world) to focus on stuff that isn't "ready, really, for the shining light."

The reason is that this blog is a relatively safe place to explore ideas and invite feedback and reflects my values that sometimes you need to be out front and visible even when things aren't perfect.


That certainly applies to the video broadcast experiment which continued yesterday (and will occur each Thursday at 2 p.m. for at least five more months). 

This week's videocast, only announced here (not on my primary blog) and with a brief Twitter message just minutes before the broadcast, attracted just one visitor -- Chase, of our own organization. 

At least this week, the broadcast could start on time.  I had partial success in setting up the new lighting system.  When I unpacked the lighting kit, I discovered the big, bright, halogen lamp just didn't work -- but actually I only needed one of the two back lights to generate enough light to provide an acceptable image (of course I also worked from a brighter location). 

Chase also helped me test whether we could use Skype to co-ordinate online phone conversations for the videos.  The phone link worked well though of course we didn't have anyone else listening in to the show.

There were problems.  During the broadcast, in fact, just as Chase first visited, the video suddenly cut out and I lost my connection.  I am not sure exactly how long, but I think it took two or three minutes to restore the link.  This is obviously not a problem when you are communicating with one person who understands we are running an experimental broadcast but is hardly suitable if it happens routinely and you want to make great first impressions.

The research continues.  Next broadcast will be Thursday, January 20 at 2 p.m. EST.  Feel free to bookmark your calendar.

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