MMV: Monday's Motivational Video - Don't Waste Your Life (Red Frost)

Top 5 things I learned at the New Media Expo (hint: Periscope is involved) -Thought for Thursday

A drone broadcasting the audience during the conference

So last week, I spent the majority of my time in Las Vegas at one of the best conferences I've ever attended. The New Media Expo (formerly blog world) #NMX is a conference that focuses primarily on content creators - Such as Bloggers, Vloggers/Web Video and Podcasters.

Here are my top 5 key takeaways from the conference - hopefully they help:

1) NEWSFLASH: Podcasting is on the rise - Mignon Fogarty (@GrammarGirl), Cliff Ravenscraft (@GSPN) and Vernon Ross (@RossPR) all spoke about the importance of podcasting in the past few years. What some refer to as "internet radio" is beginning to replace peoples radio listening habits as more and more people look for ways to learn or be entertained without having to look at a screen.

Your's truly and Chris Ravenscraft

2) If you're not a podcaster, focus on the visual - One thing that I learned at the conference which I somewhat olds news is that not only facebook, but also twitter and other social platforms are now focusing on videos first, pictures second and plain text last. So if and when you can -  get a video. If no video at least have a picture on your blog post - preferably a professional picture that triggers an emotion.


3) Get organized - Syed Balkhi (@syedbalkhi) did a great presentation about how to increase your views to your website. His very first bullet point was about getting organized though. Rich Brooks (@therichbrooks) talked a lot about twitter but the key takeaway I got from his presentation is the importance of lists on twitter. You may already already know about this but once you have over 100 profiles that you're following on twitter, lists will help you keep track of groups such as "who is a friend", "people who are local" , people who are "thought leaders", etc - without having to sift through irrelevant tweets in your twitter feed.


4) Tell a story - Ekaterina Walter (@Ekaterina) talked about how important both visuals and stories are when trying to get a message across to an audience. She showed great examples of videos and photos done by large companies that engaged individuals emotionally rather than primarily promotional things about XYZ company. Since my mom passed away recently - this video definitely made me tear up a little. The Keynote speech by Pat Flynn (@PatFlynn) was both engaging and nostalgic with him actually entering the conference room in THE Bona fide Delorean from Back to the future.

My view of the Delorean from #NMX

5) Periscope & Meerkat will soon change mobile life -

So If you have an iphone and you haven't downloaded Periscope yet - weigh the decision carefully as you my never look away from your iphone screen again. 

Periscope - along with it's first to market competitor Meerkat - are both apps that allow you to live-stream video from your phone and drop in on people live-streaming from their phone. This is, in my opinion, like Youtube on steroids - Periscope in particular is linked directly to twitter which allows you to check in on effervescent video from around the world. It's also different from Vine in that the video length can be as long or as short as possible and is happening right now, not being edited and then uploaded. In the past week I've become a little bit obsessed with this app (@Motivating_Mins) it seems like broadcasters in particular know about it but one of the most popular English speaking 'scopers is @BradmanTV a Minneapolis based Periscoper who is the last week has likely broadcasted on the most consistent basis - even broadcasting himself sleeping at night.

Big thanks to @StevenKArthur for tipping me off to this awesome app.

There were a bunch more lessons that were taught but those were definitely the top five. If you were at the event - please feel free to post what you learned in the comment section.

MMV: Monday's Motivational Video -Mental Endurance (polished motivation)

Although lacking on graphics - the message is on point (correct):

MMV: Monday's Motivational Video - Steps

MMV: Monday's Motivational Video - Change

Thought for Thursday - Things My Mother taught me

My mother passed away early Wednesday morning. Like most mothers - she meant so much to me. I've been racking my brain to think of what lessons she taught me - there were a few.

1) Knowledge is power: As early as I can  recall my mother used to get me and my little brother ridiculously excited to go to the library. So much so to the point that when she would say "Do you guys want to go to the library?" we'd yell back "the library yay!" . By no small coincidence we're both bibliophiles today.You'd be hard pressed to find either of us at home or on a rip without a good book nearby or downloaded to a smartphone reader.

2) If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all - I try to stick to this rule but I slip occasionally. I've been told before though that instead of actually saying things I have a tendency to give "looks" that say more than enough.

3) Be a gentleman - From an early age I was taught to be respectful, open doors, say "yes ma'am" and "yes sir". In today's society I regularly question if this is worthwhile knowledge.

4) Be of service to others - For years my mother volunteered in the soup kitchen based out of her church's basement. She would occasionally pull  me in as well to help. In my late 20's and early 30's every other Saturday morning I could be found there helping feed the homeless of Columbus Ohio. Sometimes I was greeted with smiles of gratitude other times I as met with complaints on the quality of the food. Every-time I felt accomplished once we completed a line full of 50-110 people.

5) Have faith - I struggle with this one. Logically I know my mother was in a lot of pain due to the ailments she was facing. From a more spiritual perspective I selfishly wanted to achieve more before my mother passed. I made some promises to her that were broken upon her passing.

With any luck she's watching over me and will continue to give guidance.