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Show Me - who I am

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I recently attended a 4 day festival of workshops for creative producers. I am a creative producer.

During the sessions there was, each time the invitation from the host the ever humble Chris Grady opportunity to introduce ourselves to the group in the Zoom chat.

I regularly find myself meeting talented and passionate people each effortlessly introduce themselves. Their name and an appropriately length regaling of recent projects followed by an off the cuff insight to the driving force behind their drive to produce work.

I am not good at this! I did settle upon a version my growing confidence can offer here at the close of April 2021.

Hello I’m Caron, based in Long Eaton in the East Midlands. I’m a theatre maker, and digital events producer. Exploring immersive hybrid experiences and non binary identities. Unashamedly dyslexic.

That’s me right now. I never feel my accomplishments add anything to my prospects or I should say I don’t feel they impress upon anyone. It’s work and I enjoy it but there’s nothing special in what I do and few people know who I worked for or care.

My destination is more important interesting than my origin.

My aspirations are to create a live immersive performance stage for plays, storytelling and musicals that is hi tech with a low carbon footprint with a pinch of crypto.

NFT’s ... minty!!!


QR codes will never die!

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QR codes just don’t go away. With the pervasiveness of mobile phones with QR recognition built in to the operating system and even social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all have built in QR scanners.

Working with Cromford Mills they are putting QRcodes to good use.
QR code quizzes. The first was at Christmas. 8 codes placed around the Mill Yard. Scanning each code asked the visitor a question about the history of Arkwright’s Mill or Christmas of the age. The correct answer presented the adventurer with a letter of the alphabet. The incorrect answer added a steer to the right answer with a prompt to try again.

Collecting the 8 letters rearranged spelt out a word associated with the season - REEEINDR
With the word compiled the Mill Yard shop would take the answer and if correct hand out a prize.
Its purpose was 3 foldA fun way to share seasonal facts related to the Arkwright story.To engage visitors and encourage them to explore the full extent of the Mill YardTo gather quantitive data to evidence visitor participation.

Combines QRcode Generator Pro, Fyrebox and Bit.ly. Tomorrow I’ll be delivering a workshop to enable the Cromford team to create these them self.

The QR interactive components of the project package are one small part. Over the next 6 month AR (augmented reality) and geo gamification is being crafted into a visitor offer.

Try one out. checkout the Cromford Mills site. https://www.cromfordmills.org.uk/visit-us

 

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Show Me - continuing meditation

The adventure towards my first produced immersive stage play has begun. 

Mindfulness is a continuing meditation. It’s now April 2021. I’ve been posting regularly since the end of 2020. It’s a habit I am so pleased to have established. If you have been reading my posts you will know they tend to be short. This blog is an experiment of sustainable exposition. An aspect of my dyslexia makes it hard for me to put complex ideas down on paper. I’m hoping that regularly writing will facilitate the flow of words to accompany and augment the translation of the multiple ideas I need to express and contextualise in order to succeed or it always feels like that. This week has been like being at university. Learning is exhilarating and developing idea is exciting. Contemplating the business proposition of entertainment as we emerge from this global pandemic is daunting. But we all want to be entertained, don’t we? The Show Me festival of producers workshops have been intensive and brilliant.


Show Me - Livescribe note taking

Where I want to be and where I need to be. I did the thing I try to mitigate! Overthinking the tech to get the most from the workshop only to get distracted and not capture the content.

I tell my self... Celebrate the content you capture, Don’t mourn the media you miss!

What I captured… and why.

What I missed… and how!


As I start transitioning back to physical with digital augmentation I fondly remembered my forlorn Livescribe Pens. Yes plural coz I have one I use and one, a newer model that behaves differently I never integrated it into my mindset of management strategy layers to ensure I get from encounters what I need to do my job. I wanted to go un headphoned (which I’ve had to do since developing tinitus which has been with me in varying degrees since Dec 1st 2020. The day is forever in my mind. It was the day following the Equity SRC (Special Reps Conference)
As I am sans headphones I can pick up the audio from the speakers in my pen and notate as in days before covid.

This is session 1. Part of the session.

Here are the notes in my Livescribe Notebook once the pen has been connected to the desktop software. The green ink indicates audio is associated with it. Click for playback.

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Here is the raw conversion directly from my handwriting. During COVID I upgraded my iPad and with the Apple Pencil I can accurately convert writing to text but I like the disconnection from full digital pen to paper.


Show MeChris Grady - Marketing.The 4P'sProduct | Price 1 Promotion 1 Place* ** *** ****Physical extended product.comfort, travel, ke cream, hug.Physical augmented productthe foments beyond your control.4 parking, babysitter.Value to consider in priceCovering cost of productionAdding Value - Meet cast'Tools at your disposal.marketing mixextended mix (experience)Impact of theatre on the wider economyWhere is the message roaredWhere is the marketing co lateralbeing seen. Around the Venue Isreassurance to the team.What is muddying your message?SWOT-strength / Weakness 1 Opportunity - Threats.Who do you want on the front row5 people / tribesfretted + change audience. - * Joanna MorleyAttenders, Intenders, Persuadabe.- - -Map your audience.wideband line' widening.t about them.Dormant + Hostile F (non tenders)Precedent - QuestionPlanning -Test

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Show Me opening session.

Chris Grady - Marketing.The 4P's being applied to theatre producing.

  • Product
  • Price
  • Promotion
  • Place

For marketing this P is not the production itself but the physical extended product. It’s the package. Why come see the show? Selling the night out. The comfort of the seats, the best local ice cream, welcome and friendly smile from the staff. The pre-show meal deal. 

There are parts of the ‘product’ when marketing a show to consider. The physical augmented product, the moments beyond your control. This is environmental, social and lifestyle aspiration. What is the parking situation, finding a babysitter, public transport and accessibility.

Then there is price. Tickets and Value.Funding may contractually require return on investment for partners. Covering cost of production should be an objective.Adding Value can make a ticket price more attractive - Meet cast 

Use the tools at your disposal to broaden the marketing mix. The extended experience in important and changes from location to location.

Impact of theatre on the wider economy is key to the marketing package. Where is the message about production being in town being received? Where is the marketing collateral being seen. What is being projected. 

What is muddying your message? Considering the activities that may conflate to pre ent the residents chocking to see your show when in town.

Coinciding with major televised sporting events or local festivals.

SWOT - Strength / Weakness / Opportunity / Threats

The notion of place asks...Who do you want on the front row? 5 people / tribesWho is there, who occupies the place?

*Reflected audience and change audience. * Joanna MorleyKnow the types Attenders,

Intenders and Persuadable, Dormant, Hostile (non attenders)

2 addition P’s

  • Precedent - Question
  • Planning - Testing

So you got my notes. Mean everything to me. Nothing to you.


Show Me - the night before

What a week. It’s been a well paced week though I say so myself. This weekend I’ll be attending “Show Me” a Festival of Workshop for Producers.Its an event I’ll be attending via Zoom.

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Friday consists of three 2hr sessions.

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As blog posts go me just sharing my excitement about something ain’t a good post. But... it does set up my intention to post about my weekend on Zoom. How I manage my time, How I take on knowledge, How I absorb and who I encounter. 

Only recently my producing ambitions have turned to new written scripts. I want to work with dyslexic, non binary creatives and actors. The production will blend technology and illusion to fracture and assert suspension of disbelief. Simple sets and spectacle. Fringe and hard to reach halls. Mobile streaming and rural attraction. 

Extraordinarily Ordinary. I’m trying to be more.


NFT & Blockchains

There is an horizon and it’s crypto, it probably sits on a blockchain! I’ve been hosting a series on conversations with a client exploring ever they crypto except currency. Blockchain and it’s decentralised nature and potential. We are looking at apps and coins. Asking the what and how before moving on to developing and possibility.

In this series of 6 assisted consultations entering week 5 the business is turning to practical applications. 

The NTF has raised to prominence, rise in Provence. 


It’s EquityUK’s Committee Elections. Who will stand with me?

Equity UK - the trade union for performers and performance creatives.

I have to say Equity don’t make this easy. I’m an Equity stalwart and union advocate but boy even I had to get the link I’ve put above from a Facebook group post started by people who couldn’t find the link!

Once you have all the information, the What, Erm, Oh, Cool, OK the nomination form, the “Let’s do this” bit is where I expected it to be. In the members sign in from and centre but without the What, Erm, Oh, Cool, OK I felt unprepared for the final assent! A horse cantering unto the fence only to refuse at the moment of jump!

Todays post on April 20th is my journey to submitting my nomination to stand as a candidate for election to 1 of the 9 seats on the Stagemanagement Committee.

Nominations have to be in by noon on Friday May 7th.
So here is what you need. Two people to back you, a proper and seconder. Don’t worry if you stumble at that hurdle while reading this. I can help you with that so read on and then if you still want to stand but don’t know who to ask as proposer or seconder email me - [email protected]

You are encouraged to submit an election statement of up to 150 words. Equity suggests that statements answers these four questions:

What is your experience in the area covered by the committee?

What do you want the committee to achieve in the next two years?

What do you believe you will be able to contribute to the committee?

What is your experience in Equity?

I’m standing for the Stagemanagement Committee. I have sat on this committee before but in recent years my digital work behind the scenes floor managing livestreams and podcast production as well as digital stage-management ironically prior to Covid these digital engagements were not recognised as eligible experience to qualify me to stand for the stage-management committee. In the light of the pandemic my digital perspective and skills built up over the years seem more relevant than ever.

Since lockdown I’ve been in digital theatre heaven! Sharing skills, Zoom especially and insights to content creation as well and production curation. My greatest desire is to encourage blending of the audience experience as much as the digital translation of live on the ground performing with digitally augmented cloud performance.

As an SM I find my self mediating between production and creation.

I may not get elected but at least if I’m allowed to stand I have a chance.

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Here is the info posted in 12 February 2021https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2021/february/stand-for-equitys-committees-2021/

Nominations for Equity's Committees 2021 have opened.

Equity is committed to ensuring that we are a powerful industrial force and that every voice in the union is heard. To achieve this the Equity Council has created a structure for the union’s network of committees, at the heart of which are three influential industrial committees — Screen and New Media, Stage and Variety, Circus and Entertainers — with the authority to conduct negotiations. These committees, made up of members with recent experience of relevant work and elected by members with similar experience, are at the forefront of improving pay and conditions for members. Supporting them are five specialist committees — Audio, Dance, Singers, Stage Management and Directors and Designers — all made up of members with recent relevant working experience.

There are also committees of members in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, three equality committees — d/Deaf and Disabled; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender; and Women — and a Young Members’ Committee. A fourth equality committee, the Race Equality Committee, was elected in a by-election in 2020 to serve until 2023.

These committees are an important part of the union’s democracy and a dynamic force for change. With the support of the Equity Council they are taking forward the industrial agenda, driving the union’s policy making and ensuring that the voice of working members is heard at the centre of the union’s work.

For more information and to stand for election, visit this page on Committee Nominations 2021.

The above link takes you to a page with the following text
Nominations for the Equity Committees are now open. We encourage members who are eligible to stand for election for the next two year committee term and all the information you need is in these pages, including the online nomination form.

The closing date for the receipt of all nomination is noon on May 7th 2021.
If you stand do let me know.

If you are eligible to vote I do hope you cast me a vote.
Stand for Equity’s Committees 2021

https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2021/february/stand-for-equitys-committees-2021/


Chrome Browser Extension I used today... Eyedropper (sample any colour in a single click)

There are browser extensions I use all the time. Many of them are the reason I use Google’s Chrome Browser. Today I opened a new brand guidelines colour swatch palette with CMYK reference but no hex code values. This was no problem because I have Eyedropper. There are frequent occasions while putting graphics together or creating document and need to colour match to mirror brand colours that I need a colour code from a block of colour on the website. This is the extension for that.

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Audio / Speech to text (with free tiers)

Prior to Covid I was never far from my Livescribe pen and notebook. The Livescribe pen enables me to take notes while it records the audio in the room. Following the meeting at the tap of the nib on a word the audio is played back from the moment the tapped word was written. My written notes were digitised and converted into text I then copy and paste the text into a google doc. On the occasion I needed the full transcription I’d export the audio file from the pen and import it to Otter. 

Otter was also an app I’d run on my phone and with permission of the room, I’d capture full transcripts while using my Livescribe pen for notes.

Then came Covid. My pen was rendered useless as I wore headphones for video calls. Early on as I familiarised myself with Zoom and its settings I discovered Zoom could connect to Otter for live transcription and in turn provided in a side by side browser window captions for deaf, hard of hearing and those ‘listening’ with audio off or turned right down.

Over the course of the Lockdown Otter evolved to provide on-screen subtitles. For me, its major use has been to provide a record and transcribe my meetings.
It’s pretty accurate. However, I have discovered we are not! Transcription for presentations with intended even partly rehearsed, structured speech renders full sentences. Free thought discussions and conversations I have found flip mid-sentence between future and present tenses. People frequently do not complete sentences or infer a list and then fail to fulfil the points.

My solution within my workflow which facilitates closed captions as a service in my work uses Otter’s business tier. The tiers are Basic (free) Pro and Business. The free tier does not connect to Zoom and importing audio for transcription is limited to 3 before an upgrade is required.

 

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You can use the Basic free plan of Otter as long as you'd like, but there are a few usage limits to keep in mind.

  • Transcription limit - Up to 600 minutes per month
  • Transcription duration- Up to 40 minutes per transcription
  • File imports- Import up to three audio or video files


Best #voicenote tool EVER. IMHO (in my humble opinion), 600 free #transcription minutes a month! https://otter.ai/referrals/O598JJY5

Here is the CC Otter.ai 1 month free trial code - “OTTER_TRIAL

Here are alternative options.

If you are a Microsoft 360 user Word has a speech to text and audio import for transcription built-in.

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https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/transcribe-your-recordings-7fc2efec-245e-45f0-b053-

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FREE - 300 minutes (5 hours) of audio per month

Just a note about how awesome Otter’s customer support is. In the early days of covid when I first used Otter to provide CC in Zoom Webinar, an Otter support rep joined my webinar rehearsal and actually talked me through the set up when I was struggling. They are fast to respond to support requests and meticulously follow up.

Let me know your solution. Any further question please comment below.

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How to create strong unique passwords you will always remember on every platform.

Pick a random item on your desk

calendar

Make up your rules
You need a capital and a number

2 as an r

all A’s as capitals 


so…cAlendA2

next you need a symbol

I tend to put this on the end but can be inside the word you just created. Some password systems don’t allow a symbol so with this password generation you do have to remember 2 versions one with symbol and one without.

I find very few these days that don’t accept a symbol. So on this example I’m going to use the dollar $ symbol.

Next is the unique remembering for each platform, site, service or app, a version of the platform, site, service or app’s name you will remember. 

so facebook, twitter, insta,

cAlendA2$facebook

cAlendA2$twitter

cAlendA2$insta

Now lets test them out

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Checking my own as a comparison… using my own secret recipe, now yours I checked a couple of my own! Obviously this example isn’t my password! 

This was my old routine before I applied this technique This has now been changed!!

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You may ask why I don’t use password manager. I move between devised with my own services and log into client services on a frequent basis from multiple devises and machines. I have to remember to not tick the remember on devise box too.

With a password manager I’d either have to check the app each time plus as a dyslexic transferring from one screen and typing in to another is a level of stress only dyslexics will appreciate! If you only use the same devises all the time I recommend considering a password manager.

I do use the Google password manager and the default Mac manager. I am still making my way through the Google manger’s recommendation to update passwords on long old accounts I now never use but exist non the less and use my old password system.

If you want see if your email has ever been found in a data breach go here

https://haveibeenpwned.com/