Digital Bootcamps

Video Camp Atlanta was a great event. If you missed it, please take a moment to review the program and video below.

Video Camp Atlanta Program

View more documents from Amani Channel

Digitalbootcamps is now working on “what’s next.” Another boot camp is certainly in the making, and there are plans to develop additional training materials for people who are interested in learning more about digital media.

Thanks to all who made Video Camp Atlanta possible. If you’re interested in a custom digital boot camp in your area, feel free to contact siddiq(at)digitalbootcamps.com

Here’s the first look at the proposed schedule/agenda for the video boot camp that is set for Saturday, March 19.  General admission tickets are now on sale.

We had to release additional nonprofit/student tickets after the first round of allocated tickets sold out.

General Admission registration will close on Thursday at 5pm.

Secure your spot now.

Program/Agenda
12:30 – 1:00PM (Networking/Registration)
1:00-1:15 Welcoming Remarks: Amani Channel & Selah Abrams
1:15-1:45 Intro Presentation Lamar Tyler: The Gatekeepers are Gone
1:45-2:00 Getting Started in Video: Amani Channel

2:00-4:00 Video Bootcamp Sessions/Demonstrations

Roundtable Discussions (3 – 30 minute presentations)

Breakout Room
A: Pocket Cams to DSLRs: Jason Parker & Daniel Roberts
B: Look & Sound Good: Desiree Peeples & Selah Abrams
C: Get that Cash!: Jaheed Givens & Lamar Tyler

Demonstrations: GRTI Hallway
Squeeze it (Mac Editing & Compression): Chip Dizard
Vlogging and PC Production: Grayson Daughters
Shoot it Like a Pro: Rod Finch

4:10– 4:40 Engage and Grow Your Audience: Selah Abrams

4:45-5:00 Wrap Up

After Party:
7pm – Until
Common Creativ
Atlanta’s Top 50 Most Creative People
ABV Gallery & Agency
659 Auburn Ave. #504

Video Camp ATL is shaping up to become a gathering of some of the most innovative, creative, and thought leading broadcast, social, and digital media makers in the region.

It’s scheduled for Saturday, March 19, at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, and if you want to learn how to produce videos like the pros, don’t wait to reserve your spot.

Early Bird tickets are ON SALE NOW, and going fast (use coupon code “EBVidCamp” for a 20% discount).

Confirmed discussion leaders include:

Lamar Tyler of Tyler New Media and MyCulture.TV @LamarTyler
Lamar’s strategic approach of using social media to promote his independent film projects has resulted in a huge following, including a fan base of over 70,000 on Facebook. Lamar has leveraged that fan base to build relationships, and develop a grass roots distribution network across the country.

DSLR specialist, Daniel Roberts – Friendly Human Productions @FriendlyHuman
After leaving the TV world, Roberts founded Friendly Human in 2008 around the powerful idea that well-directed, authentic passion is the key to compelling video. Through specialized direction and editing, Daniel and his team help people and organizations find and tell their stories online.

News Reporter turned Mommy Reporter, Desiree Peeples @MommyReporter
Desiree Peeples worked in traditional broadcast media for almost ten years, but after a layoff and a baby she began blogging as a way to keep up her journalism skills. She is the creator of MommyReporter.com, a news and information site for social media moms.

Savannah College of Art and Design’s Social Media Manager, Jason Parker @jasonaut
Jason Parker is a social media strategist, photographic artist and blogger based in Atlanta. Since 2007, Jason has published ArtRelish.com, producing video interviews and lecture recordings about visual art around Atlanta.

Way South Media’s Grayson Daughters @spaceyg
Daughters has an extensive background in traditional journalism and corporate communications. Her recent work in the Georgia political arena includes social media consulting for polling companies; and online, social media political special projects and events for CBS-Atlanta.

…. and more!

Sponsors include WebVideoChefs.com, Element K Creative, the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, Sixth Realm Digital, and MyCulture.TV

Web video is hot.  How hot?  According to the latest ComScore statistics, 172 million Americans are watching video online, which equals 14.6 hours per month.  It’s more affordable than ever to produce a video on the Web, and the results can be tremendous to your business or organization.  If you’re not utilizing video on the Web, you may be missing out on an opportunity to grow your business, or share your message.

Have you heard of the popular Web series Will it Blend?  The company Blendtec reported a 700% increase in sales with a minimal investment of equipment and time.

Are you interested in getting started in video production?  Are you looking to learn about affordable equipment, and basic production techniques?   Are you interested in using video to educate, inform, market, or brand?

Then register now for  Digital Bootcamps: “Video 101 – Produce Engaging Content” on Saturday, March 19th, 2011 at GTRI in Atlanta, GA.

Former broadcast news reporter, video blogger,  and award winning producer Amani Channel, and Turner Broadcasting’s Selah Abrams are hosting a workshop to help you leverage video for online communications.  Abrams, Channel and others will cover production basics, affordable editing solutions, online distribution and engagement strategies.

DISCOUNTED EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

Topics covered include:

• DIY video techniques
• Affordable production equipment
• Producing Web and pocket camera videos
• Production techniques (shooting, lighting & editing)
• Compression & Distribution
• Techniques to engage viewers
• Content syndication

Everyone from social media practitioners, business owners, communications professionals, and bloggers will walk away with practical information that will jump start your understanding and use of video.  Don’t miss this chance to understand how you can harness the power of video.

This event is sponsored by Element K Creative, Sixth Realm Digital, the  Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and Web Video Chefs.  Get ready to learn from the pros!

SIGN UP TODAY!!

*A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Grow Kids Inc.

Traditional media organizations are struggling to keep advertiser interest and audience attention. Layoffs, staff reductions and company closings were the norm in 2008 and even more changes are on the horizon for 2009. Traditional media outlets are dying at an alarming rate and the situation is even worse for African-American media. It’s evolve or die time for traditional journalists.

Digital Bootcamps has teamed with Atlanta Daybook, BlackWeb 2.0 and MyUrbanReport to offer the African-American Journalist Bootcamp. It will provide an opportunity for Atlanta‘s journalist to learn about the sites, services and systems that are changing their industry. In four interactive sessions journalists will learn the elements of cross-media reporting, how to build, grow and monetize a blog, the rules of web 2.0 journalism as well as survey the sites, tools and applications critical for success as an African-American journalist. This Bootcamp is intended for journalist actively seeking to move their skill-set into the online arena and has been crafted to jump-start that process. Participants are strongly encouraged to leave traditional media thinking at home, bring your laptop and all of your questions to this event.

Join us on Saturday February 28th at the Enterprise Innovation Institute from 10am to 4pm for this session. You can view the full agenda here and register for the event here.

Ground Rules
Humans tend to resist changes to their own detriment and this is in constant, discontinuous & sometimes dramatic shifts. If we are to thwart threats and take on opportunities in it, we need a few ground rules:

• No nostalgic ruminations on the “good ole days when….”
• No complaining about the ambiguity of new technology
• No whining about Social networks being for “kids”
• Be open to exploration and ready to jump in with both feet

A new EiAA (European Interactive Advertising Association) report highlights the continuing shift of advertising dollars and attitudes away from traditional media and towards the internet. In a 20 slide PowerPoint the EIAA offers a number of insights gleaned from interviews with 115 advertising executives in industries ranging from entertainment to banking. The EIAA Ad Barometer report is another reminder that adapting to the shift is critical for an agencies survival.

A few highlights from the report:

- 82% of advertisers who have seen an increase in their online spend admitted it is coming directly from the likes of print media (40%), TV (39%) and increasingly DM (32%) budgets

- 77% of advertisers found that internet advertising had a positive impact on the perception of their brand
- More than half (55%) are planning to increase their brand advertising budget over the next couple of years
- According to 80% of respondents, their search spend is predicted to increase in the next two years while 59% will be investing more money into display.

The vision of communication in the digital age is one of two way conversations, sometimes lead by brands and sometimes lead by users but always distributed across services, niches and purposes. Brian Solis of PR 2.0 has an excellent update to the classic social media Starfish visualization. He calls it the Conversation Prism and in true which attempts to capture the conversation flow across services and sites. Both visualizations highlight the plethora of tools and services that continue to disperse audiences and the stories they carry about your brand, product or service, across the Interwebs.

Use the Conversation Prism to help discover new services and sites, where conversations about your client’s brands are happening. Begin by observing the conversations you find and as you discover ways to add value and truly contribute to the conversation, jump-in participate in them. Identifying and understanding these services, how to leverage them and build strategies around them is the real challenge facing communications companies

This is part of the presentation I gave in Chicago. It is how we started off a two day intensive Bootcamp with an ad agency there.  This session and was intended to give an understanding of the terms, phrases and language of Web 2.0. In a strange twist, all the audio from this session was lost and so the presentation is sans audio.

The story on the first two slides is that those words were literally something I overheard during Start-up Riot in atlanta. The point this presentation attempts to drive home is that brands and agencies need to understand the lingo in order to become a part of the conversation. One modification we’ve made since this prsentation is that we no longer include The Long Tail in presentations because it is so hard to convey the idea, the controversies and rebuttals without spending alot of time on it or reverting to discussions of power laws and italian philosophers.