Invitation to contemplate: Love Music Love Events......

Invitation to contemplate: Love Music Love Events......: “Love Music, Love Events, Love LMU” was c o-founded in December 2009 by Zal Boransel.   Its aim was to forge links between the alumni, stud...

Love Music Love Events......

“Love Music, Love Events, Love LMU” was co-founded in December 2009 by Zal Boransel.  Its aim was to forge links between the alumni, students and staff of the Events Management and Music & Media Management degrees at London Metropolitan University with event and music industry professionals. It hosts an annual networking event showcasing performers and DJ’s.

As lecturer Ivna Reic said “The best way to learn about events is to actually run them….it is an event for the students by the students and as such should be a wonderful experience for all”.

In 2010 the event was held at the Horatia Pub in Holloway Rd.  In 2011 the event moved a few doors along to the Rocket. This year saw a return to the Horatia.

The 2012 event had no end of talent on display. The live performances showed a variety of musical styles. The show was opened by Teamonkey, who played a great set. Amplification was a little loud for people trying to network, but OK if you’d gone to hear the music.  The next performers were soloists and duos with amplified acoustic guitars, so amplification was not such a problem. And, to add to the diversity, James and Waby included a harmonica in their act. Others acts included Kelz, Junior P, and Kass Man.

Alumni from the event industry included Madame Blah and Invitation to Events. Alumni performing included DJ Lusinda. Now if only that other Alumnus, Oritsé Williams of JLS had made the party....

 

Image of Oritsé Williams from http://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/jls-star-takes-up-songwriting-for-other-artists/

Image of London Metropolitan University from

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52544000/jpg/_52544872__dsc4574.jpg

Invitation to contemplate: Increasing visitor’s social capital through play

Invitation to contemplate: Increasing visitor’s social capital through play: In his 1938 book “Homo Ludens” the Dutch historian, Johan Huizinga , suggested play was necessary in society to generate culture. However...

Increasing visitor’s social capital through play

In his 1938 book “Homo Ludens” the Dutch historian, Johan Huizinga, suggested play was necessary in society to generate culture. However, the provision of play activities decreases with age. Play is often seen as being the preserve of children and does not extend much beyond teenage.  Even “Learning for fun” is still seen as relating to children, despite the idea of lifelong learning,

Playing on climbing frame

In 2011 I raised the question of increasing social and cultural capital via the provision of entertainment and education in museums with regard to teenagers. I proposed that, by offering education and culture, museums are able to increase a visitor’s cultural capital and that by organising, or at least allowing, recreational group participation, museums could also increase their visitor’s social capital.

That is not to say that teenagers lack social capital. Far from it! Teenagers are forming social bonds on-line as well as off-line. With a lack of parental-approved, inexpensive physical attractions, teens are turning to the virtual world for action packed activities. In so doing they are building friendships and community spirit online. Such communities can be accessed on demand and do not require a set time to be committed to them.

In studying teenager’s access and willingness to participate in museum visiting I was interested to see if museums could make themselves more appealing to a teenage audience. My suggestion was to move away from thinking of museums as purely a place of education, but as places for leisure too. To appeal to a non-visitor, it became clear that museums needed to promote themselves as a relaxed place to meet socially, rather than emphasise the ability to learn.

Teenagers in museum

 Research at the Museum of London highlighted that a third of the museums visitors were socially motivated. Visitors rate their visit based on interaction with the exhibits and with each other. Playing with the exhibits and discussing the experience increases the level of enjoyment. People like to be social.

 “Play” in museums is often offered by interactive opportunities. Although museums have begun to provide more of these experiences, these are many aimed at children under 12 and are not challenging enough for a teenage audience who would still like to test their skills. Nor are they aimed at adults. Once an activity gains a pre-teen audience, teenagers (and adults) will shun it as childish. This leads to a large section of the community missing out on the play experience.

The teenagers studied for my report complained that non-interactive displays were boring. They enjoy having guided tours, either by a person or via handheld audio. They also expressed a desire for more interactive technology. Although they usually meant more computers, technology encompasses all tools used for interpretation, from the basic pen and paper to people employed as explainers. Suited tour-guides were deemed too formal and like school, whereas costumed explainers had a mixed reaction. On the whole they were liked, as long as, like a theatre visit, the illusion was not broken by explainers being referred to as actors.

Teenagers socialise in both the physical and virtual world and are able to create their own amusement. In a museum environment, this may not appear to involve much learning, nor involve the exhibits how the museum intended. However, by discussing the exhibits and “playing” with them, teenagers are able to increase their cultural capital, as well as their social capital.

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Invitation to contemplate: Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 2

Invitation to contemplate: Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 2:  The “Sports and Game shows” Sandpit was a chance for games designers and artists to try out new games ideas on the theme of, you’ve guesse...

Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 2

 The “Sports and Game shows” Sandpit was a chance for games designers and artists to try out new games ideas on the theme of, you’ve guessed it, Sports and Game shows!

You’re In A Room

Building a dungeon

One of the Scheduled Games on offer on Friday night, ie games requiring you to book your place, was "You’re In A Room" by Fruitbat. This game required you to guide your team-mate through a mysterious dungeon. It was a bit like building your own real-life computer game, where your character (team-mate wearing a blindfold) had to be guided past dangers.

Being guided through You’re In A Room

In addition to the scheduled games there were drop in games. These included Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik) run by The Wild Rumpus. The game involved trying to jostle your opponents’ controllers while protecting your own. There were some amazing ninja-type dance moves in evidence. At the end of every round people were happy to pass their controllers to others making this a very interactive activity, where the audience quickly got the chance to be the player.

Johann Sebastian Joust

 If all this makes you wish you’d have attended, the good news is there is another Sandpit in June. This time the theme will be “Performance”. Monday 18 June at the Southbank Centre from 6:30-10:00 June Sandpit 2012: Performance

Johann Sebastian Joust

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Johann Sebastian Joust

Johann Sebastian Joust

Invitation to contemplate: Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 1

Invitation to contemplate: Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 1: For those of you who missed it, there was a fantastic FREE games night at the Southbank on Friday evening. The “Sports and Game shows” ...

Fun and Games at the Southbank - Part 1

For those of you who missed it, there was a fantastic FREE games night at the Southbank on Friday evening. The “Sports and Game shows” Sandpit was a chance for games designers and artists to try out new games ideas on the theme of, you’ve guessed it, Sports and Game shows!

Political Football

Mink ette run an interactive game called “Antiques Fraudshow” where I was lucky enough to have my “treasured family heirloom” valued by an expert. Needless to say I guessed it’s value completely wrong, but, as they say, I wouldn’t part with it, I just wanted to know its value....

Goal!

Then it was on to Political Football run by Gareth Briggs. This was a new fast moving sport where the rules changed throughout the match. It certainly drew the attention of passers-by.  

And I still haven’t told you about the other fantastic games.....

Bring in the Sweepers....

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Invitation to contemplate: Free Events This Weekend in London

Invitation to contemplate: Free Events This Weekend in London: After a £15.5 million makeover and just over seventeen months of disruption Leicester Square reopened today with a free celebration. Fi...

Free Events This Weekend in London

After a £15.5 million makeover and just over seventeen months of disruption Leicester Square reopened today with a free celebration. Fittingly, the area described by Boris Johnson as a "beacon for world premieres and stars of the silver screen", is throwing a film and theatre themed opening weekend.

Running from 24th to 27th May 2012, the Film Distribution Association is providing film based activities and 'meet and greet' opportunities, while the Society of London Theatre TKTS booth will be offering a range of competitions. There will also be performances from Mamma Mia! and Chicago on stage.

The new-look Leicester Square has 12,000 square metres of granite paving, stainless steel railings and a water feature that sends jets of recycled water two metres into the air around the Shakespeare statue. The square's trees have been fitted with uplighters to make visitors feel safe at night. A new white granite ribbon sits on the perimeter of the square and creates an extra tier of seating for visitors to stop and enjoy the setting. There will also be refurbished below-ground toilets.

After a fun filled day in Leicester Square, you can hit the bars and restaurants nearby, or head over to the Soutbank and enjoy more free fun at the Hide and Seek MaySandpit.

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http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/environment/planning/majorprojects/thewestend/leicester/ and

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/newlook-leicester-square-reopens-7781842.html

Games for game's sake

Games have been around for centuries but the idea of creating games professionally is a relatively modern idea. It could be argued that it is only since the advent of videogames that games and game design started to be taken seriously.

Traditionally, games were seen as teaching children the basic skills needed to become adults. Playing games was something children did, while Board games were aimed at the family market. The exception was intellectual games, such as chess, for the serious competitor. Then came role-playing games and now electronic gaming has moved the idea of gaming into a wider audience. Playing games is no longer a childish pursuit.

Teddy Bear's Picnic - Murder Mystery Game

There has also been a change in the way games are perceived. Games are now seen as a way of adding value to companies. They can be used to market products, to promote networking and teambuilding, and can be used to educate. But this ignores the value that games offer just from being games. Eric Zimmerman suggests that we are danger of forgetting to appreciate games as enjoyable entities in their own right.

Art for art’s sake could be rewritten “Games for game’s sake”.  Games should not be valued for their ability to market a product, nor expected to serve a moral purpose. Games are there to provide fun for the mind. They are valuable as games without needing an additional justification.
Games provide fun because the outcomes are unpredictable. Sure, you have an idea what is going to happen, but there is an element of chance, a certain randomness included in the game, that makes it different each time you play it. The game has to be easy to follow or you will get frustrated and stop playing, but not so easy that you win every time. (Spoiler alert) Think the lesson of noughts and crosses learnt in War Games.

Attending the Sandpit - Evening of Games at the V&A

It’s the random element that keeps you coming back to play. It’s the thought that you want to win, but there is the chance you may lose. Your game may include unknown and unpredictable factors that could get in your way. Even Grand Masters can’t predict the outcome of a chess match. If they could what would be the point playing? The element of chance means that the inferior player still has a chance to win, even if it is by luck.

Attending the
Sandpit - Evening of Games

 If you would like to try out a downloadable role-playing game,

click here and check out the ITM Games website.

FREE EVENING OF GAMES!

If you would like the chance to play some fun games, there will be a free evening of games at the Southbank Centre on Friday 25 May 2012 from 6:30-10:00pm.

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Party on the Pitch

Saturday 19 May 2012 saw thousands enjoying Party on the Pitch.

Waltham Forest is part of the Cultural Olympiad and hosted the pop concert to help its residents celebrate the Olympic Year. Being a free concert, it was paid for as part of the Local Authority funding of arts and culture. This was in line with the “Taking Our Place in London” policy which includes financial support “where we enjoy the performances of others through for example attending a concert...”

The show had been promoted as a free concert where residents could meet socially and have fun. The crowds were obviously enjoying the performances and having a good time.

Scouting for Girls

Headline acts were Scouting for Girls, Alexandra Burke, The Saturdays and Cover Drive. A surprise addition to the line-up was Waltham Forest-based Street dance act Unity UK.

 

Alexandra Burke

The Saturdays

Everyone was up dancing to Alexandra Burke’s ‘Bad Boys’ and by the time Scouting for Girls ended the show, nearly everyone was out of the stands and joining those dancing on the pitch. Meeting socially and having fun together generates memorable experiences.

For FUTURE ideas on having fun together and generating memorable experiences, see the next blogs.

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“There is no such thing as bad publicity”

Today’s thought for the day is the phrase “There is no such thing as bad publicity”. While the phrase is often credited to Barnum, Oscar Wilde expressed a similar view when he said “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

In 2011 Three American academics completed a study into bad publicity and found that ‘because negative publicity can increase product awareness and accessibility, it can sometimes have a positive influence on product choice sales.’[1]

I suppose the important thing here is - what are people saying about you? If it is very negative then it would usually be better for you if they kept quiet. Unless, that is, you want to use the negative publicity to your advantage. Think of the Hans Brinker Hotel that publicises itself as “The Worst Hotel In The world”.[2]

So, exceptions aside, most companies want and need good publicity and visibility.

And this is why I am thinking of publicity. Visibility is important for new companies. You need to build a database of contacts that you can hopefully turn into customers of the future. Now there are a lot of marketing courses out there that give excellent advice on how to keep prospective clients happy and engaged but not how to attract them in the first place.

You could buy in a list of contacts, but this is banned by most mailing services, who insist your contacts have agreed to hear from you.

You could use your database of contacts from your previous customers that you have collected and added to over a number years. Unfortunately, people change address and don’t inform you and so when you send a newsletter via a mailing service you find you get a large bounce back rate and look like a spammer. Or, having opted in to communications years ago, they have now forgotten that they gave you permission to write to them and again you look like a spammer. Email addresses and permissions are, apparently, only considered “good” for six months.

You could use the contacts you have made networking. Think of all the functions and exhibitions and workshops and seminars where you have discussed your business and gained peoples trust and business cards. Verbal agreement to receiving more information is not, it seems, considered enough to add people to your mailing list. They need to physically hit the button on your website, assuming you’ve managed to get them to your website, which says “I opt in”.

So, you collect all the data and email asking them to visit your website. They ignore you. You email and ask if they’d like more information from you. Nothing. No-one emails back. No-one visits the website. You email again, with a cheery note, hope they are well, ask is there anything you can help them with and would they like to subscribe to your mailing list? You wait a bit longer but still no-one replies. No-one hits the link. Nothing. You watch the tumbleweed roll across your office.

Then you think, “How about I change it to “You were very interested to hear more from me when we spoke, so I hope you don’t mind but I’ve included you on my mailing list. If this is a problem, please let me know””.And now they respond to your call to action. They can’t wait to email back and demand to be taken off your list!

Negative visibility it may be but when you have spent weeks/months with no visibility at all at least you know now people are speaking about you.

So should I be worried about the publicity this new approach may attract? As the Irish author and dramatist Brendan Behan is quoted as saying “There's no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.”

 [3]

If you would like to opt in for more information please click here

http://eepurl.com/lMaWj

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[1] Crispin Slee at http://www.stickofrock.com/featured/one-of-the-great-communication-myths-unravelled/

[2] http://www.hans-brinker.com/

[3]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tI88pAPKbuI/TzVUIgmsElI/AAAAAAAABG4/hk1MBfex6QE

Sunday Dinner

So having just finished a delicious Sunday Dinner with the family, it got me thinking.

Some reports say Sunday Roast Dinner dates back to medieval times. Then, as now, people would attend morning service before returning to a dinner of roast meat. The difference now is that people spend the rest of their day washing the car, doing the gardening or watching TV rather than in a field practicing their battle techniques.

Sunday is traditionally the day of rest and the time people have free to spend with their loved ones. So for centuries people have been sitting down to Sunday Dinner with the family. Sometimes this is just the immediate family, while at other times the gathering is extended by additional family members and friends.

In our household today’s roast was lamb. For years we tried unsuccessfully to cook it until I discovered a wonderful Greek recipe. Last week it was Beef and before that Chicken and turkey. Yes, we mix the meats up to add variety to the proceedings. I don’t cook pork, because I don’t like it, but the family are free to eat it whenever they go out. Occasionally we have duck and once even tried goose. Nut roast made an appearance one week, but the cry of “where’s the meat?” was enough to send us back to the traditional choices.

Almost as important as the meat is the choice of accompaniments. Roast beef requires Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce or wholegrain mustard. Roast chicken must have stuffing and cranberry sauce. Roast lamb is served with mint sauce and all roasts have to have gravy.

A decade or so ago my cousin asked me who, apart from our parents, still cooked a Sunday Roast. Well, we do, I replied, much to her amazement. I love the idea of the family coming together around the dining table and sharing their stories and opinions. But is she alone in thinking the Sunday dinner is destined to die out? I read that “Dinner on Sunday, in consequence, has lost its importance. It is no longer Sunday dinner."[1]However, it should be noted that this lament was written in 1929!

So I can see the tradition of the Sunday Roast Dinner surviving….at least for a few years yet.  

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[1]"Sunday Dinner, Old and New," New York Times, September 22, 1929 (p. SM10) via http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq7.html

"A journey beginning with a single step"

Facebook,Twitter, Linked In...done. Oh and you need to start a blog. A Blog? You expect me to write stuff?

OK. So it shouldn’t be too difficult. After all everyone writes things. Emails, letters, notes, shopping lists. Even text messages. And if you don’t write much now, you will have in the past with all that school work. Some of us have written even more stuff – books, games, scripts. So why should the idea of writing a blog be so daunting?

The problem stems from what Benjamin Franklin described as “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” This puts pressure on the blogger. What will make your blog worth reading? How do you make the piece entertaining, informative, balanced, passionate and interesting?

 Most people believe the first step is to write from what you know. Think about things you’ve done, places you’ve been, people you’ve met. Really there is a step before that. The first step is deciding to make that leap into the unknown and put words onto paper (or computer).  

The idea of a first step into the unknown got me thinking. Everyone remembers the  “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” Speech by Neil Armstrong, but I found another apt first step quote by Chauncey Depew - “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”

Having no idea who Chauncey Depew was, I decided to look him up. The man had a number of other interesting quotes attributed to him such as “Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.” -
Chauncey Depew.

So here I am taking my first step into blogging. I am taking my one small step and will be exposing my ideas and, possibly, speaking my mind as an independent thinker. In return, dear reader, please be kind.

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