New Media Expo 2014

Branding is more than your logo. It’s the entire idea and image that people have of something or another person. It’s what determines what people expect from you, and ultimately dictates how they interact with you.

It’s incredibly important to know what your brand is and how to build it online, make it stronger and maintain it. Are the three words you use to describe yourself (or your organization) the same words others would use?

This interactive workshop will help you figure out how to be consistent, cohesive and conscious online so you can build a brand that is instantly recognizable. You will feel more confident about establishing yourself as a voice to be reckoned with in the digital space.

This workshop will be useful for: anyone or blogger looking to establish or strengthen their voice and brand online.

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• How to find out what your online reputation or brand currently is
• How to find and strengthen your voice to start building a respected brand online
• How to build your visual identity (and how color matters) on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere

Not every blogger takes photos or creates video. Not every blogger does contests, crafts an SEO strategy, trades links or writes e-books. But every blogger writes. And if you think writing is just the text for metadata or to fill the space between photos, you're wasting one of your most powerful tools for engaging readers and keeping them: Your voice. A video can engage, but only for a moment. A photo can describe, but it can't make an observation. We'll cover easy ways to make writing a stronger part of your blog, regardless of topic or platform. We'll talk about basic tips, as well as look at specific examples (good and bad), and work with content by attendees submitted for feedback.

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• How to make sure every post has a message you want readers to take away — and how to ensure that message is clear
• How to determine when to write more — or more importantly, when to write less, but with more punch
• How to move past the "It's all about me" approach common in
• Seven effective tips for editing your own writing
• How to find the balance among your ideas, first-person narrative and basic reporting, for everything from long essays to photo captions.

Text alone was great for web 1.0, but in an era where readers expect visual media, photography has never been more important for publishers on the internet.  You’ll want great photos for your website or blog, but they also play an important role on social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.

Led by two experienced photographers who also work with internet business, this workshop will cover the essentials of photography for the web.  We’ll look at how to create a correctly-exposed and well-composed photograph with your camera (DSLR, compact, or smartphone), and then we’ll chat about how to organize those photos on your computer, how to perform basic editing, and how to optimize your photos for your website or blog.

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• How to take better photos for your website that lead to more engagement with your readers
• Tips for reliable photo editing and management
• The fundamentals of photo SEO and website performance

It has never been easier to get yourself in front of a mic, hit record and share your thoughts with the world. Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy to do it well, to have a successful show. There are facts and realities to this game. The big boys know about them, and we’re gonna teach you about them so you don’t fizzle out, wrap up the cables and give up. Chase Reeves, Michael Schechter, Mike Vardy and Justin Jackson teach simple radio programming tactics and hard fought lessons learned on how the long-term successful podcast sausage is made.

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• What to consider when teaming up with someone else to co-host your show
• What a broadcast clock is and how to use it
• Tips for reviewing and adapting your show

Live recording of the UnPodcast: Scott and Alison talk about the power of polarization on your blog/podcast, from AIDS tweets, Duck Dynasty and public pressure, plus questions from the most intelligent audience in the land. Plus, they're bringing donuts!

Join Michael O’Neal and Special Co-Host Nick Unsworth of Life On Fire as they prepare for, execute, and publish (on site) a LIVE recording of The Solopreneur Hour Podcast! This workshop will DECONSTRUCT the process of recording and publishing an interview podcast, from pre-interview preparation, to live interview techniques, to “live reads” (advertisements), to the actual publishing process. He’ll take you, live, step-by-step through the editing and publishing process, and post the show to iTunes on the spot. We’ll do audience Q&A during the show, and you can be the star of the podcast! You’ll even have a chance to introduce the episode and plug your company on the show. Don’t miss this behind-the-scenes look at recording and producing a top-ranked podcast!

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• How to properly research a guest and prepare for an interview, as it relates to your audience
• How to “flow” through an interview, keeping it interesting and relatable to your audience
• How to properly process, edit, export, tag, upload, and produce a podcast, and what to watch out for

You've been creating and posting your audio and video to the Internet for years. But what if Internet Service Providers decided to step in and take a cut, or simply get tired of competing against you and decide to drive you out of business? Maybe they charge your audience to access your content. Maybe they charge you just to access your audience. Or maybe they decide to do a little of both.

Join television and film actor, voice talent, network radio host, Internet entrepreneur, podcaster and author David H. Lawrence XVII (best known for his role as The Puppetmaster on NBC's sci-fi series Heroes) as he takes on a Washington-based consumer advocate Michael Weinberg in a live debate full of twists and turns that is sure to get you thinking if the open internet is really worth protecting.

Creating videos of yourself is hard enough without having to worry about whether or not the lighting looks right, the mic sounds okay, and if you are actually in focus.

In this talk, Caleb Wojcik will show you LIVE, with the actually gear he uses to shoot videos, the best way to set up a shoot of yourself so you can focus on what makes videos great: content and delivery.

He'll cover proper lighting, recording great audio, where to frame yourself in camera, how to deliver a written script without a teleprompter, how to get a "blurred background", and more.

You'll Walk Away From This Session Knowing:

• Visual: How to properly set up of 3 point lighting, get the "blurred background" look, perfectly frame yourself in camera, and make sure you are in focus.
• Audio: How to record great audio (without any echo), sync a separate recording devices, and use audio waves to help you save time during editing.
• Delivery & Editing: How to deliver a written script (without a teleprompter), use simple editing tricks to keep watchers engaged, and get two camera angles out of one camera.