Weekend Top 6 Picks for September 7 and 8, 2019

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This month’s concert held at the Timucua White HouseSaturday September 7, 2019

9am to 5pm. $50-$68  Florida Blog Con. Full Sail University, 3300 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32792. The
Florida Blogger and Social Media Conference (aka #FLBlogCon) is a
one-day gathering of the state’s biggest bloggers, social media pros,
content creators, marketing and PR pros, and online influencers. Now in
our 9th year, the FLBlogcon planning team is excited to present once
again a day packed with break-out sessions, hands-on classes, and
informative keynotes.

4pm to 7pm Free. Found Spaces: New Paintings by Robert Ross. Arts on Douglas Gallery, 123 Douglas St., New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168. Sept.
7-28, 2019. The show, Found Spaces: New Paintings by Robert Ross, will
feature 38 brand-new art works I created over the past year exploring
interiors and landscape spaces. The exhibit includes a series of
10×10-inch paintings called “DOMUS” that riff on the classic geometry of
domestic spaces.

10:30pm to 12:30am Free but get food and drink. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32801. 

Sunday September 8, 2019 

9:30am to 12:30pm $275 Crealde Urban Sketching Class. Crealde School of Art, 600 St Andrews Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32792. I am instructing this 6 week course in Sunday mornings.  Learn to sketch from subject to the environment. Classroom sessions will
focus on sketching clothed models and progress towards sketching the
model and classroom environment. Learn how to incorporate storytelling
into your sketches in our location sessions. These trips to local venues
will challenge you to use your sketchbook the way a photojournalist
uses a camera. The six-week goal is to produce finished sketches using
pencil, pen, and watercolor within two hours. Skill level: Intermediate.

Noon to 2pm Free. 10th International Urban Sketchers Symposium Travelogue by USk Orlando.  Sam Flax Orlando 1800 East Colonial Drive 2nd Floor Orlando, FL 32803. Join USk Orlando as we show and tell what we gained from the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam! We’ll meet at Sam Flax on Sunday, 9/08 at 12pm.

trav·e·logue

/ˈtravəˌlôɡ/

noun

a movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.

Join us as we present a travelogue of our personal experiences at the 10th International Urban Sketchers Symposium held in 2019 in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. We will have a Q&A session, show & tell of our sketches done on location during the symposium, and demonstrations of workshops. Stay after and shop at the artist’s mecca, Sam Flax, then join us for a traditional Drink & Draw at Dandelion Communitea Café.

“The Dutch capital city has a history that dates back to the 13th century, and nowadays is a world city with historic as well as modern architecture. It has inspired artists for centuries with its idyllic bridges, canal houses and cobblestones.Amsterdam hosts 180 nationalities so everyone will feel right at home. It has everything you need for spending the perfect day in the City. Hosting world-class museums, it’s not just decked with old canals, charming gabled facades, drawbridges, and windmills but also with cutting edge modern design like the EYE Film museum. Truly an urban sketchers paradise.” http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/usk-amsterdam-2019_99.html

2pm to 4pm $5 Film Slam. Enzian Theater, South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL. Originally
a project of University of Central Florida’s Downtown Media Arts
Center, Enzian became the home of FilmSlam when DMAC closed in 2006. FilmSlam will usually be held on the second Sunday of each month at 1PM at Enzian.

Florida Blog Con

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At the 2017 Florida Blog Con, “Rowdy” Gaines was the key note speaker. Ambrose “Rowdy” Gaines, was an American former competitive swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He is locally born being from Winter Haven Florida.

His talk about how every moment of his training led up to a single defining moment in his life. From 1978 to 1984, Gaines set ten world records. He was considered a
favorite to win multiple gold medals at the 1980 Olympics. At the time
he was the world record holder in the 100-metre and 200-metre
freestyles. That moment to shine however slipped through his hands when the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. “I felt physically at my peak in 1980—and mentally up, too. It was tough, really tough. I had the chance for four golds.” To cap off his story, he handed off a gold metal and had it passed around the audience. I can say that is the only time in my life that I have held a gold metal.

In August 1991, Gaines was temporarily paralyzed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which is is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system.
After a two-month hospitalization, he experienced a surprising full
recovery attributed largely to his superb physical condition as a
competitive swimmer. He eventually regained world-class times and, at
the age of 35, became the oldest swimmer to qualify for the trials for
the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Ultimately, he chose not to compete in the trials for the 1996
Olympics but instead continued his career as a television commentator,
covering swimming for NBC at the Games.

It was an inspiring story of perseverance and finding new directions and goals through the various stages of life. My own life is going trough seismic shifts and I am desperate to find full time work to make ends meet here in Orlando. Hopefully hard work and perseverance will someday pay off. The ship never comes to harbor, you have to swim out to it. Opportunities abound if you just keep swimming.

The 2019 Florida Blog Con will be on September 7at Full Sail University. Tickets are $50 – $70.

The Mudflappers

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At Florida Blog Con the closing keynote by Pat Moore of Marketing Nutz. Nothing she talked about made any practical sense. I glanced around the auditorium and most people seemed to be surfing the web or checking their Facebook status.

There was a Ford after party in Full Sail‘s back Lot. Sysco provided the food, and Pinnacle Vodka provided the drinks. The Mudflappers provided the entertainment. I pulled over a chair and sketched. One woman and her child danced to the music but for the most part the music was something people shouted over. I’m sure I should have mingled but it is just as important that I do what I do. The performers thought that I was writing an extensive review. I last saw the Mudflappers at a Fringe Fundraiser at Hard Rock Live. Their music is lively and fun and I tapped my toe as I sketched. Their music pulls its influences from the outlaw country of Johnny
Cash, the blazing bluegrass of Earl Scruggs,  the roaming melodies of gypsy swing
à la Django Reinhardt, to the prohibitionary jazz of your local
speakeasy. This sonic gumbo is held together by the sultrily celestial
harmonies of leading lady Sarah Elizabeth Patrick the violinist who, as it turns out, is expecting a baby. Her flapper’s dress hid that fact quite well. Soon there will be a little Mudflapper kicking up his or her heels.

 When the band stopped, one performer stopped over to see what I was up to. He knew my work and said one of my sketches was being used as his laptop desktop. I smiled, but groaned inside, there was another use of my work where I wasn’t getting paid. Then all the performers started coming over.

By the time I was done, most people had left. I had some pasta , a coke and some incredible peanut butter cupcakes and then headed home. I learned plenty at the conference and now it was time to implement changes going forward.

Florida Blog Con Speakers

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The first speaker I heard at Florida Blog Con was Katy Widrick, she explained why bloggers need a media kit and branding plan. She is the executive producer at Growing Bolder Media group and she has seen media kits that are good, ban and ugly. This is the first time I’ve considered the need for a media kit but now it is on my to do list.

The next speaker Jennette Scott explained how to make money blogging. This was a real eye opener. I tried setting up Google Ads on the blog last year and didn’t see a cent from it so I disabled the service. With Google ads, you make $1 for every thousand impressions. I never made a dollar. The turning point was when I started seeing Full Sail ads on AADW. I immediately dumped Google ads. Jennette explained affiliate marketing which is her primary way of making money from her blog. Any time someone clicks on a link on her blog, she makes money. I use links extensively so this feature seems a no brainer. She collaborates with IZEA which is an Orlando Internet marketing group that has celebrities market products using social media. Other ways Jennette makes money blogging include direct sponsorships, freelance gigs, paid content, and free items that she is given to write about. Amazingly she makes more money now than she ever did in her previous 9 to 5 job.

After lunch, Jason Headsetsdot.com, the founder of I wear your shirt spoke about “How to sell Yourself Without Selling Out”. He was hilarious. He started asking companies to pay him if he would wear their logo on a tee shirt for a day. Amazingly this turned out to be a very lucrative way to make money in the age of social media. Even his dog began wearing company logos and the dog became an instant Internet celebrity. Jason’s advice included…

1. Be different.

2. Build an audience.

3. Be interesting.

4. Under promise and over deliver.

5. Know what you control.

6. Find your niche. What is your style?

7. Build your list. Building an e-mail list of people interested in your site is important.

8. Create content and syndicate that content.

9. Sell that shit.

10. Be different and work hard. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

11. Give people their crack, interact!

Jason actually sold his last name. He put out a Facebook invite for any company to buy his last name. The highest bidder was Headsets.com who paid him $30,000 for the rights and so Headsets.com is Jason’s last name. I have much to learn as I begin to monetize, and market Analog Artist Digital World in a brave new world.

Florida Blog Con

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Central Florida Top 5‘s Bess Auer began the annual Blog Con three years ago. It has been an annual pilgrimage for me to cover the conference. This year’s conference, on Saturday, September 21, was at Full Sail University in Full Sail Live. It was a one-day gathering of the state’s biggest bloggers and social media pros. One of the sponsors was Bahama Breeze and a spokesman got up to the podium and announced that one lucky conference attendee would win an expense paid trip if they were seated at a table that had a Bahama Breeze certificate taped underneath it. Darn it, I wasn’t even seated at a table! Everyone scrambled, first feeling blindly under the tables with their hands and then getting on all fours to look. The lucky winner was in the back of the room. The theme for this year’s conference, was “Be Awesome!”

Pat Williams, an author, blogger and Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic was the keynote speaker. His message was about how to be successful in life and blogging. “In tough times, you’re very teachable. Don’t waste those moments: turn suffering into lessons.” he said. His advice can be summed up in a ten step process…

1. Think the right kind of thoughts.

2. Say the right kind of words.

3.  Be specific in your goal setting.

4. Be responsible.

5. Seek out the right kind of friends.

6. Turn set backs into strengths.

7. Go the second mile.

8. Never give up.

9.  Character counts.

10. Love life and have faith.