FLBlogCon inspired at Full Sail Live.

Posted on by Thor

Florida Blog Con is a full day convention held once a year to inspire and inform online Blog writers. Bess Auer organizes the event which has grown exponentially large over the past five years. The first year 100 people sat in a school auditorium and this year Full Sail Live (3300 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL) was completely full for the opening Keynote speaker which was Ted Murphy CEO of IZEA.

Sunshine Woodyard Baker gave a talk about what PR agencies expect from bloggers who are invited to cover an event. All of her points directly relate to what I do every day as I try and gain access to bigger and better events to sketch. There is a major advantage to be the first to blog about an event. It is shared on all social media extending the articles reach. Since I have such a huge back log of as of yet unpublished sketches, it is harder to get a post to go live quickly. Only when I’ve been paid to document an event, will I get it up the next day.

Nicole Siscaretti‘s discussion about the merits of using instagram caused be to download the program the next week. Within a day there were 400 followers. I love that instagram is a completely visual interface and I use it now to take photos of sketches in progress. Like Facebook, people can “like” an image or comment. It is another ball that I need to juggle in my social media outreach. I heard Professor Josh shoot several photos behind me as I sketched. A few days later he posted a digital sketch of me in action. Another thing on my “to do list” is a weekly newsletter. Katy Widrick pointed out that e-mails are a great way to reach young connected individuals. I tried to set up a Mail Chimp newsletter account once and failed. Her talk made me realize that I have to go back and battle the chimp. She showed an image of 3 intersecting circles with a sweet spot in the center. Those circles were blogging, social media and a newsletter. I can’t find my sweet spot until I complete that triad.

Eddie Selover gave an inspiring closing keynote. Eddie organizes Pecha Kucha here in Orlando where about eight speakers give Power Point presentations with a hitch. Each slide is only shown for 20 seconds and there are 20 images. The speaker can not stop, go back or pause. The train keeps moving quickly forward. Eddy pointed out that with such a condensed format, a speaker must edit and re-edit so that every word is aimed at conveying the central theme or concept. What is left is often poetry and pure emotion. There is magic in coming together to listen to stories. The fact that Pecha Kucha events in Orlando always sell out is a testament to that magic. Derick Orth then gave a Pecha Kucha presentation about his travel adventures as a vagabond. There is a website called couch surfing which offers travelers a chance to hang out with local hosts around the world. Rather than complain about his dead end job, Derick decided to travel and teach English in Japan for income. His life turned from consumption to connection. The world became his classroom and he had control over his recess schedule. Life became more important than fears. Eddie went on to point out that bloggers need to go out and live a life worth writing about. Every day can be an adventure.

Shocking Magic Loss to the Pacers, or A Tale of Two Cupcakes.

Posted on by Thor

My wife loves to watch the NBA Finals.  If I sit down to watch, I like to joke, saying, “I hope the Magic wins this time.” Of course I know the Magic aren’t in the finals, but one team always seems to be wearing blue jerseys. Well, maybe next year.

I met Sunshine Woodyard Baker at the opening to my show at Snap. I knew of Sunshine from Facebook, because after a solid week of clouds and rain, I wrote “Hello Sunshine!” to express my joy at finally seeing the sun. She responded back by simply saying “Hello.” Somehow she and her husband scored tickets to a Magic game and she had an extra ticket so I could go and sketch. As she explained, “Lee St. John, the owner of Gigi’s Cupcakes and I would like
to invite you to Gigi’s Cupcake’s One Year Anniversary Partner
Appreciation night. Lee has the Presidential Suite at the Orlando Magic
vs. Pacers game on April 16 at 8:00 pm. We will enjoy food, drinks, and
the game with a small group of people who have been most helpful in
making Gigi’s first year magical. We sure hope you can come! Please let
me know if that day will work for you. It would be so cool to have you
there. We will get to the game around 6pm. My friend, Food Network Chef
Emily Ellyn will be there at the game. I think you’ll love sketching
her, and she’s great at cross-promoting to get your name out even more.”

Getting into the Amway Center involved the usual metal detectors and bag searches. I decided to streamline my art supplies so I could easily slip through security. I made a tiny palette using an old CD case. The circular CD holder is a perfect spot to arrange my daubs of paint into a color wheel. This Jerry rigged palette worked so well I’ve taken to using it all the time. I was one of the first people to arrive at the Presidential suite. Lee St. John was there to greet me. He explained that this wasn’t a very important game since the Pacers were already high enough in the standings where they could loose if they wanted and still move forward.

Lee had a small box of his award winning cupcakes. He had asked if he could bring the cupcakes up to the Presidential Suite, but there is a firm rule that no outside food or beverages can be bought into the Amway Center. This guarantees that Amway vendors corner the market. Lee tried to explain that the cupcakes weren’t for sale and wouldn’t be eaten. They were for a photo opportunity. No one listened to reason, so the cupcakes had to be smuggled in with stealth and subterfuge. To repay Lee for inviting me to the game, I decided to sketch one of the cupcakes ant put it on the jumbo tron in the center of the arena. When the sketch was done, I couldn’t help myself, I ate the mysterious black market cupcake. It was soooo good. No vendor in the Amway Center has anything half as good.

The suite filled up and I sketched through the whole game. There was a lackluster energy among the players. One Magic fan shouted out “We could win this if we wanted it bad enough.” The Magic didn’t want it enough. The game was a blowout with the Pacers winning 101 to 86. In the suite, people started posing with the cupcakes. Lee hadn’t lied about them being for a photo shoot. I had sinfully consumed a models sweet tasty prop. Luckily there were a few more cupcakes to go around.