We are just wrapping up work on the International Association of Panoramic Photographers (IAPP) website. Actually more than just the website. We’ve always wanted to implement the Full Monty for a non-profit or association and we finally got our chance.

So…What Happened?

We were approached by an old, (well not Old, but former,) colleague from  USAA, Dawn Snow. She’s secretary and defacto webmaster for the IAPP and they found some funding to redo their website. We proposed not only revamping the website so it would be easier to keep up but also connecting it to a membership management system so all of their operations would be easier. The IAPP is an international association with members scattered around the globe. They have no staff, so everything, from website upkeep to membership processing, falls to volunteers, usually the board of directors.

First, we proposed moving their old (1990s vintage) static website to the WordPress content management platform. We found a great commercial template that we could change. Especially important to the IAPP was that it accommodate the wide panoramic images created by their members.

Next, we set them up with a Google Apps for Domains account and moved their association email over to it. They get a branded webmail interface that has loads of storage and the added advantage of Google Calendar, Docs, etc. Future plans call for website integration of  Google Calendar to show workshop schedules and Google Docs for instructional materials. We’ll use two very good WordPress plugins to make this happen.

And then we set them up in the Wild Apricot membership management system. Wild Apricot is a software as a service site for non-profits and associations. It has modules for Members, Events, Donations and Forums. The service provides for a monthly or yearly subscription that’s based on the number of contacts in your database.

IAPP is using the Membership module to automate their new and renewing member functions. Previously, the treasurer took email requests and received checks to deposit. Now IAPP can accept credit cards for membership. And Wild Apricot automates renewals with reminder emails sent to expiring memberships. They are also using the Forums module  for their Classified Ads (something members had asked for) and will use the Events module to manage their conference and workshop calendar and registration.

And…so far so good. Their new site looks great and now many volunteers are contributing to it. Their email management is much easier. And their association management headaches are a thing of the past.

Yea! Finally!

We’ve proposed this solution to a clients before but haven’t had the opportunity to implement it. Since we’ve “been there, done that” as the volunteer leader and manager of a professional association we knew the pain of managing a web presence and managing membership. Especially renewals! Renewals mean revenue and a sloppy or non-existent renewal process means, well, reduced or zero revenue.

Small organizations have a lot on their plate. Making website management easy eases that pain. And we think the “virtual association” concept will do the trick for most associations without the resources for staff. Non-profits, even with a small staff, can benefit from this kind of low-cost solution too.

We’re happy we were able to put the IAPP on a good footing for the future.

Contact us if you think we might be able to help you.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with road trips to the West coast and the East coast.

We traveled to Redding, California (which isn’t technically on the coast) to shoot for CitizenRE, a new residential solar startup with a monthly leasing model. We shot their press event, interviews with customers as well as their CEO. We’ll cut that down to some clips for their website and a sales kit.

Last weekend we were up in Boston attending the National Conference for Media Reform. Wow! Our brain hurts. It’s filled with ideas about broadband policy, community media, activism and legislation. Many really smart people trying to understand and figure out how to shape the media landscape.

We just launched a new project with our client MyQuickDoc, Inc. We’ll be tweaking this doctor appointment service to get it ready for a big rollout.

But Wait! There’s More!

We’re continuing work on our grant project with Healthy Futures Texas. We’re working with Terri and Steve over at Causality on branding and marketing. At the same time we’re doing some preliminary work on the website and working up the game design aspects with Jeremy Koester.

We’ll be cutting together footage of the launch of San Antonio B-Cycle, our bicycle rental program, for submission to Streetfilms. It was a very cool event and nice to see San Antonio beat Austin to the punch.

And, last but not least, we recently spoke to the Alamo Area Home Care Council (AAHCC) about social media. A great bunch of people with a strong social network, just not the online kind. Hope we gave them a jump start! (Go and Like their new Facebook Page!)

I’ve started a little lessons learned doc. There were quite a few things we could have done to make this conference project go easier. So here’s the highlights.

• Create a Tape Naming Scheme: I actually had this on my To Do list but it dropped in priority. We came up with a scheme on site but it could have been better. We settled on Room name, Date, Time, Tape Number. I think I would have come up with a Session Code that correlated to the conference agenda.
• Print Tape Labels: For consistency I would have printed up a set of labels for each session, maybe 6 for each; one for the tape, one for the case spine, for up to three tapes for each sessions. The labels would have the Session Code, Room, Date, Time. The camera operator could fill in the time.
• Get Familiar With New Equipment: We’re using a new piece of gear; the Newtek Tricaster (more on that in another post.) We had a great operator (Bob Anderson)  from TS Computers who was with us for the first day. He made it sound VERY easy, which in fact it was, but it would have been nice to get to know it while not under fire. Also, the client purchased five camera “packages”. The cameras were SONY HDR-A1Us. The cameras came with the aforementioned “packages”: a tripod, lens cleaning kit, camera case. Yes, you know the one. It was just $49.95! I’ll talk about the camera in another post but the tripod was nearly not usable. It was appropriate for mounting the camera so it didn’t sit on the floor. Panning? No. Tilt? No. Sturdy? No. (we actually broke one of the legs as we collapsed one.) If I had known (because I had “dry runned” the gear) I would have known what to expect.
• Prep Graphic Elements: Didn’t. Would have added value. I’m doing lower thirds as we go but having some branded overlay graphics, lower third backgrounds, bumpers, etc. would make webcasts shine. The Tricaster only allows so much without a bit of work; It does not have a character generator built in for example. It’s not like I don’t know to do that prep. But its been nearly 20 years since I did this level of live production. Graphic prep slipped through the cracks.
• Use Your Own Mixer: We did not have one (or nine, in this case) but we managed to get decent audio. We pulled a feed (not sure if it was line or mic level) from the room’s PA mixer but our own mixer would have allowed to control our audio better. (Tricaster has audio capabilities that I will cover in my Tricaster post.)

There’s more but I’ll stop there. I’ve said many times before that preparation is the key to project success. I just need to start taking my own advice.

Well, its Sunday, which means the whole “project blogging” idea hasn’t happened. Not for lack of, well, not trying, but at least thinking about it.

I’m leading a team that is covering the 2nd National Latino Congresso in Los Angeles. We’re video recording almost every workshop, general session or dinner at the five-day conference. That’s about 160 hours of programming. And for each time period we are live webcasting one session. That’s about 35 hours. The challenge has been that the sessions are pretty much back to back; no passing breaks. Sessions start at 10 am and run through 9 or 9:30 p.m. Meals have been spotty, so we usually eat after the day is done and by that time I’m done.

So, no blogging until now.

I’m headed out in a few minutes to a project in LA. It’s  a 5 day conference and we’re shooting 151 hours of sessions (for future streaming) and live webcasting 33 hours of it. Wish me luck. I’ll ad dupdates here as we go along.

I have to admit that this is a bit of getting back on the horse for me. This is the first video project I’ve had in about 10 years. But doing more video is why I left my full time corporate gig 4 months ago. So everything is going according to plan.