Madison Independent Drumline

A huge, huge congratulations to Madison Independent Drumline for walking away with the Gold World Champions medal this past weekend at WGI World Finals in Dayton, Ohio!!

A bit of a Cinderella story, MID started back in November 2010 with 20-30 members, a few instruments, a tech or two, and ran off hopes and dreams. But thanks to a strong support system and a solid plan, it grew to be 44 members strong and very successful.

I'm proud to say that I was with this ensemble from the start and it would be my first and last year with the program as I age out at 22. I'm so glad I got to help build the program from the bottom up and I made some of the most amazing friends in the world, and in the end, that's what truly matters. Even if we had lost, it would have still been a very successful season.

I love you all and will always remember you and cherish this season and the time we spent together.

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Demo Reel

Here is my demo reel as of April 2011.

Social Media Marketing Conference

This past Monday I attended the Social Media Marketing Conference with 3 colleagues of mine. It was hosted by SkillPath Seminars and we learned quite a lot. For anybody interested in attending, I wanted to highlight some of the things I learned:

- A company’s fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter are over 50% more likely to become a regular customer.

- People in general are much more likely to share their poor experiences online than they are their positive ones.

- Google is now a verb.

- If you can’t be found online, potential customers will seek out your competitors because they can be found.

- You only have 2-5 seconds to capture a reader’s attention.

- Any posts online (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) only have a life of 2 days before becoming old.

Located in the gorgeous Sheraton City Centre Hotel in Indianapolis, we were given a choice between following Track 1: You’ve decided to jump into the world of social media – now what? and Track 2: Step up your social media presence: Network, promote, share… and profit! I followed Track 2, which included these sessions:

1) Cool tools and how to use them to grow your business
2) Mistakes rookies make…but you don’t have to
3) The art of writing for a social audience
4) Managing your on-line reputation
5) Monitoring what people are saying about you on-line – in 15 minutes a day

I would elaborate on my experience throughout each session but I must keep this brief. If you ever get the opportunity to attend one of these conferences, I guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself fully and leave knowing so much more about the world of social media.

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Documentary Premiere!

Click on the image to view it larger.

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Last Semester!

It's so exciting to think that I graduate in just 4 months!!

My IS is nearly complete and ready for submission to the library (for the school's record). I've been submitting it to film festivals and will be presenting it at the conference in April at Butler University. I'm also going to officially premiere it on Hanover's Family Day on March 26th at 2pm. And everyone is welcome to attend! Click on the link for more information and to register to attend!

Life is just very exciting right now. I'm finishing up my comprehensive paper and will take the oral portion of it in the next few weeks. Assuming I pass everything, I'll be graduating in May after our two week trip to England! My spring term class is Documentary Production and two weeks of it is going to be spent in England, spending time in London, Cambridge, and Stratford Upon Avon. Should be very fun!!

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It's Finished!

My film is unofficially finished! Yay! And I got an 'A' on it, so, mission accomplished.

I plan on ironing out a few troublesome areas before I officially premiere it and enter it into a few different film festivals. Until then, I won't be posting it online, but once it's ready, I'll be distributing DVDs!

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Rough Cuts: Search and Rescue and Outro