Here’s a look at an experiment using different icons in a circle-style menu. Played around a lot with math related x and y placement, scale, and object depth, as well as the oft-overused blur effect.

Thought something like it could be used as a menu, a list of photos or videos. Kind of a neat effect. I’ll have to try a few different things with this in the future.

Image via Wikipedia

The site: Video Marketing Moxie

The premise: It takes guts to be on the forefront of anything. Particularly marketing. Your brand is at risk. The costs are not standardized. ROI is a giant question mark. The techniques are not tried and true. What works for one may not work for you (or ever again for that matter.) It’s risky business. But, like anything, where there’s risk — there’s opportunity.

My hope? To put together a community of fellow video marketing pros (and social media folks too, there’s much overlap) to help business owners and marketers understand what’s worked, what’s available, and what might work for them.

To be honest, it’s an experiment. And it’s fallen on the back burner for me for the moment (gotta pay the bills first). But check it out for now. Slap it into your RSS reader. Feel free to comment. And, most importantly, feel free to contribute ideas or content!

More stuff soon!

My goal was to create an interesting virtual view of the space so people who haven’t seen it can visualize what it’s like.

Although a video tour would accomplish my goals, I decided to take a more creative approach. I wanted to “freeze time” a bit, to capture the space without the distraction of movement — and this way we get to pan back and forth through the space to take a closer look.

What do you think?

Image via Wikipedia

Do you work out of your home, coffee shops, or the lonely confines of a small office suite?

Do you long for the camaraderie of an office environment, the ability to collaborate on projects, or have others around with whom to share ideas and explore opportunities?

Then I suggest you check out coworking — an emerging new office idea where like-minded independent professionals, who normally work in isolation, work together in a shared space.

Becoming popular in larger cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Denver, the idea is spreading around the country, even to smaller cities.

Des Moines Coworking

I moved into Des Moines’ new coworking space, Impromptu Studio, a few weeks ago, and am really enjoying it here. After a year of relative isolation in an office suite, I have enjoyed having others around to talk to throughout the day, and am finding myself to be much more productive. (Apparently being holed-up by myself day after day was getting to me.)

OPEN HOUSE

If you live near Des Moines, and are interested in the concept of coworking, come on over this Thursday to Impromptu Studio’s open house and take advantage of a free day of coworking.

Of the handful of folks here so far; there are a few web/software developers, a game developer (more of the design side), a video marketer (me), and room for many more!

Hope to see you here!

Are you a good fit for coworking?

Coworking is great for:

• Designers
• Developers
• Web Professionals
• Marketers
• Writers
• Illustrators
• Animators

A smart business can use this information to find opportunity. I do it every day. It’s helping me formulate strategies and tools that will shape the future of my business. Sure, there’s some noise, but it is surprising how much great insight can be found by listening.

In addition to listening to general ideas and discussion, some businesses are big enough to actually be talked about. And the really smart ones are listening!

Take KickApps (a social media community platform) for example. I’m not really a customer per se. More of a casual experimenter. I see the potential, but just haven’t found the right fit yet. I have an account, but only piddle around with it when I want to test a new feature, or experiment with a new idea. I highly doubt they’ve ever made a penny off me.

But that didn’t stop them from listening!

What did they hear? Well, today, I mused, oh so briefly — wondering why they weren’t on Twitter. (I mean, they’re a social media company… and I would guess a big percentage of their customer base, and an even bigger percentage of their demographic is on Twitter.)

Here’s my tweet:

I certainly never thought they would ‘hear’ me. They didn’t seem to be there to hear.

…

BUT. They were listening.

I’m not sure how, but probably through the power of Twitter’s search feature combined with the power of RSS feeds, they did hear me. And in less time than it takes to fly New York to Los Angeles, they responded (and signed up for an official Twitter account.)

Forget why they waited. The fact that they heard their base wondering ‘why not?’ was enough to move them to action. That’s smart.

So, are you listening? How? Has it paid off? If you’re not, how can you start listening?

Overall, I enjoyed hearing about progress, looking at some photos and video of the top location choices, listening to feedback from the others in attendance and just getting a feel for the types of people interested in such a space. Apparently this sort of thing is really gaining in popularity in more metropolitan cities around the country, and it’s encouraging to see something like this taking shape in our area.

After downsizing and transforming my previous business (which had a couple of employees) I have been working solo in an office suite for the past year — as a result, I have felt very isolated and lacked the camaraderie and inspiration found in a typical office environment. So I am really hoping this turns out to be the kind of work space I have been looking for!

It’s all happening quickly too — it appears they will begin renting out space somewhere in the downtown Des Moines area beginning in July. I plan to be among the first tenants, and hope to see more people getting on board as well. Maybe you?

If you’re a creative professional (designers, developers, writers, etc.) and tired of working amongst the distractions and isolation at home, or looking for a more professional and collaborative space than a coffee shop can provide, I encourage you to check out their offerings at http://impromptustudio.com/

Thanks to Dan and Abbie for taking the initiative to bring such a great opportunity to Des Moines!

P.S. The meeting was held at East Village Books. If you haven’t been to EVB yet, I encourage you to check them out! I was impressed! It’s a very nice book store with a very local flair. Plus, they can provide a venue for small meetings and events (and they even have free parking!)

Life has a funny way of dumping stuff on you all at once, and you begin to burden yourself with the removal of the ‘dumpage’ to the point of losing sight of your passions and your dreams. Slowly, these burdens begin to push us in a direction we never really wanted to go and don’t enjoy.

Seems I’ve fallen victim to the piles of ‘dumpage’ as well. Thankfully, I have a strong faith, a fantastic wife, a great community of friends, and enough positive people in my life to help me see why (… and what … and how) to change these circumstances.

That knowledge is helping me get back on track to doing the things I love to do, and not the things I don’t. It’s a process, and it won’t be as rosy as I would like it to be tomorrow or next week… but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s hope that life can be what it ought to be (and it didn’t come from some blathering politician either.)

What about you? Is the ‘dumpage’ weighing you down, and steering you away from your passions? What can you do about it? Search your soul, pray, and ask those around you who care about you for help. Whatever it is you need to do… do it. And don’t wait. The ‘dumpage’ will continue to pile up until you make a change.

Here’s to getting back your passion.

Well, it might not show so much from the video… Who knew this bunch of outgoing bloggers would be so shy around the camera? Why is that? Maybe next time we’ll figure out a way to bring the camera around to join the discussion… You can hear a lot of energy and conversation in the room though! Tune in REAL HARD and you’ll enjoy some really interesting conversation.

Thanks to those who tuned in live!

Also, thanks to Mike Sansone for supplying the camera, computer, and Sprint broadband card. (does seem that upload on the card is a bit slow for streaming video… I had the settings set pretty low, and it still came out quite choppy)