Escalate Live 2010

Today I spent most of the day watching the live feed of Escalate 2010. I scribbled (wow just tried to spell that word with a q haha) down notes through out the event and wanted to share some of the things that I learned with y'all (yes I'm a southern wanna be). This was the first time I've spent a great deal of time listening to some of my favorite photographers. I'm just so excited about all that I got to learn today. Actually, I don't think that a single one of the speakers talked about photography techniques, except for Julieanne who talked about things in Photoshop CS5. But I didn't watch that one because of the time difference it ran over into dinner time, and plus, I don't have photoshop CS5, nor will I be able to afford to own it. Anywho, here are some of the notes that I took. Even if you're not a photographer, most of these things can be applied to any area of your life. I think that's why I loved it so much. It was more about life with a touch of photography as opposed to photography with a touch of life.

From Dane Sanders:
- He made this little chart thing to describe all of the pieces of a business, and which parts are actually necessary for you to do all by yourself. He pointed out that being yourself and being the personality behind your brand is the most important part. If people don't like you, then they won't like your business.
The steps of a business: Invite, Connect, Convert, Capture, Collect, Process, Produce, Promote. Honestly, I don't remember what all of those steps mean, I know I'm a bad student. I was more focused on drawing the chart haha. But he stated that the Invite and Capture stage are the ones that should be done by you and only you. The rest can be outsourced to other people.
* "Making the simple complex is commonplace, but making the complex simple is creativity."

From Becker:
- Commit to giving your clients the best experience possible, no matter what equipment you use.
- If the people don't like you, it hardly matter how good your photos are.
- People want to do business with people they LIKE, KNOW, and TRUST
"In my regular life I'm Clark Kent, but when I show up at a wedding, I'm Superman."
- Branding: figure out what you stand for, be consistent, seek professional help, do what you do best & outsource the rest
- Connecting: "I love word of mouth referrals", find your photo BFF, the networking has to start somewhere, help each other out, second shoot for each other
"If you're shy, get over it!" (probably my favorite quote of the whole event)

From Jasmine Star:
I started watching her session late due to the fact that the live feed didn't work on the iphone and people on the road refused to drive the speed limit. So I didn't take as many notes with her session, also because I just liked listening to her. She spoke mainly on using social media to your advantage.
- Create conversation among the clients and open it up to all circles of their friends on facebook
- "Get uncomfortable! If you're not uncomfortable then you're not doing it right." (this was such encouragement, seeing as i'm frequently in a state of being uncomfortable)
She likes to talk in analogies of food. It seems to make things make more sense. This is a quote she used when she was talking about other photographers getting on her case about talking about personal things in her life more than just posting pictures on her blog. "The meat is my life, the salt is my photography."

So I figured that all of this knowledge was useless unless I did something with it. So I decided to make myself uncomfortable and be the crazy leader. (Dane Sanders showed a video about some crazy guy doing a dance and he created a movement in 3 mins. I don't remember the name of the video so I can't show it to you.) I always seem to be talking about ideological things about how things should work or that there's something wrong with something but I don't do anything to fix it. Well here's my step. I decided to create the group Lehigh Valley Photography and Creative Professionals. And no it's not going to just be a little facebook group that accomplishes nothing. The goal is to become friends, share our lives, and our struggles and wins in our businesses. So if you're a creative professional in the Lehigh Valley, join our group on facebook and keep an eye out for upcoming events.

Wow that was a long post. Here are some more prom pictures for your enjoyment.