Sara Kerr
Musings
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Great new show from some lovely local photographers. I wish I could have attended the opening, but I know I’ll get there this week!
Road trip anyone?!
Highway 61: Minneapolis to Memphis opened on day 347 of Photo 365. The exhibit focused on the starkness, beauty, nostalgia and people along the great highway. Viewing a collection of Americana was a terrific way to spend a Friday evening.
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I had lunch with a really smart friend last week. We covered many professional subjects and then branched into the thoughts bouncing around in our heads. Both of us are known for something we are care about and both of us wonder if that’s how we want to be known.
She mentioned that she purposely only writes about her known topic every 4th or 5th blog post. I suggested that I might explore another career path. She suggested farming. I was aghast! Me! the city women who bikes to work in skirts?! Whose favorite city is Paris (and not the one in Texas).
Actually, it was an obvious idea. I have 10 times more followers to my daily chicken photo blog than to anything I write on teaching, marketing, or social media. It’s an unusual occupation for a marketing and sales professor, but then that was actually the point.
As a marketer, it was obvious last January that there were too many chicken blogs (almost 16m).Digital storytelling vs simply blogging matters now.
But as many know, our digital lives lack emotion, imperfection, and romance. (See Embracing Analog: Why Physical is Hot) We embrace the imperfect, buying vinyl records, atomic ranch homes, and anything handmade.
Backyard chickens were my analog. Trust me when I say they often smell.
The birds were the perfect antidote to Klout scores, bounce rates, and the general quantification of our digital lives.
But I’m bored.
The Daily Chicken is thrice weekly if I’m lucky.
Now I’m on to MGs.
Which do you think I’ll pick?
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Once upon a time I used to fly to Amsterdam just to listen to a band. (No, I wasn’t rich, I just had great flight benefits with Northwest Airlines). Now I travel occasionally to academic conferences and for the rare vacation.
I’ve been home for about 18 hours after traveling in a circle from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Chicago to New Orleans to Houston to Denver and back. After my NWA years I considered myself an expert traveler.
Wrong.
I made four errors:
- Three bad pairs of shoes for walking. Not horrible (no stilettos), but not good for the miles I put on in the Garden District and the Colorado foothills.
- Assuming WiFi is plentiful and the bandwidth large. Kudos to the Metropolitan Airports Commission or whomever stocked the MSP Humphrey Terminal with outlets, mini desks, and oceans of WiFi bandwidth. Let’s just say all the other airports I visited could learn something from MSP.
- Not upgrading my AT&T iPhone plan. Seriously, one month of “hotspot” service wouldn’t have broken the bank.
- Failing to download student work to grade offline. See above.
Of course I learned a lot, too.
- I’m most creative after learning something and then literally walking around with it. The hours I strolled through New Orleans (see WiFi above) caused a plethora of research ideas to bubble up (and a lot of blisters, too).
- Stories from Tee-Eva’s snowball shop will stick with me forever.
- Minneapolis and St. Paul have wonderful sidewalks.
- No one really cared if I live tweeted from Riot Fest Denver. No one.
- I love taking random photos with my phone.
- Let other people shoot videos.
- You can buy band aids just about anywhere.
- Only in Minnesota (I think) are earplugs freely distributed and easy to buy (thank you Pine County Fair Demolition Derby and First Avenue). I was lucky to find them at Riot Fest.
- Minnesotans like to find each other and revel in our collective wisdom of being, well Minnesotans. And we love our accents.
- New Orleanians are the best storytellers.
Video courtesy of Chris Pollard
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The Replacements’ Rapturous Return: Two (Very Different) Takes From One Critic
The First Replacements Show in 22 Years, Reviewed by Titus Andronicus’ Patrick Stickles
‘Satisfied?’ or ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Replacements Reunion’Former Twin Cities journalist publishes ‘lost’ Replacements photos
Watch the Replacements Color Us Impressed in First Show in 22 Years
The Replacements Setlist at Riot Fest 2013 [Chicago]
Here’s 21 videos of the Replacements at Riot Fest Chicago
The Replacements at Riot Fest Denver, 9/21/13
Bob Stinson, Rock Guitarist, Is Dead at 35
The Replacements at Riot Fest Denver – This is how it ended
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What’s your favorite local event?
The Uptown Art Fair?
The Current Birthday Party?
Rock the Garden?
The Renaissance Festival?
Mine is the Irish Fair, held every August at on Harriet Island.
I go every year. I love the music, the dancing, the dogs, and now the new author’s table in the cultural pavilion. The people watching and food rank highly, too.
Have you noticed how social events have become?
Yes, everyday people post their pictures to Facebook and Instagram, share Vine videos etc., but the events we all attend have become more sophisticated, too.
Here’s what the Irish Fair of Minnesota does:
Instagram: irishfairmn – 23 posts so far and 26 followers
Facebook: IrishFairMN with 5,543 likes and 720 checkins and many posts to the page by others
Twitter: @IrishFairMN
Email Newsletter via Vertical Response
Website: IrishFair.com with social plugins for Twitter and Facebook
What could the Irish Fair do with social media?
Claim some hashtags and encourage their use on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine…
#IrishFairMN
#MenInKiltsStPaul (Just Google #MenInKilts and you’ll see why the StPaul is needed!)
#MyIrishName (It’s Sorcha, pronounced SUR a kha if you were curious)
#IFM or #IFMN
#IrishMN
Social Contests
They’ve got a raffle, what about best photo contests of dogs, dancing, sheep, and sport? Or simply more social messages about the baking contest? Although honestly, I’m not sure daily photos of warm, buttery scones would be good for me, personally. See now I’ve you you thinking about baking some, don’t I?
Quick, Specialized Branded Videos
Dancing children, frolicking dogs, authors reading, mini golf for kids, Irish name badges, fish and chips frying, social dancing, and of course a perfectly poured Guinness?
Did I forget something? How about 25+ hours of amazing Celtic music
What a perfect daily inspiration for the 3 weeks leading up to the fair!
Feature Vendor and Talent Social Media
I’m pretty sure everyone performing or sharing their knowledge at the Irish Fair has some kind of digital presence, why not list them? The music headliners have a page, but what about all the other acts and artisans? Maybe create a digital badge they could use on their home page that of course, links back to the Irish Fair website.
Here are just a few of the amazing people at the fair:
- St. Paul author, Erin Hart at ErinHart.com
- Celtic-rock group Gaelic Storm: website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, myspace
- Local Sea Shanty Singers: Facebook
- Twin Cities Robert Emmets Hurling Club (featured on the Irish Fair Facebook page), Facebook: TwinCitiesHurling
- The amazing man making Bodhrán drums
- The Basket Weaving Lady in the Pavilion
- All the dance schools that perform
- The Center for Irish Music: CenterForIrishMusic.com
Final Thoughts
Maybe I should volunteer!
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Social Media in Radio
Last week Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis-St. Paul explored how social media brings new listeners to broadcast radio. Jenny Huschka (@PrincessSushi) interviewed Clear Chanel radio personalities learning how they use social media, what they like (#Twitter) and don’t (#Facebook).
Read next page
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Really, these go together. Just watch this video about the economics of local shopping and you’ll understand the connection.
Sara Kerr 