Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

I’m gonna let you in on a secret.

Each morning for as long as I can remember, the first thing I’ve posted onto Twitter, Facebook, and now, Google Plus, is “Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati!” followed by something to get me going for the day.

Maybe you’ve never noticed that. Maybe you have. I archive my Twitter updates to this blog each week, and I’ve often been able to mark time in them by when I say “Good morning.”

There’s a reason why I do this.

Forest Fair/Cincinnati Mills/Cincinnati Mall via labelscar.com

This afternoon my family and I went to the Danbarry Dollar Saver Cinema at Cincinnati Mall to see the movie Thor.  We thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but our enthusiasm was a bit tempered as we walked through the mall to get to the cinema.

It felt like a ghost town.

Granted, this was on a Tuesday afternoon and not a Saturday afternoon. Even still, I was struck by all the vacant stores and lack of foot traffic.

I remember when this mall first opened as Forest Fair Mall back in the 80s when I was in high school. It was a hopping place! The food court was packed, and there were stores all over the place. Even just six years ago when we moved back to Cincinnati from Dayton, it was still pretty busy.

Now it’s so quiet. Malls still seem to be the hangout spot for kids, but definitely not as much as they used to be.

We’re doing less shopping at malls and more online, and this isn’t all a bad thing.

What are some opportunities this situation presents itself? Here are a few ideas:

• Movie set. Cincinnati Mall reminded me of a vacant movie set. Why not fill it with some extras and bring in the action?
• Educational institution. What if it was converted to an educational campus? You got the centralized food court and ancillary wings. It could get converted into a learning facility.
• Community center/Temporary or permanent housing. In some ways a mall this big seems like its own city or community. Perhaps there’s an opportunity to make it something like that.

As our culture continues to move away from brick-and-mortar commercial facilities, we need to look for other uses for the malls and outlet stores that are becoming vacant.

What are some of your ideas?

Why create something unless it’s to share with others?

I’m fascinated by how we can use technology to help tell a compelling story.

Since 2005 our church has been recording sermons and messages and posting them to the website. When the audio consists of just one speaker, producing it for the web is a somewhat straightforward process.  I emphasize somewhat because it’s still a little bit involved. Words like “straightforward” and “easy” are all relative, based on the level of experience you have in capturing the audio and editing it to produce a file that you can later upload and share with others.

Background – equipment setup

I only got involved in the audio-visual ministry in mid-2006. I guess I could call it a ministry, even though it has never been formally considered as such. Last year in 2010, I took on more of a leadership role as my partner, Chuck, decided he needed a break – he’d been working with this for many more years than I have been.

Here are some of the components of our A/V system, at least as I recall:

• 40-track mixing board,
• Compressors,
• 6-channel wireless mic system,
• Two CD decks,
• Tw0 cassette decks (not used much these days),
• DVD player,
• VCR,
• Strand lighting system with its own mixing board,
• Donated Windows XP computer with Adobe Audition, ID3 TagIT, WS_FTP – used to record and produce media files for the website.
• Windows XP computer with MediaSHOUT, used to project song lyrics, graphics, announcements, video, etc. to the congregation

We currently have a team of three that work in the A/V room on Sundays: one guy to work the sound/mixing board, one guy to run special lighting when needed, and me. My primary areas of strength are the MediaSHOUT system, and content creation for the website.  I know the lighting a little bit more than the audio.

Multiple inputs + various dynamics = tricky editing

Usually, we record the message and post that to the website. Easter Sunday a week ago was a different service, which involved a re-enactment of the Last Supper, choirs, individual talks, and other songs.  We decided to record the entire audio to post to the website, since it would capture the crux of what the message was about.

During the Last Supper re-enactment, we realized that a wireless mic was muted, and so the audio from that was not captured very well.  Fortunately we had area mics set up and were able to capture something. At the end of service, the recording showed quite a contrast in dynamics. I knew that editing this would be more involved than usual, so I zipped it up and loaded it into Audacity.

Worship service file in Audacity

Producing for best possible quality

Producing audio for a live audience is different than for those who’ll listen later.  I’ve dealt with audio like this before, when I started podcasting back in 2005, and the process is similar to what I’ve done to produce episodes of How I Got My Job.  I broke each piece out into a separate file, produced it, and then brought them all back into the entire mix.

Each piece had its own needs. For example, the Last Supper scene had area mics, which captured a little bit of the audio. Even though I’d amplified the file as much as I could, it made the system hum much louder. Thankfully, I was able to remove this as much as possible and make it still sound great.

I got permission to excerpt a song from this mix into its own file and post it on the website. Check out the song “Surrendered” by Chase Mackintosh.

All-in-all, it took more time than I had initially planned, but for something like this, it was well-worth hearing the final product.  Take a listen to it here: Resurrection Sunday 2011 – Cincinnati Church of Christ.

I don’t like the prick of needles, and I certainly don’t like looking at them. I make sure to look away.

So I can only imagine what it must be like to go to the doctor every month and get pricked to offer some of your blood to be analyzed for anything bad in it. Or to have to receive blood transfusions every month. I can’t imagine what this is like because, thankfully, I’ve never had leukemia.

Jim is a friend of mine, one whom I highly respect. As an elder in the Cincinnati Church of Christ, his life has made a huge difference in the lives of many. And yet he has benefited from the lives of many others who gladly donate their blood every eight weeks. And he’s battled cancer and still survives. It’s gotta be humbling and moving to look out into a congregation of people whose blood may be saving your own life.

This Sunday, January 16, 2011, the Cincinnati Church of Christ and HOPE Worldwide Cincinnati are hosting a Hoxworth (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube channel) blood drive for the community from 8:30 am till 2 pm in the cafeteria/fellowship hall of the church building.

4220 E Galbraith Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45236 (map)

To schedule an appointment please contact Laura Huesman at 891-2856.

Double Red Donation from Nov 2010

As someone who donated a double-red donation last November, I personally am ineligible to donate again until March. I would if I could, though.

Hoxworth does a fantastic job in keeping up with regular blood donors, and it’s amazing to see how they run an event like this one. I’m grateful that we have them here in the Cincinnati community. One thing that moves me is that some time after I’ve donated, I get a message from them, saying that my donation helped save someone’s life at a particular area hospital.

Amazing. My little time of getting pricked with a needle, uncomfortable as it might be, helps saves the life of people like my friend Jim.

Who will YOU save?

Click here to watch the embedded video.

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Last week I gave a talk at the Job Search Learning Lab (JSLL) in Anderson Township here in Cincinnati, Ohio. They had requested that I speak about blogging, specifically in getting started with a WordPress.com blog. I recently checked and realized that I have created over 15 blogs since I first started back in 2002. Many of those are fallow or have otherwise been shelved.

I used the occasion to try out the Prezi.com presentation software.  Check it out below, or directly at the Prezi.com website here:

For more information about me, the work that I do, speaking that I’ve done, please check out my About page at http://danieljohnsonjr.com.

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Whoever said that the only constant is change wasn’t kidding.

Work status. This past Monday morning, my work at ThinkWare, the payroll processing solutions company here in Cincinnati, ended. I was laid off, not because of performance, but because business conditions facing the company, the industry as a whole, and the economy.  I know. I didn’t like the news either.

I especially enjoyed being immersed in the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM from the customization and support side of things for more than six months, and I’ll really miss my coworkers. What a great team I got to work with! I’ll also miss the interaction with our great clients as well. We’ll see where the next stage of my career takes me. Hopefully sooner than later.

SummitUp. Later Monday afternoon, I found out that the organizers of SummitUp, the social media confab in Dayton, Ohio, were giving away a free pass to next Tuesday’s event. I entered and won! I’m floored and humbled — and genuinely excited that I get to (re)connect with people from the Cincinnati and Dayton area, and learn a lot from them as well. Thanks again!

Public Speaking. Later next Tuesday, I get to speak to the Insurance Women of Greater Cincinnati group in Fairfield, Ohio, about why social media is important. It’s a high-level discussion, and I’m really looking forward to it.

GospelFest. In the meantime, this Sunday at 4 PM, if you like Gospel music, and you’re in the Cincinnati area, I urge you to come out to GospelFest, a concert featuring a number of Gospel choirs in the Cincinnati area, hosted by the Cincinnati Church of Christ. The price of admission is a non-perishable food item that will be donated to the HOPE Worldwide Cincinnati food drive. So, come out to benefit a good cause, and be ready to enjoy the great music! (Oh, and I’ll be in the back, helping with the A/V.)

• GospelFest 2010
  Sunday, October 17, 2010 4 PM
  Cincinnati Church of Christ
  4220 East Galbraith Road
  Cincinnati, Ohio 45236 (map)

Geez. It’s October already.

For three years now, I’ve been organizing events for the in-person social networking community I founded called New Media Cincinnati. We actually have the October event coming up this weekend.

My approach in getting the word out about these events has changed over time, from sending multiple direct messages to followers, to using Facebook as the medium to plan and organize the events.  For awhile we even had a wiki set up. I thought I’d share some of  my current approach to getting the word out.

An approach to event marketing

In 2008, I began using Eventbrite to organize, plan, and run the monthly events, which have become known as New Media Cincinnati Second Saturdays (mostly because people always wondered when we met). I’ve enjoyed using Eventbrite, and I’m not ashamed to recommend them (and for you to use my affiliate link!).

One of the main reasons for using a system like this is just to know who is planning on coming to events and having an easy way to follow up with them.  Over the years I’ve understood that it’s important to have a database. As Chris Brogan says, “you live and die by your database.”

Past attendees. For New Media Cincinnati, part of that database is the list of past attendees — registrants, actually, since not everyone who registers always attends.

E-mail signup list. People would also contact me to ask if they could be invited to future events.  Instead of wrangling multiple emails to make sure people got their invitations, I set up the New Media Cincinnati E-mail Sign-up List. I’ve also added it to the New Media Cincinnati Facebook page. I make sure people on this list get an invitation.

E-mail subscribers to the blog. When I set up the New Media Cincinnati website, I added a way for people to sign up to receive updates at the website via e-mail through FeedBurner. Some of these people may or may not already be connected to the group through one of the many other touchpoints, so I make sure to invite these people.

Cincinnati-area LinkedIn connections. The main reason I founded New Media Cincinnati is to take connections made online into the real world. Over time, another reason is to help promote digital literacy in the community. It’s so easy to make connections, and I think that New Media Cincinnati events are a great opportunity for me to re-connect in-person with people in the Cincinnati area I know through LinkedIn.

I’ll leave the mechanics of how this all comes together for another time.  One thing I will say is that Eventbrite definitely helps keep track of the status of invitations, including responses from people who say they are not interested or have otherwise unsubscribed from these types of communications.

As well as those who are.

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Taste of Cincinnati is an annual tradition every Memorial Day weekend. The city of Cincinnati closes off several blocks downtown, and food vendors set up and offer a Taste of what they typically serve at their restaurants in the Greater Cincinnati area. It’s a chance for folks like me to “graze”.

I remember the first one I went to in 1993, when I later told my girlfriend Jennie that I loved her. We later married.

I’ve been to Taste of Cincinnati 4 out of the past 5 years since we’ve been back in town.

This year was interesting because I went by myself. It was great to meet up with some friends I know through New Media Cincinnati.

Last week I mentioned that I spoke to a group in Anderson Township about effective networking, or, as I preferred to call it, building better relationships. A couple of other public appearances I’d like to tell you about – one this past Saturday and one this evening.

Cincinnati SPJ Podcasting Workshop

On Saturday I had the privilege to help with a podcasting workshop at Northern Kentucky University, sponsored by the Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalists. Cleve Callison had asked me to be a part of it since I’ve had almost 5 years of experience in podcasting. He and John Hingsbergen come from a radio background and talked about recording and producing audio. It was great to see it come together. The goal of the workshop was to show people who may have never had any experience podcasting how to plan, record, and publish audio to be released as a podcast.

I fell in love with the Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder (affiliate link).

Not only did we have an interesting debate over the Cincinnati Streetcar project with John Schneider and Tom Luken, but we also had a discussion about pizza and subs, and got to learn a bit more about one another.  Check out the audio at the workshop’s blog site.

How I Got My Job – LIVE tonight!

Prior to me getting my current job, many people online and offline asked if I would interview myself for How I Got My Job, once I finally landed. I have shared about how I’d gotten previous jobs two other times, here and here.

Over the past year I’ve been involved with a number of networking groups in the Greater Cincinnati area, and one of them, the $timulus Book Networking Group, is held on Tuesdays at 7 PM at the Barnes and Noble in West Chester. You might remember we brought best-selling author Mitch Joel in via Skype one evening to talk about his book Six Pixels of Separation (affiliate link)  (read the post - Six Pixels of Separation – In Action!).

Monte Washburn, the facilitator for the group, asked me to come in to share my recent job search success story. I asked if I could record it and release it as a special interview for my program, and he enthusiastically agreed.

Tonight is the night.

Tonight, instead of me interviewing myself (which would just be weird), the attendees will ask the questions I typically ask.

I have a bit more of an understanding of what my guests on How I Got My Job feel like as they approach being interviewed by me. Even though I’m very familiar with these questions, I haven’t really thought about how I will answer them. I think this is a good thing, in order to keep things fresh.

If you’d like to join us, feel free. By the way, we hop over to Steak and Shake afterward.

Directions:

Barnes & Noble in the Streets of West Chester
(I-75 Exit 19 Union Centre Blvd., Past The Rave Theater)
9455 Civic Centre Boulevard, West Chester, OH 45069 (map)

Make it a great day!

Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Tonight I had the wonderful privilege to speak at the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Job Search Ministry in Anderson Township, here in Cincinnati.  They had approached me a few months ago and asked if I would come in and talk about effective networking.

When I think of effective networking, and the extent of my skill with it, I think of the book Never Eat Alone (affiliate link) by Keith Ferrazzi. As I mentioned in the talk, I had two different people recommend the book to me when I was in a job search back in 2006. I have since read the book two times over, and I’m in the middle of my third time. The book hasn’t changed; the person reading it has.

I structured my talk around the the before, during, and after – ongoing stages of building relationships, with twelve points taken from the book. I could have shared many more, but 12 was enough.

Below is the Slideshare of my presentation. If you’d like, you can download a PDF version.

Some other things I mentioned:

• Crying while eating alone (video)
• JibberJobber.com for personal relationship management
• How I Got My Job, job search success stories podcast
• Next Tuesday I’ll be sharing my own recent How I Got My Job story with the $timulus Networking group, which meets at 7 PM at the West Chester Barnes & Noble. The audience will ask me the questions I typically ask on the program! It will be recorded for release on the program.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn – (be sure to mention where we know each other to make it more personal)
• New Media Cincinnati social media networking group. Add yourself to the mailing list to be notified of upcoming events.

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[PHOTO CREDIT]: Steve Molloy